China's schools offering master's degrees in business administration (MBA) are striving to build up their reputations by offering specialized market-oriented MBA courses.

Beginning 2004, probably in the spring semester, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) will launch MBA courses in marketing management for the manufacturing sector, said Wang Tao, director of BIT's MBA Office last week at a MBA forum.

"Manufacturing technology is what BIT is best at and sets the direction for our future development," said Li Jinlin, president of BIT's School of Management and Economics, at the forum.

Attached to the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, BIT was in charge of China's top high-precision research projects connected with national defence.

According to Wang, BIT will significantly increase, perhaps even double, its recruitment of MBA students specializing in the manufacturing sector next year. Launched last autumn, the MBA for the manufacturing sector recruited 50 students for its start-up classes.

The school will also launch China's first MBA in urban management next year.

"It is the age of brand name competition, and professional MBAs designed for specific sectors are the best approach to brand name building in China's MBA schools," said Liu Zhixin, director of the International Trade and Finance Department of the Economics and Management Science School of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) at the forum.

"Specialized MBAs are becoming more popular than general MBAs, because they are more practical," he said.

Instead of rushing to schools turning out general MBAs to hire new staff, many companies prefer to recruit MBAs who have specialized in specific sectors such as finance, marketing, or logistics, whose more focused programme of studies can better serve the needs of companies in such specific areas.

Specialization, rather than recruitment expansion, is and will remain the trend of China's MBA programmes, he said.

In August, BUAA launched its Aviation MBA, with two areas of specialization - Aviation Management and Aviation Industry for National Defence. These are the only Aviation MBAs in China at present.

"BUAA is not in a position to compete with the general MBA offerings of Peking or Tsinghua universities, but we are the leader in China's aviation technology and management. Aviation is our brand name," he said.

Famous MBA schools abroad all have their own specialties; for example, Harvard Business School is at the head of the class in commercial management, the University of Chicago Graduate Business School in financial management, and the Kellogg School of Management in marketing, said Howie Ruan, head of Chicago's MBA office in China.

However, the reputation of MBAs in China comes from the famous universities that offer the programmes, not from their own outstanding teaching, he said.

Although, as of last year, 62 universities in China have been okayed to launch MBA programmes, the MBA schools of China's top universities, namely Peking, Tsinghua and Renmin universities, took in almost half of last year's total MBA recruitment, according to Tang Renwu, president of the Economics and Management School of Beijing Normal University.

Some company officials also stress sector-specific MBAs.

"As far as companies are concerned, MBA schools are similar to suppliers. We pay millions of yuan putting our MBAs through school, and we want profitable returns," said Zhu Hua, vice-president of Shangyang Electronics Co Ltd of China Youth Travel Service.

"MBAs from top universities, such as Tsinghua, may not be the best ones for us to hire; specialized MBAs from schools affiliated to less prestigious university may be better suited to our needs," he said.

Experts warn that some schools are short-sighted in focusing on expanding recruitment in their general MBA programmes.

Domestic MBA schools, mostly those affiliated to the less prestigious universities, are still recruiting students for the country's general MBA market, which is "worrying," said Liu.

"The market (for general MBAs) is expected to grow slower, or even shrink, over the next few years, giving way to specialized MBAs," said Liu. "So it is not a good idea to keep recruiting general MBA students."

China's MBA market has grown more than 100-fold during the last decade. The number of MBA students recruited in 1991 was only 100, this number skyrocketed to more than 10,000 last year, with more than 60,000 students taking their final MBA exams.

The Antai School of Management of Shanghai Jiaotong University launched China's first specialized MBA programme last spring.

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