As the popularity of MBAs grows, so do students' fees
By Even Liang |
June 26, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DOMESTIC business schools have started competition for MBA students for the 2013 session, though this year's newly admitted students haven't entered campus yet.
Apart from new recruitment strategies and admission plans, most universities plan to raise tuition fees for the MBA course next year. The most expensive courses are expected to exceed 200,000 yuan (US$31,467) for the first time and the second-tier program tuition will rise above 100,000 yuan in general.
In comparison, fees of the top-tier MBA programs barely exceeded 100,000 yuan in 2007. Tuition fees have nearly doubled in the past six years, making the course a luxury product to most Chinese.
Most business schools attribute the price hike to the rising cost to maintain the best facilities.
But schools say the Chinese MBA programs are still very good value for money compared with some US MBA programs, which cost more than US$100,000.
"The pace of tuition increase will be slower in future," said Zhou Lin, dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Antai College of Economics and Management.
"The Chinese MBA programs were very cheap at the start," he said. "That's why prices have risen quickly in recent years."
Despite skyrocketing fees, the application volume to MBA programs keeps expanding stably amid the rising Chinese economy and increasing demand for high-end management professionals.
Antai interviewed 2,500 applicants this year, almost 40 percent up compared with last year. The number of applicants to Fudan University's School of Management has remained at around 4,000 annually in recent years.
Apart from the increasing number of applicants, the quality of MBA students has improved as business schools reform their admissions systems to attract the best professionals with rich working experience, schools said.
Business schools now hold interviews before the national entrance examination and lowered the written test requirement to attract entrepreneurs and managers who may be too busy to prepare for the written test.
Moreover, schools prolong the validity period for the written exam to grant students more opportunities. In Antai, the written test score is valid for two years.
Under the new admissions system, the average working and management experience among students has increased significantly.
The average age of Antai's students for the 2012 session was almost 32, about three years older than four years ago. Some 80 percent of students are mid-level managers and nearly 10 percent of students have set up their own firms.
At Fudan's School of Management, the number of applicants with overseas study experience is up 30 percent this year.
The average working experience of part-time MBA students is 7.3 years and 4.2 years for full-time students.
To attract the elites across the country, local business schools provide transportation subsidies to non-local students and hold out-of-town promotion fairs.
For the 2012 session, almost 70 percent of Fudan MBA students come from outside Shanghai. Antai will add three out-of-town interview centers in three cities to benefit non-local applicants and it will provide up to 800 yuan in travel subsidies to out-of-town interviewees this year.
Schools have also increased their scholarship programs to attract high-quality professionals amid the tuition fee rise.
Antai will offer scholarship to 60 percent students next year. Moreover, the school has set up a 20-million yuan fund to help students start up their own firms.
Antai surveyed MBA students and found that 60 percent have an entrepreneurship dream, though only 8 percent have set up their own enterprises so far.
Apart from new recruitment strategies and admission plans, most universities plan to raise tuition fees for the MBA course next year. The most expensive courses are expected to exceed 200,000 yuan (US$31,467) for the first time and the second-tier program tuition will rise above 100,000 yuan in general.
In comparison, fees of the top-tier MBA programs barely exceeded 100,000 yuan in 2007. Tuition fees have nearly doubled in the past six years, making the course a luxury product to most Chinese.
Most business schools attribute the price hike to the rising cost to maintain the best facilities.
But schools say the Chinese MBA programs are still very good value for money compared with some US MBA programs, which cost more than US$100,000.
"The pace of tuition increase will be slower in future," said Zhou Lin, dean of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Antai College of Economics and Management.
"The Chinese MBA programs were very cheap at the start," he said. "That's why prices have risen quickly in recent years."
Despite skyrocketing fees, the application volume to MBA programs keeps expanding stably amid the rising Chinese economy and increasing demand for high-end management professionals.
Antai interviewed 2,500 applicants this year, almost 40 percent up compared with last year. The number of applicants to Fudan University's School of Management has remained at around 4,000 annually in recent years.
Apart from the increasing number of applicants, the quality of MBA students has improved as business schools reform their admissions systems to attract the best professionals with rich working experience, schools said.
Business schools now hold interviews before the national entrance examination and lowered the written test requirement to attract entrepreneurs and managers who may be too busy to prepare for the written test.
Moreover, schools prolong the validity period for the written exam to grant students more opportunities. In Antai, the written test score is valid for two years.
Under the new admissions system, the average working and management experience among students has increased significantly.
The average age of Antai's students for the 2012 session was almost 32, about three years older than four years ago. Some 80 percent of students are mid-level managers and nearly 10 percent of students have set up their own firms.
At Fudan's School of Management, the number of applicants with overseas study experience is up 30 percent this year.
The average working experience of part-time MBA students is 7.3 years and 4.2 years for full-time students.
To attract the elites across the country, local business schools provide transportation subsidies to non-local students and hold out-of-town promotion fairs.
For the 2012 session, almost 70 percent of Fudan MBA students come from outside Shanghai. Antai will add three out-of-town interview centers in three cities to benefit non-local applicants and it will provide up to 800 yuan in travel subsidies to out-of-town interviewees this year.
Schools have also increased their scholarship programs to attract high-quality professionals amid the tuition fee rise.
Antai will offer scholarship to 60 percent students next year. Moreover, the school has set up a 20-million yuan fund to help students start up their own firms.
Antai surveyed MBA students and found that 60 percent have an entrepreneurship dream, though only 8 percent have set up their own enterprises so far.
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