Business looks to recruit Chinese students
Businesses are turning to MBA students from China because they believe too few British graduates have Chinese language skills, according to a report.
Meanwhile, staff at Liverpool John Moores University used graduation ceremonies this week to protest against the cutting of Chinese studies as part of a reform of its language school.
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Forty-one per cent of business leaders surveyed by the Hay Group consultancy said they planned to recruit Chinese MBA graduates.
Universities produce fewer than 500 graduates a year from programmes in which Mandarin forms a substantial part and the report's authors said the lack of linguists would lose the UK opportunities in the Chinese market.
Deborah Allday, one of the authors, said: "We are about to face a war for talent both in China and in domestic markets as companies scramble to recruit talented leaders and managers with an understanding of the Chinese market and business culture.
"The British government needs to take a fresh look at the higher and further education curriculum in this country to determine the best way to make UK graduates and UK plc competitive in the global market place."
She said companies should demand that all MBA students they fund should do a China module on their course and that the government should introduce more Chinese language teaching.
The study, based on interviews with business leaders in Europe, north America and Asia Pacific, found that British business expects sales to China to be worth 10 per cent of their global revenues by 2009.
Managers at Liverpool John Moores decided to drop courses in Chinese to concentrate on those in higher demand and with greater growth prospects.
Don Starr, president of the British Association of Chinese Studies, said: "It is a very resource intensive subject to learn and it is therefore expensive to teach. Because the funding does not recognise that extra cost, vice-chancellors find it cheaper to offer subjects like English and psychology that can be taught in large lecture theatres."
The school system was compounding the problem, he added.
"Private-sector schools have been introducing Chinese in large numbers but the government has allowed 14-year-olds in state schools to drop languages entirely."
The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it would work to find alternative universities for the 15 places that will be lost each year.
Teresa Tinsley, assistant director of the National Centre for Languages, said that although the number of people taking A-levels and GCSEs in the subject had steadily increased, the overall number still remained tiny.
"It is alarming that employers are turning to foreign students with Chinese language skills because that will make them less likely to tackle the shortage of UK nationals," she said.
中文优势:中国MBA开始吃香
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询公司Hay集团(Hay Group)发布的一份报告称，企业界正转而青睐来自中国的MBA毕业生，因为它们认为很少有英国毕业生拥有汉语语言技能。
与此同时，利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学(Liverpool John Moores University)的教员利用本周的毕业典礼提出抗议，反对该校在改革其语言学院的过程中减少中文教学课程。
接受Hay集团所调查的商界领导者中，41%的人表示，他们计划招募中国MBA毕业生。
英国各大学每年培养的毕业生中，专业设置中含有大量普通话课程的毕业生不到500名。而这份报告的作者表示，由于缺少通晓中英双语的人，将使英国丧失在中国市场的机遇。
黛博拉?阿尔戴(Deborah Allday)是报告作者之一。她表示：“我们在中国和英国国内市场都将面临一场人才争夺战，因为企业都在争相招募那些了解中国市场和商业文化、有才能的领导者和经理人。”
“英国政府需要重新审视英国的高等教育和继续教育课程，找出最佳方法，让英国毕业生和英国企业在全球市场上具有竞争力。”
她表示，企业应该要求自己资助的所有MBA学员在课程中加入中国模块，而政府应该引入更多的汉语教学。
这项研究是基于对欧洲、北美和亚太地区商界领导者的采访结果而进行的。研究发现，英国公司预计，到2009年，对华销售将占它们全球收入的10%。
但利物浦约翰摩尔斯大学的管理者决定取消汉语课程，将重点放在那些需求更大和增长前景更快的课程上。
英国中国联合研究会(British Association for Chinese Studies)会长当?斯达(Don Starr)表示：“这是一个资源密集程度很高的学科，因此教起来也很昂贵。由于投资方面不认可这种额外成本，副校长们发现，提供像英语和心理学这样可以在大教室授课的课程，成本要低得多。”
他补充道，英国的学校体制增加了这个问题的复杂程度。
“私立学校一直在大量引入中文课程，而在公立学校，政府允许14岁学生完全放弃语言课程。”
英格兰高等教育基金管理委员会(Higher Education Funding Council for England)表示，每年有15所大学削减汉语教学，而该委员将会寻找可替代的大学。
英国国家语言中心(National Centre for Languages)的助理主任特里萨?廷斯利(Teresa Tinsley)表示，尽管在这个科目上参加A-level考试和普通中等教育证书考试(GCSEs)的人数有了稳步增加，但总数仍然很少。
她表示：“值得警惕的是，雇主正转而青睐拥有汉语技能的外国学生，这将降低他们解决英国此类人才短缺的可能性。”
