Fudan University dean criticizes Beijing over eMBA rules

The dean of China’s oldest business school has accused recently implemented ministry of education controls of strangling the country’s executive education sector just as it is garnering global approval. Rules were introduced by the government in Beijing less than a year ago requiring all candidates for the executive MBA – a part-time course taken by people in their 30s – to take the same entrance exam as the full-time intake, who are a decade or more younger. The number of people judged able to study for an eMBA across China has since dropped to 2,500, down from 10,000 last year. Xiongwen Lu, dean of Fudan University’s School of Management, branded the exam setting “unreasonable and irrational” in an interview with the Financial Times. “Students [of the eMBA] don’t have time to prepare,” Prof Lu said. “It is harmful for high-end business education and it hurts the talent development for business and the economy.”