The Financial Times held a forum in Beijing last week entitled ‘Innovation in Education’. The forum brought together industry leaders from the educational, technological and financial sectors to discuss the transformation of China’s education system.
The highly-respected Professor Zhu Ning, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, was invited to share his professional opinions as a panellist alongside experts from KMPG China, Intel, PwC China and IBM.
The Innovation in Education forum looked at the necessary steps that need to be taken to develop the human capital to fuel the meteoric economic growth in China. The forum focused on government initiatives, the substantial financial opportunities for investors in vocational education and the boom in business education.
The concept of business education barely existed in China 30 years ago but there are now 232 accredited MBA and EMBA programs in China. These schools are meeting the demand for business education which reflects the fast growth of the Chinese economy. A new Chinese business elite are emerging and they need the education to accompany their success.
Overseas business schools are also flocking to China, keen to get in on the action and take their share of the market by collaborating with local business schools. On this issue academics from top Chinese business schools asked whether these joint ventures (combined local and international programs) met the demands of the market and whether these MBA degree holders could really make a difference as professional managers.
Presiding over the four panel discussions was Jamil Anderlini, China Bureau Chief of the Financial Times.
The first panel discussion was entitled ‘Effective Education for Employment: How can skills training be matched to the future needs of a fast-growing economy?’ The panel ruminated over the statistic that around a quarter of the 6.5 million university graduates produced by China last year could not find permanent employment even in the face of rapid economic growth. The panel also asked whether the education system was focusing on developing specific skills that China needs to build up its talent base as the structure of its economy evolves.
The second discussion asked ‘Latest Advances In Technology: Can education and skills training be made more effective?’ China has seen a rapid expansion in distance learning due to its large population spread across a vast country with diverse wealth levels. But has the quality of education suffered?
The third panel discussion was ‘Opening Up To Investors: Opportunities in vocational education and training as China’s reforms accelerate.’ With the demand for vocational education and skills training set to rise sharply there is an emerging market of opportunities for private sector investors. Panellists debated whether the government were taking the right measures to encourage private investment. Will foreign investors be allowed to invest independently in this sector or will they continue to have to establish joint ventures? What are the different options for private equity firms, fund managers and direct corporate investors? How competitive is the market becoming and what does this mean for valuations?
The final forum asked ‘Business education: Exploding in China, but does it provide the most effective programmes for employment?’ With successful Chinese companies now rivalling multinationals in attracting top graduates is the business education appropriate. They asked ‘Is Western best practice sufficient? Are the potential manafers that graduate from MBA programmers specialised enough for China’s new economy or more suited to jobs abroad?’
Professor Zhu Ning is Deputy Director and Professor of Finance at the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, a fellow at the Yale University International Center for Finance, and a Special Term Professor of Finance at University of California, Davis and at Guanghua School of Management at Beijing University. Prior to coming back to Asia, he was a tenured Professor of Finance at University of California. Professor Zhu is an expert on behavioral finance, investments, corporate finance, and the Asian financial markets. He was clearly well placed to talk eruditely on business education in China.
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