Despite reports of a glut of MBAs in the job market and recent graduates from the US having problems finding jobs when they get back to Taiwan, National Taiwan University (NTU) is increasing the English offerings in its MBA program.
Other universities have English courses in their MBA programs, but NTU's main competition comes from National Chengchi University's (NCCU) reputable College of Commerce, which started its International MBA program five years ago.
According to professor Chou Seng-cho (曹承礎), who is in charge of developing the English content for NTU's MBA program, the university felt it needed to become more "internationalized," and inviting foreign MBA students seemed like a good way to do that.
"The country has been very slow in internationalizing things such as MBAs. NTU is the first to be serious about creating an international environment for its students," Chou said.
In the program's first year, which the university has been treating as a trial run, 10 overseas students attended the courses in English. For the forthcoming academic year, the university has received 80 applications from foreign students, not including those counted as overseas Chinese, and it expects to accept 40 of them.
Chou emphasized that the goal of introducing English into the MBA program was to improve the learning environment at NTU.
"We thought it was important to create a better environment for our students, to broaden their view and see things beyond Taiwan," Chou said. "An important ingredient is the foreign students, who can benefit, too. This is good for our students, good for our school and good for our country," he added.
In fact, there is no separate English MBA program at NTU, but courses originally offered only in Chinese are now being offered in English. When students graduate, they get the MBA certificate, plus a certificate demonstrating that they have completed the courses in English. The university is relying mainly on its existing faculty to offer English courses. The vast majority of them have doctorates from US universities. Last year, two professors from overseas universities served as lecturers for the MBA program, and Chou says more are planned for the upcoming year.
The program also offers electives that are only available in English, including High and New Technology Investment and Accounting Workshops for High-tech Business and E-Business. The university works with corporations such as McDonald's and Citibank to offer special courses. Chou said that many of the university's professors have connections with local companies that do business in China.
"Quite a few of these professors visit China and give lectures and frequently exchange ideas with professors in China," he said.
English Instruction
When asked about the program's possible shortcomings, Chou said that compared to US business schools, some of the faculty and local students are not yet ready to deliver or receive instruction in English. Even so, the program provides 40 courses in English, and the university gives incentives to its professors to offer more.
Chou said that NTU's reputation meant that local graduates rarely had problems finding jobs. The entrance requirements are quite lax, and although the school has a code for GMAT, the test required for most MBA candidates in the US, NTU doesn't require applicants to take the test.
RSS