斯隆學院的不尋常亞洲夥伴

MIT Sloan School of Management knows a thing or two about start-ups. The US school’s entrepreneurship faculty is among its most distinguished and over the past 10 years, Sloanies — the internal word for graduates of the school — have started nearly 250 businesses. Now, though, it is embarking on an all together different enterprise: a new business school in Kuala Lumpur.

麻省理工斯隆管理學院(MIT Sloan School of Management)對初創企業略知一二。創業學院是這所美國商校最傑出的院系之一。過去10年，“斯隆生”（Sloanies，對該校畢業生的內部叫法）創立了近250家企業。然而，現在斯隆管理學院正在發起一個完全不同的項目：在吉隆坡建立一所新商學院。

This month, MIT Sloan announced a collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the nation’s central bank, to establish the Asia School of Business (ASB). The school, which will run a traditional two-year MBA programme, is slated to open in September 2016 with an inaugural class of about 35 students.

本月，斯隆管理學院宣佈將與馬來西亞央行(BNM)合辦亞洲商學院(Asia School of Business)。該校將提供傳統的兩年制MBA課程，定於2016年9月開學，首屆MBA班將招收大約35名學員。

BNM Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz is a driving force behind the alliance. “[Our goal] is to start a business school that produces the kind of talent that will go out and be part of the advancement of the emerging world,” she says.

馬來西亞央行行長扎蒂•阿克塔•阿齊茲(Zeti Akhtar Aziz)是此次合作的推動者。她說：“（我們的目標）是建立這樣一所商學院，學院培養的人才走出校門後，將助推新興世界的發展。”

Both parties have experience in this arena. BNM has made several large investments in education over the past 10 years, starting a school for Islamic finance, for instance. And for the past two decades, MIT Sloan has partnered universities around the globe to help less-known business schools expand curricula, implement programmes, and develop their academic base and research profile.

雙方在這個領域都有相關經驗。過去10年，馬來西亞央行在教育領域進行了幾次大規模投資，如創辦一所伊斯蘭金融學校。過去20年，斯隆管理學院則與世界各地的大學合作，幫助知名度較低的商學院拓展課程體系、開展課程項目、發展學術基礎、提高研究聲望。

Creating a business school from scratch, however, is a far more ambitious — and daunting — task. According to David Schmittlein, who has been dean of MIT Sloan for eight years, it takes money, institutional will and engagement from the wider region.

不過，從零開始建立一所商學院，是一個更具雄心，也更爲艱鉅的任務。8年來一直任斯隆管理學院院長的大衛•施米特萊因(David Schmittlein)表示，這個任務需要資金、機構意願以及整個地區的參與。

“It also takes having the right people and having it be the right time for the region — it’s a tall order,” he says.

“還需要合適的人選和恰當的時機——這是個難以完成的任務，”他表示。

Dr Zeti admits the central bank is an “unusual partner” for MIT Sloan, but says the educational process of MIT, especially its emphasis on action learning, “is very much what we aspire to for our school”. She herself is a product of US business education: she earned a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and took courses at Wharton. “[Business school] taught me the theoretical foundations of how the system works,” she says.

扎蒂承認，對於斯隆管理學院來說，馬來西亞央行是一個“不同尋常的合作伙伴”，但她表示，麻省理工學院的教育過程，尤其是對行動學習法的注重，“是我們非常希望在我們的學校推行的方式。”她本人就是美國商學院教育的產物：她在賓夕法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)取得了經濟學博士學位，然後參加了沃頓商學院(Wharton School)的課程。“（商學院）教會我體系運行機制的理論基礎。”

At a time of rapid economic growth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), professional management skills are badly needed, she says. Asean, which is comprised of 10 countries with a combined gross domestic product of $2.4bn, has an increasing number of global companies but the vast majority are small or medium-sized family-owned businesses.

她表示，在東盟(ASEAN)地區經濟快速增長之際，該地區亟需專業的管理技能。東盟10國國內生產總值(GDP)的總和爲24億美元，越來越多的全球企業在這裏落戶，但本地企業絕大部分是中小型家族企業。

The region also has few top-notch universities compared with other parts of the world. For ASB, this could be a competitive advantage. But it also presents a challenge: recruiting academics.

和世界其他地方相比，該地區幾乎沒有什麼頂尖大學。對亞洲商學院來說，這可能是一個競爭優勢。但這種狀況也構成了一個挑戰——學術人員的招聘。

“High-quality faculty is a scarce resource,” says Charles Fine, a professor at MIT Sloan who is the founding dean of the new school. In the short term, MIT Sloan professors will teach at ASB but over time the school will recruit and develop its own faculty.

“高素質的教師是稀缺資源，”斯隆管理學院教授、亞洲商學院創始院長查爾斯•法恩(Charles Fine)說。短期內，斯隆管理學院的教授將在亞洲商學院授課，但隨着時間的推移，學校將招募和組建自己的師資隊伍。

While global affiliations like this one are today a common feature of management education, MIT Sloan is considered a pioneer in staking out relationships with schools in emerging countries. Nearly 20 years ago, MIT Sloan launched a partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing and Fudan University in Shanghai.

儘管像這樣的全球合作辦學項目已是管理教育領域的常見特徵，但在與新興國家的院校建立合作關係方面，斯隆管理學院被視爲先鋒。近20年前，斯隆管理學院就與北京清華大學和上海復旦大學建立了合作關係。

Since then, the school has partnered schools in India, Turkey, Portugal and Brazil among others. The Sloan school was also a significant player in the “Cambridge-MIT Institute”, set up between the University of Cambridge and MIT in 1999.

