Information dossier in support of the application for the New Studies Test
International Master
Business Administration
University of Twente
Enschede, XXX 2008
Contents
List of Appendices ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||
List of names -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |||
General features of university and master programme ----------------------------- | |||
0. | PREFACE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
1. | INTRODUCTION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
1.0 | Motivation for bi-national semi-offshore programme ------------------- | ||
1.1 | Process of preparation of the application ----------------------------------- |
| |
1.2 | Embedding of the programme -------------------------------------------------- |
| |
1.3 | Profile and specific characteristics --------------------------------------------- | ||
1.4 | Political, social and market developments for MBA programmes in China ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
1.5 | Results of IMBA pilots ------------------------------------------------------------ | ||
1.6 | Dutch government (MOE) requirements ------------------------------------ | ||
2. | Assessment framework (NVAO) ------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.1 | Aims and objectives ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.2 | Programme --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.3 | Deployment of staff ---------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.4 | Facilities and provisions ---------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.5 | Internal quality Assurance ------------------------------------------------------- | ||
2.6 | Conditions for continuity --------------------------------------------------------- | ||
3. | Outlook ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
List of Appendices
Code | Title of appendix |
2.2.0-1 | Course descriptions |
2.2.2-1 | Course learning targets in relation to programme exit qualifications |
1.6-1 | Dutch MoE requirements policy paper (in Dutch) |
2.3-1 | CVs of lecturers |
2.6-1a | Graduation guarantee and Financial continuity statement of IMBA programme |
2.6-1b | Financial continuity statement (OOHR) |
2.6-2 | CEO strategic plan excerpt (in Dutch) |
The following references will be provided to the NVAO review panel, during their site visit:
Title of reference |
Brochure |
Study guide 2006-2007 |
OECD-document |
Krabbendam et al. |
Guidelines for Research project 2006-2007 |
Table of comparison of benchmark |
Chinese employer responses |
Research project assessment form |
Research programme descriptions |
Faculty annual cycle |
Standard evaluation survey form |
List of names
Position | Name (at the date of submission of this application) |
Programme leader | Prof. Dr. Ir. Koos Krabbendam |
Programme manager, University of Twente | Dr. Liqin Brouwers – Ren |
Programme manager, Hunan University | Prof. Xiangping Bo |
Vice-dean of International Programmes, Hunan University | Prof. Dr. Deming Zeng |
Programme coordinator, University of Twente | Mrs. Veltman |
Programme coordinator, Hunan University | Mrs. Wan |
GENERAL FEATURES OF UNIVERSITY AND MASTER PROGRAMME
1. The proposing university
University of Twente (UT)
§Executive Board:
oChairman: Dr. A.H. Flierman
oVice-Chairman: Ir. K.J. van Ast
oRector magnificus: Prof. Dr. W.H.M. Zijm
-Tel +31 (0)53 489 4484
-Fax +31 (0)53 489 2191
-E-mail w.h.m.zijm@utwente.nl
School of Management and Governance
§Dean: Prof. Dr. P.J.J.M. van Loon
oTel +31 (0)53 489 4475
oE-mail p.j.j.m.vanloon@utwente.nl
Contact person for this application
§Prof. Dr. Ir. J.J. Krabbendam
oDepartment of Operations, Organization and Human Resources (OOHR)
oTel +31 (0)53 489 3494
oE-mail j.j.krabbendam@utwente.nl
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
2. Name of the Master programme
International Master of Business Administration (IMBA)
3. Language of the Master programme
English
4. Level and orientation
Scientific (in Dutch: WO) Master
5. Length of the programme
2 years, 90 EC.
6. Novelty
IMBA is a new programme. Novelty in the sense of a programme that is truly new is not applicable. The IMBA programme has been piloted twice in 2004 and 2005 in roughly its current form. However, this application for “Toets Nieuwe Opleiding” (New Studies Test) is made not because of novelty but because this – postgraduate - programme is to be registered in “CROHO”, the Dutch Central Register for Higher Education programmes.
7. Level and titles
Completing this academic master programme will lead to the title of Master in Business Administration (MBA).
8. Type of programme
The programme is parttime.
9. Locations
The programme will be provided partly in Hunan, China (Hunan University, College of Business Administration and Enschede, The Netherlands (University of Twente).
10. Existing programme information
Section 1.5 provides the requested information regarding the period in which the programme was piloted and the numbers of students that were taken in.
0 Preface
This document has been submitted to NVAO, The Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organization, to provide the information required for NVAO to decide on accreditation of the International Master of Business Administration (IMBA) programme of the University of Twente in accordance to the procedure for a New Studies Test (in Dutch: Toets Nieuwe Opleiding).
IMBA is an “off-shore” programme, in the sense that the first part of the programme is delivered at the College of Business Administration of Hunan University in Changsha, China. The second part of the programme is delivered at the School of Management and Governance of the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands; this second part ends with a research project which is preferably carried out in China. The University of Twente holds the authority for the programme and is the sole applicant for this New Studies Test.
In view of the specific off-shore nature of the programme, detailed information will be provided about both the Chinese and Dutch aspects of IMBA.
In chapter 1, introductory information will be provided regarding e.g. Hunan University and the University of Twente, the market and contextual developments for MBA education in China, etcetera.
Chapter 2 contains the six elements of the required information for the application for a New Studies Test, in the order as given in the requirements document from NVAO (in Dutch: Toetsingskader nieuwe opleidingen hoger onderwijs, 14 februari 2003).
1 Introduction
1.0MOTIVATION FOR BI-NATIONAL SEMI-OFFSHORE PROGRAMME
The IMBA programme is embedded in the internationalization ambition of both the School of Management and Governance and the University of Twente. For the School this, for instance, can be illustrated by the following:
•The accredited postgraduate master programme in Energy and Environmental Management (in which several different nationalities participate)
•The accredited master program in European Studies
•The initiatives for designing (postgraduate) master programs, like Asian Studies and a master of business administration in cooperation with an Indonesian University
•Several students from different countries are doing their master studies in the School
•Of course, there is a significant international cooperation in research.
The ambition of the University of Twente is illustrated by the internal report ‘Diversiteit, kwaliteit en groei, uitgangspunten voor de internationale strategie van de Universiteit Twente’ (Diversity, quality and growth). In this report the targets and choices for the growth in internationalization are outlined. It, for instance, targets on 12 countries for the growth, among which China and Indonesia. The extension of cooperation between universities in these different countries and the University of Twente is set to be very important (The rector of the University of Twente recently signed a letter of cooperation between Hunan University and the University of Twente), while at the same time offshore education becomes more important as well.
The IMBA programme is intended for Chinese students. The need for international education among Chinese people is high. The costs of participation of Chinese students in a Western programme are very high. Delivering part of a programme in China (mainly) by Chinese staff, as IMBA does, allows economically less privileged Chinese students to participate in international higher education.
Also, because of large differences in culture and learning styles between China and Western countries, potential Chinese students learn from experiences from other Chinese students that it is difficult to study in Western educational programmes, with a high risk of dropping out. As a result of this, the barrier for candidates to enroll in programmes abroad is high. These are the key reasons for developing the bi-national semi-offshore IMBA programme. ‘Chinese learning’ thus is a key factor of the instructional concept of the IMBA programme. Chinese students learn Western management concepts for application by Chinese companies and start their learning in their own cultural environment.
Further details are provided in this document, e.g. in section 1.3.
1.1 PROCESS OF PREPARATION OF THE APPLICATION
The preparation of this application started with a “quick scan” and drafting session in November 2006. Subsequently, a Dutch lecturer visited Hunan University in July 2007 for discussions. Next, a Dutch drafting duo drafted a full draft which was discussed with the Dutch programme management and one of the lecturers that also participated in the pilots. After this, the draft was shared with the Chinese IMBA management team. Finally, the Dean of the School of Management and Governance and the Board of Management of the University of Twente approved the document, after which it was submitted to NVAO. In parallel, preparations were made to expedite the internal approval process within the University of Twente, which is expected to be finalized by June 2008.
1.2 EMBEDDING OF THE PROGRAMME
The IMBA programme is delivered partly in China and partly in The Netherlands. Thus, embedding in both contributing universities is important. Therefore, separate outlines are given for the two contributing universities. Since open source English language information about Hunan University is limited, the context of IMBA at Hunan University will be provided rather exhaustively for the benefit of NVAO and its audit panel. Also, contextual information regarding the two pilot deliveries of IMBA will be provided in this paragraph.
Senior management meeting of both Universities
On November 16, 2007, the Rector of the University of Twente visited Hunan University. During a meeting on that day, at which the Vice President of Foreign Affairs of Hunan University, the Dean of the College of Business Administration, the IMBA programme leader and both the Dutch and Chinese IMBA programme managers were present, both parties expressed their full support for further development of the IMBA programme and to work on extension of the cooperation between both universities.
Hunan University
Hunan University, situated at the foot of the picturesque Yuelu Mountain and on the west bank of the rippling Xiang River in Changsha, Hunan, is one of the key universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education. It is a time-honored key university in China, originating from Yuelu Academy and is now included in China’s “211 Project” and “985 Project” for priority investment and construction.
Hunan University traces its history back to the Yuelu Academy founded in the Song Dynasty over 1,030 years ago. The Yuelu Academy was a venue for Chinese scholars and their students to meet and study deep issues very much like what Aristotle and his students did in ancient Greece. The Chinese calligraph of Yuelu Academy was written by Emperor Zhenzong of Song in 1015, and the Chinese calligraph of Hunan University was written by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1950 as soon as the People's Republic of China was founded. Both events were considered as extremely prestigious in China.
For more than one thousand years, academic and educational activities have kept uninterrupted here, hence the name “One-Thousand-Year-Old Institution”. In the course of its development from Yuelu Academy to Hunan University, this time-honored institution has committed itself to fostering people of great talent for the society and has produced large numbers of figures of outstanding talent. Among its prominent students are Wang Fuzhi, a celebrated philosopher in Chinese history; Wei Yuan, a reformist who first advocated the idea of learning from the West; Zeng Guofan, the first Chinese to initiate the Westernization Movement and to make arrangements for a modern factory in China; Zuo Zongtang, a national hero who arranged to build China’s first navy and took great pains to defend and develop Xinjiang; Guo Songtao, China’s first ambassador to a foreign country, and Ci Yungui, the chief designer of China's first super computer. According to a rough survey, 12 of its graduates have become members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Engineering; of the 10 excellent innovative entrepreneurs who won the First National Invention Awards, two were graduates of Hunan University; of the award winners of the first prizes for the Young Scientists Basic Research and High-Tech Development sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, there have also been graduates of Hunan University.
From 1963, the university was affiliated with the Ministry of Mechanical Industry. In 1978, it was listed as a key university of China. In 1998, it was included in the state’s “211 Project” and became a university affiliated with the Ministry of Education. In April 2000, in the readjustment of the management and structure of institutions of higher education of China, Hunan University and Hunan College of Finance and Economics merged to form a new Hunan University. In 2002, Hunan Computer College was merged into the university.
Hunan University is now a comprehensive and well-coordinated university featuring studies in engineering, with a strong foundation in science, a unique cultural background in liberal arts and its own characteristics in economics. It has now 29 colleges and departments and a graduate school, offering 57 undergraduate programmes, 104 master programmes, 7 first-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees, 39 second-order disciplines authorized to confer Ph.D. degrees and 12 post-doctoral research centers. It has 6 academic degree authorizations, 1 national research center for engineering technology, 1 state key laboratory, 2 key laboratories of the Ministry of Education and 1 center for environmental technology funded through international cooperation. It has a staff of over 4,700, of which more than 950 are full and associate professors, 2 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 6 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or Engineering working part-time for the university, 8 members of the state’s “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent Project”, 5 national-level members of the state’s “Hundred-Thousand-Ten Thousand Talent Project for the New Century”, 5 Cheongkong Professors and 1 chair professor. The student body totals nearly 30,000, of which more than 6,000 are graduate students. It covers a total area of 1,600,000 square meters with a construction area of over 1,030,000 square meters. The university library has a collection of 2,700,000 volumes and has realized automatic management with on-line information retrieval and literature transmission services. It has also built the trunk network of its Campus Computer Networks and has set up interactive network teaching platforms centered around multi-media coursewares.
Hunan University is among China's top universities in both education and research, as evidenced by a number of different ranking systems. It carries forward and develops the tradition of “Emphasizing foundation, quality and management” and has won large numbers of national awards for its teaching and research. Its Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Industrial Design, Software Engineering, and Business and International Trade are some of the strongest. In recent years, Hunan University has taken the lead in China’s universities in the number of academic papers included in and quoted by SCI and has won more than 620 major awards, including the National Natural Sciences Award, the National Invention Award and the National Award for the Promotion of Science & Technology, and scientific and technological awards at provincial and ministerial levels. In 2003 and 2004, the university won the first prize of the National Award for the Promotion of Science and Technology, and the second prize of the National Natural Sciences Award, both of which were the highest among the honors ever awarded in the two years to institutions of higher education and research establishments in Hunan Province. Hunan University also lays great emphasis on international cooperation and exchanges and has established cooperative ties with more than 50 universities from over 20 countries and regions. The university has made great efforts to deepen the reform of its education system and to promote joint education. In recent years, Hunan University has set up more than 10 second-grade colleges in collaboration with local governments and industrial enterprises. The joint undertakings have extended from education to fields like research, development and logistics. The university has on many occasions been rewarded as an advanced university in the country.
With a view to shouldering the historical task of carrying on the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, fostering high-quality talents, developing science and serving the needs of the society, Hunan University has come up with its guiding educational principle and target of striving to build Hunan University into one of China’s first-class comprehensive, open and research-oriented universities with its own distinctive characteristics and considerable influence in the world and into one of the world’s top universities.
College of Business Administration of Hunan University
The College of Business Administration (hereinafter “the College”) of Hunan University was developed on the basis of the former Department of Economics and Management (1981~1992) and the International Business School (1992~2000). In 1992, the College started under the Dean’s responsibility system which is subsequently under the guidance of the Board of the University. In 2000, Hunan College of Economics and Finance joined the College of Business Administration of Hunan University.
The College has a well-structured, strong research and teaching team. The College is composed of four departments: Human Resource Management, Investment & Finance, Marketing, and E-commerce; four research institutes: Transport & Logistics, Management Science, Enterprise Management, and Technological Economics; and four research centers: Project Management, Enterprise Ethics, Finance and Investment Management, Economics Prediction. The College has 114 staff members, including 93 full-time academic staff. Among the academic staff, there are one academician, one subject assessing member of the State Council, one Yangtse Scholar, and one Hurong Scholar. Twenty-eight of the academic staff are professors, 28 are associate professors, and 57 are PhDs (including part-time PhDs). Over twenty years, the College has turned out more than 3,000 bachelors, 1,000 masters, and 60 doctors. The College now has 1,000 bachelor students, 1,024 master students (including MBA and EMBA), and 168 doctoral students.
The College now offers bachelor, master and PhD degrees. The bachelor programmes are: Business, Marketing, and Electronic Business. The master programmes include: Management Science & Engineering, MBA and EMBA, Enterprise Management, Technology Economy & Management, and Tourism Management. The College has been authorized to offer doctor’s degrees in Management Science & Engineering, Enterprise Management, and Business Administration. The College is post-doctor mobile station in Management Science & Engineering.
The College has constructed nine academic teams in Financial Investment, Project Management, Financial Engineering, Financial Management, et cetera. In recent years, the College shoulders on average 28 national and/or provincial/ministry level research projects, with annual research funds reaching 280,000 Euro, average annual scientific output of approximately 200 papers, and 5 to 10 books per year.
The College has built up close cooperation with a number of world-class schools, such as the Stern Business School of New York University and the School of Management and Governance of the University of Twente, for joint research and joint PhD student supervision; and joint research and visiting scholar exchange with the Mathematics & System Science Institute of China Academy of Science, Hong Kong City University, and Xiangcai Securities Co., Ltd.. In regard to the teaching methods, the management model, and the academic exchange in MBA, EMBA and IMBA professional degrees, the College is actively seeking for all-round international cooperation with renowned universities.
The organization of the College is given in the figure below.
University of Twente
The University of Twente (UT) is an internationally oriented organization for academic education and research. At this moment, the UT has 21 educational bachelor and 32 master programmes, distributed over five Schools. The UT is a relatively small university, hosting some 8,000 students. It is the only campus university in the Netherlands: study, work, living, enterprise and leisure are largely concentrated on the former estate of Drienerlo. The UT defines itself as an enterprising research university, focused, from its beginning in 1961, on intertwining technical and social sciences. As such the UT is a leader in ICT applications to teaching and research in the Netherlands. Internationally, the UT is involved in the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU). As far as possible, students are stimulated to actively participate in university networks and society.
The University of Twente is one of fourteen universities in The Netherlands. It has recently established a Federation of Technical Universities (3TU) with the Technical University of Delft and the Technical University of Eindhoven. Besides technical research and educational activities, Twente also has significant activities in the social sciences. Twente has five Schools and six Research Institutes.
IMBA is delivered under the auspices of the School of Management and Governance. The School has a staff of approximately 350 and 2,200 students. This School delivers undergraduate and graduate programmes for Business Administration, Public Administration (including European Studies), Health Sciences, Industrial Engineering & Management and Business & Information Technology. In addition to these programmes, the School also provides an expanding number of academic postgraduate degree programmes, e.g. Public Management and Energy & Environmental Management.
The organization of the School is given in the figure below.
Organizational and consultative structure of the School
In response to the University of Twente Executive Board initiative “Modern and Efficient Operation”, in which the framework has been laid down for the management and governance structure of the university Schools, the new organizational structure of the School of Management and Governance in broad terms is as follows:
•The line responsibility runs from the Dean to the individual departmental chair persons, the individual educational programme directors and the director of operations.
•The management team of the School consists of the Dean, the Vice-dean of education and the director of operations. This management team should be regarded as the “air traffic control tower”, which is a “gate way” for matters concerning the School in the direction of various internal stakeholder parties and responsibility bearers.
•The consultative Faculty Council group consists of staff and students. Tasks and authorities of the Faculty Council have been laid down in the regulations of the University Council and in the regulations of the Faculty Council as derived from the regulations of the University Council. The Faculty Council meets regularly with the Dean, who can be supported by other members of the management team and the manager of the office of educational support.
•The consultative group of Departmental Chair persons (in Dutch: vakgroepvoorzitters-overleg (VGV-overleg)) is an advisory board for the Dean and consists of the Dean and the Departmental Chair persons. The Dean can be supported by other members of the management team. It meets every six weeks. The purpose of this consultation is to involve these managers in a coordinated way at the School level in idea generation, in consultation concerning operations and the preparation and evaluation of policy and to inform them about developments outside the School. During these meetings, operational issues regarding education, research and operations are also dealt with.
•The consultative group of Educational programme directors (in Dutch: OLD-overleg) consists of the Dean, the Educational programme directors and the manager of the office of educational support. The purpose of this consultation is to involve these managers in a coordinated way at the School level in idea generation, in consultation concerning operations and the preparation and evaluation of policy and to inform them about educational developments outside the School. It meets every six weeks. When deemed useful, this consultative group meets in between scheduled meetings to deal with operational issues.
•IMBA management. All postgraduate educational programmes reside under the authority of the programme director of postgraduate programmes (prof. dr. ir. O.A.M. Fisscher). Programme director prof. dr. R.A. Wessel, who bears responsibility for internationalization at the faculty level (each programme director bears responsibility for a specific faculty portfolio), embeds the IMBA programme in the internationalization initiatives of the faculty. The programme leader of IMBA is prof. dr. ir. J.J. Krabbendam. Responsibilities for the management of IMBA are carried through collegial consultation.
•Strategic advisory group. The participation in this group can change from meeting to meeting. The full participants group consists of: the Departmental Chair persons, the Educational programme directors, the relevant programme leaders of the research programmes of the University Research Institutes, the Dean, the relevant Scientific Directors and the Director of Operations. This meeting will take place twice or three times a year.
•Chamber of Professors, consisting of the Dean and all professors of the School. This Chamber meets twice or three times a year. During these meetings, the Dean informs the participants and seeks advice on (policy) issues concerning education and research.
•Research advisory board, consisting of one senior researcher of each School research programme. This board advises the Dean as to the development of the School research from the perspective of the desired relationship with education, and vice versa.
