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Monday, 15 September 2014
Senior officials told to quit EMBAs as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive
Three senior officials halt course at top Shanghai business school, which can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year, over fears fee payments may lead to bribery, Beijing Times reports
Senior officials told to quit EMBAs as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive
Three senior officials halt course at top Shanghai business school, which can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year, over fears fee payments may lead to bribery, Beijing Times reports
Mandy Zhou in Beijing 15 September 2014
Senior mainland officials have been ordered to stop studying for executive master’s business administration degrees as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
Such courses can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year – up to more than 10 times the annual salary of some officials.
However, officials seldom pay the cost of the courses themselves; they will either let businesses or the government’s public fund pay the fees, the Beijing Times reported.
The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), in Shanghai – one of the top-ranked EMBA providers – has deleted the names of three senior officials from its list of students.
It follows a central government document issued in July, which listed the school’s courses as “expensive social training programmes” and ordered government officials taking the EMBA course to quit immediately, the newspaper reported.
Experts said there was no need for government employees to study for an EMBA, which was designed for corporate executives. Taking such programmes was likely to cause corruption, the newspaper reported.
The government document said that all EMBA programmes, particularly those provided by the CEIBS and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, were classified as “expensive” and cadres were prohibited from attending.
Those officials wishing to study cheaper social training programmes would have to pay the fees themselves after gaining official approval, it said.
Liu Wei, a professor who taught EMBA courses at two leading mainland business schools, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that one of his classes of 60 students had included more than 10 government officials.
Some of the officials had experience of state-owned enterprises and had taken the course to gain more knowledge, but others had attended simply to gain business contacts or improve their résumé, Liu said.
“For example, if a local government needs investment from big companies, it may be inappropriate to go directly to a business person when pursuing cooperation with a company,” he said. “In such circumstances, some officials would take an EMBA programme in order to establish contacts in business circles.”
In other cases, an official might have gained only a bachelor’s degree or an even lower qualifications, so would need better qualifications to add to his résumé, he said.
Therefore, an EMBA would be a good choice, because it would help to build business connections and also provide the official with greater respectability, Liu said.
He said some business schools even offered secret discounts to officials. “For senior officials, some schools will even admit them for free,” Liu said.
Some companies would also offer to pay the fees for the officials as a form of bribery, he said.
“They may not send cash or shares to an official today, but they will say to officials who want to study, or expand their business connections, that they can pay the cost for them.
“The most expensive course will cost more than 600,000 yuan a year, although this is only a small amount in the whole chain of corruption,” Liu said.
Other officials would also spend government funds to pay for their education fees, he added.
Wang Yukai, a professor at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Governance, said that rather than taking an EMBA, it would be more suitable and cheaper for government officials to study for a master’s degree in public administration.
“Corruption does not include only power-for-money deals, but also involves the wasting of government funds,” he said
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Senior officials told to quit EMBAs as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive
Three senior officials halt course at top Shanghai business school, which can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year, over fears fee payments may lead to bribery, Beijing Times reports
Mandy Zhou in Beijing
15 September 2014
Senior mainland officials have been ordered to stop studying for executive master’s business administration degrees as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
Such courses can cost about 600,000 yuan (HK$756,000) a year – up to more than 10 times the annual salary of some officials.
However, officials seldom pay the cost of the courses themselves; they will either let businesses or the government’s public fund pay the fees, the Beijing Times reported.
The China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), in Shanghai – one of the top-ranked EMBA providers – has deleted the names of three senior officials from its list of students.
It follows a central government document issued in July, which listed the school’s courses as “expensive social training programmes” and ordered government officials taking the EMBA course to quit immediately, the newspaper reported.
Experts said there was no need for government employees to study for an EMBA, which was designed for corporate executives. Taking such programmes was likely to cause corruption, the newspaper reported.
The government document said that all EMBA programmes, particularly those provided by the CEIBS and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, were classified as “expensive” and cadres were prohibited from attending.
Those officials wishing to study cheaper social training programmes would have to pay the fees themselves after gaining official approval, it said.
Liu Wei, a professor who taught EMBA courses at two leading mainland business schools, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that one of his classes of 60 students had included more than 10 government officials.
Some of the officials had experience of state-owned enterprises and had taken the course to gain more knowledge, but others had attended simply to gain business contacts or improve their résumé, Liu said.
“For example, if a local government needs investment from big companies, it may be inappropriate to go directly to a business person when pursuing cooperation with a company,” he said. “In such circumstances, some officials would take an EMBA programme in order to establish contacts in business circles.”
In other cases, an official might have gained only a bachelor’s degree or an even lower qualifications, so would need better qualifications to add to his résumé, he said.
Therefore, an EMBA would be a good choice, because it would help to build business connections and also provide the official with greater respectability, Liu said.
He said some business schools even offered secret discounts to officials. “For senior officials, some schools will even admit them for free,” Liu said.
Some companies would also offer to pay the fees for the officials as a form of bribery, he said.
“They may not send cash or shares to an official today, but they will say to officials who want to study, or expand their business connections, that they can pay the cost for them.
“The most expensive course will cost more than 600,000 yuan a year, although this is only a small amount in the whole chain of corruption,” Liu said.
Other officials would also spend government funds to pay for their education fees, he added.
Wang Yukai, a professor at the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Governance, said that rather than taking an EMBA, it would be more suitable and cheaper for government officials to study for a master’s degree in public administration.
“Corruption does not include only power-for-money deals, but also involves the wasting of government funds,” he said
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