The supply and demand principles of economics tell us prices that go up will one day come down.

But there is no rule without exceptions, certainly in the world of business education, where tuitions at Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programs are increasingly pricy.

Early this year Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (Cheung Kong GSB) hiked tuition for its well-regarded EMBA program to 528,000 yuan, making it the most expensive.

The price tag may have shocked some applicants, but the decision was in line with the general trend in the nation's business schools.

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) recently announced it would raise its EMBA tuition next year to 398,000 yuan, an increase of 40 percent compared to 1995.

Renmin University of China will also increase tuition to 360,000 yuan from its current 280,000 yuan, while Nankai University's EMBA will skyrocket from 98,000 yuan to 268,000 yuan.

China authorized EMBA programs in 2002 and the past seven years witnessed extraordinary growth in the number of schools and enrollment.

Institutions certified to offer EMBA education have increased to 62 from the initial 30, with more than 100 advanced business programs now on the market.

According to education departments, annual EMBA enrollment has risen to 15,000 students.

But even as supply increased, tuition costs continued to spiral upwards, increasing on average 45 percent over the past seven years, with the country's top-ranked schools now charging more than 300,000 yuan per person.

What's more, business school insiders believe that there is still much room for increase in EMBA charges.