"We should never seek instant success and quick profits, but put our eyes on the future," says Professor Qian Yingyi, dean of the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University (Tsinghua SEM).

China's buzzing economy has created enormous demand for well-trained managers, which has triggered a slew of new business schools to pop up throughout the country. These schools, most of which are less than 20 years old, have rushed to establish business programs, often charging high tuition fees.

China's Ministry of Education authorized nine domestic universities to launch Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs in 1991. Today, there are about 100 universities and colleges providing MBA courses, many of which have adopted the US model wholesale. A large number of the programs have been criticized as being uncompetitive and unhelpful for graduates in China's job market.

Qian says Tsinghua SEM is trying to build its program slowly, and not focus too much on marketing and commercial rankings. He says this approach will make for a world-class business school in the long run.

Need for talent

Qian believes that currently Chinese business schools must figure out what skills they need to equip their graduates with for success in China.

"Our business education needs to create talented people in economics and management who understand both rules of the market economy and the particular circumstances of Chinese enterprises," Qian says. He adds that this idea was advocated by Professor Zhu Rongji, the first dean of Tsinghua SEM and former Chinese Premier.

"Chinese business education also needs to create talented managers that can compete in the global market," Qian says. "Globalization is speeding up and China is more and more involved in world business. So we need to produce well-trained managers and business leaders that can win in the global game."

Qian says Tsinghua SEM has made significant progress in building itself into a world-class business school.

1

2

3

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)