The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) was ranked eighth in the world in 2009. Antai College of Economics & Management (ACEM, part of Shanghai Jiao Tong University) was ranked 41st in 2008, but didn’t make the top 100 in 2009.
Administered by the Ministry of Education, ACEM is a local Chinese business school while CEIBS is a China-based international school, supported by the European Commission and independent of Chinese government control.
Officials at both schools emphasized the advantages afforded by CEIBS' independent status. Interestingly, CEIBS was founded by former ACEM professors, but has achieved global recognition much faster than any other Chinese business school. Steven Ji, senior admissions manager at CEIBS, points to the school’s unique “global management system” and the “international mindset of its people”, as key to its success.
Limited resources and government directives on hiring and admissions hinder state-controlled business schools. They can’t afford to hire the best professors from abroad due to lack of funding and government rules on maximum faculty salaries.
According to a senior administrator at one business school, in order to relieve some of the mounting pressure from rising unemployment earlier this year, the government pressured top business schools, excluding CEIBS, to admit students into their MBA programs directly from undergraduate degrees. The policy was met with widespread opposition from business schools and eventually aborted.
Compared to CEIBS, where 40% of students are from abroad, international students at ACEM make up only 6% of the total and come mostly from other Asian countries rather than Europe or North America. Classes are taught in Mandarin and bicycles belonging to students and staff line the sidewalks around campus.
However according to CEIBS’ Steven Ji, while half the School’s applicants are from overseas, more domestic students are admitted. One reason is that international students find it harder to get jobs in China upon graduation, often contrary to their expectations: “International students tend to have higher salary expectations”, he says.
The average age of students at CEIBS and ACEM is roughly similar; 29 years and 30 years respectively; but at ACEM the majority of students are married while at CEIBS the majority are single.
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