China's elite business schools are climbing the charts, but officials at the Wharton School say they have no reason to worry.
To meet the growing demands of China's burgeoning economy, top Chinese business schools -- like Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai -- are adopting models from U.S. business schools.
"China is working very hard to increase the caliber of its business schools," said Thomas Caleel, director of Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid.
And though some in the industry fear that Chinese programs will threaten American business schools, Wharton professors say they expect to remain at the top.
To date, 36 percent of students in Wharton's MBA program come from outside the United States, a portion which Wharton professors say demonstrates the school's international appeal.
While Wharton officials acknowledge that growth in China has turned their attention eastward, China's developing business schools cannot compete with Penn's own.
Prospective applications to Wharton's graduate programs, Caleel and Management and Sociology professor Marshall Meyer say, should not decrease.
"It's conceivable that some Chinese business schools will attract a few U.S. and Western students, but the numbers are going to be fairly small," Meyer said. "For right now, I think the impact on leading U.S. business schools will be imperceptible."
The uptick in the quality of China's business schools correlates with an overall rise in demand for business executives there.
McKinsey & Co., a management consulting firm, estimates that China will require 75,000 top-level executives with global experience by 2010. This is about 70,000 more than it has now. This has caused some business school professors to wonder if those future executives will be educated domestically or opt to travel to the United States.
And with the similarities between Chinese and American business schools growing, the case for staying in China has gotten stronger. Course materials, classes and subject matter are becoming more matched. across the two countries. Even some teachers are modeling their classrooms after those at elite American business schools, according to a Business Week study published this week.
Still, China's business schools have a way to go before they reach Wharton on the ranking charts.
In 2005, the Financial Times ranked Wharton and the Harvard Business School as the best in the world. The China Europe International Business School ranked 22nd.
With their concerns about competition seemingly nonexistant, Wharton officials say they see China's growth as a window for collaboration.
"It's an opportunity, not a threat," said Marshall Meyer, Management and Sociology professor at Wharton. "We need to learn about China, and China needs to learn about us. If we engage the Chinese business schools through student exchanges, faculty exchanges, collaborative research and the like, then we will advance knowledge and learning, which is our mission."
Caleel echoed this sentiment, calling business a "global endeavor."
The exchange works both ways. Professors and students alike can benefit from spending time in China, Wharton professors say. Time abroad enhances research and provides hands-on lessons about Chinese custom and culture -- lessons important for MBA students in order to ensure that they understand China's growing influence, they add.
