Testing times ahead for executives as common entrance exam looms

Hu Junyi, in his late 30s, general manager of a steel trading company in Shanghai, has made up his mind to apply for a place on an executive MBA or EMBA course this year.

His decision stands in spite of the fact that all candidates will need to take the stricter nationwide common entrance test to get admitted into an EMBA program starting 2017. In the past, business schools were free to administer their own tests to applicants.

The common entrance test is not Hu's major concern though. What bothers him instead is the prospect that he may end up sitting in the classroom discussing projects with much younger students whose work experience may be different from his own.