The masters in management degree, once the best-kept secret of European business schools, is becoming the star of 21st-century business education. Though still a passport to the boardrooms of France and northern Europe, it is also proving to be the saviour of many North American business schools and a tool to build international reputations in countries as far afield as China.

管理学硕士学位(MiM)曾经是欧洲各商学院心照不宣的秘密，如今正成为21世纪商学教育的明星。尽管该学位仍然是进入法国及北欧企业董事会的通行证，但它也正成为北美很多商学院的救星、以及在中国等遥远国度建立国际声望的工具。

In the US, where applications to MBA programmes have fallen, masters degrees have provided a welcome source of revenue while giving those leaving undergraduate degrees a leg-up in the job market during the great recession. As such, masters in management (MiM) in the US were frequently designed for liberal arts graduates from the parent university.

在MBA课程申请人数出现下滑的美国，硕士学位提供了一个可喜的收入来源，同时也在大衰退时期为本科毕业生提供了一块求职的垫脚石。因此，美国商学院的MiM往往是为其所属大学的文科本科生设计的。

At Mendoza College in Indiana, for example, which started its programme two years ago, 40 per cent of students are still graduates of the parent University of Notre Dame, says Mary Goss, senior director of graduate business programmes. “What the MiM has done is open up those undergraduate recruiters to other students on campus.”

例如，2年前开设这一课程的印第安纳州门多萨商学院(Mendoza College)研究生商务课程的高级主任玛丽戈斯(Mary Goss)称，40%的学生仍是其所属的圣母大学(University of Notre Dame)的毕业生。“MiM让那些本科生招聘者去接触校园里的其他学生。”

This growing recognition and acceptance of the MiM in the US is also increasing the country’s popularity as a destination for MiM graduates from Europe, says Leila Guerra, executive director of early career programmes at London Business School, which launched its MiM degree in 2009. “We are seeing that US recruiters recruit many of our grads. New York has become a hotspot for us. Fifty of our MiMs are working there, especially in finance and consulting.”

伦敦商学院(London Business School)早期职业课程的行政主任利拉格拉(Leila Guerra)称，美国对MiM的认知和认可度日益增加，也提升了美国作为欧洲MiM毕业生求职目的地的人气。“我们发现美国招聘人员招走了我们很多毕业生。纽约成为我们毕业生的热门城市。我们有50名MiM毕业生在那里工作，特别是在金融和咨询行业。”

While big-brand US schools such as Fuqua, Kellogg and Michigan Ross chart the popularity of this new breed of business degrees, others are more concerned about the knock-on effect on other programmes.

尽管库商学院(Fuqua)、凯洛格商学院(Kellogg School)及密歇根大学罗斯商学院(Michigan Ross)等大牌美国商学院使此类新型商务学位课程走红，但其他人更担心这些课程对其他课程造成的涟漪效应。

Mark Vandenbosch, associate dean for programmes at Canada’s Ivey Business School at Western University, says the plethora of degrees on the market may mean MiM graduates find themselves competing for jobs with those from undergraduate business programmes.

加拿大西安大略大学(Western University)艾维商学院(Ivey Business School)负责课程的副院长马克范登博施(Mark Vandenbosch)称，市场上各种学位很多，可能意味着MiM毕业生要与商务课程的本科生竞争工作。

He argues that masters need to have a real distinguishing feature or “spike”, as he calls it, to differentiate them. “We can’t continue to create students unless there are recruiters ready to accept them.”

他认为，硕士学位应该有真正的特色或“过人之处”，以此脱颖而出。“我们不能再继续培养学生——除非招聘者准备聘用他们。”

The growing international acceptance of the MiM means that for French business schools, which have dominated the Financial Times MiM ranking since its inception in 2005 with their Grandes Ecoles programmes, the degree can increasingly attract high fee-paying international students to France. Schools such as Skema are even exporting the degree to the US.

国际上对MiM的接受度日益增加意味着，对于法国商学院来说，该学位可以日益吸引支付高昂学费的国际学生来法国。自2005年英国《金融时报》推出MiM排行榜以来，法国商学院一直凭借其“高等专业学院”(Grandes Ecoles)课程占据主导地位。商科联盟国际商学院(Skema)等学院甚至向美国出口此类学位课程。

The school will go one step further this year when its masters in international business will be taught in Brazil through an agreement with executive education specialist Funda漀 Dom Cabral.

今年，该学院将更进一步——通过与高管教育专业机构Funda漀 Dom Cabral达成协议，它将在巴西开设国际商务硕士课程。

“We need to internationalise for our growth. In France the fees are frozen,” says Alice Guilhon, dean of Skema. “It’s very difficult to think about growth in only [the French] market.”

“我们需要使我们的增长更加国际化。在法国，学费是封顶的，”商科联盟国际商学院院长艾丽丝吉龙(Alice Guilhon)称，“只局限在（法国）市场内，很难发展壮大。”

At the moment Skema has 7,000 students. “We want to reach 8,000 or 9,000,” says Prof Guilhon.