1.3 PROFILE AND SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS
The International MBA has an academic level and is a semi-offshore programme, as indicated earlier in this document. As defined by the domain of postgraduate business administration education, it is a non-specialised, general MBA. In addition to this, IMBA focuses on the integration of Chinese and Western thinking, enabling alumni to be employed by Chinese companies desiring to introduce and implement Western management techniques in their Chinese contexts. Thus, the programme focuses on Chinese prospective students and positions itself in the Chinese market for MBA programmes.
Comformity to the OECD Guidelines on Cross-Border Higher Education
The IMBA programme will comply with the OECD Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education (2005) :
In the text box below, a selection is provided from this OECD document.
Guidelines for higher education institutions/providers Commitment to quality by all higher education institutions/providers is essential . To this end, the active and constructive contributions of academic staff are indispensable. Higher education institutions are responsible for the quality as well as the social, cultural and linguistic relevance of education and the standards of qualifications provided in their name, no matter where or how it is delivered. In this context, it is recommended that higher education institutions/providers delivering cross-border higher education: a.Ensure that the programmes they deliver across borders and in their home country are of comparable quality and that they also take into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities of the receiving country. It is desirable that a commitment to this effect should be made public. b.Recognise that quality teaching and research is made possible by the quality of faculty and the quality of their working conditions that foster independent and critical inquiry. The UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel and other relevant instruments need to be taken into account by all institutions and providers to support good working conditions and terms of service, collegial governance and academic freedom. c.Develop, maintain or review current internal quality management systems so that they make full use of the competencies of stakeholders such as academic staff, administrators, students and graduates and take full responsibility for delivering higher education qualifications comparable in standard in their home country and across borders. Furthermore, when promoting their programmes to potential students through agents, they should take full responsibility to ensure that the information and guidance provided by their agents are accurate, reliable and easily accessible. d.Consult competent quality assurance and accreditation bodies and respect the quality assurance and accreditation systems of the receiving country when delivering higher education across borders, including distance education. e.Share good practices by participating in sector organizations and interinstitutional networks at national and international levels. f.Develop and maintain networks and partnerships to facilitate the process of recognition by acknowledging each other’s qualifications as equivalent or comparable. g.Where relevant, use codes of good practice such as the UNESCO/Council of Europe Code of Good Practice in the Provision of Transnational Education and other relevant codes such as the Council of Europe/UNESCO Recommendation on Criteria and Procedures for the Assessment of Foreign Qualifications. h.Provide accurate, reliable and easily accessible information on the criteria and procedures of external and internal quality assurance and the academic and professional recognition of qualifications they deliver and provide complete descriptions of programmes and qualifications, preferably with descriptions of the knowledge, understanding and skills that a successful student should acquire. Higher education institutions/providers should collaborate especially with quality assurance and accreditation bodies and with student bodies to facilitate the dissemination of this information. i.Ensure the transparency of the financial status of the institution and/or educational programme offered. |
Ad a. Comparable quality across borders and taking into account the cultural and linguistic sensitivities: IMBA is an academic postgraduate programme with a design of a quality comparable to other academic postgraduate programmes of the University of Twente that focus on The Netherlands only. The IMBA programme takes cultural and linguistic sensitivities into account in a number of ways: the instructional concept underlying the programme design focuses on “matching” with the Chinese learning style; also, the lecturers are both from China and from The Netherlands. Dutch lecturers are experienced in taking the Chinese culture into account through the pilots that were previously conducted. The programme language is English.
Ab b. Quality teaching and research is made possible by the quality of faculty and the quality of their working conditions: At the University of Twente, a continuous effort is made to develop the educational competencies of lecturers. Also, academic freedom is guaranteed by law and institutional culture. Within the limits of the Chinese system, academic freedom is fostered at Hunan University. This is, for instance, effectuated by running a very large number of projects with universities abroad.
Ad c. Internal quality management systems making full use of the competencies of stakeholders and accurate, reliable and easily accessible to potential students: The internal quality management system of the IMBA programme is based on University of Twente good practice and involves all relevant stakeholders: students, lecturers, staff, alumni and the professional field. It is easily accessible to students.
Ad d. Consult competent quality assurance and accreditation bodies and respect the quality assurance and accreditation systems: For the initial Dutch accreditation, the IMBA programme is submitted to the governmental accreditation body, NVAO. The requirements of NVAO have been leading in developing the application dossier required for accreditation by NVAO. Reaccreditation of IMBA will be conducted in accordance with the legal requirements in The Netherlands. A Chinese governmental accreditation is, at this moment, awaiting a governmental decision.
Ad e. Share good practices: The University of Twente is a member of ECIU and shares good practices with both national and international partners, such as Saxion Hogescholen and Hunan University. A good example is the MI-EIS project in the framework of the EU Asialink programme. This project is a cooperation between the Hunan University, Cranfield University and the University of Twente about developing a master-level teaching and professional training reference curriculum in Managing Implementation of Enterprise Information Systems (www.mi-eis.net).
Ad f. Networks and partnerships to facilitate the process of recognition by acknowledging each other’s qualifications: For IMBA, this is not relevant, as only the University of Twente is the degree awarding institution. However, the University of Twente is involved in approval procedures e.g. via the membership of Dutch VSNU.
Ad g. Where relevant, use codes of good practice: The IMBA programme and its partners are in compliance with the following aspects of the Council of Europe / UNESCO code:
•A written and legally binding agreement between Hunan University and the University of Twente is in place to widen the access to higher education studies (Principle # 1)
•The academic quality and standards of IMBA are at least comparable to those of the awarding institution, the University of Twente as well as to those of Hunan University (Principle # 2)
•The goals, objectives and contents of IMBA are published through this application document and via other means, are made available to (potential) students, to the Dutch authorities (NVAO) and will be made available upon request to the Chinese authorities (Principle # 3)
•Information given by the University of Twente, the awarding institution, and by Hunan University, the partner organization, to (prospective) students will be appropriate, accurate, consistent and reliable (Principle # 4)
•Teaching staff will be proficient (Principle # 5)
•The IMBA programme encourages the awareness and knowledge of the culture and customs of The Netherlands and China among the students and staff (Principle # 6)
•Promotion of IMBA to potential students is carried out directly by Hunan University, and not by agents, under the authority of the University of Twente (Principle # 7)
•The University of Twente, the awarding institution, will be responsible for issuing the qualifications for IMBA. The Diploma will be augmented by a Diploma Supplement complying with university standards (Principle # 8)
•The admission of students to the programme, the learning / teaching activities, the academic workload and the assessment and examination requirements for IMBA are all comparable with other postgraduate programmes of the University of Twente (Principle # 9)
•The academic work load (credits) in IMBA is comparable with other postgraduate programmes of the University of Twente (Principle # 10)
•The assessment of qualifications issued through IMBA will comply with Dutch legal requirements. The IMBA programme’s degree is Master in Business Administration. (Principle # 11).
Ad h. Provide accurate, reliable and easily accessible information: External quality assurance (accreditation) decisions are made public by NVAO. Information regarding internal quality assurance, goals and assessment of the programme and course information is provided in the Education and Examination Regulations (OER). In addition, course information in The Netherlands is provided on the course management system (TeleTOP). Exam registration and exam grade information is accessible via digital systems (TOST and TAST, respectively).
Ad i. Transparency of the financial status of the institution and/or educational programme: IMBA falls under the authority of the University of Twente, and therefore under the (legal) requirements for (financial) transparency. The University of Twente undergoes annual financial auditing by independent external accountants and publishes financial accounts annually as well. The annual report is publicly available on the University internet site (www.utwente.nl), available in English as well as in Dutch. The University of Twente will initiate informal exchange and transparency of financial IMBA programme information with Hunan University to oversee and support a fair split of costs and revenues.
1.4POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND MARKET DEVELOPMENTS FOR MBA PROGRAMMES IN CHINA
China’s reform processes
China has particularly strong institutions that are embedded in the country’s long administrative tradition, in which government continues to play a prominent role in economic and social affairs. Under China’s economic reform since 1978, massive institutional change has dismantled many barriers to modern business operations (see also next section). China’s central government has been the primary driving force of economic reform. There are three fundamental reform processes that the China’s central government has adopted and is likely to continue: marketization, decentralization and privatization. Their goal is to develop a “market system with socialistic characteristics”. The fundamental issue, however, is that China is still unable to work out its own system of federalism.
The private sector has been the fastest-growing in China and in 2001 employed over 13 million people. While development of its tertiary education system has been slow, progress in business education has been much faster (see also next section). Even after twenty years of reform, state paternalism remains a dominant feature of China’s business environment.
Chinese culture is often noted for its particularism and insistence on building up trust through cultivating personal relationships into which it is difficult for foreigners to enter. Contextual confidence fosters trust in local staff.
The changing environment for Chinese companies and the demand for management education in Western “good practice”
China began its state sector construction in the early 1950s, taking the former Soviet Union’s socialist planned economic system as the example. Since then, the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were the backbones of China’s economy. Before 1978, the SOEs were directly under the control of the government. In 1978, China started its reform and opening-up policy. In 1994 the Chinese government called for the establishment of modern enterprise systems (see Wu, 1999 ; Liu and Gao, 1999 ; Lin, Cai and Li, 1996 ). As a consequence of the opening-up policy and the reforms since 1994 the Chinese industrial sector, of which the state-owned sector still takes 66 percent of the total assets, is now facing fierce domestic competition from joint ventures, private firms and foreign-funded enterprises (Liu and Gao, 1999). Together, these non-state sector firms (i.e., private domestic and foreign-invested firms) currently produce nearly two-thirds of the total gross domestic product in China (China Statistics Press, 2003; Tsui et al., 2006 ). Due to the recent entry of China to the WTO this competition is more and more extending to the global market. However the existing traditional organizational configurations and management of the Chinese companies is still lacking effectiveness and efficiency, making them less flexible and innovative in the domestic and global competition.
In order to survive, Chinese enterprises are realizing that they need more knowledge and skills concerning managing enterprises in a market-oriented economy. Especially knowledge of and training in Western “good management practice” is very popular in China now. Many Chinese people, especially young people, are joining MBA (or MBA-like) programmes in the USA, Europe, and Australia. How big that number is, is clearly demonstrated by the huge amount of visitors to the fairs for foreign education yearly held in Beijing and Shanghai.
The entry into WTO brought the Chinese firms into the competition for MBA talents, especially talents with international views and management knowledge. An (incomplete) statistic shows that nowadays in China there are more than 300,000 SOEs, more than 400,000 joint ventures of multinational corporations (MNCs), and more than 2 million private firms. However, the business schools in China have been set up since only ten years, and the number of MBA graduates can hardly meet the current demand of the enterprises. According to the latest figure from the Degree Committee of the State Council of China, so far there are only 13,000 MBA graduates in China, which is far from the enterprises’ demand for talents. This can be shown by an example: There are 300 MBA graduates each year at Tsinghua University. In 2004, 244 companies with 1,384 offers went for the graduates. A similar situation happened in 2005: 354 companies offered 2,495 positions for those 300 MBA graduates.
Science and technology developments
Since the reform and opening-up policy of the 1980s, the dominant governmental guideline in China was that economic construction must rely on science and technology, and science and technology must serve the economic construction. Based on such a guideline, the Chinese government began to reform the science and technology system so as to adapt it to the economic reform situation and the consistent development of its socialist market economy system. The R&D funding and activities in China for a long time have been concentrated in the universities and the governmental research institutes. The research institutes affiliated to the government and the higher institutions are still the biggest receivers of research expenses from the government, taking 21.0% and 9.9% separately; and the rest is by the national science and technology (S&T) appropriation.
1.5RESULTS OF IMBA PILOTS
Following the market research concerning several Chinese universities (Nanjing University, Peking University, University of International Business and Economics, etc.), which have already established joint MBA programs with other foreign universities, the Hunan project leader drafted the IMBA feasibility study report in 2003. And with contractual arrangements between the University of Twente and Hunan University in place, the first IMBA pilot started in 2004. A second pilot followed a year later.
First IMBA pilot
It was decided to have a limited level of advertising and to focus on the open admission market. Fifteen to twenty students were needed to cover the costs. Selection of students was based on a proper examination of the qualifications of the candidate and an interview by the Dutch programme leader assisted by the Chinese programme manager. Of the 16 students at the start, 9 finished the programme whereas 2 others failed to enter the second module because of their English language skills. Three of the original 16 students dropped out on their own because they found the programme too difficult. These 3 students were close to the lower limit in the admission process because of their limited command of spoken English . Two other students stopped because of either a job constraint or broken-leg problem.
The programme consisted of 3 modules, quite similar to the programme for which NVAO accreditation is now sought. The programme did not contain Economics, Business Law, Purchasing and Organizational Development, however.
Lecturers from Hunan University were selected with a good command of English as one of the key prerequisites. For the business English course lecturer(s) had a normal lecturer level; for the professional courses a full professorate or PhD and at least one year of experience abroad was required. In addition, the Hunan programme manager selected lecturers based on their reputation.
The academic level of courses was assured by the programme leader, who has acted as the Dean of the faculty of Business Administration and currently is one of the Chairmen of the Examination Committee of the faculty of Management and Governance of the University of Twente, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Twente School of Management. Hunan University has had over 20 years of (E)MBA education, including international joint programmes and international lecturers.
Of the 9 graduates, all have obtained good positions. One graduate, for example, has been accepted by the prestigious Hunan Academy of Social Sciences, a local government think tank, as a researcher in the International Affairs department. Another graduate works for The People’s Bank of China in Beijing, and the rest work for foreign companies or large state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Second IMBA pilot
The Economics course was added, and the HR course had a new lecturer. Marketing of IMBA now focused more on the in-company market, because the Chinese Ministry of Education had not yet approved IMBA – a prerequisite for the open market but not for companies. Of the 20 students at the start of the programme, 9 students were from Changfeng, the largest automotive manufacturer in Hunan.
Selection was done in two stages: a paper exam, followed by a telephone interview.
Of the 20 students at the start, one student – already active in pilot 1 – failed to enter the third module. Two students temporarily stopped because of job obligations and two other dropped out because of fraud. 15 of the remaining students have finished – including all nine Changfeng students. Two students managed to obtain the MSc Business Administration degree from the University of Twente instead of finishing the IMBA programme. Most of the graduates have had a promotion in terms of type of work and / or place of work; renumeration improvements are not a likely policy at Changfeng (Changfeng paid the costs for the 9 participants already, and each of them received a bonus after they presented their diplomas to the company HR Department).
Findings of the two pilots
The programme has proved to be feasible: the volume and level of intake was acceptable, the programme was up to standards, the staffing was good, etc.
The benefits of the pilots included:
•Dutch lecturers learned about the Chinese education system and to understand the behaviour of Chinese students – which is also advantageous for teaching Chinese students in The Netherlands;
•The pilots facilitated a process of mutual understanding of the Chinese and Dutch cultures and the build-up of social cohesion between the Chinese and Dutch lecturers;
•Chinese students improved their study approach and learned to work in teams and about practical Western management;
•Chinese students demonstrated a remarkable leap in their personal development and skills to act in an international environment;
•Joint Chinese-Dutch lecturer teams collaborated intensely and learned from each other, especially in Organization Theory, HRM, Accounting and Financial Management;
•An enhanced mutual understanding and respect for each others lecturer competences arose;
•Western teaching style and Chinese student learning manner both changed towards each other;
•Chinese and Dutch programme managers gained a lot of experience about how to manage an international, multicultural collaboration.
Points of attention from the pilots include:
•Changing the order of courses from pilot number one to number two, leading to Organization Theory as one of the very first courses in the second pilot, resulted in a dramatic mismatch with Chinese learning style. Thus, maintaining the more quantitative courses at the start is considered to be essential;
•Selection of candidate students’ English language skills should be enhanced and must comply with the international standards;
•The case study must be strengthened;
•The Chinese students are used to being individual learners. Team work spirit for an assignment / project among them has to be improved;
•Systematic quality assurance, especially in The Netherlands, should be strengthened;
•Supervision from a distance only of the final assignment of the students by the Dutch professors turned out to be difficult. Day-to-day local supervision by a Chinese professor should be added to the Dutch supervision;
•Chinese companies have a different view on the internship for the final assignments than Dutch companies. Chinese companies tend to consider students more as apprentices than as students who have to learn to solve a problem;
•Endorsements of the IMBA programme from Chinese companies were received. These companies already are developing their understanding of the objectives of the final assignment. Additional companies will need to be approached by the programme, so a closer cooperation with Chinese companies is necessary;
•For the future career of the IMBA graduate Chinese MoE approval (one of the Chinese MoE policies to approve a joint programme is that the foreign diploma to be issued to the Chinese students must be valid in its home country) and Dutch accreditation of IMBA are important.
The first four of the above points of attention have been fully accommodated in the presently submitted programme; the fifth point – Chinese MoE approval – is beyond our control. Table 1.5-1 shows the ways in which the points of attention have been accommodated. Further details are provided in Chapter 2 of this document.
Table 1.5-1: Points of attention from pilots
Point of attention | Remediation |
Order of courses | Maintaining quantitative courses at the start of the programme, in line with the Chinese learning style |
English language skills | IELTS score must be 6.5 or higher before a student can enter the second year of the programme |
The case study | Two small case studies in the second year of the programme are replaced by one large case study, including research methodology and management skills |
Systematic quality assurance | The (adjusted) complete system of quality assurance, based on the policy of the School of Management and Governance, is planned to be implemented. |
1.6 DUTCH GOVERNMENT (MOE) REQUIREMENTS
Introduction
In 2007, the Dutch Ministry of Education (MoE) issued a policy paper regarding Dutch Higher Education Abroad (in Dutch: “Nederlands hoger onderwijs in het buitenland, wat er wel en niet kan”). This paper outlines the options and prerequisites for Dutch accreditation of educational programmes that are delivered abroad partly or in whole.
The University of Twente IMBA team has analyzed this policy paper. Its findings are presented below.
MoE requirements also apply for not-by-government funded programmes
IMBA is a post-graduate, not-by-government funded programme. Therefore, the requirements outlined by the MoE also apply to IMBA.
IMBA represents the category “Under Dutch Banner”
The policy paper describes three categories of Dutch education abroad: the category “Under Dutch Banner”, “Double Degree” and “Distance Learning”. The IMBA programme clearly represents the category “Under Dutch Banner”. It should be noted that the collaborative arrangements for IMBA do not represent either of the two sub categories in the policy paper, i.e. Foreign Legal Entity established by our University, or a joint venture. In the case of IMBA, the collaborative arrangements imply that parts of the IMBA programme are delivered by Dutch lecturers in China (and in The Netherlands). Our conclusion is that this set-up is in accordance with the policy paper.
IMBA complies with the requirements regarding exemptions
The policy paper stipulates a model in which foreign students study abroad, subsequently register at a Dutch educational programme and therefore must have their exemptions approved by the Examination Committee of this Dutch programme. This is not the case with IMBA: IMBA students are registered from the start in The Netherlands for a Dutch programme, and all examinations and assessments are taken under the responsibility of Dutch lecturers. Our conclusion is that of the five assumptions in the policy paper (see text box, below) IMBA complies with the first three whereas the last two are not applicable.
1.that the foreign student is registered at a Dutch institution, at least for the final part of the educational programme; 2.that the Dutch institution has actually investigated the quality of the foreign programme and takes continuous responsibility for the quality of the foreign programme; 3.will assure that the foreign programme complies with all educational requirements resulting from both Dutch legislation and its Education and Examination Regulations; 4.that the Examination Committee takes careful decisions with respect to exemptions, i.e. that for each case a carefully argumented decision is required; 5.that the carefulness of the exemption policy will be assessed during accreditation. |
The policy paper refers to this exemption issue several other times. None of those are applicable to IMBA.
IMBA complies with the requirements for study load in The Netherlands
The policy paper states that students must always do a representative part of the programme, 60 EC, in The Netherlands. We assume that this requirement was derived by the MoE on the basis of a four-year professional bachelor programme. That would imply that students must do at least 25% of the studies in The Netherlands: it is extremely hard to imagine that the MoE requires that 100% (60 EC) of a one-year master programme is to be done in this country. So, we have interpreted this requirement as a 25% instead of a 60 EC rule; IMBA complies with this 25% rule.
Structural collaboration to be investigation in the New Studies Test
The policy paper states that structural collaboration, i.e. between the University of Twente and Hunan University, needs to be investigated in the New Studies Test procedure. Since both universities have committed themselves to the current application for the NVAO New Studies Test, IMBA complies with this requirement.
