[photopress:MBA_missouri_state.jpg,full,alignright]A group of business executives from China has enrolled in a master’s of business administration program tailored just for them at Missouri State University, where they will spend the next year learning about business the American way.
About 30 executives – many from provincial government positions in China – have begun taking classes in Springfield for a year-long executive MBA program, according to MSU College of Business Administration Associate Dean and program director Jerry Udell.
He said, ‘They’re coming over here to get the culture.’ Note most carefully that he is, here, using the word ‘culture’ in a sense to mean traditional business practices. To take it as a wider implication would be both misleading and unfortunate.
Jerry Udell explained further: ‘There are MBA programs in China, and in many instances, they don’t work well because a Chinese MBA is different from an American MBA. A lot of companies and agencies want their folks to have an American MBA.’
The students will meet three times a week per class, and one class will be offered every four weeks. In all, they will take seven core classes, two elective classes and two additional classes either within MSU’s College of Business Administration or in other graduate programs at MSU, such as political science or agri-business, depending on the executives’ roles back home.
The students are sponsored financially by their employers and will be housed together off-campus.
Udell said MSU is considering hosting another group from China beginning in January.
Source: Business Journal
