HSE Graduate School of Business: the first visiting module of the MBA programme in China

The first foreign module of the MBA programme of the HSE Graduate School of Business took place in one of the fastest growing cities of our time — Shanghai.

CEIBS (China Europe International Business School), one of the recognised leaders of business education in Asia and worldwide, became a partner of the GSB. CEIBS has managed to create a first-class educational environment at the intersection of two cultures — Western and Eastern, and even the campus is a synthesis of a global university campus and a traditional Chinese garden. 

Frank Burnois

Dean of CEIBS

“We have worked hard on this project and are proud to partner with the HSE Graduate School of Business, which has an important international positioning. For many years I have been fortunate to work with the Director of GSB, Professor Valery Katkalo. We have been preparing this module for nine months, carefully working out the details. We are happy that we were able to welcome students of the GSB MBA programme — representatives of the Russian business elite both from Moscow and other regions of Russia, with a wealth of experience in various areas of business. This is a very significant project for us, and we consider it to be the flagship of Russian business education,” emphasised Professor Frank Burnois, Dean of CEIBS.

The practice of foreign modules is the “gold standard” of high-level MBA programmes, an essential part of business education for practicing professionals who continue their studies. The educational module in Shanghai combined the theoretical part of the programme — studying the specific features of the Chinese economy and business mentality — with the practical part, which was full of visits to Chinese companies and networking.

Participants from Russia noted the deep expertise of CEIBS professors — many of them have lived and worked in Western and Asian countries and demonstrate a global approach to the study of business and economics.

Vladimir Koptsev

Academic Leader of the GSB MBA programme

“Faced with the systemic transformation of the global economy, Russian entrepreneurs have found that their knowledge of Asian markets and established business practices there is insufficient. Digital platforms and industry in China are incredibly developed, and MBA students had the opportunity to see the features of new business models with their own eyes, and also to establish direct contacts by visiting Chinese companies. Effective intensive networking makes this module unique and especially valuable,” said Vladimir Koptsev, Academic Leader of the GSB MBA programme and Professor of Practice at the GSB.

Vitaly Glibin

MBA student

“This module allowed us to understand how a Chinese entrepreneur thinks and what their innovative thinking looks like in the post-visionary era, as well as the peculiarities of Chinese consumer behaviour. We learnt different aspects of the Chinese economy, from the principles of key rate design to the latest trends in promoting products and services in the e-commerce market. On it, the main tool was streamers — we learnt about them closely during a visit to one of the companies. The GSB became my first choice business school precisely because of the unique knowledge and opportunities that the programme provides. A special thanks for the high-quality organised visits to companies, it is a very valuable experience", — shared MBA student Vitaly Glibin, co-founder and technical director of the recruitment automation system “Huntflow”.

The HSE Graduate School of Business is also working on other partnerships with leading business schools in other world regions in accordance with the demands of Russian business and the educational priorities of the students of its programmes. Turkey, Brazil, Hong Kong and the UAE are considered as promising destinations.   

The updated MBA programme of the HSE Graduate School of Business includes two mandatory field modules — Russian and foreign. The pilot field modules to Baikal and China, which took place in 2024, were aimed, among other things, at intensive formation of leadership and communication competences for successful business in conditions of high uncertainty and transformation of economic processes.