Quality assurance requirements for the Hunan-part of IMBA
The policy paper states that Hunan University must have a quality assurance system for their part of the IMBA programme as a prerequisite for dealing with exemptions by the Examination Committee. In our view, this cannot possibly be MoE’s intention: it would imply that Hunan University would not need a quality assurance system for IMBA, as exemptions are not an issue. Our interpretation is that Hunan University must have a quality assurance system for their part of the IMBA programme, and that this system must meet Dutch legislation. IMBA complies with this requirement
The requirement regarding registration is met
The policy paper requires that foreign students must be registered by the Dutch institution, at least for the final part of the educational programme. IMBA meets this requirement.
Joint, double or multiple degrees
IMBA is a single-degree programme. Therefore, any requirements for joint, double or multiple degrees are irrelevant.
2 Assessment framework (NVAO)
2.1 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
2.1.0 Introduction - Aim and exit qualifications of IMBA
Before discussing the domain into which IMBA fits, first the aim of the programme and its exit qualifications are described in this section. This will allow the reader to better judge the position of IMBA in its domain.
Section 2.1 of this document deals with the ‘aims and objectives’ of the proposed IMBA programme in relationship with the requirements from the domain, peers, practice, master level and academic orientation. For IMBA, a single aim has been formulated and a set of objectives termed ‘exit qualifications’ have been developed. In this introductory section, this aim and these exit qualifications will be covered. In subsequent paragraphs this aim and these exit qualifications will be confronted with the requirements from the domain, peers, practice, master level and academic orientation.
Aim of the programme
The graduate from the IMBA programme has, therefore, the capabilities to advise companies in China in the decision making process with respect to the (partial) implementation of Western management approaches in their organization. The graduate also has the capability to be the project manager in a chosen implementation process. Finally, the graduate has the capability to act as a (middle) manager in a (Chinese) company that has implemented western management approaches.
Exit qualifications for the International Master in Business Administration
1. Functional areas
According to the EQUIS domain description the main functional areas are: accounting, finance, marketing and sales, operations management, information systems management, law, human resource management.
A.The graduate has actual knowledge of the main functional areas of management, is capable of applying that knowledge, and is capable of determining when that knowledge is lacking in specific problem situations.
B.The graduate is capable of gaining (new) knowledge of the main functional areas on its own, and of applying that knowledge.
C.The graduate is capable of deciding that an expert of a specific functional area is needed in the problem situation in order to tackle the problem.
2. Multidisciplinarity
A.The graduate is capable of describing and understanding the different business functions and business processes in the main functional areas of management.
B.The graduate has knowledge of complex organizational processes, structures and contexts.
C.The graduate is capable of managing the design and implementation of solutions for relatively complex business problems, individually (with support) and in a team consisting of different disciplines.
3. Problem orientation
A.The graduate is capable of developing solutions for business problems and is capable of implementing these solutions.
B.The graduate is capable of designing a research proposal with respect to the before-mentioned problems under limited supervision.
4. Cultural understanding
A.The graduate understands the similarities and differences between management approaches originating from different (management) cultures.
B.The graduate is capable of acting in business problems taking into account different cultures of employees and/or different management cultures.
C.The graduate can make an analysis of the consequences of implementing a Western management approach/method in a Chinese organization.
5. Scientific and professional skills
A.The graduate is capable of providing a critical reflection on theories and models to decide on integration in already existing knowledge or not.
B.The graduate is capable of adequately defending the choice of theories and/or management approaches used for a specific business problem.
C.The graduate is capable of adequately criticizing his/her own work.
D.The graduate is capable to perform an applied or design oriented research project under limited supervision.
E.The graduate knows the limits of his/her knowledge and skills with respect to content, process and management capabilities.
6. (Corporate) Social responsibility and ethical skills
A.The graduate has knowledge of and insight in the relation between an organization and its environment.
B.The graduate can make judgments about the implications of business decisions on society and vice versa.
C.The graduate can reflect on the ethical, normative and societal impact of business theories and models.
D.The graduate takes the responsibility for the continuous development of his/her own knowledge and skills.
7. Communicative and social skills
A.The graduate can write a structured report in English and give a structured oral presentation in English about research done individually or in a group.
B.The graduate is capable of leading a team ((s)he can also fulfill all other roles in a team) addressing a business problem.
C.The graduate is capable of using different (usually ICT-) means in order to communicate adequately.
D.The graduate can negotiate about the necessary means with higher management related to the tasks (s)he has to perform.
Summarized exit qualifications
The above comprehensive set of exit qualifications is summarized below, to facilitate the overview and the lecturers – in order to score the contribution of their courses to the (summarized) exit qualifications.
The exit qualifications overarching the IMBA program are labeled as follows:
1.Functional areas (as given in the EQUIS domain description)
2.Multidisciplinary
3.Problem orientation
4.Cultural understanding
5.Scientific and professional skills
6.(corporate) Social responsibility and ethical skills
7.Communicative and social skills.
In summarized exit qualifications, the graduate:
1.Has knowledge of and insight in the functional areas (as given in the EQUIS domain description), and is capable of applying that knowledge in business and research problems.
2.Has multidisciplinary knowledge and insight in the area of business administration and is capable of applying that knowledge in business and research problems.
3.Is problem oriented, and therefore application oriented.
4.Is capable of analyzing and implementing management approaches originating from different cultural backgrounds.
5.Has an applied scientific attitude and possesses management skills of a starting middle manager.
6.Has internalized social responsibility and ethical issues in management and business problems.
7.Has very good communicative and social skills.
Relationship between aim and exit qualifications
The relationship of the aim of the programme and the summarized exit qualifications is given below:
The programme aims to be a scientific (5) MBA program (1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7) that enables (Chinese) students to understand and have insight in Chinese and Western management approaches (4) in such a way that it prepares students for (middle) management positions (5) in companies, operating in China, that intend to make use of these approaches (4).
2.1.1Domain-specific requirements
In this section information is given with respect to the following three components:
1.Requirements from the domain and the position in the domain.
2.Requirements from (foreign) peers.
3.Requirements from practice.
We will deal with these three components in an integral fashion, due to the source material we used for the requirements.
In order to provide the information on the above issues it is necessary to describe the choice of the domain.
Choice of the domain
According to the accreditation report of the Amsterdam graduate Business School (AgBS) at the NVAO web-site, EQUIS (www.efmd.be) provides the following domain description for an MBA-programme:
The MBA curriculum provides broad coverage of the main functional areas in management, namely accounting, finance, marketing and sales, operations management, information systems management, law, human resource management. It is also expected to provide basic instruction in economics and quantitative analysis. The curriculum will normally be highly integrative and will include courses in business policy and strategy. Beyond the mere acquisition of knowledge and technical skills the curriculum is expected to put theory into practice by focusing on the personal development of participants through such competencies as decision-making, team work, leadership skills, entrepreneurial potential, negotiation skills, communication and presentation skills. The later part of the program should make provision for electives and may include the possibility for participants to choose a major area of study.
The association of MBAs (www.mbaworld.com) provides the following domain description:
An MBA program should encompass relevant knowledge and understanding of organizations, the external context in which they operate and how they are managed. Care should be taken to ensure that the academic program is properly related to the practical world of management. All programs should ensure that candidates acquire a firm understanding of the major areas of knowledge which underpin general management, including:
1.the concepts, processes and institutions in the production and marketing of goods and/or services and the financing of business enterprise or other forms of organization;
2.the concepts and applications of accounting, of quantitative methods, and management information systems including IT applications;
3.organization theory, behavior, HRM issues and interpersonal communications;
4.the processes and problems of general management at the operational and strategic level;
5.business research methods and consultancy skills;
6.the impact of environmental forces on organizations, including: legal systems; ethical, social, economic, and technological change issues;
7.the ability to respond to and manage change should be covered explicitly;
8.business policy and strategy;
9.leadership and entrepreneurship;
10.contemporary and pervasive issues, such as creativity, enterprise, innovation, e-commerce, knowledge management, globalization and sustainability;
11.the international dimension to the above, including political risk and contemporary processes of regionalization, emerging markets, global governance and globalization.
The EQUIS domain description can be seen as a subset of the domain description of the Association of MBAs. The description of the Association of MBAs is more explicit with respect to the scientific level, including business research methods, the impact of environmental forces on organizations and the international dimension. The IMBA programme completely fits the EQUIS domain description, and therefore also fits the domain of the Association of MBAs with explicit attention for:
•the scientific level of the program, including business research methods;
•the impact of environmental forces and the internationalization component have a specific role in the program due to the aim to prepare for (middle) management positions in companies, operating in China, that intend to make use of Western and Chinese management approaches.
After having described the domain choice in the previous part, we now address the way in which IMBA meets the requirements of the domain and the position in the domain.
Requirements resulting from Chinese learning ,
It is not an exaggeration to say that Confucius and his Confucianism moulded the Chinese people for over 2,000 years. As a result to the Chinese culture, “harmony” is playing a more important role than “combat”, and this cultural ideology strongly influences the education style in China and the Chinese students’ learning attitude. “In short, culture affects who we are, how we think, how we behave and how we respond to our environment. Above all, it determines how we learn (Hofstede, 1980)”. 1,300 years of imperial examinations in China make the Chinese people believe that only excellent students are able to obtain higher social status.
Even in today’s China, “study for exam” still dominates a student’s life. The students are asked to be cathexis and listen with respectful attention in class. The ultimate goal of the parents and the students is to enter a good university and thereafter to find a good job. Their career, income, fortune and future development are all dependent on his/her higher education (Only university graduates’ dossiers can be in the Talents Data Base). In most of the cases, the teachers do not teach what is not included in the exams. Education in China can be summarized as value inheritance and despise creation; value engrafting and despise exploration. Students are often taught to memorize securely the book stuff and master the extant knowledge without private opinions (To learn “What” should be learned without asking “Why”). As Mr. Zhenguo Yuan, a professor at the East China Normal University, says, “The successful education criterion in China is to teach the students till they have no more question, or “everyone understands”. Therefore it can be seen that the older the students are or the higher education the students get, the less questions they have.” Also, the Chinese take modesty and cautiousness as the collective virtue, and if not very sure about the answer to a question, they do not like to risk losing their face/image in front of their fellow students.
The Chinese students have been long (at least 16 years for a bachelor) in this education system, and they are used to cumulate knowledge and seek for the only “right” answer. According to Frencken and Yue in an oral presentation, compared to European students Chinese students do not like to ask questions, are more indirect, and have another concept of plagiarism. This can easily lead to a Chinese trio observing – listening – meditating and to a European trio questioning –debating – experimenting, which will usually show in the following Chinese trio intuition – implicit –silent wisdom and a European trio argument – explicit –articulate knowledge .
Experience of a significant number of (university) lecturers is that working with Chinese (Ph.D., master) students at a European University at least in the beginning is difficult. Students seem to feel unhappy (at the least) if they have to pose questions, and seem to be even more unhappy if they have to reflect (critically) on a theory or a proposition given by the lecturer. One could even say that some students get hurt if they are forced to give a critical reflection (they stay, for instance, completely silent in that case).
These experiences and general knowledge are confirmed by experts having significant knowledge of the Asian culture (like Frencken and Stam). Combined with the general scientific literature on (national) culture, like Hofstede, this has led to an instructional concept and to decisions with respect to the order of courses in the programme of IMBA to adjust to the starting point with respect to the learning experiences of the students.
It is worthwile to stress the fact that Chinese learning is an important aspect of the IMBA programme in the sense that Chinese learning is a key factor in the instructional concept.
Requirements from the domain, the position in the domain, (foreign) peers and practice
The IMBA programme follows the main domain descriptions of both EQUIS and the Association of MBAs. And the IMBA programme positions itself in the domain as will be elaborated below and as is illustrated in figure 2.1.1-1, below.
The figure shows that a very large proportion of IMBA fits into the domains described by EQUIS and MBA-World. To accommodate the specific profile elements of IMBA, i.e. cultural understanding and Chinese learning, IMBA does not have electives (EQUIS) and pays limited attention to contemporary and pervasive issues (MBA World), like innovation. Please note, however, that cultural understanding can be seen as a pervasive issue (MBA-World) and as an elective (EQUIS). Therefore, a specific course on cultural understanding is included in the IMBA programme and also cultural understanding has three exit qualifications and is integrated into several programme parts. Chinese learning influences at large the instructional concept of IMBA. As a result, the requirements from MBA-World and/or EQUIS are adequate to and are met by IMBA.
Next, the match between the IMBA programme and detailed domain requirements is covered. IMBA is an academic, general, international MBA programme. The Association of MBAs (MBA World) represents a key reference for the domain requirements of an MBA programme in its MBA Accreditation Criteria . EQUIS only gives a short description of the requirements, whereas the Association of MBAs is much more comprehensive, and therefore preferred by IMBA for comparison. As for the purpose and outcomes of an MBA, the Association states the following (table 2.1.1-1, below). The fulfillment of these criteria by IMBA, as documented mainly by the (summarized) exit qualifications, is given in the right-most column of this same table.
Table 2.1.1-1: Association of MBAs accreditation criteria for purpose and outcomes
Code | Criteria | Fulfillment by IMBA |
Purpose and outcomes | ||
5.1 | The MBA is a career development generalist degree for those with significant relevant work experience, which contributes to learning. The emphasis is on leadership through strategic management with a significant practical and professional orientation to the programme of study. | IMBA fully complies with the first part of this criterion (5.1), as it is a general postgraduate programme. As to the second part of 5.1, IMBA focuses more on implementation and (inter)cultural understanding and Chinese learning than on strategic management and leadership. See also the section following this table, regarding other accreditated programmes. Practical and professional orientation is included in the programme |
5.3 | Each individual MBA programme should have clearly stated aims, objectives and learning outcomes. Learning outcomes should be clear and explicit in describing what participants are expected to know and be able to do as a result of the programme. They should make clear the ways in which the institution recognises and assesses intellectual, analytical, personal and enterprise qualities as well as the specific knowledge developed by the programme. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
Purpose | ||
5.2 i | Enhance and develop previous relevant experience in business and management. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.2 ii | Prepare students for leadership and transformational roles in business. | IMBA complies with this criterion. See also the entry above at criterion 5.1 (2nd part) |
5.2 iii | Develop strategic thinking, innovation and entrepreneurial skills. | IMBA complies with this criterion, though, due to its aim, entrepreneurial skills are less prominent |
5.2 iv | Develop an understanding and provide experience of global business issues. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.2 v | Develop the ability to apply previous and newly acquired knowledge and experience to complex business issues in a range of contexts. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.2 vi | Develop knowledge, at an advanced level, of organizations, their management and the environment in which they operate. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.2 vii | Develop interpersonal and group-working skills. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.2 viii | Encourage lifelong learning and personal development. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
Outcomes – Knowledge and skills | ||
5.4 i | Understand the concept of leadership through strategic management. | IMBA complies with this criterion. See also the entry above at criterion 5.1 (2nd part) |
5.4 ii | Integrate new knowledge with previous learning and experiences. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.4 iii | Know and understand organizations, the external context in which they operate and how they are managed. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.4 iv | Integrate their learning from a range of subject areas to understand and address complex situations holistically. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
5.4 v | Be able to analyse, synthesise and solve complex unstructured business problems. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
In the table below, the fulfillment by IMBA of curriculum-related criteria from the Association of MBAs is listed. For further reference with respect to the fulfillment of the criteria see also the description of the IMBA programme in section 2.2.
Table 2.1.1-2: Association of MBAs curriculum-related criteria | ||
Code | Criteria | Fulfillment by IMBA |
Curriculum - general | ||
6.1 | An MBA is Masters-level programme of study and is postgraduate in nature. Institutions should be able to demonstrate that Masters-level learning is achieved across the programme. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
Curriculum – Nature and design | ||
6.2 | The nature of an MBA programme is based on the assumption of significant relevant previous experience of the participants. The MBA is designed for those who may be expected in time to make a significant contribution to managing at a strategic level in their organization. The MBA is a programme of study aimed at the preparation for strategic leadership and transformational roles in organizations. It should offer both a rigorous and intellectually demanding programme of study and the opportunity for personal development. | IMBA complies with this criterion. See also code 5.2 ii (above) |
6.3 | The design and content of the programme should embrace a range of relevant theory firmly linked to the practical world of leadership, business and management. Where possible, employing organizations should contribute to the development of the programme. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.4 | While all programmes should reflect the general character of the MBA, individual courses may be designed to meet the needs of a specific business function or sector. However, although a programme may allow some specialisation appropriate to the providing institution’s resources and strengths, the MBA should retain its generalist, broad character. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
Curriculum – Knowledge, Understanding and Skills | ||
6.5 | An MBA programme should encompass relevant knowledge and understanding of organizations, the external context in which they operate and how they are managed. Care should be taken to ensure that the academic programme is properly related to the practical world of management. All programmes should ensure that candidates acquire a firm understanding of the major areas of knowledge which underpin general management, including: (i) the concepts, processes and institutions in the production and marketing of goods and/or services and the financing of business enterprise or other forms of organization; (ii) the concepts and applications of accounting, of quantitative methods, and management information systems including IT applications; (iii) organization theory, behaviour, HRM issues and interpersonal communications; (iv) the processes and problems of general management at the operational and strategic level; (v) business research methods and consultancy skills; (vi) the impact of environmental forces on organizations, including: legal systems; ethical, social, economic, and technological change issues; (vii) the ability to respond to and manage change should be covered explicitly; (viii) business policy and strategy; (ix) leadership and entrepreneurship; (x) contemporary and pervasive issues, such as creativity, enterprise, innovation, e-commerce, knowledge management, globalisation and sustainability; (xi) the international dimension to the above, including political risk and contemporary processes of regionalisation, emerging markets, global governance and globalisation. | IMBA complies with this criterion, within the profile chosen (see e.g. figure 2.1.1-1) |
6.6 | An MBA should contain substantial evidence of individual work undertaken as a project or projects, providing evidence of ability to integrate the individual core subjects. A project should be practically based and allow candidates to demonstrate an understanding of theory and its application at Masters level. Although literature-review based dissertations are acceptable, co-operation of an employing organization is encouraged, and a joint supervisor from the employer may be appointed. Where such co-operation is not available, the institution should provide alternative means for the student to carry out a practically based project. Research and consultancy skills training should be provided in preparation for the above. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.7 | Where the courses in an MBA programme are specified in terms of competencies, institutions must assess intellectual development as well as managerial competence; the coverage of underlying theory and concepts; and the development of understanding at Master’s level. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.8 | Where course members have been away from formal education for an extended period of time, explicit help in learning skills should be provided. | IMBA complies with this criterion: in the first block of the programme, a larger proportion of contact hours is planned. Thus, any help requirements can be identified and addressed early on |
6.9 | The general educational aims of the programme should be to develop cognitive, critical, intellectual and relevant personal and interpersonal skills at leadership level. It is important that participants are able to apply the concepts learned during the programme. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
Curriculum – Delivery and assessment | ||
6.10 | The applied nature of much of the MBA demands a range of teaching and learning methods. These methods include lectures, seminars, workshops, action learning, reading, individual and group projects, distance learning, computer-based training and in-company training whether formal courses or in-company learning with a mentor. Cooperation of employers is to be encouraged and it is expected that much of the learning will be practically based. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.11 | Much of the learning in an MBA can be expected to take place between members of the learning group, and opportunities for collaborative learning should be provided. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.12 | The key purpose of student assessment is to enable students to demonstrate that they have met the objectives and achieved the learning outcomes of the programme at the standard required for the award of an MBA degree. The assessment scheme should have detailed criteria and specify the range and relative weights of the various assessment methods used. The assessment scheme should be comprehensive and consistent across the various subject areas. | IMBA complies with this criterium (see table 2.2.0-1) |
6.13 | The assessment scheme should reflect the particular aims and characteristics of the course. Individual examinations should play a significant role in any such scheme since they are seen as testing intellectual rigour under controlled conditions. While innovation in assessment methods is welcomed, particularly where new teaching and learning methods are being used, detailed evaluation by the school of such innovations will also be looked for. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
6.14 | Assessment should also be used to provide feedback to students and assist in the subsequent individual and group learning. | IMBA complies with this criterion, specifically in projects, case studies and skills courses |
6.15 | Evidence is required that steps are taken to ensure that the individual’s own work is being assessed, and that assessment standards are consistent. | IMBA fully complies with this criterion |
In conclusion, IMBA meets the requirements from the Association of MBAs.
Next, a small benchmark of a number of peer programmes is presented.