目前，商科联盟国际商学院有7000学生。“我们希望达到8000或9000人，”吉龙教授称。

Skema is one of several French schools to have set up in China and to promote the MiM there. Kedge Business School, for example, has worked with Renmin University in Beijing to develop a three-year programme after which graduates receive a bachelors degree from Renmin and a MiM from Kedge, explains Thomas Froehlicher, dean of Kedge. “We have to reinvent business education for the 21st century,” he says. “The French Grande Ecole is a product of the 20th century.”

商科联盟国际商学院是在中国办学并推广MiM的几所法国商学院之一。例如，Kedge商学院院长托马斯弗勒利谢(Thomas Froehlicher)解释称，该学院与北京中国人民大学合作开办一个3年课程，毕业生将获得人大本科学位以及Kedge管理学硕士学位。“我们必须再造21世纪的商务教育，”他称，“法国‘高等专业学院’是20世纪的产物。”

Not all Chinese business school deans are convinced of the value of the MiM. Most masters degrees in China have an academic focus and are often prerequisites for PhD programmes, says Zhou Lin, dean of Antai College at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. As a result, China’s ministry of education rules that schools cannot charge high fees. Antai, for example, charges Rmb98,000 ($15,333) for its MiM but Rmb208,000 for its full-time MBA and Rmb568,000 for its executive MBA.

并非中国所有商学院的院长都相信MiM的价值。上海交通大学安泰学院的院长周林称，中国绝大多数硕士课程都有学术重心，而且往往是博士课程的前提条件。因此，中国教育部规定，学校不得征收高昂学费。比如，安泰学院MiM课程的学费是9.8万元人民币（合15333美元），而其全日制MBA课程的学费为20.8万元、EMBA学费为56.8万元。

“Given that each business school has a limited quota of how many masters it can admit (including both MiM and MBA programmes), most schools prefer to admit more MBA students than MiM students,” says Prof Zhou.

“鉴于每一家商学院都有硕士学位的招生限额（包括MiM和MBA课程），多数学院倾向于招收更多的MBA学生、而不是MiM学生，”周林称。

In addition, the Chinese government requires masters programmes to be at least two years in length, which means many Chinese travel overseas to take a one-year degree, he adds.

他补充道，此外，中国政府要求硕士课程的时间至少2年，这意味着很多中国学生出国留学是为了拿到只需要1年的学位。

More promising for Chinese schools are MiMs designed to attract international students, which are outside the quota system and have fewer restrictions on fees, continues Prof Zhou. Two years ago Antai launched just such a programme. “Although the initial number was modest, we enrolled 38 students from about 20 countries last year,” he says. “We expect to have more than 50 students out of 120-plus applicants this autumn.”

周林继续说，对于中国的商学院而言，更有前途的是为吸引国际留学生而设计的管理学硕士学位，他们的招生名额不受配额限制，在收费方面限制也较少。安泰两年前就推出这样一个项目。“虽然开始时人数不多，但去年我们招收了来自约20个国家的38名学生，”他说，“今年秋天，我们预计将从120多名申请者中录取50多名学生。”

The tentative growth of the MiM in China is at odds with what is happening in India. The PGP, a two-year pre-experience business masters that largely mirrors the French Grandes Ecoles programmes, has long been the flagship programme of the elite Indian Institutes of Management. However, all that is changing.

管理学硕士在中国的试探性增长与印度发生的情况完全不同。管理学研究生(PGP)项目——基本上参照法国高等商学院课程、为期两年的无工作经验商业硕士——长期是精英的印度管理学院(Indian Institutes of Management)的旗舰课程。然而，这一切正在发生变化。

At IIM Ahmedabad, arguably the most prestigious business school in India, there are plans to push up the entry age and work experience of students, says Ajay Pandey, dean for programmes.

位于艾哈迈达巴德(Ahmedabad)的印度管理学院堪称印度最著名的商学院。负责课程的院长阿贾伊堠迪(Ajay Pandey)称，该校计划提高学生的入学年龄并增加工作经验要求。

“We would hope that in the next six to seven years [work experience] would be a given. We want to get 80–85 per cent [of students] with work experience at least,” he says. The move to a post-experience degree will also result in the PGP being renamed an MBA.

“我们希望（工作经验）在未来6到7年里成为基本要求。我们希望至少80%至85%的（学生）有工作经验，”他说。转向有工作经验硕士学位的举措还将会使PGP更名为MBA。

The confusion in India is unlikely to hamper the growing recognition of the MiM, however. As more and more graduates move up the corporate hierarchy, they will begin to recruit graduates in their own image, says Leila Guerra at LBS. “MiMs recruit other MiMs.”

然而，印度在这方面的困惑不太可能妨碍全球对管理学硕士日益扩大的认可。伦敦商学院(LBS)的利拉格拉(Leila Guerra)说，随着越来越多的毕业生在企业中得到晋升，他们将开始招聘与自己背景相似的毕业生，“管理学硕士将招聘其他管理学硕士。”

As they do so, the MiM brand will become more established, she says. “For me, the successful moment will be when I can go out and say, ‘I have an MiM’, and people will understand it the same way they do the MBA.”

当他们这样做的时候，管理学硕士的品牌将变得更加稳固，她说，“对我来说，成功的时刻是当我在外面说‘我有MiM’时，人们会像了解MBA一样了解它是怎么回事。”