Zhao Benshan, shown here, is one of a growing number of celebrities who attend business management programs. Whether these courses provide serious business training or a luxury time with others is debatale.
Earlier this year, famed comedian Zhao Benshan spent $80,500 on an 18-day China Enterprise CEO course at the Beijing’s Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
This seems to be coming something of a fashion with the stars. Famous Chinese anchors Li Xiang, Chen Weihong and Chen Chen are also students at the country’s top business schools, which often cost more than $80,000.
A woman in charge of marketing for an EMBA program at a noted Shanghai university, who did not wish to be named, said, "Sky-high tuition is a barrier to an EMBA, quietly alienating common people, but it does serve to whet the appetite of the rich.
"Almost all EMBA students have distinguished career backgrounds. In such a high-class environment, people can build social networks and a mutually beneficial relationships with other schoolmates."
China Daily reported that unlike most traditional university programs in which hundreds of students at a time attend a lecture in a massive hall, business education is delivered in small classrooms for 30 to 70 students.