range of backgrounds and expertise, ranging from management consulting and financial services to manufacturing and service operations. This year four teams were dispatched and each integrated with two MBAs from MIT and two MBAs from Tsinghua SEM. The 2009 China Lab program was made up of three stages. In the middle of March, Sino-American students would form teams and do two-week field study in the cooperative company. In April, the Chinese students will visit the U.S.A for a week. The third stage will take two months. Each team will further analyze data and put forth reports aiming at problems of the company via remote communication medium.  Finally, students will get certain credits once they pass the course evaluation.

This program was designed in connection with the limited real-world business practice of MBA students. It closely intertwined research, teaching and practice and compensated for the limitations of non-classroom teaching of business schools. MBA education is not only constrained in classroom training but also needs to enrich international practice so that students’ practical abilities will be strengthened and the international perspective will be fostered. China Lab also differentiates itself from case competition or visits organized by MBA students. MBA students can better foster their professional qualities with the help of professors from two schools in the authoritative consultancy environment. China Lab provides complicated projects for MBAs. Students with different nationalities and various competition situations contribute to build a more real market environment. What’s more, the program gives prominence to internalization while forming teams. MBA students from Tsinghua are one Chinese student and one international student. With the additional two students with different nationalities from MIT, the team is highly international. Within each team, students will experience cultural shock and learn to respect and accept the other members.

The the supervisor of China Lab Program from Sloan School of Management, M. Jonathan Lehrich said that the practice in global enterprises of MIT Sloan has been under the spotlight in the global MBA education. In China and India, the majority of host companies are related to software, health, and education, but what interests business schools most is young companies with rapid growth and intense proficiency.

Fang Xing, a former Tsinghua undergraduate, returned to Tsinghua as an MIT MBA student and participated in China Lab. In her opinion, this was an excellent opportunity of practice and at the same time, she felt much pressure. In comparison with other similar practice courses, she pointed out that this one was persistent and in depth. In her eyes, she was not a student at present but a professional.

As an international MBA student from Tsinghua SEM and the team leader of the Beijing team, Zhang Aiping cherished this cross-culture experience. As the ratio of international students is increasing at home, students from India, France, Philippines, etc bring cross-cultural training to Chinese students. Especially in the exchange program that requires close contact with companies and much practice, the spontaneous cooperation and communication among students intensify the cross-culture feeling.

To the company, it is also a win-win solution. As Tang Ning, CEO of CreditEase puts it, “These MBA students are very professional.” CEO of Tarena Corporation Han Shaoyun also thinks highly of students in terms of standardization of filing which made up for the company.