On Friday 27th July, the University of Manchester China Centre Director, Ms. Sherry Fu was interviewed by Tencent Education for her views on transnational education and an increasingly popular learning format: blending digital classrooms and highly interactive face-to-face workshops.
During the interview, Ms. Fu was asked to review The University of Manchester China Centre's impact on the regional market, where it brings Manchester’s international management education to Chinese professionals:
“As one of UK’s first Business Schools, we introduced the Global MBA programme to Chinese professionals in 2008 by establishing a regional centre at the heart of Shanghai. Currently our MBA is ranked 4th in UK, 10th in Europe and 36th globally by the Financial Times. From senior management professionals to innovative entrepreneurs, we have facilitated the career successes of over 1000 China-based students and alumni, adding to Alliance MBS' international alumni network of over 60,000 students and alumni from 176 countries. From focusing on business school programmes, we have expanded to represent the wider university and became The University of Manchester China Centre on 26th September 2016.”
When asked for views on the increasingly popular format of digital learning, Sherry shared her views on the efforts and achievements that have been made at Manchester:
“The impact of digitalisation is huge on all industries and our daily life. This has also been highly noticeable in education. The amount of information made accessible to students via digital platforms has multiplied greatly over the years. As a result, this makes it possible for traditional lecturing to be replaced by information assembly on the web. In Manchester's teaching today, we emphasie interactive workshop learning, where students work together and learn from each other. If I may quote Prof. Peter Kawalek, one of our leading academics in digitalisation and strategy, ‘Thanks to technology, we can liberalise classrooms with more socialisation, interesting discussions, workshops and problem-solving.’ In other words, human experience is enhanced using digital methods of learning. Our students are offered a state-of-the-art online learning platform to access rich literature and learning tools, which enriches the learning experience alongside highly-interactive residential workshops.”
Sherry also shared key points featuring Manchester Global MBA during the interview:
“We are a two-year part-time global MBA programme delivered by a highly reputable international faculty of academics and business practitioners. We follow the ‘Manchester Method’ where practical knowledge is at the very heart of the programme. Students will have the option to study in seven global locations including home campus in Manchester, overseas centres in Brazil, Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, as well as facilities in Washington D.C. We are a truly international programme!”
Towards the end of the interview, Ms. Sherry Fu also shared that the Centre was dedicated to strengthening partnerships with local universities, Shanghai Tongji University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, to provide jointly-delivered programmes. The Centre has also formed and is building up more strategic relationships with corporates to provide more tailored talent solutions. In addition to the Manchester Global MBA and Kelley-Manchester Global MBA, a list of specialist Masters programmes will officially be launched soon. Applications for the MSc International Healthcare Leadership programme in March 2019 are now open.
More details are available on the China Centre page and from the official wechat account mbs_china.