UH's new China Program

I found out some interesting news -- I was checking the UH College of Business site and saw that the University of Hawaii is offering a new program in Fall 2007 called CHIMBA - the "China International MBA."

It's just like CHEMBA, the "China-focused MBA," but instead of one year in Hawaii and a three month internship in China (15 months total), it's two semesters in Hawaii, 9 months at Zhongshan University, and then a three month internship in China (21 months total).

When I read about it, I thought, "Why are they offering two programs?"

That's the thing -- I don't think they are.

Fujitsu is the company that sponsors JAIMS, the UH's partner for the CHEMBA and JEMBA programs. But Fujitsu is tanking financially, and CHEMBA doesn't return anything back to Japan. While China-focused MBAs are great ideas, Fujitsu as a company doesn't stand to benefit from them. Though I don't know if it's related, JAIMS president Glenn Miyataki will be retiring from his position at the end of this academic year. It looks like the CHEMBA part will be supplanted by CHIMBA.

It's too bad, but understandable. Fujitsu's scholarship program (the one that's paying my entire $29,000 tuition, plus airfare and medical insurance) costs a lot of money when you consider it's available to about a third of the class size, and now most of the recipients are choosing to go for the China side. Ten-fifteen years ago, it was all about Japan; that's totally changed.

All this makes me really grateful I got into the program when I did. Not only did I get the 15 month program, but I got Fujitsu to pay for it. Though it would have been cool to spend 9 months in China as part of the program (getting used to things in China before preparing for the job market), I don't think I'd be able to do that even if I got a scholarship.

There are some criticisms of the program -- things JAIMS does well but UH doesn't seem ready to deal with. They hope to expand CHEMBA and its record high 14 participants (currently mixed in with the 20 JEMBA students) to over 100. Here are some questions I can think of:

• Does UH have the space, faculty, and resources available for three or four cohorts of CHIMBA/JEMBAs? They can't offer lecture hall-syle classes while charging graduate level tuition, and certainly not at JAIMS' current tuition rate. What renovations would be made to create a top-tier school type of environment?



• Where would their language courses be, and how would they be structured? Currently, JAIMS in Hawaii Kai provides the space on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We're divided into 3 groups, but all of us have different levels of skill and experience.
  
  Moreover, how does the Department of East Asian languages plan to teach all the different language levels of students, and to what extent would it consist of "business language"? Who would create their curricula, and would students be expected to take the same placement tests as non-business track students?
  
  To this point, the three Chinese language teachers have been able to customize their courses to fit the needs of their three to five students. With over 100 students, uniformity would be needed, but it would come with the sacrifice of individuality.



• Where would these students live - in the dorms or in private housing? UH is marketing CHIMBA heavily on the Mainland, and obviously they expect the vast majority of people to come from outside Hawaii. However, UH's systems are designed for primarity in-state residents. It would be a massive undertaking for the College of Business to coordinate the placement of over 100 individuals/families in on-campus housing, let alone off-campus. What plan is there to take care of this annual flow of incoming students? And given what the Hawaii housing market is right now, are there even enough units to house everyone?



• Lastly, what kind of understanding is there between the teaching faculties of UH and Zhongshan University? Both are in the top tier of their nations' universities, but obviously the cultures are going to be different. What coordination will there be in establishing standards for students, particularly given the transition from Hawaii to Guangzhou?

So to those who are considering the CHEMBA program, I say this: try to get in for the 2006-2007 term. If you can't do that, wait until CHIMBA's second term, when they have all that stuff figured out.