A growing number of local universities are setting up MBA programs in cooperation with overseas counterparts as demand for advanced business training surges in the city, educational officials said yesterday.

On saturday, Donghua University set up a joint Masters of Business Administration program with Carleton University in Canada. Thirty local executives will take part in the class, according to officials at Donghua.

Last month-end, Fudan University joined with BI Norwegian School of Management to open a "Changing Management" MBA program in the city.

Currently, 147 joint educational programs are offered by local and overseas universities in the city, including both degree and diploma programs, according to the Shanghai Education Commission.

"With increasing demand from senior managing professionals, joint educational programs have become a hot trend in the education market," said Jiang Yanqiao, a commission official.

The programs are generally taught in English by both overseas and local professors using textbooks compiled by the overseas schools, university officials said.

Some programs also provide students internship opportunities overseas. After two years of study, students can get an MBA degree either issued by overseas or local university, they added.

"Joint MBA programs can bring advantages to both students and local universities as well," said Lu Xiongwen, associate dean of Fudan's Management School.

Lu said the overseas partners can help local schools improve their MBA programs, since advanced business training is a relatively new concept in China.

The joint programs can also combine advanced foreign theories with practical knowledge about the local business situation, from which students can therefore achieve more fruitful results, Lu added.

"Local MBA programs put too much emphasis on theory and overseas ones are too expensive for us to afford, it's a good choice to turn to cooperative programs," said Yuan Guoqing, a local joint venture manager.

With china's economic development, some 37,500 MBAs will be needed every year in the country by 2006, according to the Shanghai Education Commission.

Currently, only about 10,000 people graduate from MBA programs in China every year.

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