The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business this Monday announced that its executive MBA program in China is No. 1 among the “Most Valuable EMBA Programs” jointly ranked by the World Executive Weekly, the Mundell magazine and the World Brand Laboratory. The 3 organizations are subsidiaries of the World Executive Group, an organization established in 1999 and chaired by Nobel Economics laureate Robert A. Mundell.

University of Maryland Professor Thomas C. Schelling, a 2005 Nobel Economics Prize winner, accepted the award honoring the Smith Executive MBA with UIBE program at the “World Executive Summit 2007” in Hong Kong September 20.

Now in its fourth year, criteria for the World Executive Weekly rankings included evaluation of faculty size, quality of education, student profiles, program reputation, student satisfaction and career development opportunities. The World Executive Group is a leading institute specializing in strategic consulting and information research. It is chaired by Mundell, with a board of consultants from world-leading academic institutes.

The Smith School established a partnership with the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) to launch its executive MBA program in 2003 in Beijing followed by the launch of a Shanghai executive MBA program in 2005. Like the Smith School’s domestic executive MBA program, the Smith Executive MBA in China prepares graduates to lead organizations in an economy fueled by technology, globalization and entrepreneurship. More than 120 graduates have completed the China program – which lasts 18-months and is taught in English by professors from the Smith School’s U.S. campus. The Smith School consistently scores among the world’s top business school in influential business school rankings. It is ranked No. 5 in the world for research by Financial Times MBA 2007 rankings.