管理學碩士學位在美國走紅 Masters in management lift fortunes of US business schools

The masters in management degree, once the best-kept secret of European business schools, is becoming the star of 21st-century business education. Though still a passport to the boardrooms of France and northern Europe, it is also proving to be the saviour of many North American business schools and a tool to build international reputations in countries as far afield as China.

管理學碩士學位(MiM)曾經是歐洲各商學院心照不宣的祕密，如今正成爲21世紀商學教育的明星。儘管該學位仍然是進入法國及北歐企業董事會的通行證，但它也正成爲北美很多商學院的救星、以及在中國等遙遠國度建立國際聲望的工具。

In the US, where applications to MBA programmes have fallen, masters degrees have provided a welcome source of revenue while giving those leaving undergraduate degrees a leg-up in the job market during the great recession. As such, masters in management (MiM) in the US were frequently designed for liberal arts graduates from the parent university.

在MBA課程申請人數出現下滑的美國，碩士學位提供了一個可喜的收入來源，同時也在大衰退時期爲本科畢業生提供了一塊求職的墊腳石。因此，美國商學院的MiM往往是爲其所屬大學的文科本科生設計的。

At Mendoza College in Indiana, for example, which started its programme two years ago, 40 per cent of students are still graduates of the parent University of Notre Dame, says Mary Goss, senior director of graduate business programmes. “What the MiM has done is open up those undergraduate recruiters to other students on campus.”

例如，2年前開設這一課程的印第安納州門多薩商學院(Mendoza College)研究生商務課程的高級主任瑪麗戈斯(Mary Goss)稱，40%的學生仍是其所屬的聖母大學(University of Notre Dame)的畢業生。“MiM讓那些本科生招聘者去接觸校園裏的其他學生。”

This growing recognition and acceptance of the MiM in the US is also increasing the country’s popularity as a destination for MiM graduates from Europe, says Leila Guerra, executive director of early career programmes at London Business School, which launched its MiM degree in 2009. “We are seeing that US recruiters recruit many of our grads. New York has become a hotspot for us. Fifty of our MiMs are working there, especially in finance and consulting.”

倫敦商學院(London Business School)早期職業課程的行政主任利拉格拉(Leila Guerra)稱，美國對MiM的認知和認可度日益增加，也提升了美國作爲歐洲MiM畢業生求職目的地的人氣。“我們發現美國招聘人員招走了我們很多畢業生。紐約成爲我們畢業生的熱門城市。我們有50名MiM畢業生在那裏工作，特別是在金融和諮詢行業。”

While big-brand US schools such as Fuqua, Kellogg and Michigan Ross chart the popularity of this new breed of business degrees, others are More concerned about the knock-on effect on other programmes.

儘管庫商學院(Fuqua)、凱洛格商學院(Kellogg School)及密歇根大學羅斯商學院(Michigan Ross)等大牌美國商學院使此類新型商務學位課程走紅，但其他人更擔心這些課程對其他課程造成的漣漪效應。

Mark Vandenbosch, associate dean for programmes at Canada’s Ivey Business School at Western University, says the plethora of degrees on the market may mean MiM graduates find themselves competing for jobs with those from undergraduate business programmes.

加拿大西安大略大學(Western University)艾維商學院(Ivey Business School)負責課程的副院長馬克範登博施(Mark Vandenbosch)稱，市場上各種學位很多，可能意味着MiM畢業生要與商務課程的本科生競爭工作。

He argues that masters need to have a real distinguishing feature or “spike”, as he calls it, to differentiate them. “We can’t continue to create students unless there are recruiters ready to accept them.”

他認爲，碩士學位應該有真正的特色或“過人之處”，以此脫穎而出。“我們不能再繼續培養學生——除非招聘者準備聘用他們。”

The growing international acceptance of the MiM means that for French business schools, which have dominated the Financial Times MiM ranking since its inception in 2005 with their Grandes Ecoles programmes, the degree can increasingly attract high fee-paying international students to France. Schools such as Skema are even exporting the degree to the US.

國際上對MiM的接受度日益增加意味着，對於法國商學院來說，該學位可以日益吸引支付高昂學費的國際學生來法國。自2005年英國《金融時報》推出MiM排行榜以來，法國商學院一直憑藉其“高等專業學院”(Grandes Ecoles)課程佔據主導地位。商科聯盟國際商學院(Skema)等學院甚至向美國出口此類學位課程。

The school will go one step further this year when its masters in international business will be taught in Brazil through an agreement with executive education specialist Funda漀 Dom Cabral.

今年，該學院將更進一步——通過與高管教育專業機構Funda漀 Dom Cabral達成協議，它將在巴西開設國際商務碩士課程。

“We need to internationalise for our growth. In France the fees are frozen,” says Alice Guilhon, dean of Skema. “It’s very difficult to think about growth in only [the French] market.”

“我們需要使我們的增長更加國際化。在法國，學費是封頂的，”商科聯盟國際商學院院長艾麗絲吉龍(Alice Guilhon)稱，“只侷限在（法國）市場內，很難發展壯大。”

At the moment Skema has 7,000 students. “We want to reach 8,000 or 9,000,” says Prof Guilhon.

