What impresses students on the world's most expensive executive MBA programme? Is it Wharton San Francisco's lavish new campus in a landmark building, or the latest interactive technologies in each classroom? The concierge-style service they receive from school staff, the free iPads, the all-inclusive accommodation at the Meridian Hotel or the chauffeur service that drives them the half-mile there?
世界上最贵的EMBA课程的学员们会对什么印象深刻？是沃顿商学院(Wharton)奢华的旧金山新校区所在的地标性建筑，每间教室里最新的互动教学设施，学校教员无微不至的服务，免费的iPad，无所不包的Meridian酒店服务，还是酒店和半英里外校区之间的汽车接送服务？
"It's going to be a great place for watching the America's Cup this fall," says student Peter Eberle, pointing to the panoramic view of 'Frisco Bay and Bay Bridge.
学员彼得•埃伯利(Peter Eberle)指着眼前一览无余的旧金山湾(Frisco Bay)和海湾大桥(Bay Bridge)说："在这地方看今年秋天的美洲杯帆船赛(America's Cup)肯定棒极了。"
He is joking (mostly), but the view is as breathtaking as the price tag. Yet executives like Mr Eberle are queueing up to pay $175,678 to enrol at the school. It is as if the recession never happened. Wharton San Francisco has even increased its fees by 1 per cent for the class that began last month. It may be 3,000 miles from home in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania but, after 10 years in California, the Wharton brand has been successful enough at ingesting west coast entrepreneurship and high-tech energy to enable its San Francisco satellite to steer a course through the storm.
这位学员多半在开玩笑，但那景色确实令人叹为观止，正如那个课程的价格。不过，像埃伯利这样的高管还是愿意排着队交175678美元的学费来注册这个课程。就好像衰退根本没发生过一样。沃顿商学院旧金山校区甚至将上月开课的课程学费调高了1%。位于加州的沃顿商学院旧金山校区距离位于费城宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)的主校区可能有3000英里，但凭借沃顿的品牌、10年的经营和高科技教学手段，该校区在西海岸的企业家教育十分成功，足以让它安然度过风暴。
"People still don't think San Francisco when they think Wharton," admits Bernadette Birt, executive director of the programme. "But many students come here with ideas already brewing in their heads and ready to step out as entrepreneurs."
"如今大家仍然不能把旧金山和沃顿商学院联系起来。"该项目执行主任贝尔纳黛特•伯特(Bernadette Birt)坦承，"但我们的许多学员在入校之时就已怀有创业的想法，打算在毕业之时成为企业家。"
Still, the waters could yet get a little choppy as competition on the west coast increases. The lampposts in San Francisco's financial district that do not carry advertisements for Wharton, carry ones for Babson College, the business school that specialises in entrepreneurship and which launched a fast-track MBA in the city in 2010. Across the bay, UC Berkeley will launch its MBA for executives in 2013, after Berkeley's Haas School of Business and Columbia Business School agreed to wind up the joint EMBA they have run since 2002.
不过，随着西海岸竞争的加剧，局势可能变得更加变幻莫测。旧金山金融区的路灯柱上贴的不是沃顿商学院的广告，就是巴布森商学院(Babson College)的广告。巴布森的专长是培养企业家，它从2010年开始在旧金山开设了一个速成MBA课程。在旧金山湾对岸，加州大学伯克利分校(UC Berkeley)哈斯商学院(Haas School of Business)与哥伦比亚商学院(Columbia Business School)同意结束自2002年起合办的EMBA项目之后，前者将从2013年开始开设EMBA课程。
Wharton San Francisco is positioning itself as the intensive, fully-immersive, all-expenses-paid model at the top end of the market – hence the decision to trade its downtown hub for even classier accommodation. At the beginning of the year, the school moved to the sixth floor of a Romanesque revival building once used by Hills Brothers – inventors of vacuum-packing – to roast and pack coffee on the city's Embarcadero (waterfront).
沃顿商学院旧金山分院定位于高端市场，采取密集型和沉浸式教学，所有费用包含在学费里。因此该校决定从闹市区搬到更高档的地段。今年年初，该校搬到了旧金山Embarcadero（滨水区）一栋翻新过的罗马式大楼的6层。真空包装的发明者希尔斯兄弟(Hills Brothers)曾经在那栋大楼里烘焙和包装咖啡。
The annual intake on this two-year EMBA is about 95 students – so what do they get for their money?
这个两年制EMBA课程每年接收约95名学员——那么，这些学员付出的学费会换回些什么？
The campus – which is used exclusively for the EMBA programme and a handful of executive courses – is flooded with natural light and sustainable woods, walls hung with paintings from local artists. Breakout rooms and mother-and-baby rooms are furnished like airport executive lounges. There are two teaching rooms, each with capacity for 75 students, plus a lecture theatre for 160.
该教学区由这个EMBA项目和几个高管课程专享，采光极佳，大量采用可再生木材，墙上挂着当地艺术家的画作。休息室和母婴室的陈设好像机场的行政贵宾室。有两间教室，每间可容纳75名学生，还有一间演讲厅，可容纳160名学生。
Each has the latest audio-visual equipment and cameras for web-conferencing speakers from the east coast and Wall Street. In smaller seminar rooms, students can Skype their east coast counterparts or team members working overseas. And the restaurant serves food prepared by local artisans.
