When the business school at the University of California, Davis, started its master's program in accounting last year, administrators expected to attract aspiring accountants from nearby colleges.
當(dāng)加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校(University of California, Davis)的商學(xué)院去年啟動會計碩士培養(yǎng)項目時,管理層希望能夠從附近的大學(xué)吸引到有抱負的會計專業(yè)學(xué)生。
What they got instead was a wave of interest from overseas: Roughly two-thirds of the 189 applications received for last fall's entering class came from Chinese citizens.
然而,他們收到的卻是大量對此感興趣的海外人士的申請:在收到的189份去年秋季入學(xué)的申請中,大約三分之二來自中國申請者。
'Frankly, we were shocked at the deluge of applications...for what we saw as a program that prepared students for a U.S. credential, ' says James Stevens, assistant dean of student affairs.
該院負責(zé)學(xué)生事務(wù)的院長助理詹姆斯?史蒂文斯(James Stevens)說:“坦率地說,我們對蜂擁而至的申請感到震驚………在我們看來這就是一個讓學(xué)生獲得一張美國文憑的教育項目而已?!?/p>
Davis has plenty of company. Specialized master's degrees in accounting, finance and other disciplines─generally aimed at students just out of college and lasting one year─have found tremendous popularity in recent years among Chinese nationals seeking a competitive edge and U.S. experience.
戴維斯這個地方有很多公司。會計、金融以及其它學(xué)科的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位──一般針對剛剛大學(xué)畢業(yè)的學(xué)生,學(xué)制一年──最近幾年在那些希望獲得競爭優(yōu)勢和美國經(jīng)驗的中國人中極其吃香。
Such demand has provided steady revenues for business schools at a time when traditional M.B.A. programs are losing their appeal among U.S. students. But the uneven applicant pool has left many schools weighing financial goals against uninspiring classroom experiences for both Chinese and local students and worrying about weak job-placement rates.
就在傳統(tǒng)的工商管理碩士(M.B.A)項目在美國學(xué)生中失去吸引力之際,這樣的需求為商學(xué)院提供了穩(wěn)定的收入。然而,申請人群的不均衡讓很多學(xué)校開始在財務(wù)目標和讓中國及當(dāng)?shù)貙W(xué)生都感到缺乏生氣的課堂體驗之間進行權(quán)衡,也讓學(xué)校擔(dān)心就業(yè)率會很低。
Like companies, business schools 'have to change with the times and go where the market is, ' says Anurag Gupta, chair of the banking and finance department at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management.
凱斯西儲大學(xué)魏德海管理學(xué)院(Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management)銀行與金融系主任阿努拉格?古普塔(Anurag Gupta)說,與企業(yè)一樣,商學(xué)院“必須與時俱進,順應(yīng)市場”。
More than 85% of applicants to Weatherhead's current Finance master's program came from China, and more than 80% of the 58-student class is Chinese. The school launched a version of the program in Shanghai a few years ago to balance diversity in the Cleveland program and earn money abroad.
魏德海管理學(xué)院目前的金融碩士項目的申請者中,85%以上來自中國,而目前由58名學(xué)生組成的班級中,中國人所占比例超過了80%。幾年前,該學(xué)院在上海啟動了一個相同的項目,以均衡其克利夫蘭(Cleveland)校區(qū)項目的學(xué)生多元化水平,同時又能在國外掙到錢。
Companies in China's fast-growing finance sector want hires with some advanced skills beyond a college degree, yet don't need recruits with the high-level strategy expertise─and high salary requirements─that an M.B.A. might have, according to students and schools. A U.S. credential also makes students more appealing to multinational companies, schools say.
按照學(xué)生和學(xué)校的說法,在快速發(fā)展的中國金融業(yè)領(lǐng)域,企業(yè)希望新雇員工除了擁有大學(xué)文憑以外,還應(yīng)具備一些高級技能,但并不需要新人擁有M.B.A.畢業(yè)生可能具備的那些高級戰(zhàn)略層面的技能──還有高薪要求。學(xué)校稱,一張美國文憑還可以讓學(xué)生更受跨國公司的青睞。
Nearly 60, 000 Chinese citizens took the Graduate Management Admission Test in the 2011-2012 testing year, about triple the number in 2007-2008. In the latest year, 78% of those score reports were sent to U.S. programs, while 64% went to specialized master's degrees world-wide.