目前，商科聯盟國際商學院有7000學生。“我們希望達到8000或9000人，”吉龍教授稱。

Skema is one of several French schools to have set up in China and to promote the MiM there. Kedge Business School, for example, has worked with Renmin University in Beijing to develop a three-year programme after which graduates receive a bachelors degree from Renmin and a MiM from Kedge, explains Thomas Froehlicher, dean of Kedge. “We have to reinvent business education for the 21st century,” he says. “The French Grande Ecole is a product of the 20th century.”

商科聯盟國際商學院是在中國辦學並推廣MiM的幾所法國商學院之一。例如，Kedge商學院院長托馬斯弗勒利謝(Thomas Froehlicher)解釋稱，該學院與北京中國人民大學合作開辦一個3年課程，畢業生將獲得人大本科學位以及Kedge管理學碩士學位。“我們必須再造21世紀的商務教育，”他稱，“法國‘高等專業學院’是20世紀的產物。”

Not all Chinese business school deans are convinced of the value of the MiM. Most masters degrees in China have an academic focus and are often prerequisites for PhD programmes, says Zhou Lin, dean of Antai College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. As a result, China’s ministry of education rules that schools cannot charge high fees. Antai, for example, charges Rmb98,000 ($15,333) for its MiM but Rmb208,000 for its full-time MBA and Rmb568,000 for its executive MBA.

並非中國所有商學院的院長都相信MiM的價值。上海交通大學安泰學院的院長周林稱，中國絕大多數碩士課程都有學術重心，而且往往是博士課程的前提條件。因此，中國教育部規定，學校不得徵收高昂學費。比如，安泰學院MiM課程的學費是9.8萬元人民幣（合15333美元），而其全日制MBA課程的學費爲20.8萬元、EMBA學費爲56.8萬元。

“Given that each business school has a limited quota of how many masters it can admit (including both MiM and MBA programmes), most schools prefer to admit more MBA students than MiM students,” says Prof Zhou.

“鑑於每一家商學院都有碩士學位的招生限額（包括MiM和MBA課程），多數學院傾向於招收更多的MBA學生、而不是MiM學生，”周林稱。

In addition, the Chinese government requires masters programmes to be at least two years in length, which means many Chinese travel overseas to take a one-year degree, he adds.

他補充道，此外，中國政府要求碩士課程的時間至少2年，這意味着很多中國學生出國留學是爲了拿到只需要1年的學位。

More promising for Chinese schools are MiMs designed to attract international students, which are outside the quota system and have fewer restrictions on fees, continues Prof Zhou. Two years ago Antai launched just such a programme. “Although the initial number was modest, we enrolled 38 students from about 20 countries last year,” he says. “We expect to have more than 50 students out of 120-plus applicants this autumn.”

周林繼續說，對於中國的商學院而言，更有前途的是爲吸引國際留學生而設計的管理學碩士學位，他們的招生名額不受配額限制，在收費方面限制也較少。安泰兩年前就推出這樣一個項目。“雖然開始時人數不多，但去年我們招收了來自約20個國家的38名學生，”他說，“今年秋天，我們預計將從120多名申請者中錄取50多名學生。”

The tentative growth of the MiM in China is at odds with what is happening in India. The PGP, a two-year pre-experience business masters that largely mirrors the French Grandes Ecoles programmes, has long been the flagship programme of the elite Indian Institutes of Management. However, all that is changing.

管理學碩士在中國的試探性增長與印度發生的情況完全不同。管理學研究生(PGP)項目——基本上參照法國高等商學院課程、爲期兩年的無工作經驗商業碩士——長期是精英的印度管理學院(Indian Institutes of Management)的旗艦課程。然而，這一切正在發生變化。

At IIM Ahmedabad, arguably the most prestigious business school in India, there are plans to push up the entry age and work experience of students, says Ajay Pandey, dean for programmes.

位於艾哈邁達巴德(Ahmedabad)的印度管理學院堪稱印度最著名的商學院。負責課程的院長阿賈伊堠迪(Ajay Pandey)稱，該校計劃提高學生的入學年齡並增加工作經驗要求。

“We would hope that in the next six to seven years [work experience] would be a given. We want to get 80–85 per cent [of students] with work experience at least,” he says. The move to a post-experience degree will also result in the PGP being renamed an MBA.

“我們希望（工作經驗）在未來6到7年裏成爲基本要求。我們希望至少80%至85%的（學生）有工作經驗，”他說。轉向有工作經驗碩士學位的舉措還將會使PGP更名爲MBA。

The confusion in India is unlikely to hamper the growing recognition of the MiM, however. As more and more graduates move up the corporate hierarchy, they will begin to recruit graduates in their own image, says Leila Guerra at LBS. “MiMs recruit other MiMs.”

然而，印度在這方面的困惑不太可能妨礙全球對管理學碩士日益擴大的認可。倫敦商學院(LBS)的利拉格拉(Leila Guerra)說，隨着越來越多的畢業生在企業中得到晉升，他們將開始招聘與自己背景相似的畢業生，“管理學碩士將招聘其他管理學碩士。”

As they do so, the MiM brand will become more established, she says. “For me, the successful moment will be when I can go out and say, ‘I have an MiM’, and people will understand it the same way they do the MBA.”

當他們這樣做的時候，管理學碩士的品牌將變得更加穩固，她說，“對我來說，成功的時刻是當我在外面說‘我有MiM’時，人們會像瞭解MBA一樣瞭解它是怎麼回事。”