Keio Business School’s Dean Hirokazu Kono on Management Education in Japan

The reason for this quasi-monopoly, he explains in an essay published on "eNewsline Asia" of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), can be traced to the policies by which an institution must abide to initiate a graduate program. If a university intends to establish a new program in Japan, it is necessary for them to gain approval from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). To some extent, it can be assumed that this legal hurdle has been instrumental in preventing the establishment of low-quality programs.

The restrictive environment for higher business education became somewhat more relaxed in 2003 when MEXT inaugurated the system of professional graduate schools in such areas as law, accounting and business, in order to quickly meet society's demand for specialized higher education for professionals. When compared to those of the traditional academic graduate schools, including KBS, in Kono's view the requirements for such professional graduate schools are moderate in terms of both the academic prowess of the faculty and of the curriculum imposed on students. As a result of this legal amendment, combined with the decline in the relative proportion of the young generation in Japan, the number of business programs approved to award MBA degrees has rapidly increased to over fifty institutions.

The majority of these new programs are conducted on a part-time basis, offering evening and weekend classes. As a result, Japan still has only a small number of institutions which offer programs that fall into the category of a full-time MBA program. Professor Kono believes that such preference in the part-time MBA has its root in the local recognition of MBA degrees. In Japan MBA graduates cannot expect a higher salary because graduates are often promoted based on work-only experience, just as are non-MBA holders. Moreover, in the prolonged deterioration of the Japanese economy, companies tend to prefer employees with less education.

The MBA program at Keio Business School though, requires that its students commit to a two-year, full-time course of studies. Their first year will be spent on eight core courses fully taught by the case method: marketing, accounting, HRM and organization, management science, finance, production, economic environment and strategy. The second year is comprised of elective courses, an international exchange program and a research seminar. In addition it is mandatory for all students to complete a master's thesis to be granted an MBA degree.

Besides mastering a management skill set, what the staff at KBS finds even more important is the mind set required for business leaders, explains Kono, "which means mental toughness, leadership, quick actions, and willingness to take responsibility. In our curriculum, such a mind set is formulated through the day-to-day discussion in classes, group work, presentations, and field work."

KBS will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2012. It began as a two-week executive seminar for corporate executives in 1962, and in 1969, the school started a one-year, full-time, non-degree executive education program under the name of Keio Business School. In 1978, the School extended the duration of this executive education program to two years, thereby establishing the first graduate school in Japan to grant an MBA degree. In 1988 the School started an international student exchange program for MBA students; it established a PhD program in 1991, and received the first AACSB accreditation in Japan in April 2000. Today the Graduate School of Business Administration is one of 13 graduate schools of Keio University, which is comprised of approximately 43,000 students and 2,600 faculty members.

In these fifty years, Japan has experienced rapid growth, the growth and bust of an economic bubble, and the following recession. "We should appropriately reflect on what we have experienced in these years within our curriculum and at the same time we should convey our experience to the global business society," says KBS's dean.

Find Professor Kono's entire essay at http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/enewslineasia/deans_corner.asp