此後，斯隆管理學院又與印度、土耳其、葡萄牙和巴西等國的院校進行合作。此外，斯隆管理學院還在劍橋大學(University of Cambridge)和麻省理工學院1999年共同創辦的劍橋—麻省理工研究院(Cambridge-MIT Institute)中發揮重要作用。

The collaboration with China came at a propitious time. According to Xiongwen Lu, dean of the School of Management at Fudan University, it was the beginning of China’s economic boom. “Management education in China had just taken off and there was an urgent need for introducing advanced theory and methodology from western countries,” he says.

同中國的合作在時機上十分有利。復旦大學管理學院院長陸雄文表示，當時正是中國經濟開始騰飛的時期。他說：“管理教育在中國剛剛起飛，急需從西方國家引入先進的理論和方法。”

These relationships last three to five years, at which point both schools evaluate whether the affiliation will continue. While most relationships endure, others have quietly ended. The school’s partnership with Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea, lasted eight years, and that with the Skolkovo MBA programme in Russia ran for three.

這些合作關係會持續三到五年，然後兩邊的學校都進行評估，決定是否還要繼續合作。大部分的合作繼續進行，其他的則悄然終止。斯隆管理學院與韓國首爾的成均館大學(Sungkyunkwan University)的合作關係持續了8年，與俄羅斯斯科爾科沃管理學院(Skolkovo School of Management) MBA項目的合作關係持續了3年。

For the partner school the advantages of an alliance are clear cut: joining forces with MIT Sloan, a top brand in business education, delivers an automatic boost to its reputation.

對夥伴院校來說，聯盟的優勢很明顯：與商業教育頂級品牌——麻省理工學院斯隆管理學院聯合起來，能夠一下子提高自身的聲譽。

“We believe that the best way to learn is to learn from the best,” says Yingyi Qian, dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua. “MIT Sloan is among the best in the world.”

“我們相信，最好的學習方式就是向最優秀的學習，”清華大學經濟管理學院院長錢穎一說，“斯隆管理學院是世界上最優秀的學院之一。”

Other partner schools say they measure the relationship’s success by the calibre of students and faculty they attract, where students find jobs after graduation, the impact of the research produced and through school rankings.

其它夥伴院校表示，他們衡量合作成功的標準是看他們吸引來的學生和教師質素如何、學生畢業後的就業去向、研究產生的影響以及學校排名。

Francisco Veloso, dean of Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics, which together with the Nova School of Business and Economics runs the one-year Lisbon MBA with MIT Sloan, says his programme’s marked improvement in rankings, even in spite of market difficulties, offers a “visible and clear measure” of its success.

天主教-里斯本商業與經濟學院(Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics)和諾瓦商業與經濟學院(Nova School of Business and Economics)與斯隆管理學院合作，在里斯本提供一年制的MBA課程。天主教-里斯本的院長弗朗西斯科•維洛佐(Francisco Veloso)說，即使在市場困難的情況下，該項目對學校排名提升的效果依然明顯，項目的成功是“清晰可見的”。

For MIT Sloan, the benefits of partnering another school are more nuanced. David Capodilupo, the executive director of the office of international programmes, says the alliances boost its alumni relationships by providing local opportunities for far-flung graduates to reconnect with the school.

對斯隆管理學院來說，同其他院校合作的好處則更加微妙。該校國際項目辦公室執行主任戴維•卡波迪盧波(David Capodilupo)說，海外合作項目給分散在各地的畢業生提供一個在當地重新聯繫上母校的機會，從而增進校友聯繫。

There is also a financial component, whereby the partner school typically makes a gift to MIT Sloan. But perhaps the most tangible benefit to MIT Sloan boils down to its ability to extend its influence and reach.

由於夥伴院校通常會向斯隆管理學院贈送禮物，經濟收益也是好處之一。不過對斯隆管理學院來說，最實在的好處也許在於能夠藉此擴大自身的影響力和影響範圍。

Establishing a presence in different parts of the world helps the school to cultivate business relationships and creates potential for new strands of academic research. Because the school does not seek out these relationships, says Mr Capodilupo, there must be “significant interest from faculty” to do research on a particular place.

在世界各地建立分校，有助於斯隆管理學院建立商業關係，併爲學術研究發掘可能的新線索。卡波迪盧波說，由於該校對此並無追求，所以對於在某些特定地區進行研究，“肯定是教師們非常感興趣”。

The alliances also provide inroads for the school’s international “action labs” — experiential courses that involve students working on a project for an organisation. “We get exposure to companies in parts of the world that we may not have ordinarily had access to,” says Mr Capodilupo.

合作還有助於斯隆管理學院開展國際“行動實驗室”——讓學生參與某個組織的具體項目的體驗性課程。“我們接觸到了原本或許沒有機會接觸的世界上某些地方的企業，”卡波迪盧波說。

MIT Sloan also has the opportunity to shape the future of business education in emerging economies, according to Prof Schmittlein.

施米特萊因教授表示，通過合作，斯隆管理學院還有機會影響新興經濟體商業教育的未來。

“I am being serious and not cynical in the least when I say that our purpose is to help improve management education in the world,” he says. “Sitting here in Cambridge there are limits to the impact of our ideas if we don’t engage well and engage broadly.”

“我們的目標是促進世界管理教育，這一點我是認真的，絕非誇誇其談，”他說，“如果我們不能更好更廣泛地接觸世界，而只是固守（馬薩諸塞州）劍橋，就會限制住我們思想的影響力。”