Fifteen

Issue date: 5/12/09 Section: News

Ali Ahmed MBA '10, Angelina Clarke MBA '09, and Tsinghua University students Chai Lin, Charlie Mutinda in front of Tshinghua University's front gate in Beijing

Last week you may have noticed several new faces popping up in your classrooms, in line at the Refresher Course, and bhangra-dancing the night away at the South Asian C-Function. 2011 AdMITs? Sure. But they weren't the only ones. A group of MBA students from some of the top business schools in China were visiting Sloan for one week as part of the annual Sloan China Lab program.

Jonathan Lehrich and Professor Yasheng Huang lead the China Lab program on MIT Sloan's side, and once again this year designed and developed a program that was one of the highlights of the year for all the students involved. Part E-Lab and part G-Lab, the landmark China Lab initiative brings together dozens of Chinese international MBA students (IMBA) and MIT Sloan MBA students, who work together over a several months to help successful Chinese companies through consulting-like engagements.
Teams of students, comprised of 2-3 MIT Sloan students and an equal number of IMBA Chinese students, started working together after IAP with a selection of Chinese companies. The students collaborated over the phone and web, as well as through trips to one another's countries - Sloanies spent two weeks in China over SIP and spring break, followed by the Chinese students' visit here last week.
Besides being a unique opportunity for students to work on an exciting business project, the program provides students from each country with an invaluable opportunity to learn firsthand about the culture and customs of a land that most have never visited, let alone worked in. In this day and age of an increasingly flat world one can not say enough about how fantastic a chance this has been for students from both countries.

You probably saw the visiting Chinese students everywhere. There must not be a Chinese word for 'jet lag,' because from the day they arrived to the day they left, the IMBA students made the most of each and every minute. From attending classes to touring MIT (and certain other well-known universities in the area), to visiting Boston landmarks and taking in the best of local cuisine (it was fun teaching them to say chowda), the IMBA students showed us all a thing or two about how to make the most of an opportunity. Future G-Lab students hopefully took some notes on time optimization.

Continued...

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