Olin’s EMBA program named best in mainland China

The Washington University-Fudan University Executive MBA program retained its distinction as one of the top 10 Executive MBA programs in the world, ranking eighth worldwide, and first in mainland China for the third year in a row, according to the 2008 rankings released late last month by the Financial Times.

“Looking across all the aspects measured by the Financial Times, one of the things that comes through is just how broad the strength of the program is,” said Patrick Moreton, Ph.D., associate dean and managing director of the Olin EMBA program based in Shanghai. “It has both great faculty and great students.”

The Olin program’s faculty ranked among the most internationally diverse and 13th world-wide in terms of research contributions.

The Financial Times’ rankings are based on two surveys: one by alumni who graduated three years ago and another by the business schools. Current salaries for the Olin EMBA-Shanghai alumni ranked fourth in the world after adjusting for differences in purchasing power parity. A fact that testifies to “continuing high demand for internationally trained professional managers in China,” Moreton said.

James Little, Ph.D., the Donald Danforth Jr. Distinguished Professor of Business and the program’s academic director since its inception, said the program takes great pride in its world-class professors. “Their combined wealth of academic vision and practical experiences are essential in helping today’s best managers grow into the global leaders we will need to solve the most pressing issues of our economy and society,” Little said.

Established in 2002, the Olin EMBA-Shanghai program was among the first U.S.-Sino joint MBA degree programs. It attracts about 75 percent of its students from China and is designed to prepare Chinese managers for global executive positions.

The joint venture also provides valuable international experience for Olin’s St. Louis-based EMBA students, who spend two weeks in China working and studying with their Chinese counterparts. The Shanghai-based students also will travel to St. Louis in December for a final joint session before graduation.

Lu Xiongwen, Ph.D., professor and dean of the School of Management at Fudan University, Olin’s Chinese partner, welcomed the program’s high rankings and success.

“Every time we achieve one step forward on our path to progress, it is because we are more than willing to learn from the world’s top business schools, in terms of systemic knowledge and up-to-date theories,” he said.

In St. Louis, Mahendra Gupta, Ph.D., dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management, praised the faculty, students and alumni of the EMBA program on their well-deserved recognition.

“Our mission worldwide is to create new knowledge, inspire individuals and transform business,” Gupta said.

“To achieve our mission, we need to be consistently excellent so that we attract the best faculty and students. The continued success of our joint program with the School of Management at Fudan University is a testimony to how committed to excellence both partners are,” he said.