Duke’s Fuqua School of Business continues to move forward with its ambitious plans for a global MBA campus network, most recently breaking ground on a new campus location in China. Back in 2008, I wrote a story about Fuqua’s efforts to create a revamped international MBA program, one that would allow students to attend overseas campuses all around the world. Since that time, the school has developed new facilities with partners in Dubai, Russia, India and the United Kingdom. Now, the school is setting its sight on China. Just last week, Fuqua Dean Blair Sheppard and Duke President Richard Brodhead broke ground on a 200-acre campus location in Kunshan, China expected to be completed in 2011. The campus will have five buildings, with space for research and residential facilities for Fuqua’s programs, the school said in a press release. The venture is a partnership between Duke and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of the top schools in China.
Among the initial offerings at the school are an executive MBA, non-degree executive education offerings and a pre-experience master of management studies degree, taught by Fuqua faculty. Beyond the classroom, Fuqua has an ambitious agenda in the region; helping to revitalize the Yangtze River delta area. Already, the school says it has formed some industry and government partnerships that they say will help them meet this goal. Eventually, the campus will include programs from Duke’s schools of public policy and environment, and it global health institute, among others.
The new campus appears to be a smart strategic move for Fuqua; today many leading American business schools have campuses or offices in China, and increasingly, more Chinese students are opting to study at home, rather than the U.S. I think Duke should be able to carve out a niche in this region fairly easily; it already has strong ties with China, with 600 Chinese students enrolled in its programs and partnerships with influential Chinese institutions in areas such as global health and international development. It will be interesting to follow the school’s progress in the region over the next few years.
Readers, what do you think of Duke’s plans to establish a stronger presence in China? Do you think there is a need for more American business schools to build campuses in China?
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