Hi. I am a European student looking at studying my MBA in China. Most everyone I talk to about my MBA in Europe recommends CEIBS, but all my Chinese friends recommends Tsinghua. CEIBS has a great ranking, but I am worried it is only good marketing (they are only ranked in FT and no others). Tsinghua looks interesting as it has connections with MIT (one of the best in the U.S.) and HEC (one of the best in Europe) and from what I hear they are the best in China. I would like to know what people on this board think. For a European student which is better CEIBS or Tsinghua?

Chinese business school wins top-10 FT ranking

THE China-Europe International Business School has become the first business school in Asia to make the Financial Times' top-10 MBA programs since the newspaper started ranking programs a decade ago.

The Shanghai-based school came eighth in the top-100 list of full-time global Master of Business Administration programs, up from 11th place last year.

CEIBS graduates' salaries increase by an average of 179 percent in three years after graduation, the highest pay rise among the schools listed, according an FT survey....

... Three Asian schools, two in China and one in India, feature in the top 20 of the FT rankings this year.

Hong Kong UST Business School is ranked 16th, up from 17th last year.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200902/20090203/article_389693.htm

FT ranking: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

Yes, yes we've all seen the FT rankings. Yes, yes, Asia is getting some competitive business schools. But how does CEIBS compare to Tsinghua, besides that one school is in Beijing and the other in Shanghai?

Hi. I am a European student looking at studying my MBA in China. Most everyone I talk to about my MBA in Europe recommends CEIBS, but all my Chinese friends recommends Tsinghua. CEIBS has a great ranking, but I am worried it is only good marketing (they are only ranked in FT and no others). Tsinghua looks interesting as it has connections with MIT (one of the best in the U.S.) and HEC (one of the best in Europe) and from what I hear they are the best in China. I would like to know what people on this board think. For a European student which is better CEIBS or Tsinghua?

I have been looking at this too (aside from the two schools being in different cities). I think Tsinghua is intriguing since aside from the business school, you are joining a prestigious university in China with undergraduates, graduates, MBAs, and a law school. Most notably, Tsinghua has globally recognized engineering departments and professors. With CEIBS, you are only joining a business school. When I called Tsinghua admin office, I asked to see if there was any type of opportunity to interact with the other departments. They mentioned that there was a networking club in the MBA which often did inter-department mixers with Engineering, Journalism, and Law departments. Supposedly the law department is next door and has its own foriegn intake from students in the US. Tsinghua also mentioned that it was possible to take classes at these departments, especially those taught in English for non-native speakers.

Hi Strekstar,

I don't think there is a simple answer to this question.

CEIBS, PekingU Guanghua and Tsinghua SEM are the top business schools in China and they get ranked #1 on different criteria.

No BS, they are simply good at different things.

My best advice is too really consider what you want from your career and what you need to get there. If your ambition is to get a management role in a multinational in China, then you path is likely easiest through CEIBS.

If you are more interested establishing relationships with the top minds in China and setting the stage for a long term involvement in China (or with China from abroad), it is hard to compete with Tsinghua SEM and BeijingU Guanghua. While these schools are less focused on placing students in multinationals, the foreigners who have graduated from these schools over the past 2 years have found great jobs. This was a big "?" only 1 year ago, but the proof is now there.

Between the these two schools (tied as #1 Universities in China), it comes down to the sector of specialization and what kind of career you want. Generally speaking, Beida is stronger at the soft skills and Tsinghua in the hard skills. If you want to work in the tech sector, entrepreneurship, operations, Finance, etc; Tsinghua is the best in China. If you want to work more in general management, sales, marketing, hr, etc; Guanghua is a better choice. These are pretty broad generalizations, but hopefully five you a sense of what is going on.

To be quite honest though, nothing replaces the chance to walk around all 3 schools and talking to people to get a sense of fit (something which is very hard to do from a distance).

Regarding rankings, forget about it. Take a look at what these schools and their graduates are actually doing, and where they are being successful. Mark my words, all three of them will be top 20 global B-schools within 10 years.

