System to offer accreditation for MBA programs

In recent years, more than 20,000 students have been recruited into MBA programs in China each year.

"Once we were for the chosen few," said an unnamed education expert in one of the Guangming Daily articles. "Now we are offering our program like a discount item in the mass market."

Some short-term training courses have been offered in the guise of MBA programs and then turned out to be mere moneymaking schemes. Such programs have tarnished MBA education in China, Tong said.

That makes it all the more necessary, Tong said, to emphasize on the criteria schools must meet, to insist on standards being upheld, to share information and to establish an evaluation system by borrowing practices from recognized MBA accreditation systems from around the world.

Eileen Peacock, senior vice-president and chief officer with the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (Asia Pacific), said five institutions on the mainland have been accredited by the association and another 11 in are in different stages of obtaining that distinction.

"China's MBA education essentially follows the American model," Peacock said. "There are many international alliances between schools which enhance the efforts toward globalization."

She said the association's process takes into account peer reviews, promotes collaboration and learning opportunities and opens up opportunities for schools to establish global partnerships.

Peking University's Guanghua School of Management is in the last stage of gaining accreditation from the association, according to Mo Shujun, director of the school's international relations office. She said the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (Asia Pacific) requires a business school to have "really clear logic" about its management - about what strategies it has to follow to accomplish its goals.

She said Guanghua is working to strengthen its relations with international accreditation systems, saying such systems are well-established and widely recognized in the world.

Guanghua and eight other schools on the mainland have already received accreditation from the European Quality Improvement System, another accreditation system for business schools.

"Although Guanghua is in no hurry to attain domestic accreditation, I think the new standard will help improve business schools' services across the country, especially for schools that are not yet ready for international accreditation," Mo said.

Despite the doubts about the quality of MBA programs, few people disagree with the proposition that professional managers will be widely needed at a time when the country's market economy is flourishing.

A recent article on MBAChina.com, a Chinese website, said the salaries of MBA holders will increase in accordance with the demand for managerial talent in China.