Based on accreditation by EQUIS, AACSB and/or the Association of MBAs, a number of accredited schools were selected to make a (website based) comparison with the aim and the programme of IMBA. Most schools do not communicate their final attainment levels (exit qualifications) extensively; therefore, a programme comparison is used instead.
The selected schools are:
•Norwegian School of Management (www.bi.no) (EQUIS)
•Ashridge Business School (www.ashridge.org.uk) (EQUIS)
•Aston Business School (www.abs.aston.ac.uk) (EQUIS)
•Yale School of Management (www.mba.yale.edu) (AACSB)
•Centro de Negocios de la Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú (www.centrum.pucp.edu.pe) (Association of MBAs)
•The University of Edinburgh Management School (www.mba.man.ed.ac.uk) (Association of MBAs)
•ENPC, School of International Management (www.enpcmbaparis.com) (Association of MBAs)
•ESADE Business School (www.esade.es) (Association of MBAs)
•Nottingham University Business School (www.nottingham.ac.uk) (Association of MBAs)
One of the main aspects for selection was whether or not some parts of the programme are abroad, especially in China. It proved to be hard to find accredited schools with a design that is comparable with the IMBA programme, in which the majority of the lecturing takes place in China, while the programme is a Dutch programme. For MBA programmes in general, it is very uncommon to do the lecturing in the country of origin of the majority of the students, if that country is not the home country of the programme. In general only modules (a minority of the programme) or study trips are done abroad. Alternatively there are partner business schools (universities) (for instance, Edinburgh) at which a module can be done, or there are so called sister campuses (for instance, ENPC). Clearly, IMBA represents a special case within the domain of Business Administration. Figure 2.1.1-1 provides a diagram of the comparison of IMBA with the domain of MBAs. Tables of the comparison will be available at the site visit.
Further, well known and well established programmes tend to have a leadership focus, not uncommonly combined with a focus on entrepeneurship. Usually these programmes are EQUIS or AACSB accredited. These programmes aim at preparing for management positions at a senior or executive level. In the programmes themselves one can find modules on leadership and/or entrepreneurship or these themes are integrated in projects and sometimes combined with an (extensive) skills training.
Other programmes allow for different focuses, such as a financial focus or a strategic focus. These programmes pay less attention to leadership and/or entrepreneurship. They also can aim at a more consultancy based position in firms based on the content of the programmes.
In section 2.1.0 the aim of IMBA has been elaborated as to prepare for a consultancy position based on the “cultural” focus of the programme taking into account the engineering education students already have before entering the IMBA programme. So, the IMBA programme does not aim at preparing for executive positions in a (large) organization.
All compared programmes fulfill the EQUIS description of the domain, and all allow for other components in alignment with their own aim. The IMBA programme does the same.
All compared programmes appear to have an approach in which problem orientation is important, which is comparable with the summarized exit qualification on problem orientation of IMBA.
In the intake (selection for the intake) some programmes (especially AACSB and/or EQUIS accredited programmes) are very strict (for instance only allowing a first degree bachelor (or better)), while other programmes also allow higher vocational studies (in general taking into account the concept of life long learning). All programmes have rules for a number of years of working experience (usually minimum two or more, exceptions are made). For language, frequently rules are given in the form of an IELTS (which can vary from no rules to IELTS>7.5), and for mathematical proficiency GMAT is used in general (also varying from no rules via a GMAT of 555 to a GMAT of 780). The majority of the schools have an interview with the potential students before the intake decision is made. The IMBA intake (described in section 2.2.5) can almost be seen as an average of these scores, with one exception. IMBA does not set rules for a GMAT, because the Chinese educational system already takes good care of that score.
In other domains than Business Administration, accredited programmes exist in which the majority of the lecturing takes place abroad. The MSc programmes of ITC (International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation) are a good example. So, accreditation of an internationally delivered programme has proven to be viable in other domains.
In conclusion, IMBA is a programme not aiming at being or becoming an MBA programme preparing for executive level management positions, but aiming at consultancy positions in organizations based on content knowledge (cultural and technical). The respect for and the leadership status of an IMBA graduate is based on expertise of the graduate with respect to the content. The IMBA programme is comparable with the programmes mentioned above. Also, IMBA meets the EQUIS domain description, and it takes an in-between position for selecting students for the programme which is safeguarded by the interview before the intake decision is made.
Thus, the IMBA programme complies sufficiently with the compared programmes in this benchmark.
Next, IMBA programme management conducted a small-scale investigation into the specific requirements from a number of Chinese employer representatives relevant to IMBA. From all four respondents in this investigation, positive responses were obtained as to the goal and exit qualifications of IMBA. Further details can be provided at the site visit.
Finally, it should be noted that IMBA has recently set up a labour market advisory council (see section 2.1.3).
2.1.2 Master level
In this section it will be demonstrated that the intended exit qualifications of IMBA meet an internationally accepted set of requirements, i.e. the Dublin Descriptors. For this, two tables are presented. See table 2.1.2-1, below, for the complete Dublin Descriptors. In table 2.1.2-2 both the concise and the full exit qualifications of IMBA are related to the specific Dublin Descriptors, with the exit qualifications as the starting point. In table 2.1.2-3 the Dublin Descriptors are the starting point for the comparison with the exit qualifications. Upon inspection of these tables, it can be concluded that (i) all Dublin Descriptors are sufficiently covered by the IMBA exit qualifications, and (ii) each final qualification meets at least one of the Dublin Descriptors.
Table 2.1.2-1: Dublin Descriptors – master level
Number | Dublin Descriptor |
Descriptor 1 | Have demonstrated knowledge and understanding that is founded upon and extends and/or enhances that typically associated with Bachelor’s level, and that provides a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and/or applying ideas, often within a research context. |
Descriptor 2 | Can apply their knowledge and understanding and problem solving abilities in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study; have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity. |
Descriptor 3 | Can formulate judgments with incomplete or limited information, including reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments. |
Descriptor 4 | Can communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously. |
Descriptor 5 | Have the learning skills to allow them to continue to study in a manner that may be largely self-directed or autonomous. |
Table 2.1.2-2: Relationship between the exit qualifications and the Dublin Descriptors – master level | ||
Concise exit qualifications | Exit qualifications | Dublin Descr. |
Functional areas | The graduate has actual knowledge of the main functional areas of management, is capable of applying that knowledge, and is capable of determining when that knowledge is lacking in specific problem situations. | 1, 2, 3 |
The graduate is capable of gaining knowledge of the main functional areas on its own, and of applying that knowledge. | 1, 2, 5 | |
The graduate is capable of deciding that an expert of a specific functional area is needed in the problem situation in order to tackle the problem. | 2, 3 | |
Multidisciplinary | The graduate is capable of describing and understanding the different business functions and business processes in the main functional areas of management. | 2 |
The graduate has knowledge of complex organizational processes, structures and contexts. | 1 | |
The graduate is capable of managing the design and implementation of solutions for relatively complex business problems, individually (with support) and in a team consisting of different disciplines. | 2, 3, 4 | |
Problem orientation | The graduate is capable of developing solutions for business problems and is capable of implementing these solutions. | 2, 4 |
The graduate is capable of designing a research proposal with respect to the before mentioned problems under limited supervision. | 2, 3 | |
Cultural understanding | The graduate understands the similarities and differences between management approaches originating from different (management) cultures. | 1 |
The graduate is capable of acting in business problems taking into account different cultures of employees and/or different management cultures. | 2, 3, 4 | |
The graduate can make an analysis of the consequences of implementing a western management approach/method in a Chinese organization. | 2, 3 | |
Scientific and professional skills | The graduate is capable of providing a critical reflection on theories and models to decide on integration in already existing knowledge or not. | 1, 3, 5 |
The graduate is capable of adequately defending the choice of theories and/or management approaches used for a specific business problem. | 3, 4 | |
The graduate is capable of adequately criticizing his/her own work | 3 | |
The graduate is capable to perform an applied or design oriented research project under limited supervision. | 2 | |
The graduate knows the limits of his/her knowledge and skills with respect to content, process and management capabilities. | 2, 3 | |
(Corporate) social responsibility and ethical skills | The graduate has knowledge of and insight in the relation between an organization and its environment. | 1 |
The graduate can make judgments about the implications of business decisions on society and vice versa. | 3 | |
The graduate understands the ethical, normative and societal impact of business theories and models. | 1, 3 | |
The graduate takes the responsibility for the continuous development of its own knowledge and skills | 5 | |
Communicative and social skills | The graduate can write a structured report in English and give a structured oral presentation in English about research done individually or in a group. | 4 |
The graduate is capable of leading a team ((s)he can fulfill also all other roles in a team) addressing a business problem. | 4 | |
The graduate is capable of using different (usually ICT-) means in order to adequately communicate | 4 | |
The graduate can negotiate about the necessary means with higher management related to the tasks (s)he has to perform. | 2, 3, 4 |
Table 1.2.2-3: Relationship between Dublin Descriptors (master level) and exit qualifications |
From the Dublin Descriptors to the Exit Qualifications |
Descriptor 1: Have demonstrated knowledge and understanding that is founded upon and extends and/or enhances that typically associated with Bachelor’s level, and that provides a basis or opportunity for originality in developing and/or applying ideas, often within a research context. |
In the IMBA programme: •The graduate has actual knowledge of the main functional areas of management, is capable of applying that knowledge, and is capable of determining when that knowledge is lacking in specific problem situations. •The graduate is capable of gaining knowledge of the main functional areas on its own, and of applying that knowledge. •The graduate has knowledge of complex organizational processes, structures and contexts. •The graduate understands the similarities and differences between management approaches originating from different (management) cultures. •The graduate is capable of providing a critical reflection on theories and models to decide on integration in already existing knowledge or not. •The graduate has knowledge of and insight in the relation between an organization and its environment. •The graduate understands the ethical, normative and societal impact of business theories and models. |
With this, the first descriptor is met |
Table 1.2.2-3: Relationship between Dublin Descriptors (master level) and exit qualifications |
Descriptor 2: Can apply their knowledge and understanding and problem solving abilities in new or unfamiliar environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study; have the ability to integrate knowledge and handle complexity. |
In the IMBA programme: •The graduate has actual knowledge of the main functional areas of management, is capable of applying that knowledge, and is capable of determining when that knowledge is lacking in specific problem situations. •The graduate is capable of gaining knowledge of the main functional areas on its own, and of applying that knowledge. •The graduate is capable of deciding that an expert of a specific functional area is needed in the problem situation in order to tackle the problem. •The graduate is capable of describing and understanding the different business functions and business processes in the main functional areas of management. •The graduate is capable of managing the design and implementation of solutions for relatively complex business problems, individually (with support) and in a team consisting of different disciplines. •The graduate is capable of developing solutions for business problems and is capable of implementing these solutions. •The graduate is capable of designing a research proposal with respect to the before mentioned problems under limited supervision. •The graduate is capable of acting in business problems taking into account different cultures of employees and/or different management cultures. •The graduate can make an analysis of the consequences of implementing a western management approach/method in a Chinese organization. •The graduate is capable to perform an applied or design oriented research project under limited supervision. •The graduate knows the limits of his/her knowledge and skills with respect to content, process and management capabilities. •The graduate can negotiate about the necessary means with higher management related to the tasks (s)he has to perform. |
With this, the second descriptor is met |
Descriptor 3: Can formulate judgments with incomplete or limited information, including reflections on social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgments. |
In the IMBA programme: •The graduate has actual knowledge of the main functional areas of management, is capable of applying that knowledge, and is capable of determining when that knowledge is lacking in specific problem situations. •The graduate is capable of deciding that an expert of a specific functional area is needed in the problem situation in order to tackle the problem. •The graduate is capable of managing the design and implementation of solutions for relatively complex business problems, individually (with support) and in a team consisting of different disciplines. •The graduate is capable of designing a research proposal with respect to the before mentioned problems under limited supervision. •The graduate is capable of acting in business problems taking into account different cultures of employees and/or different management cultures. •The graduate can make an analysis of the consequences of implementing a western management approach/method in a Chinese organization. •The graduate is capable of providing a critical reflection on theories and models to decide on integration in already existing knowledge or not. •The graduate is capable of adequately defending the choice of theories and/or management approaches used for a specific business problem. •The graduate is capable of adequately criticizing his/her own work. •The graduate knows the limits of his/her knowledge and skills with respect to content, process and management capabilities. •The graduate can make judgments about the implications of business decisions on society and vice versa. •The graduate understands the ethical, normative and societal impact of business theories and models. •The graduate can negotiate about the necessary means with higher management related to the tasks (s)he has to perform. |
With this, the third descriptor is met |
Table 1.2.2-3: Relationship between Dublin Descriptors (master level) and exit qualifications |
Descriptor 4: Can communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to specialist and non-specialist audiences clearly and unambiguously. |
In the IMBA programme: •The graduate is capable of managing the design and implementation of solutions for relatively complex business problems, individually (with support) and in a team consisting of different disciplines. •The graduate is capable of developing solutions for business problems and is capable of implementing these solutions. •The graduate is capable of acting in business problems taking into account different cultures of employees and/or different management cultures. •The graduate is capable of adequately defending the choice of theories and/or management approaches used for a specific business problem. •The graduate can write a structured report in English and give a structured oral presentation in English about research done individually or in a group. •The graduate is capable of leading a team ((s)he can fulfill also all other roles in a team) addressing a business problem. •The graduate is capable of using different (usually ICT-) means in order to adequately communicate. •The graduate can negotiate about the necessary means with higher management related to the tasks (s)he has to perform. |
With this, the fourth descriptor is met |
Descriptor 5: Have the learning skills to allow them to continue to study in a manner that may be largely self-directed or autonomous. |
In the IMBA programme: •The graduate is capable of gaining knowledge of the main functional areas on its own, and of applying that knowledge. •The graduate is capable of providing a critical reflection on theories and models to decide on integration in already existing knowledge or not. •The graduate takes the responsibility for the continuous development of its own knowledge and skills |
With this, the fifth descriptor is met |
2.1.3 Orientation academic education
This section deals with the match between the final attainment levels of IMBA and the demands from the scientific discipline and the relevant professions. It also discusses the required qualifications for independently conducting research or to solve multi- or interdisciplinary problems in a professional practice requiring academic education. The match with the demands of the (international) scientific discipline (domain) has already been covered in section 2.1.1.
In this section, the following three aspects will be covered:
a.Final attainment levels in relation to the demands of scientific education;
b.Final attainment levels in relation to the professional / labour market requirements;
c.Qualifications for independently conducting research or to solve multi- or interdisciplinary problems in a professional practice requiring academic education.
Ad a. Final attainment levels in relation to the demands of scientific education
As mentioned above, the demands of the domain were covered in section 2.1.1. In table 2.1-3 a list is provided of general demands of scientific education.
Table 2.1-3: IMBA final attainment levels and the general demands of scientific education
General demands of scientific education | IMBA summarized final attainment levels (see section 2.1.0) |
Analytical approach to problem-solving | 2, 3, 5 |
Ability to submit an argument in the social sciences to critical appraisal | 1, 5, 7 |
Analytical and critical way of thought and ability to apply logical reasoning | 5, 6 |
The ability to keep track of scientific developments | 1, 2, 6 |
Openness to inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary cooperation | 2, 3, 6, 7 |
Ability to transpose academic knowledge and expertise into social, professional and economic contexts | 2, 3, 4, 6 |
Having communicative skills relevant to the scientific orientation | 5, 7 |
Reflection on one’s own style of thought and working methods and readiness to take the necessary corrective action | 4, 5, 6 |
Acquaintance with the standards of academic criticism | 1, 2, 5 |
Awareness of the ethical, normative and social consequences of developments in science and technology | 6 |
This comparison with the summarized exit qualifications indicates that the general scientific educational demands are met by the IMBA programme.
Ad b. Final attainment levels in relation to the professional / labour market requirements
The primary focus of the IMBA programme is to prepare graduates for a professional career for which academic education is important. As such, it aims to equip its participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to be able to work on and design solutions for multi-disciplinary problems in business administration in a Chinese-Western context. This is reflected in the exit qualifications, which show a focus on application and integration and/or confrontation of models, theories and tools, a critical attitude towards the appropriateness of potential solutions in their specific context, and attention for assignments and project work focused on analysis and design of solutions. At the same time, graduates are also equipped for applied academic research and/or consultancy in the area of business administration.
In developing the aim of the programme and its final attainment levels input was sought from a number of Chinese manufacturing companies. All four companies that were invited to react were fully in agreement with both the aim and the final attainment levels.
In order to ascertain continuous input of the labour market a labour market advisory council has recently been established. The advisory board will at least be involved in discussions on: the aim, final attainment levels and composition of the programme and curriculum evaluations. The council consists of the following persons:
•Drs. Erik van Kooy, the Counsellor for Science and Technology, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Beijing, China;
•Ing. Martin Olde Weghuis, head of R&D department, Ten Cate Thiolon, Nijverdal;
•Dr. Yujian Fan, head of department China sourcing, Power-Packer, Almelo;
•The four Chinese companies mentioned above agreed on each having a representative in this council.
Ad c. Qualifications for independently conducting research or to solve multi- or interdisciplinary problems in a professional practice requiring academic education
The emphasis of IMBA is not on preparing students for an academic career. Research knowledge and skills do form a considerable part of the programme, as indicated in the final attainment levels (section 2.1.0). This knowledge and these skills are intended to be predominantly deployed in an applied setting. So, problem solution in a multi- or interdisciplinary professional practice, requiring research and professional skills, is a key attribute of IMBA. This is again demonstrated by virtually all exit qualifications.
2.2Programme
2.2.0. Introduction
The design of the programme is based on the following characteristics:
•It must fulfill the criteria of an MBA
•It must be of a scientific nature
•It is based on Chinese learning
•It must support the (partial) transition to Western learning
•Of course, it must meet the aim.
Throughout this section 2.2, these five characteristics are elaborated on.
The programme of the International Master of Business Administration (IMBA) consists of 20 courses. These courses are summarized in table 2.2.0-1, below. Full descriptions are given in appendix 2.2.0-1.
Table 2.2.0-1 : Courses of the IMBA programme | |||||
Courses | # ECs | Instructio-nal forms | Exam types | Exam weights | |
Key: Instructional Forms | Key: Exam types | ||||
CS = Case Study GA = Group Assignment GD = Group Discussion GW(A) = Group Work (small groups) (on Assignments) IA = Individual Assignment IRP = Individual Research Project L = Lecture LS = Literature Search O = Oral P = Presentation PM = Progress Meetings PRA = Practical Q = Quiz RPS = Role-Play Sessions S = Seminar T = Tutorial V = Video (I)W = (Interactive) Workshops Wr = Written | GIA = Graded individual assignment C = Case GGA = Graded Group Assignment GGPR = Graded Group Presentation GGR = Graded Group Report GGRP = Graded Group Report Plan GIHA = Graded Individual Homework Assignments GIOT = Graded Individual Oral Test GIPA = Graded Individual Paper GIPR = Graded Individual Presentation GTHA = Graded Take-Home assignment GWT = Graded (individual) Written Test GWITH = Graded Written Individual Thesis GWOBE = Graded Written (individual) Open Book Exam OBS = Observation OP = Obligatory presence P = Presentation Q = Quiz | ||||
Courses | # ECs | Instructio-nal forms | Exam types | Exam weights | |
Business English | 3 | S/GD/P/IA/T | GIA/OBS/OP/P | Single pass | |
Operations Management | 3 | L/S | GWT | One test | |
Data Models and Decisions | 3 | L/IA/CS | GWT/GIA | GWT: 75% , > 50 pts GIA: 25% | |
Research Methods | 2 | S/PRA/GA | GWT/GGR | GWT: 75% , > 50 pts GGR: 25%, > 60 pts | |
Economics | 3 | L/CS/IA | GWOBE/ GIHA | GWOBE: 70%, > 50 pts GIHA: 30% | |
Business Law | 3 | L/S/GD | GWOBE/ OP | One test | |
Organization Theory | 3 | L/S | GWT | One test | |
Table 2.2.0-1 : Courses of the IMBA programme (continued) | |||||
Courses | # ECs | Instructio-nal forms | Exam types | Exam weights | |
Human Resource Management | 3 | L/GD | GWT | One test | |
Comparative Corporate Management Systems | 4 | L/S/GD/P | GIPR/GIPA | GIPR: 40%, > 55 points GIPA: 60%, > 55 points | |
Information Management | 4 | L/S | GWT/GGA | GWT: 75%, > 50 points GGA: 25%, > 50 points | |
Marketing | 3 | L/Q/GQ | GWT/GIA | GWT: 75%, > 50 points GIA: 25%, > 50 points | |
Financial Management and Accounting | 4 | L/Q/CS | GWT/C/Q | GWT: 60%, > 55 points C + Q: 40%, > 50 points for each case or quiz | |
Strategic Management | 4 | L/CS/GD/P | GWOBE | One test | |
Innobus Case | 4 | GWA/P | GGA/GGRP/GGR | GGA: 15%, > 55 points GGRP: 25%, > 55 points GGR: 60%, > 55 points | |
Organization Theory and Operations Management | 5 | P/GD/LS | GWT | One test | |
Purchasing | 5 | L/GD | GWT/GIA/ GGA | GWT: 75%, > 55 points GIA, GGA: 25%, > 55 points | |
Organization Development | 2.5 | L/IW/P | GGA/GIOT | GGA: 50%, > 55 points GIOT: 50%, > 55 points | |
Research Methodology & Management Skills | 2.5 | L/W/RPS/V | GGA/GIA/GIOT/GWT | GGA: 30%, > 50 points GIA: 20%, > 55 points GIOT: 10%, > 60 points GWT: 40%, > 60 points | |
Case project | 8 | GA/PM | GGR/GGPR | GGR: 75%, > 55 points GGPR:25%, > 60 points | |
Research Project | 21 | IRP | GWITH | One test | |
TOTAL ECs: 90 |
The courses are arranged in four “blocks”; the block limits are indicated by thick horizontal lines in table 2.2.0-1. The arrangement of courses within each block is schematically depicted in figures 2.2.0-1 to 2.2.0-4, below.
