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52 March/April 2014 BizEd The goal of the Washington University-Fudan Executive MBA is to train leaders who aren't just able to manage in China, but who one day will manage large regional or global organizations. To do so, we've had to design a program that serves not just Chinese business, but global business. Designing the Program From the very beginning our pro- gram has emphasized developing students' skills as global managers. For that reason, the basic outline of our curriculum has remained focused on strategy, execution, and leadership. The opening module delivers a foundational core on topics such as organizational behavior, financial accounting, data modeling, and strategic cost analysis. Leadership By Zhiwen Yin Executive MBA students are very demanding. That was one of the first and most important lessons we learned from our colleagues at Washington University when we began our partnership in 2002. We have learned and shared many more lessons over a decade of collaboration. My school, Fudan Univer- sity in Shanghai, launched its MBA program in 1991, and by 2001, we were interested in offering an executive MBA program. We wanted a West- ern academic partner with experience and a good track record. Fudan and Wash- ington University in St. Louis are similar in many respects: Both are leading research institutions that offer a full spectrum of undergraduate and graduate school academic disciplines. And we both had similar ideas about the values, goals, and mutual benefits we could gain from a joint venture. The Washington Univer- sity-Fudan EMBA program has become our flagship East-West partnership pro- gram. Over the course of our relationship, we have learned many valuable lessons about the best way to run a joint program: n Don't focus on making money; focus on gain- ing value. Any school that cares only about profiting from an East-West partner- ship should stop before it even starts. While we didn't want to lose money when we launched the partnership, we cared about more than sim- ply making money. We were much more interested in the experience and knowledge we could gain through the alliance. n Maintain rigorous admissions requirements. Applicants to our English-lan- guage MBA must be fluent in English because simultaneous translation is not offered. They also are required to have at least ten years' work experi- ence with five years in a man- agement position. Even more important than their working experience is their potential to grow. Therefore, we interview all candidates to learn about their work experience, language abilities, and personal career development goals. We want students who not only con- tribute in the classroom, but who also will build the brand name and reputation of the program once they graduate. An example would be Michael Co-Teaching and Co-Learning courses cover managing power and leading organizational change. Later modules focus on growth and global management. Even though we are training global managers, the program provides insights on the particular challenges of managing in the Chi- nese environment. China-specific material is included throughout the curriculum, and we employ cases set in China. However, our main strategy for bringing a Chinese per- spective to the program is to bring together faculty from Olin Business School and Fudan School of Man- agement to co-teach most courses. These faculty members focus on issues germane to China, which ensures that students gain both global competence and local under- standing. We also have a course, Fudan Thought Leaders, which At the formal graduation ceremony for E M BA students in 2013, speakers included Washington University's Jim Little (top), who has been academic director of the Shanghai program since its inception, and Fudan University's Zhiwen Yin, the first co-director of the program.