Take Tsinghua for example. CCTV ranks the most influencial people in Chinese business every year. This year, 3 of them were Tsinghua MBA/EMBA grads. While it is a little early for CEIBS since it is younger, I am sure their alumni will be very successful too.

Hope this is useful.

Relative Ambition,

Thanks for the reply - very good insight. I was able to walk around the Tsinghua campus - I was very impressed by the Tsinghua Science Park - with hundreds of companies in the tech, environment, and biological industries as well as top MNCs like Google, Microsoft, and Sun Systems. Beida did not seem so technologically advanced as Tsinghua (but was much prettier in terms of gardens and architecture ). I have not been to CEIBS yet - but frankly the idea of going to Tsinghua or BEIDA and paying less than half of the CEIBS tuition is quite attractive.

I am still trying to figure out where CEIBS foreign graduates are working in China and if their situation is any different from foreign Tsinghua or BEIDA graduates. I have heard that Tsinghua foreign graduates have landed jobs at some legitimate places. For Beida, still have not heard too much. If I find out - I will post.

Relative Ambition,

Thanks for the reply - very good insight. I was able to walk around the Tsinghua campus - I was very impressed by the Tsinghua Science Park - with hundreds of companies in the tech, environment, and biological industries as well as top MNCs like Google, Microsoft, and Sun Systems. Beida did not seem so technologically advanced as Tsinghua (but was much prettier in terms of gardens and architecture ). I have not been to CEIBS yet - but frankly the idea of going to Tsinghua or BEIDA and paying less than half of the CEIBS tuition is quite attractive.

I am still trying to figure out where CEIBS foreign graduates are working in China and if their situation is any different from foreign Tsinghua or BEIDA graduates. I have heard that Tsinghua foreign graduates have landed jobs at some legitimate places. For Beida, still have not heard too much. If I find out - I will post.

whats news? im considering applying to both but not sure how the whole language "requirement" would work out post grad.

here comes a chinese student who are reading MBA now,

there are four famous universities, ranking NO.1 TOP MBA ,are beijing \ tsinghua \ shanghai transportation and FUDAN university . to read such programme, our chinese students have to pass a graduation exam that hold annually .

for ceibs , heard that it is ranking NO.10 in the world ,as well as changjiang MBA , we can not enter such two schools by taking that national exam, but have to take GMAT ,almost 700 , and strick background .

for work opportunites, shanghai are much more morden than BEIJING ,capital of china.
besides, ceibs and Changjiang are just new founded ,seems that working experiences are much more important than your GMAT . so students there are a little older than first mentioned TOP FOUR.

I was able to talk to a CEIBS student today - he mentioned the following points:

1) Foreign Intake: Out of his class (incoming last year) - about 9 were American of which 6 were of chinese heritage. A number of Canadians who were all originally from HK/Taiwan. Many Europeans. The Europeans and the 3 Americans have the most basic Chinese levels.

2) Summer Internship is about 6 weeks long and is planned by the school. Most internships are with MNCs.

3) There is no option to take classes in Chinese at the MBA program.

4) CEIBS has strong brand image in Shanghai due to the corporate training programs they are offering to company managers in the area. For many people in Shanghai, this is some of the best education they have gotten since they last did their MBAs in Europe or US 10 or 20 years ago.

It seems that these findings are similar to the above postings, the following can be concluded:

1) Choose CEIBS if you want to work in Shanghai

2) Choose CEIBS if you want to work for an MNC in China.

3) Choose Tsinghua to get more of a Chinese experience studying in the Tsinghua community. Tsinghua students can take MBa classes in chinese.

4) Choose Tsinghua if you want access to entrepeneurship in China given that you are in the Tsinghua Science Park and Zhongguancun. Tsinghua students have the option to work with small companies while they study. There is also the MIT Lab which allow you to team up with MIT MBA students to consult with Chinese start-ups.