The first three figures below contain dashed arrows. These represent the courses that are the integrative elements in these blocks. Thus, the course on Business English is the integrative element of block number one, the course on Corporate Management System is that of block two, and the course on Research Methodology & Management Skills is the integrative element for block number 3. This arrangement follows logically from the different focus points of the IMBA programme, i.e. Chinese learning (block number 1), cultural understanding (block number 2) and academic orientation (block number 3).
Figure 2.2.0-1: IMBA programme – block number 1 “Match & Unlearn”
Figure 2.2.0-2: IMBA programme – block number 2 “Learn”
Figure 2.2.0-3: IMBA programme – block number 3 “Combine”
Figure 2.2.0-4: IMBA programme – block number 4, Final Assignment
So, in this section the general and detailed arrangement of the IMBA programme have been described. In subsequent sections, further details are given.
2.2.1 Requirements for academic education
The way in which the programme plans to meet the criteria for academic education is described using the following three points:
1.Relationship between education and research and between education and developments in academic disciplines / recent theories
2.Research skills
3.Relationship with actual practice in the professional field.
Ad 1. Relationship between education and research and between education and developments in academic disciplines / recent theories
Researchers as lecturers
The relationship for IMBA between education and research is strongly supported by the fact that the vast majority of the (Dutch) lectures is engaged in peer-reviewed research of at least a sufficient level. This is illustrated in the box below.
The IMBA programme is linked to the research of the innovation programme of IGS , which is regularly assessed by an independent external committee. The last assessment took place in 2002, with the following scores on a five point scale: •Quality: 3.5 •Productivity 3.5 •Relevance: 3.5 •Viability: 3. Within this innovation programme, two research projects related to the IMBA programme are: Management of Technical Innovation of the Chinese Firms in the Transition Economy (KNAW, Dr. Brouwers-Ren) and Managing the Supply Chain with China for Western Companies (Prof. Krabbendam, partly funded by Ten Cate). |
The large majority of courses and projects is given by members of staff (both in China and The Netherlands) who actively contribute to the development of scientific knowledge in their area (see the CVs of the lecturers), they participate in local and/or national and/or international research networks and/or programmes. Starting from their research expertise, lecturers discuss appropriate scientific theories and they use modern textbooks and/or recent journal articles.
Sharing research findings with IMBA students
Dutch IMBA lecturers, many of whom are involved in the above programme and projects, share findings and knowledge from their research with IMBA students. In addition, all “content” courses of IMBA in block number 3 are also taught in accredited MSc programmes in the School of Management and Governance.
Also, actual research from other sources is input for IMBA.
The interaction between (parts of) the programme and research is established on three levels:
•Research is used as a source of examples in the course
•Research papers are part of the course materials
•Research assignments during the courses and the final thesis are derived from or part of the ongoing research activities of the individual lecturer or a (small) research group.
Examples if these interactions are given below:
Recent research theories
•In the programme a range of theories is dealt with. These include, for instance, Modern Contingency Theory and Theories on Supply-Chain Management in Organization Theory and Operations Management , (national) culture theory according to Hofstede in Comparative Corporate Management Systems.
•In the first two blocks, the programme uses the latest versions of standard international text books. These books contain (with an approximate time lag of two years) the latest knowledge of the disciplines involved.
Research is used as a source of examples in the course
•In the course Research Methodology and Management Skills students have to assess recent journal articles on the quality of the methodologies used and on the correctness of the choice of the methodology
•In the Case Study recent articles on Technical innovation in Chinese enterprises are discussed.
Research papers are part of the course materials
•In the course Organization Theory and Operations Management a 2005 book on new manufacturing concepts will be used. Also, Chesbrough’s 2004 article on Open Innovation is used. Pralahad & Ramaswamy’s article (2004) on Co-Creating Value with Customers is also used .
•In the course on Marketing given by a Chinese professor, English journal articles are used as part of the teaching material, e.g. the Sun et al. 2003 article on Brand Switching.
Research assignments during the courses and the final thesis are derived from or part of the ongoing research activities of the individual lecturer or a (small) research group
•E.g.: the Ten Cate (Chinese subsidiary, Beijing) case, used in both pilots, was derived from the supply-chain research programme mentioned earlier;
•E.g.: the implementation of the Lean Manufacturing Company concept within the Chinese manufacturer Zoomlion;
•E.g.: the Power-Packer case, used in the second pilot, was derived from the supply-chain research programme mentioned earlier;
•The programme leadership aims at continuation of the relationships with Ten Cate, Power-Packer and Zoomlion; also, Chinese car manufacturer Changfeng will presumably participate with an assignment regarding theories for New Product Development.
Ad 2. Research skills
The programme aims at gradually developing the student’s research skills, taking Chinese learning into account. Courses and projects specifically addressing research skills are:
•Research methods (block 1)
•Innobus case (block 2)
•Research methodology and management skills (block 3)
•Case study (block 3)
•Research project (block 4)
The research skills path in the programme runs from elementary skills knowledge (at a masters level) via applying these skills in a semi-open interactive video case (the Innobus case) and adding new elements to the knowledge of methodology and methods and techniques and applying that knowledge (under regular supervision) in a real life situation, ending at the level of making and defending own choices of techniques and methodology and applying them in a real life setting in the research project.
The case study project also prepares for the research project in such a way that students in the case study have to be acquainted with and are able to apply (under supervision) steps in a research project, such as problem formulation, research questions, work plan, research plan, data gathering and reporting.
In several courses students are confronted with individual steps (or groups of steps) from a research project by assignments, such as:
•Is the problem formulation in this article correct?
•Could one use another method, methodology for researching this problem? Which one and how?
•Are the conditions under which one can use this method fulfilled?
•How to deal with these two theories which are at least somewhat contradictory?
•Write a report on …
Concluding, there are several specific courses and projects for research skills and they are used and applied in several other courses as well.
Ad 3. Relationship with actual practice in the professional field
In accordance with the MBA character of IMBA, in all courses there are connections with the actual practice in the professional field (e.g. experience of lecturers and/or students, actual examples, a guest speaker from practice), but the three projects are of main importance with respect to this issue:
•The Innobus case is based on a recent real life example and recent real life actual practice.
•The basis of the case study is a real life problem of a company in The Netherlands, where the students have to contribute in tackling that problem. The company participates actively in the case project (by visits, but more importantly by allowing interviews, observations and surveys done by students). The company also participates in the final presentations of the research project and judges the real contributions made by students.
•The research project is an individual project performed in a Chinese company tackling one of the problems/questions of the company, and thereby having to deal with actual practice by the individual student.
2.2.2 Relationship between aims and objectives and contents of the programme
In this section the relationship between aims and objectives and contents of the IMBA programme is covered in the following five items:
1.The relationship between exit qualifications and courses of IMBA;
2.Learning targets of IMBA courses in relationship with exit qualifications;
3.The instructional concept of IMBA;
4.Instructional working methods used in IMBA;
5.Assessment and final qualification levels.
Ad 1. The relationship between exit qualifications and courses of IMBA
In section 2.1.0 of this document the exit qualifications for IMBA have been described. In table 2.2.2-1, below, the relationship between the exit qualifications and the courses is given. For reasons of clarity, the full set of exit qualifications has been summarized in seven broader groups, the full titles of which have also been abbreviated.
Table 2.2.2-1: Contribution of the courses to the Exit qualifications
Summarized exit qualifications à | Functional Areas | Multidiscipli-nary | Problem Orientation | Cultural Understan-ding | Scientific & Professional Skills | (Corporate) Social Responsibility & Ethical Skills | Communica-tive & Social Skills | |
Courses \ Exit qualifications | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
Business English | + | + | ++ | +++ | ||||
Operations Management | +++ | + | ++ | + | ||||
Data Models and Decisions | +++ | + | ++ |
| ++ | |||
Research Methods | + | ++ | +++ | ++ | ++ | |||
Economics | +++ | + | + |
|
| |||
Business Law | +++ | ++ | + | ++ | ||||
Organization Theory | +++ | ++ | ++ | + | + | + | ||
Human Resource Management | +++ | + | + | + | + | ++ | ||
Comparative Corporate Management Systems | +++ | + | + | +++ | + | ++ | + | |
Information Management | +++ | + | + | + | ||||
Marketing | +++ | + | + | + | + | + |
| |
Financial Management and Accounting | +++ |
| + | + | + | |||
Strategic Management | +++ | + | + | + | + | + |
| |
Innobus Case | + | +++ | +++ |
| ++ | ++ | ||
Organization Theory and Operations Management | +++ | ++ | ++ | + | ++ |
| + | |
Purchasing | +++ | + | ++ | ++ | ++ | + | ||
Organization Development | ++ | +++ | +++ | + | + | + | + | |
Research Methodology & Management Skills | ++ | ++ | + | +++ | ++ | +++ | ||
Case project | ++ | +++ | ++ | ++ | +++ | + | +++ | |
Research Project | +++ | +/++/+++ | +++ | +/++/+++ | +/++/+++ | +/++/+++ | +++ | |
Legend | +++ = Primary focus of Course; ++ = Secondary focus of Course; + = Tertiairy focus of Course +/++/+++ = Depending on the content of the project (+ is the minimum requirement) Thick line represents border of block. |
The above translation of exit qualifications into the IMBA courses is appropriate, as argumented in the following four points:
•The high impact of the first qualification (14 courses with primary focus) follows from the fact that this first qualification contains all of the functional area knowledge and insight;
•In line with almost all MBA programmes, IMBA has a problem orientation as shown by all scores in column 3;
•Also in line with almost all academic MBA programmes, IMBA has an orientation on research and practical skills development, as shown by all scores in column 5. This orientation is more pronounced in blocks number 3 and 4 of the programme because of prerequisite knowledge and skills and because of requirements from Chinese learning;
•At a first glance, block number two seems to be less demanding on students than block number one. This is true with respect to the contribution of the courses to the exit qualifications, but does not reflect the efforts demanded from the students: block number one contains more subjects to which Chinese students can relate relatively easily, because of their learning style, than the courses taught in block number two.
Ad 2. Learning targets of IMBA courses in relationship with exit qualifications
In the previous table (2.2.1-1) the relationship between courses and exit qualifications has been given. Based on the detailed course descriptions provided in appendix 2.2.0-1, the learning targets per course have been confronted with the full exit qualifications in appendix 2.2.2-1. It is shown that the learning targets adequately match the exit qualifications.
Ad 3. The instructional concept of IMBA
The instructional concept of IMBA consists of three consecutive approaches that are in line with the block structure of the programme. In the first block, the instructional concept focuses on matching with the Chinese learning style and on subsequently broadening this learning style to include Western learning as well. In the second block, the instructional concept refocuses towards student learning as a joint responsibility in stead of being a lecturer-driven activity. In the final stage, the instructional concept supports transfer of responsibility to students. This approach is schematically depicted in figure 2.2.2-1, below.
Figure 2.2.2-1 Instructional concept of IMBA
In figure 2.2.2-2 main aspects of the operationalization of the instruction concept is depicted schematically.
Figure 2.2.2-2 Operationalization of instruction concept
Ad 4. Instructional working methods used in IMBA
For the instructional working methods see table 2.2.0-1.
Ad 5. Assessment and final attainment levels
The topic of assessment will be covered via the following seven aspects:
5.1 Examination Committee
5.2 Assessment methods
5.3 Exam regulations
5.4 Prevention of fraud and plagiarism
5.5 Assessment of research project
5.6 Processing of exam results and feedback
5.7 Quality and consistency of assessment.
Ad 5.1 Examination Committee
The School of Management and Governance has two examination committees, one for all bachelor programmes and one for all master programmes. The examination committee for IMBA, therefore, is the master examination committee of the faculty. The committee is responsible for the correct performance of all education and exam rules in the so called OER (in Dutch: Onderwijs en Examen Reglement), and can, if necessary, decide to deviate from those rules (in favour of the student). The responsibility of the examination committee holds for all education and exam rules for all locations of the programme. Therefore, both programme managers (in China and The Netherlands) have contact on a regular basis with the representative of the post graduate programmes in the examination committee. The examination committee also advises the faculty council and the dean with respect to a new OER.
Ad 5.2 Assessment methods
The final attainment levels of IMBA constitute knowledge, skills and attitudes. These final attainment levels have been translated into an appropriate set of learning objectives of the individual items of the programme, as discussed in section 2.2.2. The methods of assessment (see table 2.2.0-1 and appendices 2.2.0-1 and 2.2.2-1) match the learning objectives of the programme items, to ensure that graduates have met the learning objectives of the courses, and the final attainment levels of the programme.
Course descriptions (appendix 2.2-2) describe how the assessment will be made. IMBA aims at a well chosen broad set of assessment methods fitting on the one hand the aim and the final attainment levels of the programme and on the other hand the type of course (and lecturer) and the experience of the student. The programme leader has the responsibility for an appropriate mixture of assessment methods to be represented in the programme. Every year the mixture is reported in the year report of the programme and discussed with lecturers with respect to the appropriateness and the workload of the lecturers.
It is somewhat complicated and arbitrary to give exact rules for a well chosen, balanced and broad set of assessment methods. For example: One of the rules is there is at least one open book exam; this rule can be criticized in the sense that no upper bound for the number of open book exams is given. An upper bound of 50% seems obvious, but is 25 % of the courses a good one?
Therefore, some basic rules of thumb were developed for the programme which are used by the programme leader:
§All graded courses have an individual component of at least 50%, and the individual component mark must at least be a 5 on the scale of 1 to 10. In case the individual component is below 5 the student will fail for that examination of that course.
§The vast majority of the courses has a written individual exam as a part of the examination.
§There is a maximum of two courses with only a multiple choice exam.
§There is at least one course with an open book exam.
§In at least one course a part of the assessment consists of a presentation.
§The case study project is a group assessment with an individual component which is separately assessed. It must be possible and defendable that a group can pass, but an individual of that group can fail.
§For the assessment of the research project a separate assessment form is used. This will be available at the site visit.
Ad 5.3 Exam regulations
The Exam regulations are laid down in the study guide, in the chapter ‘Exam regulations’ . They are based on the Education and Examination Regulations (Dutch: OER) of the School . The main features of the IMBA Exam regulations are:
§Tests are marked on a scale of 1 to 10 as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Satisfactory is a 6 (that is, 5.5 or higher), unsatisfactory is a 5 (that is, 5.49) or lower. The lecturer determines the requirements and whether they are met. Grades are rounded off to whole or half numbers (for instance, 7.2 is rounded off as 7 and 7.3 is rounded off as 7.5. Rounding off will only take place after the final grade has been determined. In Hunan one marks tests from 10 to 100, which is easily translated to the system mentioned before.
§The student can compensate for unsatisfactory marks on a partial test by getting satisfactory marks on another partial test that is given within the component. However, the score for the main component(s), as specified by the lecturer (usually an individual, written exam or assignment), needs to be at least 5.0. The partial assessments and their weight are communicated to the students by the lecturer. If a student does not pass a course, he or she has a second chance for the main test (which is recorded as the second exam chance). This policy will be integrated into the exam regulations in the next revision. For exams that consist of several parts, all parts have to be passed within a year. If not, all parts need to be repeated.
§Students have two chances to pass a course (that is, all items except the case studies and research project). If after two chances the student has not yet passed, he or she can request a third exam opportunity. The examination committee decides on that request based on the input from the management of the programme (programme leader and the two programme managers) and in consultation with the relevant lecturer(s) and according to several criteria like the student’s motivation, attendance, and results in other courses.
§For the case studies and research project (final assignment) there is no second chance, except in cases of e.g. serious illness. When a student fails to meet the requirements, but has shown considerable effort and motivation, he or she will be offered the opportunity to improve or make additions to the work. The requirements for this are specified by responsible lecturing staff of the case study, or the research project supervisor.
§A student can only enter the research project (final assignment) if all courses and case studies are concluded, with exception of one course from the third block.
§To obtain the diploma, all parts of the programme should be completed with a positive result (i.e. all scores must be 5½ or higher).
§If for some reason a student can not obtain a diploma’s, certificate(s) can be issued.
§There is an exemption procedure by which students can request an exemption for a specific course. The request is assessed by the lecturer and the programme manager and the examination committee decides.
§Rules for ‘Cum Laude’ award of the diploma have been specified.
§There is an appeal procedure, following the rules of the University of Twente.
Ad 5.4 Prevention of fraud and plagiarism
In line with the policy of the University of Twente, the rules with respect to fraud (plagiarism) are followed. Lecturers pay attention to this when reviewing written assignments. Some choose to use the plagiarism check in the TeleTOP system , others check for it manually using search engines when they have suspicions. Lecturers and programme managers must inform students about rules on plagiarism in the western society.
In the two pilots some plagiarism occurred, which led to exclusion of two students from the programme. Due to this experience the management and the lecturers will and must pay more attention to plagiarism well in advance, and one also has to pay attention to cultural differences in this respect. |
Ad 5.5 Assessment of research project
The rules on assessment of the research project (final assignment) and the resulting thesis are laid down in the document ‘Guidelines for the Research project’ , prepared by the programme manager in consultation with others, which all students and supervisors receive. In short, the final grade consists of 4 elements: the set up / execution of the research, the thesis, independence and communication . When the research project is done at a host organization, the judgement of the external supervisor is taken into consideration. Supervisors of the research project have a PhD degree or involve a member of staff with a PhD in the supervision and assessment. The research project is always supervised by at least two supervisors of which at least one is appointed at the University of Twente.
Ad 5.6 Processing of exam results and feedback
The grades of exams and assignments are sent to the programme coordinator and / or programme manager, and through them are communicated to the students. According to the regulations, all tests should be corrected/marked within 15 working days (OER).
Within 15 working days after the results of an educational item have been announced, students can ask the programme manager or lecturer to inspect the assessed exam and for a discussion of the exam, the assessment standards and the results obtained. Based on the discussion, the student can put in a motivated request for reassessment of the work. When many students want to review their exam papers, a feedback meeting will be organized.
Ad 5.7 Quality and consistency of assessment
To ensure the quality and consistency of the assessment, the following routines are in place:
§IMBA uses a ‘duo-system’ for many aspects of the programme, including the assessment. The system is based on the Dutch-Chinese collaboration of lectures, i.e. for each course, a Dutch and Chinese lecturer collaborate. All courses, due to this duo-system, therefore in fact have two assessors. All written exams are discussed in advance by a Chinese and a Dutch lecturer. The assessment is done by one lecturer, but before making the grades public, they are discussed again by both lecturers. Almost always this will be done in an e-mail discussion, before sending the results to the programme manager and/or programme coordinator.
§The academic staff has adequate experience in examination and assessments. The majority is also involved in other master programmes of their own university.
§The programme managers review all course results. In the case of unusual test results, the programme managers discuss this with the lecturer.
