SHANGHAI – Oct. 14, 2004 – Tongji University is launching an MBA program that not only covers basic business skills like marketing and accounting, but also teaches students to hit the fairways in regulation, chip from the sand trap and putt.
Classes will begin next month for the city's first golf-savvy executive MBA program, as the university aims to supply senior managers for the growing number of golf courses around Shanghai and neighboring provinces.
Run by Tongji's golf business school, the 10-month, part-time program will cover general management basics, golf skills and club management. Students will spend the first five months of the program learning management basics from Tongji professors, and then spend the next five months visiting six golf clubs around the country where they will practice their swings and study the industry, university officials said.
Golf club managers from Britain, Australia and the United States will also be invited to lecture students on course maintenance, real estate and property management during the second session.
Golf skills training will be a part of the course, but it shouldn't be the program focus, university officials said. "We aim to train China's own professionals to ease those fast developing golf clubs' thirst for senior managers," said Zhuang Li, director of the program.
The city is currently home to 24 golf clubs, but most are managed by overseas experts who earn upwards of 50,000 yuan ($6,024) per month. Domestic managers at the clubs tend to have either a pure business background or studied agriculture, meaning they don't have all the qualifications to fill top positions, said Bian Yunchen, manager at Goodluck Golf Club.
The university planned to recruit 40 local candidates with a college degree and at least three years of working experience. They will receive a certificate after completing the program. More than 70 people have signed up so far, two-thirds of whom are golf industry insiders, Zhuang said.The program is expected to be further developed into a degree program next year
