UC Offers Executive MBA  with Shandong University

Recently, a delegation including the Dean and Vice Dean of the School of Business at Shandong University visited UC's College of Business (CoB) to advance a common agenda.

CoB Dean Will McIntosh and Vice Provost Mitch Leventhal signed two agreements with Shandong University. The first establishes a Joint Management Innovation Research Center with offices both in Cincinnati and Jinan, China. The joint research center will develop a range of collaborative projects, including international conferences, academic research and joint training programs.

The second agreement establishes the basis for the creation of a UC Executive MBA (EMBA) program, to be delivered in China in partnership with Shandong University. Shandong University will host the program, which will target upper-level managers from industry and government in Shandong Province. UC will develop the curriculum and provide the majority of the instruction.

"This latest step is a follow-up to the broader agreement signed last year by the presidents of our two universities," says CoB Dean Will McIntosh. "The UC EMBA program at Shandong University complements and extends the dynamic relationship between Shandong University and UC in particular, and between China and CincyUSA in a broader sense."

Program launch is scheduled for September 2008, pending approval by Chinese authorities, with an expected entering class of 30–40 students. Larry Gales, CoB academic director for international programs and associate professor of management, has been named the program director.

"A need was identified by Shandong for Chinese executive professionals to obtain global business education at the graduate level," says Dean McIntosh. The EMBA program structure is based on the existing UC MBA, but the specific courses and mode of delivery will differ in China. Course content will be tailored to the needs of senior managers and courses will be delivered in a concentrated four-day format in English with simultaneous translation. Students will be able to complete the degree in 18 months. Students will have the option of completing one course in Cincinnati.

The EMBA is the first degree program to be offered by UC in China. The agreement represents the culmination of nearly one year of negotiations and interactions between the UC College of Business and the Shandong University School of Business.

“Our joint commitment with Shandong University is to develop an approach of comprehensive collaboration — that is, to identify multiple productive activities across as many colleges as possible, and to create a uniquely broad atmosphere of collaboration,” UC Vice Provost Leventhal states. “These initiatives dovetail perfectly with the creation earlier this year of the Joint Center for Urban Research, which is already staffed with a UC employee in China.”

More About UC's Collaboration with Shandong University: Trip to Promote UC's China Strategy Pays Off in First Comprehensive Agreement With Chinese University

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