§The research project (final assignment) is assessed by means of a standard assessment form, which is sent to the programme managers.
§Analogous to the existing committee that performs re-evaluations of master’s theses for the regular programmes of the faculty, a similar committee is established for the postgraduate programmes.
Next to this, the study guide will provide to the students a written course description that describes the specific learning objectives, the teaching methods and the method(s) of assessment.
2.2.3 Coherence of programme
Coherence of the programme
The coherence of the programme is based on a focus on the following elements:
a.Chinese learning;
b.Integration;
c.Natural order of courses in a Business Administration programme;
d.Complexity of problems.
At this point, before dealing with these four elements, it is useful to point out that any domain description for an MBA programme shows that the order of a number of courses is arbitrary, because these courses are aimed at knowledge at a basic master level. As a result, the following IMBA courses can be given in any order: Operations management, Data Models & Decisions, Business Law, Research Methods, Economics, Organization Theory, HRM, Information Management, Marketing and Financial Management & Accounting.
Ad a. Chinese learning
Due to the focus on Chinese learning it is obvious to start with more structured courses, more aiming at knowledge and application of knowledge instead of starting with courses that aim more immediately at (critical) reflection on e.g. theories presented. This implies that the programme in block number 1 starts with Operations Management, Data Models & Decisions, Business Law, Research Methods, Economics. These courses are helpful for teaching and learning Organization Theory and HRM. And, combined with Business English as integrating element for the first block, it helps students to develop critical reflection skills.
Ad b. Integration
Integration is aimed at primarily in both case periods and the research project (final assignment). These parts focus on integration of content. In addition, integration takes place as a result of three courses that continue throughout one block each. The benefit of this approach is, that the first integrative course, Business English, addresses the learning and communication skills of students; in the second block, the course on Comparative Corporate Management Systems addresses knowledge and understanding of cultural differences; and the third course addresses Research and Management Skills also in relationship with the final assignment. So, in each block, an integrative course emphasizes one specific educational characteristic of the IMBA programme: Chinese learning, cultural differences and academic MBA. As a result, block-based integration is enhanced within the constraints of a normal MBA programme.
Ad c. Natural order of courses in a Business Administration programme
A first guideline influencing the natural order of courses of a Business Administration programme is that one has to schedule disciplinary knowledge courses (e.g. Finance) before interdisciplinary courses (e.g. Strategic Management). We have already covered the principles underlying the beginning of the IMBA programme under ad a. As a result of this first guideline the courses on Strategic Management, Organization Theory & Operations Management and Organization Development are scheduled relatively at the end of the IMBA programme.
A second guideline influencing the natural order of courses is “describing, analyzing, designing and changing”. This guideline leads to positioning the courses on Organization Development and the integrative Case Study in block number 3, because they aim at knowledge and application of the change concept.
Ad d. Complexity of problems
Specifically in the IMBA case studies the complexity of the cases increases over the programme parts. The Innobus case (block number 2) is a semi-structured, somewhat styled, case with relatively structured assignments. The integrative Case Study period in block number 3 is based on a real-life problem in which the case company is involved and also influences the assignment. This increases complexity over the earlier Innobus case. Of course, the final assignment by nature is the most complex case in IMBA. Figure 2.2.3-1 schematically illustrates the growth in complexity and learning and integration with programme duration.
Figure 2.2.3-1 Growth in complexity and learning and integration in IMBA
In addition, figure 2.2.3-2 below shows the increase in addressing more advanced (academic) skills in relationship with the duration of the programme and the instructional methods.
Figure 2.2.3-2 Advancement of skills in relation to instructional methods
In conclusion: within the limitations of an MBA programme, the coherence of IMBA is shown to be good.
2.2.4 Study programme's feasibility
The feasibility (Dutch: studeerbaarheid) of the IMBA programme is assured through the following three measures:
1.Design of the programme
2.Coordination of the programme
3.Evaluation of the programme.
Ad 1. Design of the programme
The IMBA programme has been designed to assure its feasibility. Each of the first three full “blocks” has a nominal study load of 23 EC; the last block has a nominal study load of 21 EC. Each of the three full blocks is split up into three periods of 5 weeks each, allowing for a maximum of 200 hours or 8 ECs. The nominal study load per period does not exceed 8 EC, as shown in figures 2.2.0-1 to 2.2.0-3 in combination with table 2.2.0-1, so the five-week average study load complies with the (EC) standard. In blocks number 1 and 2, peaks in the study load are balanced out by the self study periods. Also, a Dutch lecturer visiting Hunan University makes sure that the actual weekly study load does not exceed 40 hours. In block number 3 an acceptable study load is assured through the standard policies and procedures of the graduate programme of Business Administration in Twente; a large portion of block 3 of IMBA runs within this Business Administration programme.
Peak loading due to a potential need for students to produce several papers simultaneously – a common study load problem in academic education - is not an issue in IMBA. Papers are only to be produced in blocks number 2 and 3. In block number 2, the need for simultaneous paper production occurs in two courses only: Comparative Corporate Management Systems and Financial Management & Accounting. This will be resolved in advance by the two lecturers and monitored by the programme manager. In block number 3 the planning of the production of papers is discussed in advance, because these courses also are courses in regular MSc programmes. The quality management system of these programmes assures that these potential interferences must be solved in advance. An issue could arise when a student needs to do many resits in block number 3; this, however, would be an individual problem requiring an individual solution.
Ad 2. Coordination of Programme
In the execution of IMBA, management of the programme will assure that the actual study load will be acceptable. The programme coordinators and managers in Hunan and Enschede will maintain an open door policy and will initiate social activities with students; this will allow them to receive early warning signals of problems, which is also enabled by the fairly small scale of the programme. For block number 2 specific coordination will be arranged as explained in the previous paragraph.
Ad 3. Evaluation
The internal quality assurance system of IMBA (see section 2.5 of this document) will cater for the evaluation of (among other items) study load.
2.2.5 Intake
The standard admission criteria are as follows:
•Have at least a Bachelor’s degree in a technical study or a diploma in higher vocational studies, and
•Have an (academic) IELTS 6.5 score or equivalent (on all of the components of IELTS there must be a score of at least 6.0)
•Have at least a working experience of at least three years.
Further, for a positive assessment the following is required:
•A letter showing motivation and expectations that match with the programme
•Positive recommendation letter(s)
•CV
•Relevant diplomas and transcripts have to be certified.
The standard procedure includes fine-tuning. Examples of fine-tuning the admission process are:
§In case of doubt about the level of the degree, additional information is sought, for example through Nuffic, the International office of the University of Twente or the applicant is asked to provide a reasonable proof that the diploma meets at least a Bachelor’s level.
§If it is not possible for applicants to take an IELTS test, a comparable result on an alternative test (usually TOEFL) is accepted, usually after a (telephone) interview with the programme manager.
§When in the application stage the programme management suspects that an applicant might be overqualified for the programme, or in other words, that the programme could possibly not offer sufficient broadening to the applicant, this is communicated to the applicant. In that case, the applicant receives more detailed information about the programme, and is asked to confirm whether he / she would still like to be admitted to the programme.
In principle, only technical backgrounds are considered.
In addition to the standard procedure and criteria, IMBA uses special case admission handling as well:
§Some Bachelor diplomas indicate a level: first class, second class, etc. Second class Bachelors in a technical study can only be accepted if they have strong compensation, for instance 5 years or more working experience.
§In individual cases where an applicant does not meet one or more criteria, but has a very strong case (e.g. much relevant work experience, strong motivation), programme management can deviate from the admission requirements. However, this deviation is not possible with respect to the Bachelor’s degree or a diploma in higher vocational studies and only if management has good reasons to assume that the applicant has enough background and motivation to complete the programme successfully. In those cases, the situation is discussed with the applicant. For example, the results from the pilot pointed to the fact that the level of English must be measured at the level of the components of the IELTS test, especially focusing on speaking as well. An applicant that does not fulfill the requirement of a score of 6.5 (and 6.0 on all the components), but has at least a score of 5.5 (and 5.5 on all the components) will be invited for an interview (and fulfils all other criteria), in which especially the level of speaking English is tested. If the candidate is admitted, after one year, (s)he must still fulfill the admission IELTS criteria, before being allowed to enter block 3 of the programme. Usually, the responsibility for the lacking item lies with the applicant.
The remainder of this section is subdivided into the following five sub-sections:
1.Principles of acceptance policy
2.Additions to the description of the admission approach
3.Intake in relationship with the intended character of the programme
4.Experiences and developments in admission
5.Conclusions.
Ad 1. Principles of admission policy
IMBA is a postgraduate academic programme. The principles of admission of any postgraduate (academic) programme differ from those of a graduate (academic) programme: candidates applying for a postgraduate programme have working experience and (may) have acquired relevant competencies through work and through prior learning as well. For MBA programmes, like IMBA, international accrediting bodies like MBA-World / Association of MBAs (www.mbaworld.com) have well-established acceptance criteria. These criteria have also been accepted by NVAO e.g. by accrediting programmes like the academic part-time and fulltime MBA programmes Master of Business Administration of the NIMBAS Graduate School of Management (Utrecht, The Netherlands). The IMBA programme will adhere to these internationally established acceptance criteria.
Ad 2. Additions to the description of the admission approach
Figure 2.2.5-1 depicts the admission procedure. The admission procedure has been adapted from the post graduate programme MEEM (Master in Environmental and Energy Management), and adjusted to the specific needs of the IMBA programme. The applications are received by the programme coordinator, and checked against the admission criteria. The Examination Committee is accountable for admission of applicants. The responsibility is delegated to the management of the programme, which consists of the programme leader, the programme managers and the Chinese programme coordinator.
All applicants that meet the admission criteria receive an admission letter. If one or two criteria are not yet met, the applicant receives a conditional admission letter, which is replaced by an unconditional admission once all criteria have been met. Final admittance (that is, actual participation) depends on payment of the tuition fee .
A few comments are in place:
•The standard criterion number 1 in the above figure is an abbreviated version. The full version is as follows: a Bachelor’s degree in a technical study from a university qualified as a first-class bachelor degree and a diploma in higher vocational studies from a school highest in the ranking order of Chinese higher vocational schools, approved by the NESO office in Beijing;
•In several process steps in the admission procedure, some candidates evidently will drop out; the remaining candidates enter into the next step;
•The interview will take place with all remaining candidates at that step, and is conducted by an IMBA admission committee consisting of the Chinese programme manager and a Dutch programme representative lecturing in Changsha. So, interviews can take place approximately every six weeks.
Any person who is interested in taking the master’s programme has to go through the admission procedure. The guiding principle for admission is that the student has enough background and motivation to complete the programme successfully.
The intake procedure and criteria are discussed regularly, for example in management meetings and the annual evaluation meeting, especially based on experiences with the most recent group of students.
Ad 3. Intake in relationship with the intended character of the programme
The IMBA programme is intended for postgraduates with a clear affinity for management and technology, either as a result of their education or of their working experience. The Master programme envisions to enlarge the scope of knowledge and skills of participants in the MBA field, especially focusing on (partially) implementing western management methods in Chinese companies. The intended character of the programme has been an important input for designing the intake criteria. This is illustrated by the “technical background rule” (ability) and by the standard interview in which at least motivation (willingness) is tested.
Ad 4. Experiences and developments in admission
Based on the experience in the pilot programmes, but also based on the experience of the MEEM programme it is clear that the IMBA programme must be precise in testing the level of English of the applicants, especially with respect to the level of spoken English. Due to the experiences in the MEEM programme and the pilots of IMBA the second focus will be on the level of written English. In case of any doubt, both skills will be tested based on an interview, before making the final decision of admission or not. After two blocks all students have to fulfill all requirements of the IELTS admission without any exception. If students are admitted (by making an exception) it is their own responsibility to fulfill the requirements after two blocks (otherwise they have to leave the programme).
Ad 5. Conclusions
It is expected that the admission criteria will work well, based on the experience of both the pilots and the admission criteria of the MEEM programme (that has run for about a decade). It is also expected that major attention has to be paid to the level of the higher vocational studies in China; therefore it is planned to have more interviews in case of any doubt.
2.2.6 Duration
IMBA is a part-time programme of two years and consists of 90 EC.
The main reasons for running IMBA as a part-time programme are the following:
1.Chinese holidays do not coincide with Dutch holidays. Therefore there will be a conflict in scheduling a programme fulltime.
2.The programme aims at a change of thinking and learning (necessary to master these ways for two different cultures), and adjusting to the majority of participants of the programme therefore requires reflection time (which can not be scheduled and does not receive ECs).
3.It allows participants time in China to find an internship for their final assignment.
4.It allows participants to have and/or maintain a relatively small job.
2.3 DEPLOYMENT OF STAFF
Introduction
This chapter provides information on the deployment of staff. First, the requirements for academic education are described, subsequently both the quantity and quality of staff are outlined.
2.3.1 Requirements for academic education
Appendix 2.3-1 provides a set of CVs of the lecturers engaged in IMBA. The table below gives an overview of the staff involvement. In case a course is provided by one lecturer only, the course has not been underlined. In case a course is provided by more than one lecturer that course is underlined for the responsible lecturer.
Table 2.3.1-1: List of lecturers of IMBA (Cn = China, Nl = Netherlands)
Name | Course | |
Cn | Prof. Jianxiong Chao | Data Models and Decisions |
Cn | Dr. Xiang Yu | Economics |
Cn | Prof. dr. Ling Yuan | Human Resource Management |
Cn | Prof. Xiangping Bo | Strategic Management |
Cn | Prof. dr. Ling Zhang | Financial Management & Accounting |
Nl | Prof. dr. J. Bilderbeek | Financial Management & Accounting |
Cn | Prof. dr. Deming Zeng | Marketing |
Cn | (vacancy) | Business Law |
Cn | Drs. Peng Wang | Business English |
Nl | Prof. dr. ir. O.A.M. Fisscher | Organization Theory & Operations Management |
Nl | Prof. dr. ir. J.J. Krabbendam | Organization Theory & Operations Management |
Operations Management | ||
Nl | Prof. dr. J. Telgen | Purchasing |
Nl | Prof. dr. C.P.M. Wilderom | Organization Development |
Nl | Ir. W. Bandsma | Organization Theory |
Innobus Case | ||
Nl | Dr. ir. P.M. Wognum | Information Management |
Nl | Dr. L. Brouwers-Ren | Research Methods |
Research Methodology & Management Skills | ||
Case project | ||
Nl | Ir. F. van den Berg | Research Methodology & Management Skills |
Case project | ||
Nl | Dr. ir. P. Terlouw | Research Methodology & Management Skills |
Case project | ||
Nl | Prof. dr. J.A. Stam | Comparative Corporate Management Systems |
Cn + Nl | All the above lecturers can supervise the Research Project (see footnote) | Research Project |
Hunan
Unlike in The Netherlands, university research in China commonly is not carried out within the context of research programmes. Therefore, research and academic qualifications of IMBA staff need to be derived from their CVs. These CVs demonstrate that, given the level of development of international research in China, several lecturers already have produced international publications. In addition it should be noted that the quality assurance of the programme benefits from the scientific input of Dutch lecturers, who are the counterparts of their Chinese colleagues, and that the (Dutch) programme leader of IMBA carries final responsibility for the overall quality of the programme.
Twente
General information
§Most staff (see CVs) has a proven track record as researchers and/or lecturers, both in IMBA pilots and in other (regular and/or postgraduate and/or non-degree professional) educational programmes.
§The innovation research programme of IGS , the Twente Institute for Governance Studies is known for its applied research programmes, linking theory and practice. Dutch IMBA staff in general participates in this programme.
The research programme descriptions relevant to IMBA will be provided at the site visit. Prof. dr. ir. O.A.M. Fisscher, Prof. dr. ir. J.J. Krabbendam, Prof. dr. J. Telgen, Prof. dr. C.P.M. Wilderom and Dr. ir. P.M. Wognum, Ir. W. Bandsma and Dr. L. Brouwers-Ren are all engaged. The most recent external assessment (QANU, 2002) yielded an average score of 3.38 on a five point scale.
2.3.2 Quantity of staff
Start-up capacity
As described earlier in this report and in paragraph 2.6, the IMBA programme has been developed in recent years and piloted twice. The remaining development activities are minor, requiring approximately € 10k. The capacity for this remaining development work is available at both universities.
Capacity for continuation
The following three categories of staff will be addressed separately:
1.Scientific staff
2.Management staff, and
3.Support staff.
Ad 1 Scientific staff
Overall
The overall staff-to-student ratio, as calculated from the financial budget, is approximately 1:17 at 20 students. This is considered to be an appropriate ratio for a small scale postgraduate academic programme as IMBA is.
Hunan
The programme is part of a rather large College. The College has 114 staff members, including 93 fulltime academic staff. Among the academic staff, there are one academician, one subject assessing member of the State Council, one Yangtse Scholar, and one Hurong Scholar. 28 of the academic staff are professors, 28 are associate professors, and 57 are PhDs (including part-time/ executive PhDs). Staffing the required number of suitable lecturers has been (pilots) and will be fully viable. Clearly, the percentage of English language proficient lecturers reduces the potentially available teaching capacity; the required capacity is sufficient and has even increased in recent years because the overall academic and English language proficiency level has increased through younger lecturers.
Ad 2 Management staff
Overall
The management staff, consisting of the programme leader, the programme managers and the programme coordinators, has the following time available.
•Programme leader, Prof. dr. ir. J.J. Krabbendam: 0.05 FTE per year;
•Programme managers Hunan and Twente, Prof. Xiangping Bo, Dr. L. Brouwers-Ren: 0.25 FTE per year, each.
Ad 3 Support staff
Overall
The programme has dedicated programme coordinators in Hunan and Twente, Mrs Wan and Mrs Veltman, for 0.5 FTE / year and 0.025 FTE / year, respectively. If necessary, additional support staff is available.
Hunan
The IMBA programme is fully supported by the College of Business Administration and by Hunan University. For the opening ceremony, one Vice-President of the university and the Director of Foreign Affairs are present. More examples from both the college and the university are:
§There is support of dormitories for the IMBA students.
§There is support for library facilities (both at the college and at the university).
§There is support for the usage of computer facilities.
§There is support for the IMBA students recruitment, local management, visa application, foreign currency (Euro) exchange with the Bank of China for the tuition fee transfer.
In addition, Dutch visiting lecturers are supported by a Chinese student assistant with good English language skills. This student assistant helps in practical affairs like preparing teaching materials, the use of audio-visual equipment, contacts with the College administration, arranging hotels and meals.
Twente
In addition, the programme is supported by the School of Management and Governance and by the University of Twente. Therefore all types of support staff from School and University are available for students and lecturers. A few examples:
§There is support for making the Education and Examination Regulations (in Dutch: OER).
§There is support for library facilities.
§There is support from the international office from school and university for students and lecturers.
§There is support for lecturers from the Student and Education Service Centre.
§There is support from both the faculty and university communication officers for publicity and recruitment of students.
§IMBA candidates are supported in applying for a Nuffic scholarship.
Due to the fact that the programme already has run as a pilot for two years it is clear that all lecturers already have time allocated in their schedule for running parts of the programme.
2.3.3Quality of staff
General information
Most staff (see CVs) has a proven track record as researchers and / or lecturers, both in IMBA pilots and in other (regular and/or postgraduate and/or non-degree professional) educational programmes. The IMBA lecturers are qualified for the programme not only based on their content knowledge and other qualifications discussed below, but also because they all have international experience in academic education and because of their involvement in international projects mainly on research and also on teaching. In addition, some of them also have developed their intercultural experience as a member of international committees.
In this section, the following aspects regarding lecturer qualifications are dealt with:
1. Content
2. Knowledge of the professional field
3. Educational skills
4. Organizational
Ad 1. Content
Hunan
Lecturers are experts in their fields, as demonstrated also by the CVs and table 2.3.1-1 in the previous section.
Hunan lecturers (except for the ones for Economics and Business English) have strong research and teaching experiences, as well as management experiences. Five of the lecturers involved have been sent by the Chinese Ministry of Education as Visiting Scholars to universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada and Australia for joint research and teaching observation for (over) a year.
Five of the lecturers involved have already more than 20 years of research and teaching experiences in their own fields and each of them have held at least one research project sponsored by China National Social Science Funds, a number of provincial/ministry level projects and projects with local companies.
