上海日报—专题报道复旦MBA项目

 “Down to the details, we hope our graduates are talents who have no language barriers, no cultural barriers and no major barriers,” Pan said.

The program also features a cross-cultural communication course which helps MBA students learn different characteristics of companies of different countries. For example, a professor specialized in French literature will be invited to give a speech on French people’s characters while a manager from Carrefour, a French firm, will also be invited to introduce their business culture.

 At international class, about half the students are foreigners from Asia, Europe and America. The teachers are also diversified in nationalities from nine countries across the continents.

 “I think the program is well-organized. It’s really international with students from all of the world sharing experience,” Vujisic said. “I want to learn to become a manager. They will help me a lot with my future job.”

 Every year, there are about 5,000 MBA graduates in Shanghai, accounting for only 10 percent of the total number in China. Compared to the soaring number of MBA programs throughout China, universities in Shanghai concerned more on the quality of MBA programs.

 In 1991 when China first allowed nine universities to develop MBA programs, Shanghai-based FudanUniversity and ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity were among the pioneers.

 Now, 12 universities are granted with MBA programs in Shanghai, and nationally, the number was 236, according to the latest data in 2010.

 “Shanghai’s MBA market is relatively stable in recruitment, compared to some western area where the number of MBA students grows at 20 percent every year,” said Sun Long, director of FudanUniversity’s MBACenter.

 “In our school, we didn’t see an obvious increase in the number of students,” Sun said.

 FudanUniversity has five MBA programs including three part-time ones. Over the 20 years, it has been insisting in cultivate general management leaders without requiring student to choose a major field.

 “We believe our students already have skills in a professional field and the courses are merely to help them expand management thoughts with focus on leadership and entrepreneurship,” Sun said.

 One special course is called “I-lab” which is designed for students to practice real cases and offer consulting services to companies’ real needs. The university is also well-known for its rich alumni sources and networks which help students at school to get closer to the real commercial world and get help from their predecessors.

 Sun said FudanUniversity witnessed an increase in the number of foreign students which accounts for 18 percent of the current total number of MBA students at school.

 “Overseas students are getting much more interested in China. They want to figure out why China develops so fast these days,” Sun said.

 “Shanghai is a popular choice for them to experience the business in the Yangtze River delta region, which is the one of the most proactive regions in foreign trade in China,” Sun said.

 One thing that almost all the Chinese universities seem to agree today is that they don’t want to copy the western MBA education but seek for Chinese characteristic MBA education to satisfy the need of Chinese companies, especially private firms.

 “Shanghai has nearly 1.13 million registered companies and the number grows at 5 percent every year. If each company needs an MBA, the demand is very huge,” said Chen Jianke, an official with ShanghaiJiaoTongUniversity’s MBACenter.

 Chen said MBA graduates didn’t have a good career development in private Chinese firms before as the employers thought MBA graduates couldn’t help them solve the real problems.

 “Study cases in MBA courses were all about foreign companies in the past. Students could hardly put what they have learnt into practice,” Chen said. Chen called for localized courses so that MBA students can become the type of management talents that Chinese companies want.

Overall, MBA graduates had a great leap on their income after completing the MBA courses. For students graduated in 2007 at FudanUniversity, their average annual income was US$80,000 three years after graduation, an increase of 150% compared to their former payment, said Sun.

 “Shanghai offers plenty of job opportunities for capable Chinese and foreign MBAs,” Sun said. “The city has huge potentials and need business leaders with a good understanding of the Chinese market.”