There has never been one ‘right’ way in and out of China. Come in the front door, and the officials have no problem showing you out the back door when your time is up. Flash some bills, and maybe you’ll find a side entrance, but we all know that revolving door stopped being greased around that auspicious day of ‘eights’ this year.

When my work visa ran out in June, and I found myself faced with another semester of studying characters and working part-time piece-meal jobs to get by, I decided it was finally time to admit it: I had a mild case of Attention Deficit Disorder. Studying characters can be soothing in times of high-China stress, it’s true, but so too can watching DVD’s. In the end, it became clear that after a year, I wasn’t going to hit it big in the Chinese business world as a walking, breathing Rosetta Stone.

With the economy looking rosy still, I enrolled not entirely without remorse in a Master’s of Arts program in Frankfurt, Germany. With the financial crisis touching down shortly thereafter, I rested easy, and stopped second-guessing my decision entirely. Doing a Masters of International Business has some distinct advantages for me (besides the sweet MIB call letters), for a few reasons.

According to Wikipedia, MIBs have been growing in popularity since 2000, and are being called the ‘new MBA,’ as the world races forevermore towards globalization. Although I recognize my time isn’t best spent studying the difference between (ma) 吗 and (ma) 妈，I don’t want to lose track of the international China focus of business either.

At the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management where I now attend, the emphasis is on Chinese business in a European context. I realized after a few attempts of explaining that I came to Germany to keep studying about China, the notion of ‘globalized education’ might still be a bit of a foreign concept for some.

In reality, it has become clear to me that gathering people from all corners of the earth to study in one place has its share of ups and downs. The first semester has been largely dedicated to bridging gaps of knowledge, and bringing everyone up to the same level. This means that the Chinese students take naps during a statistics course they claim to have taken in 8th grade, while the rest of us take notes frantically. Discussions on International and law and copyright infringements are much livelier however, as most of the non-Chinese students also have studied in China.

Here are some things to consider further with the MIB and MBA:

• Work experience is not emphasized in the MIB as heavily, so students’ ages skew younger
• MIB programs tend to span an entire two years, as opposed to the ‘executive style’ schedules MBAs offer
• Is an MBA worth as much as an MBA in the end? Due to the relative newness of the MIB, it is hard to say. Therefore, the relative strength of the university’s reputation, as well as the expertise in areas of specialization is key.
• Student loans from the U.S. don’t qualify at every international institution, so be sure to check the school’s status before making firm commitments. Also, horror stories abound of student loans falling through due to the financial crunch, so a backup plan never hurts.

It seems the MIB is the ‘right’ decision for me, and one that will hopefully lead me back to China, but clearly the MBA will be more suitable for others. Regardless, now seems as good of a time as any to be in school weathering out the financial storm.

    Channel: Movers & Shakers     |