The pre-MBA boot camp hosted by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) every year has aspirants from all over the world participate in the week-long immersion experience on living and studying in one of the fastest growing economies.
The CEIBS Boot Camp 2016 saw participation of 63 MBA aspirants from 23 countries. The Shanghai-based business school packed visits to industrial plants including Baosteel, Ford’s Asia Pacific headquarters and Henkel to name a few.
Apart from attending lectures on the economy and other aspects of China at CEIBS, they were also taken for rides on China’s bullet trains that zips between cities at a speed of around 200 KMPH. They also had plenty of fun using the Chinese mobile app WeChat to make plans for meals, sightseeing and visit to the nearest KTV (karaoke television establishment).
Roy Chason, Assistant Director, Marketing at CEIBS during the past three years, an average 15% of the boot camp participants had enrolled for the MBA program. About 30% of the participants in the boot camp had taken the GMAT.
Among the participants at the boot camp Dubai-based Bhavishya Kanjhan, is keen on acquiring an MBA to carry forward his family’s business legacy. For the past two years, he worked as director of Computer Care Group, a computer hardware retail chain his father and uncle founded nearly two decades ago. While the elders have had no formal business education, Kanjhan feels an MBA would help him better to plan for the future.
His interest in China also stems from the fact that the majority of his business’s suppliers source material from that country. He finds that coming to China would enable him have direct access to the factories, economy and he would get an opportunity to learn about the work culture too.
Susanne Fischer from Austria, is at present enrolled in a Masters program in business and development studies with a focus on China. She has ticked CEIBS among her options for an MBA program as she finds it a great opportunity to switch completely from Europe to China.
Ryan Flamerich from Alabama, US, finds CEIBS’s location in Shanghai, the growing financial capital of Asia, as advantageous for future career growth. Currently working for Deloitte, he doesn’t feel lack of knowledge of Mandarin to be a handicap as most of his peers in China use English for communication.
Ariel Briskin from Jerusalem has been staying in China for the past five years. As a building material department manager at a plastic recycling company, he is able to communicate in Mandarin with his six member team for more than two years. He intends to go in for an MBA for building up a network and aim for a higher managerial role or to start his own business venture.
