With applications mounting and the launch date fast approaching, the Fuqua School of Business has finalized two key partnerships for its revamped Cross-Continent MBA program, but several critical components of the five-site global network are still in the works.
Fuqua is launching the program-which will be composed of courses in St. Petersburg, London, Shanghai, Dubai and New Delhi-Aug. 1. After two rounds of applications, Fuqua has processed 82 prospective students' materials for the Cross-Continent MBA, and 123 more have applications in process, Fuqua Dean Blair Sheppard said.
Overseas interest in the program has been greatest in India and China, followed by United Arab Emirates, Russia and Western Europe, respectively, he said. Fuqua received several thousand inquiries about the program, but due to the nature of executive education admissions only about 20 percent of those interested were invited by the program to apply. Because students usually apply to just one executive education program, nearly 100 percent yield is expected, Sheppard said.
Fuqua has solidified partnerships in China, India and Russia, but details of the sites in the UAE and England are still being finalized.
"As the economic crisis has spread from the United States to Europe to the Middle East, it's had its effect on my hopes for applications and enrollment numbers," said Jonathan Barnett, Fuqua's regional director for the Middle East. "At the same time, the level of interest in various other disciplines of the University has exceeded the timing. We're much further ahead in learning what they want and trying to give it to them than I thought that we would be in seven months."
Although Fuqua initially set a May 15 deadline for Cross-Continent applications, materials will now be accepted until June 15 to accommodate some slow starts by overseas recruiting officers, said Karen Courtney, regional director for China. But Fuqua's recruitment efforts have gained momentum recently, Sheppard said.
"It felt to [the regional directors] like they were banging their heads against a brick wall at first, but now more people are coming to the information sessions everyday," Sheppard said.
Fuqua expects to enroll at least 180 students in the program's first class, and ultimately hopes to grow to 280 students per class, a goal Sheppard said he is confident will be reached by next year.
Progress on the physical facilities has also accelerated. The city of Kunshan, China, located just outside of Shanghai, has agreed to build Fuqua a 200-acre "part-time campus" that will include an executive conference center, housing for faculty and students and facilities for athletics, academics and research, Sheppard said.
Construction on the site will begin in August, he said. Kunshan will cover all construction and operating costs for the facilities, and the University will not share a portion of the revenue with the city, Sheppard noted.
"This is a gift, not a business deal," he said. "The city gets a school interacting with them in a way that brings intellectual vigor to the city-they get the same thing Durham does."
Fuqua is also discussing possible academic collaborations in China with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Tsinghua University or the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Sheppard said.
A group of alumni has pledged to construct facilities for Fuqua at an undisclosed location in India. Because it is illegal for an American institution to own land within the country, the partnership with alumni has helped Fuqua circumvent Indian restrictions. Partnering with alumni could also make it easier for Duke to launch an independent entity in India if governmental stipulations are eased, Sheppard acknowledged.
The Indian site will be comparable to its Chinese counterpart but "less elaborate" because Duke will have to cover the operating costs for the facilities, Sheppard said. Although losses to the endowment have made funds for new projects hard to come by, Sheppard noted that the partnership model has helped Fuqua proceed with its plans despite the economic downturn.
"The important thing is none of this is our money. We are completely consisting with the University policy of not making a capital investment," he said. "The alums get to support a school they love.... They're being incredibly helpful."
Fuqua officials first announced that they would be collaborating with the Graduate School of Management in St. Petersburg for the Russian site in September and said it would reveal one partner per month thereafter. But Fuqua was approached by an unexpected number of prospective partners after the announcement, prompting the school to reconsider its options, Sheppard said.
Fuqua is still mulling over several potential partners for the London site, he noted.
"We're still having the conversations in the United Kingdom, and those are going faster than I thought they would but still slow as a tortoise," Sheppard said. "Vegas should be taking odds on what's going to happen."
Fuqua is close to sealing deals for facilities and academic collaboration in Dubai, Barnett said. The partners will be announced when Sheppard visits the UAE April 28.
"To that launch will be coming His Highness Mohammed bin Rashid [Al Maktoum], who is the ruler of Dubai," Barnett said. "We are immensely honored that he will be joining us at this event."
As of now, India and China are the only nations in which facilities will be built for Fuqua's purposes, but Sheppard said construction in other countries may be considered in the future.
Fuqua has gone to great lengths to recruit international applicants because the diversity of the student body is central to the program, Sheppard said. Applicants from abroad can help Fuqua make up for interest in executive education within the United States, which has been limited due to the economy, he noted.
Fuqua officials hope the program will eventually be split evenly between domestic and international students. For the first year, Sheppard said he is determined to have at least a third of the class come from overseas.
"What we really need is international diversity for the international component of the program to work," Sheppard said. "I'm worried about the balance. I'd be really unhappy if we had less than 10 students from each [of the five regions]."
Sheppard noted that concerns about the availability of loans may have deterred some international students from applying at first. Fuqua officials were scrambling to find a new loan provider when the banks that they had once depended upon for international loans backed out after the financial crisis, Courtney said. Fuqua is currently finalizing negotiations with several banks that will provide international students loans without an American cosigner, Sheppard said.
As plans for the global network crystallize, Fuqua officials noted that they are especially excited for the opportunities the sites present for other parts of the University. In Dubai alone, Barnett said he has been approached by locals who hope to partner with Duke in the fields of law, public policy and health care. Sheppard noted that the global programming outlined in the Quality Enhancement Plan could be hosted at the sites.
Although he has crafted the University's boldest globalization plan, Sheppard said he has not forgotten that Fuqua is not alone in the world. Each connection Fuqua forges abroad puts Duke as a whole on the map.
"The goal here in every case is to create a capacity that allows Duke to imagine what Duke might want to do," Sheppard said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.