Business schools set to feel the pinch of tighter regulation from next year
After 14 years of rapid and unfettered growth in China, executive MBA or EMBA courses offered by Chinese universities will come under tighter regulation from the end of this year.
Earlier this month, the China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee announced on its website that starting next year, all Chinese EMBA applicants will be required to take the national postgraduate entrance examination.
Beginning Dec 1, universities will no longer be allowed to conduct their own EMBA entrance tests.
EMBA enrollments will be subject to relevant admission criteria set by the Ministry of Education and will have to conform with the national policies concerned, according to the committee.
Tuition fees for all MBA programs will be collected in strict accordance with current regulations.
In addition, the new rule also requires stricter supervision of class attendance, performance reviews, theses and award of degrees.
Corrupt practices like lowering standards for granting academic degrees, outright purchase of degrees, and sightseeing in the name of study tours or visiting scholar programs, will be forbidden.
In the context of how the new regulation gets implemented, universities and business schools have adopted a wait-and-see approach.
Sun Rui, media relations manager of the School of Management at Fudan University, said it is too early to comment on the possible impact of the new regulation.
The enrollment of EMBA programs this year so far is progressing as usual. Business schools said they have not seen any immediate surge in applicants.
Charles Chen, associate dean and EMBA program director of China Europe International Business School, told China Daily that the institution learned about the new regulation via online channels.
But it has not yet received any official notification and so is unable to comment on how it might affect the recruitment of EMBA students in 2017.
Mark Dreyer, senior communications manager of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, echoed the view. "The situation is still being finalized", so it is hard to comment now.
But some schools did say inquiries about EMBA rose ever since the new regulation was announced.
Pu Shiguo, an adviser for the enrollment to the EMBA programs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said it is better for prospective applicants to act now, for it might be a little bit difficult to take and pass the national entrance exam next year.
"EMBA applicants have to appear for both the written exam and the interview. We offer reference materials and courses before the exams. The admission rate will likely be relatively higher," he said.