2011-2012年度中,近六萬中國公民參加了美國管理專業(yè)研究生入學(xué)考試(Graduate Management Admission Test),這個數(shù)字大約是2007-2008年度的三倍。去年,那些考試成績報告單中,78%遞交給了美國的項目,64%提交給了世界各地的專業(yè)碩士學(xué)位項目。
Patricia Ying Ding was one of those students. Ms. Ding, 23 years old, attended college in her native China but spent time at University of California, Berkeley, and wanted more Western experience. Now enrolled at MIT Sloan School of Management's M.S. in Finance program, about 85% of Ms. Ding's class is international, and the school says a large share of those students are from Asia.
Patricia Ying Ding是遞交申請的學(xué)生之一。23歲的Ding在中國本土上的大學(xué),但是在加州大學(xué)伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)學(xué)習(xí)過一段時間,她想獲得更多在西方的經(jīng)驗?,F(xiàn)在她已經(jīng)就讀麻省理工學(xué)院斯隆管理學(xué)院(MIT Sloan School of Management)的金融碩士項目。Ding所在的班級大約有85%的學(xué)生是外國留學(xué)生,學(xué)院方面表示,那些學(xué)生很大一部分來自亞洲。
She remains unsure whether her class's demographics are a good thing. 'We tend to hang out with people of the same ethnicity, ' she says.
Ding不太確定她班上的人員構(gòu)成是否是件好事。她說:“我們在一起玩的常常是相同種族的人。”
Eleven of the 12 current finance master's students at Loyola University Chicago's Quinlan School of Business are international, with eight from China. That has challenged instructors, students and administrators.
在芝加哥洛約拉大學(xué)昆蘭商學(xué)院(Loyola University Chicago's Quinlan School of Business)攻讀金融碩士學(xué)位的12名學(xué)生中,11名都是外國留學(xué)生,其中八名來自中國。這對老師、學(xué)生和管理者來說都是個挑戰(zhàn)。
'It changes the dynamic when there's a group of students who have something in common that other students don't share, ' says Dean Kathleen A. Getz. 'It can create some sense that there are two different groups being taught.'
院長凱瑟琳?蓋茨(Kathleen A. Getz)說:“當(dāng)一群學(xué)生擁有一些共性而別的學(xué)生卻沒有時,它會改變動態(tài)平衡,它會讓人產(chǎn)生某種感覺,認為接受教育的是兩組不同的學(xué)生?!?/p>
This fall, Quinlan will begin asking international students to take courses on business communication and U.S. classroom customs. To improve job placement, it will arrange student visits to companies interested in hiring international students, and pair them with U.S. student 'buddies' to ease the cultural adjustment.
今年秋季,昆蘭商學(xué)院將開始要求外國留學(xué)生修商務(wù)溝通和美國課堂慣例方面的課程。為了提高就業(yè)率,學(xué)院將安排學(xué)生參觀有意雇傭留學(xué)生的公司,并讓他們與美國的學(xué)生“伙伴”結(jié)成對子,以幫助他們適應(yīng)美國文化。
Meanwhile, Davis has reassessed its soft-skills training and career-services strategy to accommodate the unexpected makeup of its new accounting class. For example, administrators are forging ties in finance departments at companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., WMT +1.07% rather than just at accounting firms as originally planned, to extend their potential job opportunities.
與此同時,加州大學(xué)戴維斯分校重新評估了它的軟技能培訓(xùn)及就業(yè)服務(wù)策略,以適應(yīng)新招會計班中出乎意料的人員構(gòu)成。比如,管理層正在與沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart Stores Inc.)等公司的財務(wù)部門建立聯(lián)系,而不是像原先計劃的那樣只與會計師事務(wù)所發(fā)展關(guān)系,以擴展?jié)撛诘墓ぷ鳈C會。
Students must adjust, too.
學(xué)生也必須適應(yīng)。
Karla Savina, one of three Americans in her 57-person class in the Applied Finance program at Pepperdine University's business school, says she has learned about Chinese culture, and adds that her hardworking classmates have pushed her academically. But their unfamiliarity with American-style classroom discussion means Ms. Savina, 36, doesn't 'get the communication that I would like within the classroom.'
