斯隆学院的不寻常亚洲伙伴

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.

麻省理工斯隆管理学院(MIT Sloan School of Management)对初创企业略知一二。创业学院是这所美国商校最杰出的院系之一。过去10年，“斯隆生”（Sloanies，对该校毕业生的内部叫法）创立了近250家企业。然而，现在斯隆管理学院正在发起一个完全不同的项目：在吉隆坡建立一所新商学院。

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，斯隆管理学院宣布将与马来西亚央行(BNM)合办亚洲商学院(Asia School of Business)。该校将提供传统的两年制MBA课程，定于2016年9月开学，首届MBA班将招收大约35名学员。

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.

马来西亚央行行长扎蒂•阿克塔•阿齐兹(Zeti Akhtar Aziz)是此次合作的推动者。她说：“（我们的目标）是建立这样一所商学院，学院培养的人才走出校门后，将助推新兴世界的发展。”

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.

双方在这个领域都有相关经验。过去10年，马来西亚央行在教育领域进行了几次大规模投资，如创办一所伊斯兰金融学校。过去20年，斯隆管理学院则与世界各地的大学合作，帮助知名度较低的商学院拓展课程体系、开展课程项目、发展学术基础、提高研究声望。

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.

不过，从零开始建立一所商学院，是一个更具雄心，也更为艰巨的任务。8年来一直任斯隆管理学院院长的大卫•施米特莱因(David Schmittlein)表示，这个任务需要资金、机构意愿以及整个地区的参与。

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

“还需要合适的人选和恰当的时机——这是个难以完成的任务，”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.

扎蒂承认，对于斯隆管理学院来说，马来西亚央行是一个“不同寻常的合作伙伴”，但她表示，麻省理工学院的教育过程，尤其是对行动学习法的注重，“是我们非常希望在我们的学校推行的方式。”她本人就是美国商学院教育的产物：她在宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)取得了经济学博士学位，然后参加了沃顿商学院(Wharton School)的课程。“（商学院）教会我体系运行机制的理论基础。”

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，在东盟(ASEAN)地区经济快速增长之际，该地区亟需专业的管理技能。东盟10国国内生产总值(GDP)的总和为24亿美元，越来越多的全球企业在这里落户，但本地企业绝大部分是中小型家族企业。

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，该地区几乎没有什么顶尖大学。对亚洲商学院来说，这可能是一个竞争优势。但这种状况也构成了一个挑战——学术人员的招聘。

“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.

“高素质的教师是稀缺资源，”斯隆管理学院教授、亚洲商学院创始院长查尔斯•法恩(Charles Fine)说。短期内，斯隆管理学院的教授将在亚洲商学院授课，但随着时间的推移，学校将招募和组建自己的师资队伍。

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.

尽管像这样的全球合作办学项目已是管理教育领域的常见特征，但在与新兴国家的院校建立合作关系方面，斯隆管理学院被视为先锋。近20年前，斯隆管理学院就与北京清华大学和上海复旦大学建立了合作关系。

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.

此后，斯隆管理学院又与印度、土耳其、葡萄牙和巴西等国的院校进行合作。此外，斯隆管理学院还在剑桥大学(University of Cambridge)和麻省理工学院1999年共同创办的剑桥—麻省理工研究院(Cambridge-MIT Institute)中发挥重要作用。

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.

同中国的合作在时机上十分有利。复旦大学管理学院院长陆雄文表示，当时正是中国经济开始腾飞的时期。他说：“管理教育在中国刚刚起飞，急需从西方国家引入先进的理论和方法。”

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.

这些合作关系会持续三到五年，然后两边的学校都进行评估，决定是否还要继续合作。大部分的合作继续进行，其他的则悄然终止。斯隆管理学院与韩国首尔的成均馆大学(Sungkyunkwan University)的合作关系持续了8年，与俄罗斯斯科尔科沃管理学院(Skolkovo School of Management) MBA项目的合作关系持续了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.

对伙伴院校来说，联盟的优势很明显：与商业教育顶级品牌——麻省理工学院斯隆管理学院联合起来，能够一下子提高自身的声誉。

“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.”

“我们相信，最好的学习方式就是向最优秀的学习，”清华大学经济管理学院院长钱颖一说，“斯隆管理学院是世界上最优秀的学院之一。”

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.

其它伙伴院校表示，他们衡量合作成功的标准是看他们吸引来的学生和教师质素如何、学生毕业后的就业去向、研究产生的影响以及学校排名。

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-里斯本商业与经济学院(Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics)和诺瓦商业与经济学院(Nova School of Business and Economics)与斯隆管理学院合作，在里斯本提供一年制的MBA课程。天主教-里斯本的院长弗朗西斯科•维洛佐(Francisco Veloso)说，即使在市场困难的情况下，该项目对学校排名提升的效果依然明显，项目的成功是“清晰可见的”。

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.

对斯隆管理学院来说，同其他院校合作的好处则更加微妙。该校国际项目办公室执行主任戴维•卡波迪卢波(David Capodilupo)说，海外合作项目给分散在各地的毕业生提供一个在当地重新联系上母校的机会，从而增进校友联系。

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.

由于伙伴院校通常会向斯隆管理学院赠送礼物，经济收益也是好处之一。不过对斯隆管理学院来说，最实在的好处也许在于能够藉此扩大自身的影响力和影响范围。

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，有助于斯隆管理学院建立商业关系，并为学术研究发掘可能的新线索。卡波迪卢波说，由于该校对此并无追求，所以对于在某些特定地区进行研究，“肯定是教师们非常感兴趣”。

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.

合作还有助于斯隆管理学院开展国际“行动实验室”——让学生参与某个组织的具体项目的体验性课程。“我们接触到了原本或许没有机会接触的世界上某些地方的企业，”卡波迪卢波说。

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

施米特莱因教授表示，通过合作，斯隆管理学院还有机会影响新兴经济体商业教育的未来。

“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.”

“我们的目标是促进世界管理教育，这一点我是认真的，绝非夸夸其谈，”他说，“如果我们不能更好更广泛地接触世界，而只是固守（马萨诸塞州）剑桥，就会限制住我们思想的影响力。”