Top MBA program is tailor-made for Made in China 2025 strategy

The full-time China Leaders for Global Operations MBA program - offered by the Antai College of Economics and Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University - will train participants with both managerial and engineering knowledge tailor made for the Made in China 2025 strategy.

The program is jointly operated by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and leading multinational companies. It is the first of its kind that covers both management and engineering courses in China.

According to ACEM, the program has made a significant contribution to supporting the development of China's manufacturing industry since its establishment in 2007.

Some of its graduates are taking key management positions in leading manufacturing businesses.

The program is also making a name for itself with the design of its practical and real case-based courses.

All engineering management classes in the CLGO program are presented by professors from the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

The program is specifically designed so students without a strong engineering background can understand the content.

Xiong Zhenhua, deputy dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said some courses have the same name as those offered by the School of Mechanical Engineering, but the content differed.

"Courses presented in engineering schools at Shanghai Jiao Tong University are targeting professionals more, while courses presented in the CLGO program have wider coverage," Xiong said.

"The CLGO is providing more knowledge about management and teaches students how to consider problems from the angle of a business operation."

Dong Ming, deputy dean of Antai College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said that all the CLGO teachers, from ACEM, the School of Mechanical Engineering and the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, were trained by MIT and learned its teaching models and concepts.

Lai Yu, who graduated in 2011, is a fan of CLGO's teaching model. Lai said students had to preview about 100 pages of English-language course materials, to understand the cases put forward by professors in class.

"Although the learning process is tight and some content takes time to understand, the program provided a big boost to my industrial knowledge and skills," Lai said.

Acting as a bridge

Students in the CLGO program have more opportunities to interact with companies.

Businesses participate in the admissions interviewing stage, so CLGO selects the most suitable students for its program, and it allows companies to better understand students so as to offer them suitable internship opportunities.

The program has partnered with many multinationals including China International Marine Containers (Group) Co, Esquel Group, Dell, Honeywell and Johnson & Johnson. The program also obtains support from companies including Cisco.

Dong said the program hosts two meetings every year, during which companies provide feedback on the program, so ACEM can upgrade its education system continuously.

In addition, the course has launched several projects to improve students' practical skills. Those projects allow students to have in-depth understanding about the complexity of business operations and meet up with the senior management of companies.

After spending three semesters immersed in studies and practice, students are offered an internship position in an leading industrial company.

Professors from ACEM and two engineering schools at Shanghai Jiao Tong University form a team to support a student's internship. Students who perform especially well get the chance to be hired.

Chen Xiaorong, who is in charge of the CLGO program, said that some companies even provide supporting funds for interns, which is rarely seen in other programs. That, added Chen, also reflects how they rated the CLGO's importance.

Serving more needs

CLGO is not only a platform for elites in manufacturing companies, but also meets the needs of the owners and operators of startups. Ye Jianqing, a CLGO graduate, launched a startup business before taking on the MBA program. Ye said some classmates became close friends and supported the development of his business. The program also helped him change his way of thinking.

"In previous years, I managed my business by focusing on technical problems. Now I've learned to take more elements into consideration," he said.

According to Antai's Dong Ming, the program's operators have updated its content to keep pace with China's new industrial upgrading in digitalization, big data and service-oriented manufacturing, among other areas over the past few years.

The program, initially designed to train more manufacturing industry business leaders, has broad coverage in data analysis and service management.

Some graduates who finally chose to engage themselves in industries such as services and business operations also found it to be helpful. The program has trained a large number of professionals in logistics management and e-commerce industries, according to Antai.

Teaching professionals

CLGO program's operators believe that people who can multitask will be in demand in job markets in China. As a result, the program's operators have long been committed to training professionals to have not only a good knowledge of core technologies, but also the ability to apply suitable business models to daily management.

"People in the manufacturing industry, who have no idea about business operations, cannot support the long-term development of a business," Chen said.

"Managers have to consider how to design better production systems, how to better allocate resources and how to achieve mass customization to create more value."

(China Daily 12/11/2017 page7)