Officials rush to quit EMBAs amid anti-extravagance drive  

中央禁令致EMBA干部退学潮 天价学费易滋生腐败

一个多月前，中组部发文严禁领导干部参加高收费的培训项目，EMBA、后EMBA、总裁班等被明确列为高收费社会化培训项目，“领导干部一律不得参加”。这引发领导干部退学EMBA风潮。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Officials in China are rushing to withdraw from Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) programs amid the anti-extravagance drive sweeping the country, the Beijing Times observed on Monday.

EMBA programs run at business schools such as China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) and the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) have seen a wave of students dropping classes, the report stated, with government officials taking the lead, closely followed by state-enterprise executives.

In one EMBA program, with a third of attendees either party officials or state-enterprise executives, 15% of students have suspended their studies, a report on Caijing.com confirmed.

The head of a state-owned bank also withdrew after pursuing studies for a year, it said.

The high dropout rate has resulted from a circular issued by the government one month ago that banned "leading carders" in the Communist Party, the government and state-owned enterprises from attending costly business training sessions unless they have official approval and pay the full fee themselves.

Though originally designed as a career boost for business elites, many Chinese EMBA courses have included government officials, with experts saying classroom interaction between officials and entrepreneurs not only poses corruption risks, but also raises suspicions over misuse of public money.

Often sold as good networking arenas instead of educational stepping stones, EMBA programs often charge huge sums in tuition fees, ranging from 50,000- 668,000 yuan ($8,143 - $107,700) at renowned colleges, equaling the total salaries earned by officials over a period of one year or even decades.

However, EMBA recruitment staff at Nankai University in Tianjin and Peking University in Beijing said enrolment has remained unaffected by the ongoing crackdown on corruption and government extravagance.

Reporters at the Beijing Times last Tuesday found that the names of two provincial heads and a city mayor listed on the CEIBS website as alumni had been removed, while they appeared there the day before. The school has since declined to comment.