Twente
Lecturers are experts in their fields, as demonstrated also by the CVs and table 2.3.1-1 in the previous section. The vast majority of the lecturers is member of one or more of the Twente research institutes and again the vast majority has more than 20 years of experience in their fields. Approximately half of the lecturers have been full professor for over ten years. To illustrate the expertise of each of these professors:
•Prof. Stam is an internationally, long-term, respected expert in Asian/Japanese studies. He is founder of the Japan studies in The Netherlands;
•Prof. Telgen is an internationally respected researcher in purchasing;
•Prof. Wilderom is an internationally respected researcher in organizational behaviour;
•Prof. Krabbendam has extensive and long-term experience in operations management, including research about technical innovations in Chinese companies;
•Prof. Fisscher has extensive and long-term experience in organization studies and ethics.
Finally, to illustrate the link between the Dutch and Chinese lecturers, Prof. Zeng did his PhD in Twente and Prof. Bo, MSc is currently finalizing her PhD studies in Twente.
Ad 2. Knowledge of the professional field (Hunan and Twente)
From the curricula vitae it can be seen that the majority of the lecturers involved in the programme is involved in research in the professional field and/or has working experience in the professional field and/or is still working in that field. Besides their university positions, two of the Chinese lecturers are directors of their own small companies and three of them are senior consultants of some large (state-owned) companies in the local manufacturing and service sectors. In Twente, one of the lecturers has his own consultancy company and several of them are supervisory board members of (inter-)national private and public organizations. In addition, several of them are – on an ad-hoc basis – senior consultants for different types of organizations. At least one of the lecturers is a former owner of a private company.
Ad 3. Educational skills
Hunan
The College of Business Administration of Hunan University has considerable experience with teaching MBA programmes. MBA enrolment began in 1984. Since four years, the College also provides the Executive MBA. The University discriminates three professor levels: PhD tutor (professors having the authority to supervise PhD students), Academy professor (Academician) and Professor. Academy professors are employed by either of two Chinese Academies (CAS, Science, and CASS, Social Science) and seconded to Hunan University. The University has made a strong improvement in recent years in the level of academic staff: most younger lecturers now have a PhD. Also, circa ten younger lecturers were involved in the AsiaLink project, collaborating with staff from the University of Twente, which enhanced their didactic knowledge and skills.
Not all lecturers of the College have a sufficient command of the English language. Therefore, Chinese IMBA lecturers were preselected by the College management (Chinese programme manager, who has an excellent command of English) after which the programme leader performed the verification and approval.
All IMBA lecturers are also engaged in regular Master College programmes and are didactically proficient, with many years at Hunan University. The Chinese Teacher’s Law of 1994 stipulates that to obtain a teaching qualification for higher education, the candidate lecturer should have a Master or Bachelor degree. Nowadays, the practice of Chinese universities is to accept PhDs, and Master graduates in teaching English. The candidates should give a proof lecture before he/she is accepted by the College. At the College level, regular lecturer meetings are held to further develop the didactic level. Many lecturers have considerable teaching experience outside China, as demonstrated by their CVs.
Most lecturers also teach in initial academic education and / or other academic educational programmes for professionals. Many have been involved in IMBA from the start, providing a solid basis and continuity of involved staff.
The University has a strong financial incentive for high quality teaching. A considerable part of lecturers’ income is related to their actual participation in teaching. College Management has the authority to exclude an underperforming lecturer from teaching, thus lowering his income. In addition to this financial incentive, there are other systems and measures for the improvement of teaching methods, teaching attitude, teaching means, teaching contents, et cetera, in order to ensure the quality of teaching. Three organizational levels are in involved in these evaluation activities: the university level, the faculty level, and the departmental level, led by the university President in charge and the university Academic Administration Officer. Every year a few lecturers will be awarded, based on various sources of information, the title of “Excellent Teacher of the Year”, both at the faculty and at the university level.
Twente
At the moment all IMBA lecturers are from the School of Management & Governance (one of them is a “pensionado”) and have considerable teaching experience in other programmes. In case of a shortage of lecturers the programme can rely on the participation of lecturers from other Dutch universities from comparable (accredited) educational programmes.
The Human Resources Management policy of the School of Management & Governance applies to IMBA. If pedagogical issues would arise, regular university practices apply, including (additional) training of lecturers by the Educational Department (ED) ; this is also covered in section 2.5. Faculty can make use of several (large) lecturer courses offered by ED. New UT lecturers are urged to follow a modular course, called DUIT (in Dutch: Didactisch UT Inwerk Traject) in order to fulfill basic educational and didactical quality required by the University of Twente. ED also regularly offers other courses in order to update knowledge and skills of more senior lecturers.
Recently, a special focus is put on the English skills of all lecturers of the School of Management and Governance. All lecturers are tested on these skills and if they do not fulfill minimum requirements they have two options: (i) stop the teaching in English and (ii) improve their English skills, making use of several options offered by the University. Almost all lecturers (at the moment of writing this section of the report) have passed the English tests. A number of staff is native English speaker.
PhD students are only involved in the IMBA programme as far as their research is related to issues concerning Chinese management. The degree of involvement of PhD students is and will continue to be very limited.
Ad 4. Organizational (Hunan and Twente)
The programme is managed by a programme leader, two programme managers and two programme coordinators. The programme leader is Prof. Krabbendam, who is a former Dean of the School of Technology and Management – and therefore was accountable for all the educational programmes of that School - and who also currently acts as the chairman of the department of Operations, Organization and Human Resources (OOHR) and thus is fully qualified. Prof. Krabbendam also has a 15 year collaborative experience with Chinese universities, including Hunan University, and has acted as one of the chairmen of the Examination Committee; he also is a senior lecturer in the Executive MBA programme of Hunan University.
The programme managers are Prof. Xiangping Bo, MSc (Hunan) and Dr. Liqin Brouwers-Ren (Twente); they are also fully qualified, as demonstrated by their CVs. The programme coordinators, Mrs. L. Wan (Hunan) and Mrs. J. Veltman (Twente) are both qualified office managers, with over 10 years of experience.
All Dutch lecturers that teach in China have experience in intake procedures of graduate and postgraduate programmes.
2.4 FACILITIES AND PROVISIONS
2.4.1 Material facilities
This section discusses the material facilities available for the IMBA programme, especially with respect to housing and library facilities.
The programme is situated at two locations: Hunan University (College of Business Administration) in Changsha, China and the University of Twente (Faculty of Management and Governance), Enschede, The Netherlands.
Housing facilities
Hunan
Hunan University College of Business Administration, the location of IMBA in China, has recently moved to a newly erected building on the university campus. In the new facilities one air conditioned lecture room (40 to 50 students) is dedicated for the IMBA. The room is equipped with a Local Area Network, PC plus beamer and whiteboard. For group work, other rooms in the building can be used. All the aforementioned rooms are flexible, meaning that they can be used as lecture room, project room or study and work rooms. The building has a certain degree of overcapacity of rooms. Chinese lecturers have own rooms in the building; there is a special room for visiting Dutch IMBA lecturers, equipped with a PC and telephone. The building is open from 8 am to 10 pm, also during Saturdays (and on Sundays if necessary), for both students and lecturers. Lecturers and students can use (students: upon request) telephone and fax. For students coming from abroad, Hunan University has sufficient special accommodation that meets Western standards.
Twente
In Enschede, sufficient lecture rooms are available upon regular scheduling. The same holds for project room facilities. Twente also has sufficient temporary accommodation for students from abroad.
Computer facilities
Hunan
Students can use the LAN and a dedicated PC room. Internet is available to them, within the limits of Chinese governmental regulations. During pilots most IMBA students used their own laptop computer. The LAN is sufficient for IMBA use.
Visiting lecturers can use a PC with English-version Windows and Internet access in the lecturer room.
Twente
The Faculty of Management and Governance has a PC room which IMBA students can use after prior reservation. In addition, the building “Capitool” is equipped with a high-end wireless LAN, providing e.g. access to Internet and Digital Library facilities.
The University of Twente uses “TeleTOP”, an electronic course environment. IMBA uses this for all its courses.
Library facilities
Hunan
Hunan University College of Business Administration has a dedicated library in the same building as where the lecture rooms take place. Hunan University Central library is also available to IMBA students. A digital library is not available.
Digital access of IMBA students from Hunan University College of Business Administration to external digital libraries, especially to those of the University of Twente, is not yet possible. We are investigating whether the problems are only technical or are a result of the Chinese governmental policy to screen parts the internet from influences from abroad.
Twente
The library of the University Twente offers a wide variety of services for students and employees. It has an extensive collection of books, papers, reports, et cetera, that can be accessed in the library in Enschede. To facilitate its off-campus students and employees, the library offers an electronic search catalogue to search its databases, and a wide collection of e-books and e-journals that substitute or supplement the library catalogue. The digital library is available on the internet and consists of approximately 275 databases, 14,000 electronic journals and 4,000 electronic books. The hardcopy collection can be searched on internet using the library catalogue. IMBA students can visit the library in Enschede and / or can access the electronic library on the internet (http://www.utwente.nl/ub/). They receive extensive verbal information from relevant specialists about the (PC) facilities, library, campus, International Office at the beginning of the Dutch part of the IMBA programme.
The University of Twente library building “Vrijhof” was renovated in 2006/2007. The opening hours are
§Work days: 08.30 to 22.00 hrs
§Saturdays: 11.30 to 16.30 hrs (only for study; no lending of books)
§Sundays (remainder of 2007/2008): June 8, 15, 22, 2008.
The libraries of other universities are accessible to IMBA students through their University of Twente student card.
Other facilities
Hunan
During the introduction days in Hunan, IMBA students also receive information about other (student) facilities in the city of Changsha. During the IMBA programme, the programme coordinator and programme manager are available for practical support concerning material facilities and a broad range of questions, relating to both the study programme as well as day to day (social) life. IMBA students have access to all student facilities available at the University campus.
Twente
During the introduction days IMBA students also receive information about other (student) facilities in the city of Enschede. During the IMBA programme, the programme coordinator and programme manager are available for practical support concerning material facilities and a broad range of questions, relating to both the study programme as well as day to day (social) life.
IMBA students have access to all student facilities available at the University campus. Chinese students in The Netherlands have organized themselves in the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars in the Netherlands (ACSSNL), which is an initiative of the Chinese Embassy in The Netherlands; it is quite active and counts over one hundred students and PhDs. ACSSNL organizes e.g. a trip to ‘De Keukenhof’, Chinese New Year party and sports activities. The University of Twente has a branch. See http://tilde.snt.utwente.nl/~acss/.
Hunan and Twente
The programme management organizes several social activities during the programme, both in Changsha and Enschede. For example in Changsha the IMBA students are invited to join the College’s annual party of MBA, EMBA and IMBA and in Twente a sailing trip, eating pancakes or a Chinese diner, visiting the Dutch Parliament and ice skating. This facilitates social cohesion, open contacts with staff and a pleasant stay, which helps international students to be successful in their study programme.
Hunan University College of Business Administration Library | Hunan University College of Business Administration Library | Hunan University PC room |
Hunan University IMBA lecture room (circa 50 students) | Hunan University atrium of College of Business Administration building | |
Hunan University large lecture room (circa 200+ students) | Hunan University College of Business Administration building | Hunan University atrium of College of Business Administration building |
Hunan University PC room | Hunan University College of Business Administration lecturer’s office | IMBA Sailing trip in The Netherlands |
2.4.2 Student support and guidance
This section discusses the provisions for student support and guidance, including information supply.
Study counseling and information supply
Hunan
Study counseling
The Chinese programme manager initiates the appointment of students for various student activities. This includes the “class monitor” who coordinates communication between the students and the lecturers. Every student year group appoints a class monitor. The programme manager acts as student mentor and helps out with any study problems individual students or the student group may have. If necessary, the programme manager contacts the Dean or Vice-Dean of the College of Business Administration. Study counseling is based both on an informal, open-door policy and on structured contacts, through evaluations (see paragraph 2.5 on internal quality assurance). Contact is bidirectional: the programme manager contacts students, and vice versa. Regular coordination meetings are held between School management and programme manager and of the programme manager with students.
Students are invited for a meeting with the programme manager when the latter signals (potential) study delays.
Information supply
At the initial get-together, the programme manager presents information to the group of IMBA students. This information is of a more general nature, like the timetable, the lecture room, how the programme is organized with Chinese and Dutch teachers. In addition the library, the dormitory et cetera is mentioned.
Written documentation includes various materials: brochures and information on the Intranet including a study guide, presenting course names, lecturer names and the timetable of the curriculum. Normally, during the first hour of the first lecture the lecturer describes the course. Verbal additional information to students is provided by the secretary of the programme leader.
Twente
Study counseling
Study counseling is based both on a frequent, informal, open-door policy and on structured contacts. The Twente programme manager also acts as student mentor. The current mentor is a Chinese native, which makes communication with Chinese students much easier. In addition, Chinese IMBA students in The Netherlands can contact their Chinese programme manager. Pilot experience shows that this does not occur frequently. The mentor has one-on-one talks with students and engages them proactively, mainly based on marks and on previous experiences from Hunan.
Information supply
During the official welcoming meeting of students, the programme leader presents information to the group of IMBA students. This information is of a more general nature, like the timetable, the lecture rooms and how the programme is organized. In addition the library, the appartments et cetera are mentioned. Also, a tour of the campus and of the city of Enschede is held. The websites (at Hunan and Twente) and brochure contain general information on the programme.
The UT course management system ‘TeleTOP’ contains information about the programme and company visits. For the structure of the final assignment a requirements document is available, plus a sample master’s thesis report. A Study Guide will be available before the next delivery of the programme. The programme management will also adapt and adopt the ‘Guidelines for the Research Project’ from MEEM ; this document will be available for the site visit of the NVAO panel.
For IMBA, the ‘Onderwijs en ExamenRegeling’ (OER) from the Faculty of Management and Governance is used. This OER describes the formal regulations for, among other, IMBA, and is available to students.
University student support
The IMBA programme management will, if necessary, point students to the support that the Service department of student facilities & campus (S&OSC) can offer, e.g. to involve a student psychologist. The International Office offers assistance with visa and permits. For all IMBA students, an insurance is arranged covering illness, accidents and legal liability (in Dutch: wettelijke aansprakelijkheid) during their stay in The Netherlands.
Other support
Hunan
The University arranges dormitories for students and visa application to The Netherlands. With the Dutch consulate in Beijing the (informal) arrangement is to treat the students of the IMBA as a group and that the programme manager of the Hunan University can do the visa application in order that the students do not have to travel to Beijing individually. For students from abroad, Hunan University arranges dormitories which meet the Western standards. Hunan University provides these students with the necessary invitation letters to acquire the appropriate Chinese visa.
Twente
Next to the support that is directly related to study, the programme management will be informed in advance about the visa application of students by the programme leader in order to expedite the visa application procedure. Also, the programme offers much practical support. The programme coordinator, for example, arranges student housing, transport from the airport upon arrival, some food for the first day, access to a doctor or dentist if needed, and supports or gives advice in various other matters like finding a specific shop, sports club or questions about arrangements in the Netherlands. The open-door policy fosters good personal contacts and allows the programme manager and programme coordinator to detect signals that could affect the (students success in the) study programme.
All this indirectly supports the students in being able to successfully complete their programme of study. The aim is to provide a solid home base that contributes to success in the study programme.
2.5INTERNAL QUALITY ASSURANCE
Introduction
The IMBA internal quality assurance system, represented below, is closely in line with the internal quality assurance system at the Twente School level. In addition, it takes a number of specific characteristics of the programme into consideration. Specifically, these are the four block system (block 1, 2 and 3: course and case study blocks: match & unlearn (block 1), learn (block 2), combine (block 3), case study period and research project block (block 4)), the off-shore character, the small scale and the post-graduate character of the programme (see paragraph 2.2.0 for a description of the different blocks).
2.5.1 Systematic approach
The programme leader is responsible for the profile and the exit qualifications of IMBA, and also for the setup of the educational programme and its quality.
The IMBA programme is periodically evaluated, using measurable targets. Based on these evaluations improvement measures are formulated and implemented. This evaluation cycle is described below.
The description follows a five point subdivision:
1.Cycle of evaluation
2.Course (evaluation)
3.Block (evaluation)
4.Year (evaluation)
5.Curriculum (evaluation).
Ad 1. Cycle of evaluation
Prerequisites for the evaluation of teaching and learning
a.The evaluation of instruction must comply with the demands of the relevant accreditation bodies, including NVAO and QANU. This implies that:
§Measurable targets are defined to be used for the evaluation of teaching and learning.
§The evaluation of teaching and learning takes place in a structural approach.
§For those aspects of instruction requiring improvement, actual improvement measures are defined and implemented and evaluated as to effectiveness.
§As of the result of the above, so-called closed ‘’Deming” or “PDCA cycles” (PDCA = Plan, Do, Check, Act) exist.
§Students play an important role in the evaluation of teaching and learning.
§Alumni and the professional field are involved in curriculum evaluations.
b.The evaluation efforts must be balanced with the evaluation preparedness of the organization (lecturers and students); this is especially important to prevent or combat “evaluation fatigue”.
c.Next to structural and systematic evaluations, the programme must also be able to respond to improvement signals when these arise. Therefore, instruments and procedures need to be in place to detect those signals and to conduct ad-hoc evaluations and potentially take actions.
This section describes the procedures and their position in the operational School system of quality assurance.
The evaluation of teaching and learning constitutes an important part of the “annual cycle” during which a Deming cycle for the academic year is executed. The Deming cycle caters for four consecutive and interrelated activities:
a.To define and translate curriculum and courses for the following academic year into the student charter, exam regulations (Dutch: OER), programme and adapted courses (Plan).
b.The actual execution of the planned educational programme (Do).
c.Ascertaining whether the means that are deployed for instruction contribute to the goals set for the programme (Check).
d.Analyzing problems and developing proposals for improvement (Act). See text below.
The basis for the PDCA cycle for instruction is the formalized programme. The evaluation of teaching provides an important source of information for the Check phase and is an important input for the analysis of problems and the development of proposals for improvement. The adaptation of the programme in the proceeding academic year (Plan phase) results from this preceding Act phase. The translation of evaluations into improvement actions in the annual faculty cycle is of crucial importance. In this way, the Deming cycle is “closed”.
In addition to the PDCA cycle for the programme, a PDCA cycle for the evaluations is defined. In the Plan phase of this cycle measurable targets and the scope of the teaching-to-be-evaluated are determined. The Do phase consists of executing the evaluations. Periodically, both the measurable targets and the evaluation process as a whole are assessed in the Check phase. Resulting improvements in the Act phase constitute the input for the Plan phase thus closing the cycle.
As a part of the faculty annual cycle, measures of improvement (at course level and surpassing the level of courses) will be used to develop an improved curriculum, the new student charter and course information. IMBA will feed in to this cycle at appropriate times, especially with respect to the formal establishment of curricula and students’ charter by the programme directors (end of November and January) and Faculty Council (end of January and end of April).
Evaluations are conducted at four levels:
§Course
§Block
§Year
§Curriculum.
Ad 2. Course (evaluation)
All courses are evaluated annually. For blocks number 1 and 2, the Chinese programme manager drafts an evaluation report which is discussed by the Chinese teachers and to students, after which the Chinese programme manager finalizes the report and sends it among others to the Dutch programme manager and the Dutch programme leader. The Dutch programme manager takes care of evaluation of the other blocks of IMBA in the same way.
The programme managers take care of the execution of the evaluation in such a way as to obtain a high response rate (> 75%) of students.
Evaluation of a course is done using a standard survey form (available at site visit), to which lecturers can have a number of subject-specific questions added. In the table below the measurable targets for course evaluations are given. The table matches the equivalent used by the School, but has more stringent target values – suitable for a post-graduate programme.
Table 2.5.1-1: Measurable targets for course evaluations
Parameter | Goal | Target value |
Content, form, coherence | The students are satisfied with the content, coherence between the course and other courses is good, the learning objectives are clear and the instructional working methods are satisfactory and well-matched individually | Average reported rating by students in survey is 7 or higher (10-point scale) |
Study load of courses (‘studeer-baarheid’) | Planned and real study load match, there is enough time available during study period Course is not creating peak in study load | Average reported study load is ≤ 110% and ≥70% of planned load Course does not cause peak load of ≥45 hours per week |
Matching | Course matches previously obtained level of knowledge and skills | Average reported rating by students in survey is 7 or higher (10-point scale) |
Assessment | Criteria for assessment are known to student; assessment matches instruction provided; organization of assessment is good | Average reported rating by students in survey is 7 or higher (10-point scale) |
Lecturers | The quality and quantity of teaching and tutoring / supervision is good | Average reported rating by students in survey is 7 or higher (10-point scale) |
Material facilities | The required material facilities are available and satisfactory | Average reported rating by students in survey is 7 or higher (10-point scale) |
Efficiency | Major hindrance courses do not exist; students participate in all courses | Success rate for theory courses (per exam opportunity) ≥ 70%; Success rate (per exam opportunity) for practicals, projects etc. ≥ 80% |
Measures of improvement
The results of the course evaluation can trigger a lecturer to initiate measures of improvement. The programme manager in charge and lecturers receive the results of the evaluated courses as soon as possible after the period ends. At the proposal by one of the programme managers – and based on the measurable target values - the programme leader determines which lecturers need to be consulted regarding eventual changes at the course level. In formulating measures of improvement for individual courses IMBA staff can consult experts from within the school or within the university.
