China's leading international business school, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), will cooperate with Harvard Business School and Barcelona-based IESE Business School to create a global CEO program.

According to Zhang Weijiong, vice president of CEIBS, it is the first time business schools from three continents are cooperating to develop a common program to train top managers.

"Harvard is very interested in China's economic development and management, and China's business case studies," Zhang said yesterday.

Scheduled to start next year, the program is expected to attract foreign CEOs and faculties who want to know more about the Chinese market, he added.

Zhang also announced that the school's Executive MBA (EMBA) program had jumped from 20th to 13th in the yearly Financial Times business school program rankings.

The Shanghai-based joint venture between the Chinese government and the European Union has seen continuous progress in the newspaper's annual rankings; from 42nd in 2002 to 34th in 2003.

"China's robust economic growth has given rise to increasing demands for top management education. This is the major reason for our higher ranking," Zhang said.

He said the reform of state-owned enterprises, localization of multinationals and the mushrooming of private businesses all helped create a huge demand for capable managers with a global vision.

Angela Watkins, Financial Times' marketing director in Asia, thinks the market is ripe for executive MBAs in China.

"The rate of economic growth in China and the speed of change in business in the Asia-Pacific region mean that the executive model is well suited to this country," she said.

Mao Zhongqun, general manager of Ningbo Fontile Kitchen Products Co Ltd, is a typical alumnus.

"I joined the business school when I felt my business was limited by my poor knowledge of management," he said.

"I put what I learned during and after the program into my company. Now, Fontile is doing very well," he said.

CEIBS started its EMBA program in 1995. To date, it has trained 2,344 students. It has a current enrolment of 1,000 and is the largest school of its kind in the country.

(China Daily October 25, 2005)