Joint M.B.A.

Contact: WSOM Dean's Office, 216-368-2046

Posted 6/24/97

JPC-SED AND WSOM ANNOUNCE JOINT M.B.A. PROGRAM PARTNERSHIP

CLEVELAND -- The Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development (JPC-SED) in Tokyo and the Weatherhead School of Management (WSOM) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland will offer a new joint M.B.A. program beginning this fall. The innovative curriculum of the WSOM/JPC-SED M.B.A. Program comprises course work, field projects, and career development experiences at the campuses of three top management institutions on three continents.

Candidates will begin their M.B.A. studies at the JPC-SED's Academy of Management Development in Tokyo. After completing this phase of the curriculum, students will enroll in the summer and fall semesters of the Accelerated M.B.A. Program at Weatherhead. In January, students will participate in Weatherhead's M.B.A. Winter Institute at the International Management Center in Budapest, Hungary, then return to Japan to complete their degree requirements. Weatherhead and CWRU will award the M.B.A., in partnership with the JPC-SED, at CWRU's spring commencement ceremonies.

A team of faculty and administrators from the JPC-SED and Weatherhead developed the joint M.B.A. program. Participants include Kazunori Miyashita, chief project officer for the Academy of Management Development; Daisaku Harada, director of the U.S. Office of the JPC-SED and an alumnus of Weatherhead's M.B.A.; Michael J. Ginzberg, Weatherhead's associate dean for professional and international programs; Frances B. Cort, assistant dean for professional programs at Weatherhead; and Kuniko Yamada Lynn, special assistant to the Weatherhead dean.

"This new venture will offer an exceptional opportunity to M.B.A. candidates who are interested in studying and experiencing international management first-hand," said Scott S. Cowen, dean of Weatherhead and the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Management.

"All of us at the Weatherhead School are very pleased to be involved in collaborating in this new program with such an outstanding institution as the JPC-SED," Cowen added. "Together, we will offer an exciting M.B.A. experience to students while continuing to build the international portfolios of both of our institutions."

Ginzberg added, "Having the JPC-SED students in classes at the Weatherhead School will help all of our students to better understand a critical part of the international business environment. We expect that the JPC-SED students will all be mid-level managers and technical employees from major Japanese firms. They will bring a unique perspective to our classrooms."

The WSOM/JPC-SED M.B.A. Program will enroll its first class of approximately 20 experienced, corporate-sponsored, mid- to upper-level managers this fall. Candidates will pursue their initial studies at the JPC-SED's Academy of Management Development, one of Japan's premier centers for management development and executive education. Weatherhead faculty members will travel to Japan to participate in teaching courses in this phase of the program. Upon successfully completing this portion of the curriculum, students will travel to Weatherhead's Cleveland campus and enroll in the Accelerated M.B.A. Program, which begins in early June.

The Accelerated M.B.A. Program, which is available only to candidates with undergraduate business degrees and significant work experience, now enrolls approximately 40 M.B.A. candidates each year. With the addition of the WSOM/JPC-SED cohort beginning in June 1998, the school expects the Accelerated M.B.A. Program to substantially increase enrollments, as well as enhance the overall student quality in terms of management experience, international perspective, and cultural diversity.

In January, students will travel to Budapest to take part in the WSOM Winter Institute, a 10-day course held at the International Management Center (IMC), central-eastern Europe's oldest Western-style graduate business school. Participants in the 1997 Winter Institute included students from 11 countries around the world who are enrolled in the joint WSOM-IMC International M.B.A. Program, a partnership which Weatherhead and IMC established in 1996.

For their final semester of M.B.A. studies, the WSOM/JPC-SED students will return to Japan, where they will engage in independent study projects and interact regularly with Weatherhead faculty advisors in Cleveland via a range of distance-learning approaches. During the spring semester in Japan, students will also take advanced elective courses taught by faculty from the Academy of Management Development and visiting Weatherhead faculty.

For more information about the WSOM/JPC-SED M.B.A. Program, please contact:

WSOM Admissions Office
310 Enterprise Hall
Case Western Reserve University
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106-7235 USA
Phone: 216-368-2030 or 800-723-0203
Fax: 216-368-5548
E-mail: wsomM.B.A.@pyrite.edu
Web site: http://weatherhead.cwru.edu

The Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University is internationally recognized as one of the most innovative schools in the world. The Weatherhead M.B.A. Program -- one of 23 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs currently offered by the Weatherhead School -- is consistently ranked among the top M.B.A. programs in the United States.

The purpose of the Japan Productivity Center for Socio-Economic Development (JPC-SED) is to further strengthen the productivity movement, both nationally and internationally. The JPC-SED also promotes the sustained growth of Japan's industrial society and is dedicated to realizing a better, more equitable society that is in harmony with the international community.

The Academy of Management Development of the JPC-SED is the first graduate-level school of its kind in Japan, supported by both the nationwide business community and academia. The academy was founded in 1965 to create and train management and executive leaders for positions in major industrial sectors.