The programme leader is responsible for minuting and archiving the agreements made with lecturers, thus developing a programme dossier.
Insofar as the results of course evaluations require measures to be taken regarding the competency development of lecturers, the programme leader contacts the chairman of the relevant department (in The Netherlands) or the vice-dean International programmes (in China). This chairman or vice-dean reports the outcomes with the lecturers involved and makes agreements as to improvement measures. The chairman or vice-dean reports back to the programme leader.
In addition to the summative, written evaluation of separate courses, lecturers are motivated to also conduct verbal evaluations during the provision of the course. Thus, courses can already be adapted during execution. The programme managers can facilitate these interim evaluations.
Ad 3. Block (evaluation)
As depicted in figure 2.5.1-1 the results of the evaluations of the individual courses are aggregated to the level of blocks. The process of evaluation of the blocks 1, 2 and 3 differs from that of block 4 (the thesis block). In blocks 1, 2 and 3, block evaluation meetings are held with lecturers and with students: at the lecturer level it is done by a Dutch lecturer’s group representing the block (with input from the Chinese colleagues and their Dutch counterparts lecturing in China), facilitated by the Dutch programme manager. At the student level, evaluation is done with students and this is facilitated by the Chinese programme manager. In block 3 the procedure is slightly different: the lecturers and students levels are combined in a group and the evaluation can be performed in the Netherlands, facilitated by the Dutch programme manager. The course evaluations and comments (and complaints) of lecturers and students during the execution of the block are input for the block evaluation meeting. Likewise, the measures of improvement as implemented on the basis of the evaluation meeting of the preceding year for the same block are inputs. Block evaluations also take into account a (short) report of the programme manager in which, for instance, attention is given to informal communication of lecturers and students, input from the Examination Committee, input from practice, abnormalities in facilities, and so on, but it also summarizes actions that have taken place and/or should take place but did not or only partially. During the block evaluation meeting the perspective for the evaluation of teaching and learning in the preceding block is one level higher than the course level, e.g. coherence. The programme managers report the outcomes of the block evaluation meetings and take care of archiving. Based on the block evaluation meeting course-overriding measures of improvement are planned and implemented in close collaboration with the lecturers and the programme leader.
Block evaluations differ among each other, because the blocks of the IMBA programme differ strongly. The research project block evaluation can only take place when a sufficient number of students have completed their thesis.
In addition to evaluation meetings regarding a block, (virtual) block meetings – e.g. by e-mail, telephone conference, web-based discussion forum - preceding the execution of a block are arranged. These meetings are managed by the programme manager in charge and involve lecturers in order to early track and resolve potential problems (e.g. a concurrence of many assignments in a given week, or the planning of a course). Also, attention is again being paid to agreed upon improvement measures and their implementation.
The block evaluation of block 4 differs almost entirely from the other blocks. The input for the evaluation is depicted in figure 2.5.1-1. The evaluation is carried out by the programme managers and the programme leader and two lecturers who supervised several research projects.
Ad 4. Year (evaluation)
The year evaluations are based on the course and block evaluation results. There is an annual meeting during which an annual report, drafted by the programme managers, is discussed with the lecturers. The year evaluation is conducted by the programme leader and the programme managers (using video conference). Measurable targets specific to the year evaluation, extra to those of the course and period evaluations, are represented in the tables below. A report of the year evaluation is discussed with the Director of continuing education and copied to the faculty programme director’s meeting and the Examination Committee. The latter two bodies can request discussion of the report of the year evaluation.
Table 2.5.1-2: Measurable targets for programme efficiency (first year)
Duration of the First year (in years) | Target efficiency of the cohort (in %) |
1 | 70 (due to expected efficiency measures and experience this target will change within five years into 80) |
2 | 75 (due to expected efficiency measures and experience this target will change within five years into 85) |
Table 2.5.1-3: Measurable targets for programme efficiency (second year)
Duration of the Second year (in years) | Target efficiency of the input group (in %) |
1 | 80 |
2 | 95 |
This leads to the following table:
Table 2.5.1-4: Measurable targets for programme efficiency (cohort)
Duration of the programme (in years) | Target efficiency of the input group (in %) |
2 | 56 (due to expected efficiency measures and experience this target will change within five years into 64) |
3 | 67 (due to expected efficiency measures and experience this target will change within five years into 76) |
Comments to the above table:
1.In view of the rather limited cohort size, small numerical changes in efficiency can have a large effect on percentage values.
2.The programme aims at a strong supervision and monitoring of the graduation project in order to tackle the ‘normal’ situation in which the graduation project takes a couple of months more than usual.
3.It is expected that in the first few year of new cohorts, it will happen that a few students do not fulfill the requirements for the IELTS level at the end of year 1; at the same time it is expected that a few students will not have sufficient marks for all the courses, or have failed to participate and do exams in all courses. In budget calculations, but also in targets for the start of the programme it was decided to use the pessimistic estimates. It is expected that mainly experience with running the programme can and will improve the targets set in more optimistic estimates.
Participants in the year evaluations are:
•Programme leader
•Programme managers
•Lecturers.
Participants in the strategic year (video conferencing) evaluation are:
•Vice-dean International programmes (Hunan)
•Executive dean (Hunan)
•Programme director continuing education (Twente)
•Programme leader (Twente)
•Programme managers (Hunan and Twente).
Year evaluations are of a more operational level, and can lead, for instance, to minor changes in the content of courses, a new book, synchronization of courses, a decision to go more in depth into subjects, but also to changes in the number of assignments in a block. The strategic year evaluation on the other hand, can, for instance, lead to a change in intake criteria, a change in the required IELTS score after the first year, a decision to replace a lecturer, and so on. For these types of decisions the involvement and approval of the vice-dean internal programmes and executive dean is needed.
Ad 5. Curriculum (evaluation)
Every three years an evaluation of the entire programme takes place under the responsibility of the Director of continuing education. Inputs for these curriculum evaluations are the course evaluations, the period evaluations, the year evaluations, the input from the professional field (including alumni) and all implemented measures of improvement in the preceding time span. The programme, goals, exit qualifications and learning pathway(s) are also within the scope of the evaluation, which is carried out with the core lecturers. The outputs of the curriculum evaluation are measures of improvement at the curriculum level. Participants are: director of continuing education (Twente), director of the graduate business administration programme (Twente) programme leader (Twente), programme managers (Hunan, Twente), vice-dean of International programmes (Hunan).
2.5.2 Involvement of staff, students, alumni and the professional field
In this sub-section the involvement of (1) staff, (2) students, (3) alumni and the professional field in the internal quality assurance of IMBA will be covered.
1. Staff
The involvement of staff in the internal quality assurance is expressed as follows:
§The Programme committee is constituted by staff.
§The Examination Committee consists of staff.
§Half of the Faculty council members are staff.
§Lecturers are involved in curriculum evaluations.
§Year evaluations are conducted by among others the core lecturer’s team.
§Staff is involved in period evaluations.
§IMBA organizes an annual core lecturer meeting of Dutch lecturers and organizes a virtual meeting with all lecturers.
§Lecturers have an essential role in course evaluations.
§In all the above-mentioned instances the programme leader and the programme managers have a significant role.
2. Students
The involvement of students in the internal quality assurance is expressed as follows:
§Students can freely report complaints and problems to the programme managers, verbally or via e-mail. The programme managers regularly invite students to express their opinions.
§Students have an essential role in course evaluations.
§Students are involved in block evaluations.
§IMBA organizes several student meetings (called coordination meetings) annually, in which evaluation is an important issue and during which students are explicitly asked to give their opinions.
§Students have many (informal) contacts with the programme managers, of “water cooler” nature and in social events, during which informal quality information can be provided by students.
3. Alumni and the professional field
Alumni and the professional field will be involved in the internal quality assurance in various ways:
§Alumni surveys will be carried out on a routine basis.
§Additional professional field information will be obtained using surveying of employers-of-IMBA-alumni (provided the alumnus has OK’d this).
§The formal and informal contacts with organizations hosting a research project also provide an ongoing source of information from the professional field.
§IMBA has established a Professional field council. It will have yearly (video conferencing) meetings and will be involved in the first curriculum evaluation.
2.6CONDITIONS FOR CONTINUITY
2.6.1 Graduation guarantee
In line with customary procedures in The Netherlands, there will be no provision of guaranteed graduation, as such. However, current policies guarantee, as laid down in the Education and Examination Regulations (Opleidings- en examenreglement, OER), that qualified students will be able to complete the programme within two year(s). Of course, it depends on the abilities and performance of the students whether they indeed complete the programme. Courses and exams (twice a year) are offered at our university with sufficient frequency for students to complete the programme in a timely manner.
The above is substantiated further by the ‘Financial continuity statement IMBA programme’ (appendix 2.6-1a/b), which states that two months before the start of any new course there is an unconditional guarantee, and under no circumstances from that moment onwards the course will be disrupted because of budget considerations. This implies that from that point onwards the exam regulations apply. These exam regulations describe the right to a number of exams and other relevant issues that guarantee opportunities for completion of students.
2.6.2 Investments
IMBA is a partly offshore programme of Twente University with Hunan University. Investments required to set up this new programme are limited to small scale course development: development of the Business Law course in China, of the Methodology & practice skills course in The Netherlands and fine-tuning of the Case project in The Netherlands. The investment for these three minor items is estimated to be € 10k. Hunan absorbs the development costs of the Business Law course (€ 0.2k) and OOHR absorbs the remainder.
The preparation of the pilot version of the programme did not require investment funding, as this work was mainly carried out in free time and in conjunction with other activities, i.e. the Asialink (ECIU) project, the PhD work of Dr. Liqin Ren, and the KNAW research project mentioned in section 2.2.1. These three projects were all conducted in part in China, thus providing synergy in travel and time. The same holds for the fact that Prof. Krabbendam is a guest lecturer of the EMBA programme of Hunan University.
Accreditation costs will be absorbed by Hunan and Twente; budgets allow for this.
The key development efforts for IMBA have been done in the last three years to set up and conduct the two pilot runs of the programme. The costs associated with this development have been absorbed in the budgets of the OOHR department in Twente and of Hunan.
No investments in facilities and equipment are needed for IMBA.
2.6.3 Financial facilities
Introduction
Table 2.6-1 shows the cost and revenue projection for IMBA. This table has been split into the two years, because an evaluative selection of students takes place after the first year. Table 2.6-1 assumes that approximately 70% of first year IMBA students will participate in year two, based on pilot experiences. Part of the 30% fall-out is based on the expectation that the command of the English language is a key problem. The remainder of the 30% is expected to fail the academic demands of IMBA, most notably the match & unlearn and learn transitions as demanded by the programme.
Forecasted inflow
The number of participants at breakeven is around 19 first-year students. The programme motivates the feasibility of a better-than-breakeven inflow by the following four arguments:
1.Experience with pilot programmes
2.MBA market developments in China
3.Reputation of Hunan University
4.Effect of accreditation.
Ad 1. Experience with pilot programmes
To date, two pilot runs of IMBA have taken place. Without systematic student recruitment efforts, the inflow was 16 (first pilot) and 20 students (second pilot).
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 whereas this number skyrocketed to more than 10,000 last year, with more than 60,000 students taking their final MBA exams . China is the hottest market for MBAs with more and more MBAs joining Chinese companies . Changqi Wu, Associate Dean of Guanghua School of Management of Peking University, in a presentation to AACSB, has pointed out that in 1979, China embarked its economic reform and open-door policy. Professional management education was brought into the state education system. According to Wu, the driving forces behind the growing demand for MBAs are economic growth and marketization of the economy, globalization, rising educational level of the workforce and institutional changes. China is one of the largest emerging markets with rapid growth in demand because of a strong demand for management skills on the back of rapid economy growth. China will be an important MBA market in a foreseeable future, according to Wu . The National MBA Education Supervisory Committee (est. in 1994) was set up to promote MBAs in China.
Ad 2. MBA market developments in China
In paragraph 2.1 it was shown that the market for MBA training in China has huge potential.
Ad 3. Reputation of Hunan University
To date the Chinese Ministry of Education has identified 96 institutions of higher education for the "211 project". The 211 Project is aimed at forming a series of high quality higher educational institutions. These schools generally have the most prestige, the best students, and the most government funding . Hunan University is among these 96 institutions, ranked 37 . In various Chinese university rankings, Hunan University also is among the top 100, e.g. the Chinese University Ranking 2007 (rank: 36) and id., 2003 (rank: 62 for the all-around list and rank: 77 for the general list). In the Colleges and Universities By 2007 Web Popularity Ranking of the International Education Directory of Colleges and Universities Hunan University ranks 134.
Ad 4. Effect of accreditation
Hunan University officials have confirmed that accreditation of IMBA in The Netherlands will significantly enhance the reputation of the programme, and subsequently will positively impact the inflow. According to the Chinese MoE, only accredited programme diplomas are valid in China.
Cost and revenue projection for IMBA
Table 2.6-1: Cost and revenues projection for IMBA (China and The Netherlands)
YEAR ONE | |||
Number of participants | |||
REVENUES (EUR) | 15 | 20 | 25
|
Tuition fee revenue | 97,500 | 130,000 | 162,500 |
TOTAL REVENUES | 97,500 | 130,000 | 162,500 |
COSTS (EUR) | |||
Staff time costs | |||
Lecturers | 53,200 | 53,200 | 53,200 |
Graduation bonus for Hunan Staff | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Programme management & coordination | 34,460 | 34,460 | 34,460 |
Material costs | |||
Study material costs | --- | --- | --- |
Social activities students | 3,000 | 4,000 | 5,000 |
Lecturer travel & lodging | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 |
Office costs | 1,620 | 1,620 | 1,620 |
TOTAL COSTS | 105,280 | 106,280 | 107,280 |
GRAND TOTAL (1) | -/- 7,780 | + 23,720 | + 55,220 |
YEAR TWO | |||
Number of participants | |||
REVENUES (EUR) | 11 | 14 | 18
|
Tuition fee revenue | 66,000 | 84,000 | 108,000 |
TOTAL REVENUES | 66,000 | 84,000 | 108,000 |
COSTS (EUR) | |||
Staff time costs | |||
Lecturers | 50,708 | 63,229 | 79,923 |
Graduation bonus for Hunan Staff | 1,540 | 1,960 | 2,520 |
Programme management & coordination | 33,740 | 33,740 | 33,740 |
Material costs | |||
Study material costs | --- | --- | --- |
Social activities students | 400 | 450 | 500 |
Lecturer travel & lodging | --- | --- | --- |
Office costs | 3,430 | 3,430 | 3,430 |
TOTAL COSTS | 89,818 | 102,809 | 120,113 |
GRAND TOTAL (2) | -/- 23,818 | -/- 18,809 | -/-12,113 |
OVERALL GRAND TOTAL [(1)+(2)] | -/- 31,598 | + 4,911 | + 43,107 |
The inputs for the above calculations were:
•Costs for course in Twente: internal University fee per student per EC (€ 79.83 in 2007)
•Costs for course by Dutch lecturer in China: € 4000 excluding travel & lodging
•Costs for course by Chinese lecturer in China: € 14 per hour
•Dutch management costs: € 170,000 per year for professor, € 100,000 for assistant professor, € 65,000 for secretary
•Chinese management costs: € 2,400 for assistant professor, € 1,800 for secretary
•Chinese staff graduation bonus: € 20 per student.
Teaching and learning facilities costs, recruitment costs and financial administration costs are included as overhead in staff fees. Development costs (circa € 10k) have not been included in the above table, as these have been covered in the previous paragraph.
In year one, the ratio of Twente-to-Hunan lecturer time input is 64:100.
The financial outlook will improve even further when, as is expected, the tuition fee can be increased as a result of obtaining accreditation for IMBA.
It is expected that a programme change may be required within the next five years time, to accommodate the changes in student population that are expected based on indications obtained during a visit of Twente staff to Hunan in the summer of 2007. It is expected that an investment of approximately € 15k is required. The programme is expected to be able to relatively easily generate the funds required for this financial investment.
Continuity guarantees
As demonstrated by the aforementioned ‘Financial continuity statement IMBA programme’ (appendix 2.6-1) continuity guarantees for IMBA are in place. In addition to this, the strategic plan of CEO (Continuing Education Office), included in appendix 2.6-2, provides a strong policy basis for the programme.
3 Outlook
In Chapter 2 the requirements with respect to the NVAO accreditation demands are represented. Here, we will focus on the outlook of IMBA and the collaboration between the partners in IMBA. This outlook is restricted to the collaboration with Hunan University. The IMBA programme is also a model for comparable programmes in Indonesia and South Korea.
The School of Management and Governance and the Hunan College of Business Administration have been collaborating for about ten years. Collaboration has grown over these years from initial contacts including …:
•PhD work by a Chinese student (Deming Zeng, currently Vice-dean at the College) in Twente;
•Yearly guest lectures by Prof. Bilderbeek and Prof. Krabbendam at the College;
…. to a more structural cooperation including:
•Formal appointments of Prof. Bilderbeek and Prof. Krabbendam as guest professors at the College;
•A joint research project on technology innovation in state-owned enterprises (Brouwers-Ren);
•A project funded in the framework of the EC Asia Link programme about “The development of master-level teaching and professional training modules in managing implementation of enterprise information systems”;
•The two pilots of the IMBA programme;
• A research project funded by the KNAW, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, in the framework of the “Scientific cooperation between China and the Netherlands China Exchange Programme” about Management of Technical Innovation of the Chinese Firms in the Transition Economy.
These activities have resulted in a substantial increase in contacts between the University of Twente and Hunan University academic staff. And they have also enabled the establishment of contacts of the University of Twente staff with local Chinese industry.
Based on the abovementioned increase in and satisfying cooperation between Twente and Hunan staff and also the experience which is gained in this cooperation, the School of Management and Governance and the Hunan College of Business Administration recently expressed their intention to intensify their research and educational collaboration. This intention was underlined in a meeting of the Rector of the University of Twente with the Vice-president for foreign affairs of Hunan University in Hunan, China on December 14, 2007. We will cover these intentions in connection below, from the short to the longer term.
Short term
The partners foresee (Dutch) NVAO and Chinese accreditation of IMBA. A considerable increase of the number of participants in IMBA is anticipated. The restart of IMBA is envisioned for 2008.
In research, a ‘sandwich construction’ proposal will be submitted to KNAW for sponsoring, leading to a follow-up of the current research by a Chinese PhD student from Hunan University to be conducted both in China and The Netherlands. In addition, in 2008, two Chinese PhD students, having a grant from Chinese government will come to Twente for one year of research.
Mid term
In educational collaboration it is foreseen that both partners will intensify their collaboration and, also due to institutional developments in China, that Hunan will take up a more advanced position in the collaborative delivery of educational programmes. In terms of the portfolio of educational programmes, the collaboration will lead to broadening of the activities, e.g. with a ‘bachelor-of-honours’ run in Hunan with direct enrollment to the Master of Business Administration programme in Enschede (The contents of this honours programme is currently under development and in discussion).
Subject to available funding, the research will be broadened to subjects like managing the supply chain of Dutch companies with China; this will build on previous China-related research.
Longer term
Also, the profile of the programmes in the educational portfolio will change over time. It is to be foreseen, for instance, that a joint MSc Business Administration programme is set-up and delivered by both Schools in close collaboration, in which students of Dutch and Chinese nationality will enter. IMBA will also evolve because of changes in demographics of Chinese students and increased sophistication of (Chinese) lecturers; it might spin-off or transform into a programme for international service management – following economic developments in China.
Subject to available funding, the research will be broadened, to other Asian countries, to subjects like managing the supply chain of Dutch companies with Asia; this will build on previous research.