Russian-American MBA partnerships: the Cal State East Bay experience

Review of Business Research, Jan, 2008 by Gary Wishniewsky

Extensive information on the Moscow program can be found in the document, "An Assessment of Program Management Practices in the context of Principles of Good Practice in Overseas International Education Programs for non-U.S. Nationals" (California State University, 2005), which I prepared for a WASC accreditation team visit to Moscow.

In 1995, IBE privatized and separated itself administratively and financially from the Academy, but its office and the program continue to be housed there. IBE is licensed to operate educational programs by the Moscow City Government, and has accreditation from the Russian Ministry of Education and Science to offer undergraduate and graduate degrees. Information about IBE may be found on its website at www.ibe.ru and on the Academy at the website www.ane.ru. As of May 2007, the English-language pages of both sites are under revision.

The first CSUEB program to be introduced at IBE was the Foundation Program, containing eleven prerequisites to the second year MBA Program. IBE operated six Foundation groups until sufficient numbers of students could be recruited with adequate English-language skills and academic potential for the second year. In 1993, the second MBA year was introduced and the MBA-1 group included around 50-55 Russian managers. Since inception, enrollments have ranged from 150 to 200 managers, divided into two annual Foundation and two annual and parallel MBA cohorts. Unlike the degree and training programs funded by the U.S. Government in Central and Eastern Europe (Hull, 2000), the Cal State program received no significant support and was set up as a self-sustaining tuition-funded program.

4. PROFILE OF RUSSIAN MANAGERS

Since 1993 student enrollment has averaged about 60% from multinational employers, including American Express Bank, Baxter, Boeing, Chase Manhattan Bank, Caterpillar, Coca Cola, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Gillette, Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Pepsi Cola, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Proctor & Gamble, Raffeisen Bank Austria, in fact from almost every multinational corporation that has a presence in Moscow. About 40% of student enrollment has come from Russian banks, corporations and government agencies. These have included Aeroflot, Alfa Bank, MFK Renaissance, Ministry of Taxation, Troika Dialog, and others (California State University, East Bay, 2005).

The age of the participants ranges from 24-45 years old, and the gender composition is about 40% women, 60% men. All applicants must hold a first degree from an accredited Russian university or institute, or if their degree is not from Russia, from an academic institution accredited by the Ministry of Education in the country where the degree was earned. In general the men tend to hold degrees in scientific and technical subjects, and the women in scientific, linguistic, and humanitarian fields. A number of the participants also hold doctoral degrees from Russian universities. All applicants have work experience, ranging from entry-level middle management or middle management, to senior management such as country director or managing director for the Russian Federation.