美商学院硕士项目升温 中国学生人满为患.doc

美商学院硕士项目升温 中国学生人满为患当加州大学戴维斯分校(University of California, Davis)的商学院去年启动会计硕士培养项目时，管理层希望能够从附近的大学吸引到有抱负的会计专业学生。然而，他们收到的却是大量对此感兴趣的海外人士的申请：在收到的189份去年秋季入学的申请中，大约三分之二来自中国申请者。该院负责学生事务的院长助理詹姆斯史蒂文斯(James Stevens)说：“坦率地说，我们对蜂拥而至的申请感到震惊在我们看来这就是一个让学生获得一张美国文凭的教育项目而已。”戴维斯这个地方有很多公司。会计、金融以及其它学科的专业硕士学位一般针对刚刚大学毕业的学生，学制一年最近几年在那些希望获得竞争优势和美国经验的中国人中极其吃香。就在传统的工商管理硕士(M.B.A)项目在美国学生中失去吸引力之际，这样的需求为商学院提供了稳定的收入。然而，申请人群的不均衡让很多学校开始在财务目标和让中国及当地学生都感到缺乏生气的课堂体验之间进行权衡，也让学校担心就业率会很低。凯斯西储大学魏德海管理学院(Case Western Reserve Universitys Weatherhead School of Management)银行与金融系主任阿努拉格古普塔(Anurag Gupta)说，与企业一样，商学院“必须与时俱进，顺应市场”。魏德海管理学院目前的金融硕士项目的申请者中，85%以上来自中国，而目前由58名学生组成的班级中，中国人所占比例超过了80%。几年前，该学院在上海启动了一个相同的项目，以均衡其克利夫兰(Cleveland)校区项目的学生多元化水平，同时又能在国外挣到钱。按照学生和学校的说法，在快速发展的中国金融业领域，企业希望新雇员工除了拥有大学文凭以外，还应具备一些高级技能，但并不需要新人拥有M.B.A.毕业生可能具备的那些高级战略层面的技能还有高薪要求。学校称，一张美国文凭还可以让学生更受跨国公司的青睐。2011-2012年度中，近六万中国公民参加了美国管理专业研究生入学考试(Graduate Management Admission Test)，这个数字大约是2007-2008年度的三倍。去年，那些考试成绩报告单中，78%递交给了美国的项目，64%提交给了世界各地的专业硕士学位项目。Patricia Ying Ding是递交申请的学生之一。23岁的Ding在中国本土上的大学，但是在加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)学习过一段时间，她想获得更多在西方的经验。现在她已经就读麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院(MIT Sloan School of Management)的金融硕士项目。Ding所在的班级大约有85%的学生是外国留学生，学院方面表示，那些学生很大一部分来自亚洲。Ding不太确定她班上的人员构成是否是件好事。她说：“我们在一起玩的常常是相同种族的人。”在芝加哥洛约拉大学昆兰商学院(Loyola University Chicagos Quinlan School of Business)攻读金融硕士学位的12名学生中，11名都是外国留学生，其中八名来自中国。这对老师、学生和管理者来说都是个挑战。院长凯瑟琳盖茨(Kathleen A. Getz)说：“当一群学生拥有一些共性而别的学生却没有时，它会改变动态平衡，它会让人产生某种感觉，认为接受教育的是两组不同的学生。”今年秋季，昆兰商学院将开始要求外国留学生修商务沟通和美国课堂惯例方面的课程。为了提高就业率，学院将安排学生参观有意雇佣留学生的公司，并让他们与美国的学生“伙伴”结成对子，以帮助他们适应美国文化。与此同时，加州大学戴维斯分校重新评估了它的软技能培训及就业服务策略，以适应新招会计班中出乎意料的人员构成。比如，管理层正在与沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)等公司的财务部门建立联系，而不是像原先计划的那样只与会计师事务所发展关系，以扩展潜在的工作机会。学生也必须适应。36岁的卡拉萨维纳(Karla Savina)就读于佩珀代因大学格拉齐亚迪奥工商管理学院(Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University)应用金融学项目，是班上57人中的三个美国人之一，她说她了解到了一些中国文化，还说她那些勤奋刻苦的同学对她的学习起到了推动作用，但是他们不熟悉美国式的课堂讨论，这意味着她无法“在课堂上得到我所希望的那种交流”。应用金融学硕士项目的申请量在最近几年急剧增长，差不多完全是因为来自中国的申请增加而引起的。格拉齐亚迪奥工商管理学院2009年秋季招生的应用金融学硕士班收到了158份申请，126份来自中国，去年秋季招生的应用金融学硕士班收到了497份申请，其中471份来自中国。该商学院负责全日制项目的副院长迈克尔威廉姆斯(Michael Williams)说，虽然“学生群体更加多元化会有好处，但我也不能说我们对目前的学生构成完全不满意”。威廉姆斯说佩珀代因大学上海项目的知名度已经让这一项目获益匪浅。他说，强大的社会关系网和校友推荐进一步增强了它的美誉度。然而，一些学校担心，学校成为中国学生或者来自任何一个单一国家的学生的宠儿可能会招致本地和外国学生的反感。圣母大学(University of Notre Dame)、印第安纳大学(Indiana University)和麻省理工学院的商学院都希望通过招收本校的本科生来帮助实现理学硕士班的多元化。昆兰商学院也在商谈创立奖学金的事情，以吸引洛约拉大学的毕业生留在本校。南方卫理公会大学考克斯商学院(Southern Methodist Universitys Cox School of Business)负责研究生项目的副院长马尔奇阿姆斯特朗(Marci Armstrong)说，外国申请者“问了很多有关班级学生构成的问题，他们想要与美国学生一起学习，他们很不情愿身处一个周围都是本国人的班级里”。考克斯商学院最初希望在项目的第二年扩招一倍学生，可是阿姆斯特朗说，在经历了为中国学生（41名学生中有19名是中国学生）找工作的艰辛历程之后学院“缩减了”计划。学院为学生的面试牵线搭桥，但是到三月底为止，只有两名中国学生称他们已经找到了工作。Chinese Deluge U.S. Masters ProgramsWhen the business school at the University of California, Davis, started its masters program in accounting last year, administrators expected to attract aspiring accountants from nearby colleges.What they got instead was a wave of interest from overseas: Roughly two-thirds of the 189 applications received for last falls entering class came from Chinese citizens.Frankly, we were shocked at the deluge of applications.for what we saw as a program that prepared students for a U.S. credential, says James Stevens, assistant dean of student affairs.Davis has plenty of company. Specialized masters degrees in accounting, finance and other disciplinesgenerally aimed at students just out of college and lasting one yearhave found tremendous popularity in recent years among Chinese nationals seeking a competitive edge and U.S. experience.Such demand has provided steady revenues for business schools at a time when traditional M.B.A. programs are losing their appeal among U.S. students. But the uneven applicant pool has left many schools weighing financial goals against uninspiring classroom experiences for both Chinese and local students and worrying about weak job-placement rates.Like companies, business schools have to change with the times and go where the market