Business Schools Adapt to Changing MBA Market
In an interview with Shanghai Daily, Stephanie Villemagne and Lawrence Chan shares with the media how The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School is leading the response to the latest trends through the launch of a pre-experience master’s in management program and a blended mode of online and offline learning for part-time MBA students.
As industries and technologies rapidly change, many business schools are also adjusting to the new market. CUHK Business School, which pioneered new MBA programmes, is also leading the response to the latest trends through several new programmes, such as a pre-experience master’s in management and a blended mode of online and offline learning, Stephanie Villemagne, Associate Dean (Graduate Programmes) and Director of MBA Programmes, and Lawrence Chan, Administrative Director (Marketing and Student Recruiting) for MBA/Master programmes at CUHK Business School told Shanghai Daily in an interview.
In terms of the changes in students recruited in recent years, Chan indicated that probably five or six years ago, the majority of full-time MBA students targeted to land a job in investment banks; but in the past two or three years, “probably with the launch of our own entrepreneurship studies, we’ve seen a lot of students who are very passionate and highly interested in studying entrepreneurship, with the aim to start their own business, to join the venture capital industry, or to work for start-ups.” As for part-time MBA students, he has noticed the increase in the level of experience. “A lot of employers are looking for leadership. They are not just looking for people who can perform well functionally, such as chairmen and financial managers. They are looking for leaders instead.”
Villemagne said: “The key to any MBA programme is to respond to the needs and shifts of the market. We are looking at what employers want four to five years from now. Twenty years from now. Digital disruption is huge. We are adding courses like big data and artificial intelligence. It’s about understanding the trends of the next 10 years or so, being able to answer the needs of the recruiters.”
CUHK Business School plans to launch a pre-experience master’s in management programme this fall. Villemagne said: “I think the world has been shifted from undergraduates to postgraduates in terms of recruitment. Recruiters want more skills and more training.”
“The young undergraduates just don’t quite yet have the required skills to get jobs at the level the employers want. And the recruiters on the other side also want more specialization and more profile, or at least a business acumen,” added Villemagne.
Regarding the flex mode of learning with 50/50 blend of traditional and online instruction for part-time MBA students, Chan told Shanghai Daily that “[Part-time students] usually treasure their career, and things are moving fast. They don’t want to quit their jobs and so we cut down the time for face-to-face classes but instead we place high quality and interactive online video lectures.”… Read More (PDF)
On 17 March 2017, Villemagne and Chan were interviewed by three top-tier media outlets in Shanghai, including China Business News, Jiemian and Shanghai Daily.
Please also click the image below to view the print coverage.
Source: Shanghai Daily
Date published: 28 March, 2017
