Zhu Xiaoming is proud that the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) is a business schoolto have all three core programs (MBA, EMBA and Executive Education) to be on the top business school list of the Financial Times. “We position CEIBS as an incubator for excellent business leaders.We are committed to building it into a business school deeply rooted in Chinabut with global impact.” said, Zhu, its Executive President.

Q: What makes CEIBS different from other business schools in China?

A: CEIBS was established in 1994 as a joint project between the Chinese government and the European Union. Being international is the biggest characteristic of our school, not only in the sense of faculty and curriculums, but also in enrollment and career development services. We do many case studies and allow students to evaluate the teaching effectiveness of professors, which is an international practice. Besides, CEIBS is among the first to participate in the international business school rankings and accreditations. Our goal is to combine international standard and Chinese culture and to build one of the best business schools in China.

Q: As a business school closely connected to the European Union, what’s special for CEIBS?

A: The EU is one of the two co-founders of CEIBS. Through connection with the EU, CEIBS has attracted a large number of professors and corporate sponsors from Europe. We have 2 presidents and 2 vice-presidents at CEIBS. Among them, one president and one vice president come from Europe.We are also a must-visit place for many European leaders and businessmen. Recently Romano Prodi, former president of the European Commission, was appointed as CEIBS “EU Chair of China-European Dialogue”.

Q: How many students do you enroll every year?

A: We enroll about 180 MBA students every year, with 37 percent of international students on average in recent years; while the annual enrollment of our EMBA (Executive Master of Business Administration) program is about 750 students in recent years, including one international class. MBA students are young managers or professionals, averaging 29 years old in recent years, while EMBA students are 39 on average, mostly CEOs or general managers.

We have various scholarships for our students, including one for students from the less-developed regions in China. This year, 22 newly enrolled international students received our scholarship.

Q: Many business schools claim that they are not earning any profit. What do you think?

A: Most business schools are not for profit. In the US, business schools highly depend on donations. For example, Harvard Business School Foundation has accumulated a USD 1.9 billion donation by the end of 2009, despite its heavy loss in the sub-prime crisis.

The mission of business schools is to enhance management and competence of companies and to cultivate business leaders, which is especially important for China’s future. To better fulfill our mission, we need continuous supports from all parts of the society.

Q: Is CEIBS earning money from its business education?

A: According to our balance sheet, we just have a slim surplus. In the long term, we are still under financial pressure because we need to recruit more professors. At present, we have only a quarter of the number of professors that HarvardBusinessSchoolhas, though the total teaching hours at HBS and CEIBS are basically the same. In addition, we need to put much more money into research, which means a lot to the future of CEIBS.

We charge RMB 258,000 of tuition fee for Chinese MBA students, while USD 48,000 for international MBA students of the 2010 intake. As for our EMBA program, the tuition fee for the Chinese class is RMB 398,000 and RMB 458,000 for International EMBA in 2010. It is not only lower than that of American and European business schools, but also lower than Hong Kong’s. Ourtuition fee is a little bit higher than that of the MBA programs in local universities, but we are hiring many world-renowned professors, most of whom have overseas doctorates and teaching experiences.

Q: What can you do to make Chinese companies more competitive?

A: Quite a few companies focus too much on technology but little on management.Starbucks and McDonalds enter the top 500 companies list in the world, not for their advanced technology but for their business models, strategies and management skills.

For a long time, Chinese companies paid more attention to cost reduction than innovation and branding. Now with more and more Chinese companies going global, cross-cultural management is becoming one of the biggest challenges for those Chinese companies. By introducing the cutting-edge management theories, we can improve the management skills of the Chinese companies.

Q: CEIBS is a business school to have all three core programs(MBA, EMBA and Executive Education) on the “top business school” list done by the Financial Times. What makes CEIBS stand out?

A: The ranking by the Financial Times is one of the most authoritative in the world and CEIBS has been on the list for nine years since 2001. It measures the placement rate and salary increase of students after they graduate from the business school, and also evaluate teaching and research of professors. Diversity (the percentage of the international students/faculty and female students/faculty) is also an important indicator.

Q: People have a stereotype that business schools do nothing more than awarding a degree to the students, what do you think?

A: To many MBA students, they want to find more career choices through MBA education. At the business school, they can systematically learn strategy, finance, human resources, marketing and operation, as well as analytical and communication skills. In a word, it can pave the way for a better job and help students prepare better for future career growth.

Most EMBA students are already well-established and don’t need a certificate to prove themselves; they are willing to squeeze time to learn because they meet management bottlenecks in their work and find it hard to break through by themselves. Through systematic learning, they can broaden their horizon and learn to manage not by intuition but by management science. Here they can learn not only from their professors, but also from their classmates.

China Daily