Business Schools throughout China
Program Provides New Teaching Experiences with Case Studies and
Participant-Centered Learning
BOSTON -- More than 70 educators from a number of prominent business schools in the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan, including Fudan University, National Taiwan University, Peking University, Renmin University, and Tsinghua University, recently participated in the first Harvard Business School (HBS) Program on Case Method and Participant-Centered Learning (PCMPCL) on the HBS campus in Boston.
As Asia’s economic power grows, so does the need for quality MBA programs that prepare students to be effective managers and leaders in the global marketplace. To help meet this demand, Harvard Business School introduced the PCMPCL Program to provide guidance and support regarding best practices in management education. The Program focuses, in particular, on the case study method of instruction and the participant-centered learning model, which, unlike lectures, places students at the center of the learning experience.
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| 2005 PCMPCL Class Photo credit: Jimmy Ushkurnis of Ushkurnis Photography |
The ten-day Program was taught by a team of ten HBS faculty. Highly intensive, it entailed six or more classes and seminars each day, supplemented by out-of-class preparation and exercises. Selected by their universities, the participants learned how to design a course, research and write an effective case, and lead intensive discussions in the classroom based on real-life business situations. Discussions also centered on how participants can institutionalize a more participant-centered learning experience in their universities when they returned home.
HBS professors Thomas R. Piper and Steven C. Wheelwright served as co-chairs of the program. “We were delighted to have twenty Universities from China and the surrounding region represented at this initial offering of PCMPCL,” said Professor Wheelwright. “In addition, we had the full support of the respective Ministries of Education in the region. Each of these schools has agreed to send multiple participants for the next few years as well. Our hope is to contribute to a community of scholars who are committed to participant centered learning, case method teaching, and practice based research.”
Although many of the educators who participated in the PCMCPL have relied primarily on lectures and textbooks in their classrooms in the past, they say they have noticed an increased demand from their students for a more practice-oriented approach to learning. “More and more MBA students in the region are not interested in the traditional teaching methods,” said Joseph Chew-Yoong Wan, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. “But when we bring good case studies into the classroom and ask them to participate in a discussion, they become excited and engaged in the material. That was the strongest motivation for me to come to HBS for formal training in this kind of teaching.”
“This was a unique opportunity to learn about the case method from those who are masters of the technique,” added Wee-Liang Tan, associate professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business in the Singapore Management University.
Associate Professor Michael Ferguson of the Chinese University of Hong Kong also noted that PCMPCL helped create a supportive network in the region by bringing together professors from so many different institutions. “MBA education in China will need to be content specific, designed for Asia,” he said. “To help us with that, Harvard has created a platform for us to gather and discuss our experiences, what’s working and what’s not.”
Harvard Business School is deeply rooted in the international business community, and this new Program is an example of the School’s longstanding commitment to helping international educators develop tomorrow’s business leaders. As part of its Global Initiative, for example, HBS has established a network of research centers in Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Palo Alto, Paris, and Tokyo to facilitate the School’s extensive research and course development efforts. At any one time, HBS faculty are doing research in 40 countries around the globe, while approximately 25 percent of HBS cases are about organizations based outside the United States.
“PCMPCL is now an important part of our international outreach,” said Professor Piper. “We look forward to greeting many more participants from the region in the years ahead.”
Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School (www.hbs.edu) is located in Boston and offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as more than 40 Executive Education programs. With a faculty of more than 200 distinguished scholars, the School is dedicated to educating leaders who make a difference in the world. Its core focus is to shape the practice of business, build enduring knowledge, and effectively communicate important ideas.