is, says Anurag Gupta, chair of the banking and finance department at Case Western Reserve Universitys Weatherhead School of Management.More than 85% of applicants to Weatherheads current Finance masters program came from China, and more than 80% of the 58-student class is Chinese. The school launched a version of the program in Shanghai a few years ago to balance diversity in the Cleveland program and earn money abroad.Companies in Chinas fast-growing finance sector want hires with some advanced skills beyond a college degree, yet dont need recruits with the high-level strategy expertiseand high salary requirementsthat an M.B.A. might have, according to students and schools. A U.S. credential also makes students more appealing to multinational companies, schools say.Nearly 60,000 Chinese citizens took the Graduate Management Admission Test in the 2011-2012 testing year, about triple the number in 2007-2008. In the latest year, 78% of those score reports were sent to U.S. programs, while 64% went to specialized masters degrees world-wide.Patricia Ying Ding was one of those students. Ms. Ding, 23 years old, attended college in her native China but spent time at University of California, Berkeley, and wanted more Western experience. Now enrolled at MIT Sloan School of Managements M.S. in Finance program, about 85% of Ms. Dings class is international, and the school says a large share of those students are from Asia.She remains unsure whether her classs demographics are a good thing. We tend to hang out with people of the same ethnicity, she says.Eleven of the 12 current finance masters students at Loyola University Chicagos Quinlan School of Business are international, with eight from China. That has challenged instructors, students and administrators.It changes the dynamic when theres a group of students who have something in common that other students dont share, says Dean Kathleen A. Getz. It can create some sense that there are two different groups being taught.This fall, Quinlan will begin asking international students to take courses on business communication and U.S. classroom customs. To improve job placement, it will arrange student visits to companies interested in hiring international students, and pair them with U.S. student buddies to ease the cultural adjustment.Meanwhile, Davis has reassessed its soft-skills training and career-services strategy to accommodate the unexpected makeup of its new accounting class. For example, administrators are forging ties in finance departments at companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., WMT +1.07% rather than just at accounting firms as originally planned, to extend their potential job opportunities.Students must adjust, too.Karla Savina, one of three Americans in her 57-person class in the Applied Finance program at Pepperdine Universitys business school, says she has learned about Chinese culture, and adds that her hardworking classmates have pushed her academically. But their unfamiliarity with American-style classroom discussion means Ms. Savina, 36, doesnt get the communication that I would like within the classroom.Application volume for the masters in Applied Finance program has soared in recent years, fueled almost entirely by increases from China. The Graziadio School of Business and Management received 158 applications for the class that started in fall 2009126 of which were from Chinaand received 497 for the class that started last fall, with 471 from China.Though there are benefits to having a more diverse student body, says Michael Williams, associate dean of full-time programs at the business school, I would not say that we are at all unsatisfied with our current population.Mr. Williams says the program has benefited from the name recognition of Pepperdines Shanghai program. Strong social networks and alumni recommendations multiplied the effect, he says.But some schools fear that becoming a darling of Chinese studentsor students from any single countrymay irk local and foreign students.The business schools at U