每间教室都配备了最新的视听设备和摄像机，可以与东海岸和华尔街的人开网络会议。在较小的研讨教室里，学员可以在Skype上与东海岸的学员或在海外工作的团队伙伴进行交流。餐厅供应由当地厨师烹制的食物。
While proud of the campus, Ms Birt stresses that this is not the reason students pay big money As in Philadelphia, EMBA students receive more than 700 hours of contact time. "They are getting more for their money – other programmes offer 400 hours and their fees are not much less than ours."
尽管对校园设施感到自豪，但伯特强调，这不是学员们愿意掏那么高的学费的原因。跟在费城校区一样，旧金山分院的EMBA学员面对面教学时间超过700小时。"我们的课程性价比更高——其他的EMBA项目只有400小时，而学费并不比我们的少多少。"
As the global economy recovers it is not too far-fetched to imagine EMBA fees breaking the $200,000 mark soon. But is there a danger that top-end schools might price themselves out of the market?
随着全球经济的复苏，EMBA学费很快突破20万美元大关并非不可想象的事情。但是否存在这样的危险：顶级商学院的定价可能脱离市场实际？
"The market is dictating the price," says Dave Wilson, chief executive of the Graduate Management Admission Council.
管理学研究生招生理事会(Graduate Management Admission Council，简称GMAC)首席执行官戴夫•威尔逊(Dave Wilson)表示："市场决定学费。
"As long as candidates fill seats, the price is not a barrier in the eyes of either the students or the schools. The market is in equilibrium as supply is meeting demand.
"只要申请人数不低于招生人数，学员和学校都不会觉得学费是个障碍。市场是均衡的，因为供给可以满足需求。
"The real question is how stable is this equilibrium. Will supply continue to meet demand or will the increasing price drive down demand for the seats?
"真正的问题是这种均衡状态有多稳定。供给会持续满足需求吗？抑或不断上涨的学费会降低需求？
"But at the moment, the ability to increase the price of a graduate management degree is a testament to the value proposition of the degree."
"但就目前而言，能够提高一项管理研究生学位的学费，证明这个学位有价值。"
But John Fernandes, chief executive of accrediting body AACSB believes that there would be resistance from students and their employers to paying $200,000 for an executive programme.
认证机构美国管理商学院联合会(AACSB)首席执行官约翰•费尔南德斯(John Fernandes)认为，如果EMBA学费要20万美元，学员和他们的老板可能会犹豫。
"An EMBA is considered as an investment in the company and the individual and organisations would have to consider very carefully whether they would be willing to pay that amount for an executive MBA programme," he says.
费尔南德斯说："企业认为EMBA是一项投资，报名EMBA的个人和组织会仔细衡量自己是否愿意为一项EMBA课程支付这么多学费。"
Wharton San Francisco has no faculty of its own. The EMBA programmes are sequenced so that faculty can teach one weekend in Philadelphia, then fly to San Francisco the next. The choice of options differs a little, but the core curriculum on both programmes is identical.
沃顿商学院旧金山分院没有自己的教员。他们对EMBA课程进行一定的编排，这样教员可以这个周末在费城授课，下个周末飞到旧金山授课。两个校区的选修课程略有不同，但核心课程是一样的。
"We don't want our students to feel the east coast is getting something different," says Ms Birt. If anything, San Francisco students get the better deal from faculty, she adds. "The level of engagement here is different, because faculty don't have family distractions while here. They stay at the same hotel and take the same meals and so it makes for much greater connection with students." Wharton San Francisco attracts people working in high-tech, such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Cisco, as well as executives from the hotels, entertainment and healthcare sectors, attorneys, engineers and people working in product development, R&D and marketing.
伯特说："我们不希望让我们的学员觉得东海岸的课程跟西海岸不一样。"她补充说，要说有所区别的话，就是旧金山校区的同学能与教员有更多接触。"在这儿的时候，教员不会为家庭分心，因此会给学生更多关注。教员和学生们住同一个酒店，在同一个餐厅吃饭，因此与学生的联系也紧密得多。"沃顿商学院旧金山分院吸引了一些高科技行业的人士前来就读，比如谷歌(Google)、Facebook、LinkedIn和思科(Cisco)的高管；也吸引了一些酒店业、娱乐业和医疗行业的高管，以及律师、工程师、产品开发人员、研发人员和营销人员。
The 30 electives chosen by students tend to lean towards the entrepreneurial, adds Ms Birt, who can now count Mozilla and Gap as neighbours.
伯特补充说，30门选修课大多偏向于创业方面。如今，该校与Mozilla和Gap比邻而居。
It is a significant challenge to start a business while holding down a job, juggling family commitments and completing an EMBA.
在工作、照顾家庭、完成EMBA学位的同时自己创业，这是一个巨大的挑战。
However the biggest pressure comes from students themselves. Only a third of EMBA students at Wharton San Francisco have more than 50 per cent of their fees paid for by their employers. Many pay the entire cost from their own pockets.
不过，最大的压力来自学员们本身。沃顿商学院旧金山分院的EMBA学员中，只有三分之一由雇主支付一半以上学费。许多学员完全自掏腰包。
"This is a big investment in their lives and careers," says Ms Birt. "They demand a transformational experience."
"对学员们而言，这是对自己生活和职业生涯的一笔巨大投资。"伯特说，"他们要求得到一次通过学习脱胎换骨的经历。"