Beijing - The Temasek Foundation, a non-profit organization established by Temasek Holdings, Singapore, announced on Thursday to offer another 9.6 million yuan to help improving the MBA education in western China.

This will be the second phase of a program started three years ago, when the foundation provided 12.6 million yuan to train faculties of MBA programs in five schools in western China, with supports from five top MBA programs from the eastern coast.

Goh Geok Khim, chairman of Temasek Foundation, said the second phase will involve more Singapore universities, to further internationalize the program.

Temasek Foundation was established in 2007, with focuses in education, healthcare and research. The foundation is led by a board comprising leaders from the business and community sectors from Singapore and other Asian countries and regions.

Goh explained why he chose to sponsor MBA rather than other educational programs.

"MBA education will help to cultivate more entrepreneurs and executives, who will play an important role in the region's development. Therefore, improving their performances becomes crucial to narrow the gap between the eastern coast and the western regions."

The collaboration was initialed by the School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University three years ago.

Goh said he hopes to reach out for more programs in China in the future, instead of waiting to be approached by Chinese organizations.

Up to now, the foundation has carried out 20 programs including vocational trainings and earthquake relief in China.

Eileen Peacock, vice president of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, Asian Pacific, said this kind of collaboration will also add more fresh cases to the MBA education in the world.

"China is a massively country with huge diversity, and I bet there will be new topics we have never touched before. Previously, maybe the learning direction is on-way from the West to China, but now China is providing a lot to the west."

Tong Yunhuan, secretary-general of China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee, agreed with Peacock. He said although the MBA concept is imported from the west, the management skills are not solid science but are closely related to different cultures.

"I hope we can also contribute to the world based on China's experiences."