Chicago GSB targets more Indonesian students despite crisis

The Jakarta Post' reporter Ahmad Junaidi, along with other journalists from Indonesia, Korea, India and Thailand, joined a media tour to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB) Asia campus in Singapore recently. Below is his report.

SINGAPORE (JP): Indonesia is still facing a political and economic crisis, but that fact has not deterred the University of Chicago GSB from trying to attract more Indonesians to join its executive MBA program at its Asia campus.

"We see great potential in Indonesia. We'll soon visit Indonesia to offer the program directly," the school's managing director Beth Bader told reporters recently.

Beth believes that Indonesia, which still has several major companies, will survive its crisis and become a new emerging power among Asian countries.

She said these large companies, even though they are still facing tough times, still needed to invest in their human resources and could gain significant advantages by sending their executives to join the MBA program.

Besides learning basic economic and business sciences, the executives could also discuss their companies' problems during discussion classes with their professors and fellow students, she said.

While joining the part-time MBA program, the executives could still work and apply directly their knowledge in their respective companies, Beth said.

So far only three Indonesians among 85 students have enrolled for the MBA program that started its first class in September last year.

The program lasts about 20 months, but the students do not need to spend the whole time on campus. They only need to study one week per month at the campus, located on 101 Penang Road, Singapore, while for the rest of the month, the students can work as usual in their respective countries and put into practice what they have learned so far.

The second class will start in July after careful selection of candidates. The tuition fee is US$68,000.

The fee also includes study at the Unversity's European campus in Barcelona for one week, and another two weeks at its North American campus in Chicago.

Asked about the relatively expensive tuition fee by Indonesian standards, Beth Bader argued that almost all top ten American universities, including the University of Chicago, have similar fees.

"The amount is not the issue, but the quality of the program is the most significant consideration for students who join the MBA program," Beth said.

She said Chicago GSB offers identical modules for their students who study in its three campuses, Singapore, Barcelona and Chicago.

She said the students in the three campuses are taught by the same professors - some are Nobel laureates in economics.

The Asian campus occupies a restored historical building opposite Istana Park, which once belonged to spice trader Tan Yeok Nee, near the famous shopping area of Orchard Road.

Tan's house has maintained its facade while its interior has been changed and equipped with modern education facilities, such as a meeting room, discussion rooms, a library, a student lounge and a lecture hall.

One of the Indonesian students, Erik Setiawan, said the quality MBA program gives him the opportunity to develop networks with other executives.

"Although it's still just preliminary, we also discussed the possibility of cooperation between our companies," Erik, the President and Chief Executive Officer of PT Top Jaya Sarana Utama, the distributor of Toshiba electronic goods, said.

Erik, who once joined a local MBA course, said it was quite difficult to criticize the MBA program of Chicago GSB. But then, the 30-year-old father of two children pointed out the lack of modules on political studies and business as one thing missing in the program.

He felt such modules were relevant, "For we know that political issues can have a strong influence on business, especially as in Indonesia at present."

Erik, a graduate from the University of Southern California in chemical engineering, also said there is a lack of local examples, especially Indonesian ones, in the discussion, although the students often bring them up.

Another student, Mike Masahiko, supported Erik's statement, saying that Chicago GSB mostly discusses the problems of large companies, especially American companies.

"But as I work at an American company, it is useful," Masahiko, general manager of finance of GE Yokogawa medical systems, said.

He said the executive MBA program focused more on the American style of management that is globally applied, although there are others, such as the Japanese style.

Erik said that Chicago GSB also lacks flexibility, as all students have to take all modules, even though they may have learned some of them from other schools.

"We couldn't change the modules, such as statistics, even though we had already studied it," he said.

Beth Bader admitted that no specific Indonesian business examples were studied in class, but the students were welcome to bring their cases to be discussed.

"We would also like to learn more about regional business cases, including Indonesia. That's why we have established a campus here," Beth remarked.

There are some American universities that conduct cooperation with local institutions in their MBA program, but Chicago GSB is the only one to have opened a permanent campus here.

Singapore was chosen for its Asia campus as it is centrally located within the region.

The current 85 students come from Singapore, India, Japan, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand. Some of them are executives of large companies, while others are entrepreneurs who run their own businesses.