Enhancing the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(3)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China - Integrating East & West

In fact, deans of top Korean and Japanese business schools shared this idea when they discussed the future of Asian MBA schools last August. Taeshik Ahn, dean of the College of Business at Seoul National University of Korea said the desirable MBA education is to highlight both talent and co-existence. 

He added that a MBA school must be a place where students can learn not only knowledge but also life. Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University of Japan, showed similar opinions as well. 

He stressed that leaders should be equipped with ethics and cultural diversity. He further developed his argument that the core competitiveness of Asian business schools lies in delivering these values to students.

Essay for EWKLP application(1)

Essay for EWKLP(East-West Knowledge Leaders Program) application

Before joining Maeil Business Newspaper in 2004, I majored in business administration at Seoul National University. Further, since 2007, I have taken legal classes at the graduate school of law at Yonsei University at night time. Though I still have a lot to learn, I suppose I have been getting familiar with business and law step by step.

As a journalist of a business daily, I have been involved in corporate, legal and educational sectors over the past four and half years. However, in spite of abundant hands-on-business-related-experience at home and abroad for my age, it is true that I have a long way to go for systematic approach to my articles.

Time to time, I had a hard time in making articles on what I saw and felt in the business field in order. It is partly attributed to lack of time to step back and organize hands-on experience into stories.

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(2)

Improving the Quality of MBA Education in Korea, Japan and China(2) - Integrating East & West

In fact, deans of top Korean and Japanese business schools shared this idea when they discussed the future of Asian MBA schools last August. Taeshik Ahn, dean of the College of Business at Seoul National University of Korea said the desirable MBA education is to highlight both talent and co-existence. He added that a MBA school must be a place where students can learn not only knowledge but also life. Hirotaka Takeuchi, dean of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University of Japan, showed similar opinions as well. He stressed that leaders should be equipped with ethics and cultural diversity. He further developed his argument that the core competitiveness of Asian business schools lies in delivering these values to students. 

Against this background, it isn’t too much to say that this is the right time to improve the quality of MBA education especially in Korea, Japan and China. It is mainly because MBA schools in these countries have not met corporate expectation in spite of the countries' economic status in the global stage. Needless to say, integrating Eastern-Western value into MBA curriculums will be the most desirable and persuasive way to upgrade MBA education in three countries.

In fact, general analysis of 13 Korean, 29 Japanese, over 45 Chinese schools (defined as professional schools with full-time MBA programs) supports our idea. SWOT analysis indicates that western-oriented curriculum such as marketing, financial accounting, organizational behavior and insufficient globalization and lack of practical education constitutes the weakness of Asian MBA schools.

However, at the same time, Asian MBA schools also have a life-time chance. With the rapid growth of Eastern economy and subsequent highlights on Eastern value, they draw more and more attention from all over the world.