36歲的卡拉?薩維納(Karla Savina)就讀于佩珀代因大學(xué)格拉齊亞迪奧工商管理學(xué)院(Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University)應(yīng)用金融學(xué)項目,是班上57人中的三個美國人之一,她說她了解到了一些中國文化,還說她那些勤奮刻苦的同學(xué)對她的學(xué)習(xí)起到了推動作用,但是他們不熟悉美國式的課堂討論,這意味著她無法“在課堂上得到我所希望的那種交流”。
Application volume for the master's in Applied Finance program has soared in recent years, fueled almost entirely by increases from China. The Graziadio School of Business and Management received 158 applications for the class that started in fall 2009─126 of which were from China─and received 497 for the class that started last fall, with 471 from China.
應(yīng)用金融學(xué)碩士項目的申請量在最近幾年急劇增長,差不多完全是因為來自中國的申請增加而引起的。格拉齊亞迪奧工商管理學(xué)院2009年秋季招生的應(yīng)用金融學(xué)碩士班收到了158份申請,126份來自中國,去年秋季招生的應(yīng)用金融學(xué)碩士班收到了497份申請,其中471份來自中國。
Though 'there are benefits to having a more diverse student body, ' says Michael Williams, associate dean of full-time programs at the business school, 'I would not say that we are at all unsatisfied with our current population.'
該商學(xué)院負責(zé)全日制項目的副院長邁克爾?威廉姆斯(Michael Williams)說,雖然“學(xué)生群體更加多元化會有好處,但我也不能說我們對目前的學(xué)生構(gòu)成完全不滿意”。
Mr. Williams says the program has benefited from the name recognition of Pepperdine's Shanghai program. Strong social networks and alumni recommendations multiplied the effect, he says.
威廉姆斯說佩珀代因大學(xué)上海項目的知名度已經(jīng)讓這一項目獲益匪淺。他說,強大的社會關(guān)系網(wǎng)和校友推薦進一步增強了它的美譽度。
But some schools fear that becoming a darling of Chinese students─or students from any single country─may irk local and foreign students.
然而,一些學(xué)校擔(dān)心,學(xué)校成為中國學(xué)生──或者來自任何一個單一國家的學(xué)生──的寵兒可能會招致本地和外國學(xué)生的反感。
The business schools at University of Notre Dame, Indiana University and MIT are looking to their parent universities' undergraduates to help diversify their master's of science classes. Quinlan is also in talks to create a scholarship to entice Loyola graduates to stick around.
圣母大學(xué)(University of Notre Dame)、印第安納大學(xué)(Indiana University)和麻省理工學(xué)院的商學(xué)院都希望通過招收本校的本科生來幫助實現(xiàn)理學(xué)碩士班的多元化。昆蘭商學(xué)院也在商談創(chuàng)立獎學(xué)金的事情,以吸引洛約拉大學(xué)的畢業(yè)生留在本校。
Applicants from abroad are 'asking a lot about class makeup, ' says Marci Armstrong, associate dean of graduate programs at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business. 'They're seeking to be around American students. They really don't want to be in a class where everyone around them is from their home country.'
南方衛(wèi)理公會大學(xué)考克斯商學(xué)院(Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business)負責(zé)研究生項目的副院長馬爾奇?阿姆斯特朗(Marci Armstrong)說,外國申請者“問了很多有關(guān)班級學(xué)生構(gòu)成的問題,他們想要與美國學(xué)生一起學(xué)習(xí),他們很不情愿身處一個周圍都是本國人的班級里”。
Cox initially expected to double enrollment in the program's second year, though Ms. Armstrong says it has 'retrenched' after struggling to find jobs for its Chinese cohort─19 of 41 students. It has made some traction with interviews, but by the end of March just two of the Chinese students reported they had secured a job.
考克斯商學(xué)院最初希望在項目的第二年擴招一倍學(xué)生,可是阿姆斯特朗說,在經(jīng)歷了為中國學(xué)生(41名學(xué)生中有19名是中國學(xué)生)找工作的艱辛歷程之后學(xué)院“縮減了”計劃。學(xué)院為學(xué)生的面試牽線搭橋,但是到三月底為止,只有兩名中國學(xué)生稱他們已經(jīng)找到了工作。