The Financial Times released its 2006 rankings of international Executive M.B.A. programs and the Washington University-Fudan University E.M.B.A. Program was ranked No. 8 in the world and first in mainland China.
This is the first time that the joint educational venture between the Olin School of Business and Shanghai-based Fudan University’s School of Management appeared in the Financial Times rankings. The rankings debut represents a significant step forward for both the program and its two partner schools.
The Washington University-Fudan University E.M.B.A. program was among the first U.S.-Sino joint E.M.B.A. programs in China and is the first to participate in the widely followed annual E.M.B.A. program rankings by the Financial Times. The program is based in Shanghai and runs for 18 months.
Students graduating from the program earn an AACSB-accredited M.B.A. from WUSTL. The degree is also recognized by the Chinese Ministry of Education because of the relationship with Fudan University.
The program is a highly collaborative joint venture in every sense. Its curriculum, taught entirely in English, is based on Olin’s E.M.B.A. program that is offered to executives in the United States. However, it also incorporates the dual instructor and the once-a-month, four-day teaching model that Fudan’s School of Management developed for some of its other joint venture programs.
“Our Shanghai program’s format and teaching approach draws on the best that both schools have to offer,” said Jim Little, Ph.D., academic director of the Shanghai-E.M.B.A. program and professor of finance and economics at Olin.
“It provides an international management education experience, with a lively discussion between the students and faculty that helps to prepare our China-based managers for regional and global positions in international companies.”
Similarly, the program plays an important role in Olin’s E.M.B.A. program. Shanghai-based students work with St. Louis-based students when the latter are in Shanghai for a one-week international residency.
Ken Bardach, associate dean for executive education at Olin comments “As the program in Shanghai has developed, we have increasingly looked to it as a key resource in the training we give to U.S.-based managers. Having a sister program in Shanghai allows us to provide a front-row seat for our U.S. students to the extraordinary economic development we see in China, preparing our students to manage on a global platform.”
Faculties at both universities said the Financial Times rankings verify the strength of the program, its students and faculty. Olin Dean Mahendra Gupta, Ph.D., also the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, said: “Since the beginning of our partnership with Fudan University, we have been impressed by the caliber of the executives in China who have participated in our program. Their quality matches up extremely well with our world-class faculty. The strong performance of the program in this year’s annual rankings simply confirms what we have been seeing since the beginning — the program offers executives an opportunity to study in China with an outstanding faculty and the brightest, fast-track managers we can find.”
Lu Xiongwen, dean of the Fudan School of Management, says the program has been equally worthwhile for the Shanghai university. “We are, of course, pleased by the strong showing of our joint venture program with Washington University in St. Louis, but we are not surprised. Fudan University has been a leader in management education in China since early in its history.
“Our decision to participate in the Financial Times‘ annual rankings this year should be taken as a signal of the confidence we have in the program and the strength of our partnership with Washington University in St. Louis.”
Little, who has taught in China since 1983, says the joint venture is just as beneficial to Olin’s faculty as it is to the program’s participants.
“Most of the Olin faculty in the program have come to China to teach four or five times since the beginning of the program,” he said. “They often work with the same Fudan faculty member each year. They now have a lot of experience with the issues that the managers here in China face and are able to show the students how to apply the internationally accepted theories and concepts to these problems.
“At the same time, they are truly at the forefront of their fields as researchers and bring the very best science here to China. We think that the approach produces managers that are prepared to work anywhere in the world.”