The trip was an enriching experience for the two as they made an attempt to understand the different facets of Chinese culture and society. More importantly, they found a whole new perspective to the manner in which businesses are run in China and the management education scenario there. As Viral says, “Everywhere you go, there is a conscious attempt to brand China. As the country seeks to establish itself globally and attracts more foreign investors and tourists, the need is felt to shed off its Asian image and don a brand new cosmopolitan look. I have not seen or heard of a branding exercise of this magnitude earlier.” “The upcoming preparation for the 2008 Olympics is proof of the mammoth strides the country is taking towards becoming an even larger superpower and a force to reckon with. They have an excellent state of preparedness for Olympic games. These can be replicated in India for the upcoming Commonwealth games in 2010”, agrees Ankita.

Viral and Ankita also studied the industry in China and witnessed first hand the leaps it has taken in order to develop as the manufacturing hub of the world. The management education perspective is a little different in the country though. “E-Mba is a rage there. People learn to manage their work lives, family lives and their managerial education as well. This automatically makes them better managers”, remarks Ankita. The youth were also warm and affectionate and both of them are back with a good learning of the Mandarin language. During the course of the visit, they had a chance to meet the Foreign Minister of China, Dai Bingguo and the Vice President and administrator of sports, Duan Shijie along with the First Secretary of the Secretariat, Hu Chunhua. The visit also saw the future managers visit the much famed and oft-modeled Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone, Tsinghua University, Yunnan University, Nanjing university of aeronautics and astronomies, the ‘Birds Nest’- the site where opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics would be held, the Great Hall of the People that’s their Parliament and of course the Great Wall of China. “We got to interact with a lot of students. Surprisingly, their education system is very similar. They follow the similar ways of markings through projects and examinations. The difference is that they have huge campuses and all types of schools – arts, engineering, management nestled in them, something akin to our very own Delhi University”, quips Ankita. “We also visited a few firms there – Pharma groups, manufacturing plants, software parks, etc. and could not help wonder at the entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese there”, adds Viral.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience for the two bright management students. The delegation was the first in a series of five that shall be sent by the government. Viral and Ankita now await their turn to extend the hospitality to their Chinese counterparts when they visit the country later this year. In what is being touted as the decade of the Indian and Chinese economies, a healthy interaction among the leading minds of management education in both the countries shall only strengthen the Sino Indian ties. And having already had a tie up with Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS) Pakistan last year, FMS is clearly having a head start in grooming global managers; an art that the faculty has mastered since its founding in 1954.As the world wakes up to the rising strengths of the Chinese and Indian economies, a pressing need has arisen to further bolster the relationships among the youth of the two countries and promote a better understanding of the two cultures and societies. In an attempt to achieve this objective, the government of the two countries has initiated a novel way of increasing such interaction. As per the mutual decision taken by the Chinese president and Indian Prime Minister, 500 youth would be a part of the exchange program over the next 5 years. The first such 100 member delegation comprising of youth in the age group of 13-35 and from fields as varied as sports, Chinese language students, social workers, panchayati raj workers, students of performing arts, Ph.D. students, engineers from IITs and youth with special abilities recently visited China on a 10-day trip. Prominent among the group were two management students, Viral Nagar and Ankita Mehta from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi.

The trip was an enriching experience for the two as they made an attempt to understand the different facets of Chinese culture and society. More importantly, they found a whole new perspective to the manner in which businesses are run in China and the management education scenario there. As Viral says, “Everywhere you go, there is a conscious attempt to brand China. As the country seeks to establish itself globally and attracts more foreign investors and tourists, the need is felt to shed off its Asian image and don a brand new cosmopolitan look. I have not seen or heard of a branding exercise of this magnitude earlier.” “The upcoming preparation for the 2008 Olympics is proof of the mammoth strides the country is taking towards becoming an even larger superpower and a force to reckon with. They have an excellent state of preparedness for Olympic games. These can be replicated in India for the upcoming Commonwealth games in 2010”, agrees Ankita.

Viral and Ankita also studied the industry in China and witnessed first hand the leaps it has taken in order to develop as the manufacturing hub of the world. The management education perspective is a little different in the country though. “E-Mba is a rage there. People learn to manage their work lives, family lives and their managerial education as well. This automatically makes them better managers”, remarks Ankita. The youth were also warm and affectionate and both of them are back with a good learning of the Mandarin language. During the course of the visit, they had a chance to meet the Foreign Minister of China, Dai Bingguo and the Vice President and administrator of sports, Duan Shijie along with the First Secretary of the Secretariat, Hu Chunhua. The visit also saw the future managers visit the much famed and oft-modeled Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone, Tsinghua University, Yunnan University, Nanjing university of aeronautics and astronomies, the ‘Birds Nest’- the site where opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics would be held, the Great Hall of the People that’s their Parliament and of course the Great Wall of China. “We got to interact with a lot of students. Surprisingly, their education system is very similar. They follow the similar ways of markings through projects and examinations. The difference is that they have huge campuses and all types of schools – arts, engineering, management nestled in them, something akin to our very own Delhi University”, quips Ankita. “We also visited a few firms there – Pharma groups, manufacturing plants, software parks, etc. and could not help wonder at the entrepreneurial spirit of the Chinese there”, adds Viral.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience for the two bright management students. The delegation was the first in a series of five that shall be sent by the government. Viral and Ankita now await their turn to extend the hospitality to their Chinese counterparts when they visit the country later this year. In what is being touted as the decade of the Indian and Chinese economies, a healthy interaction among the leading minds of management education in both the countries shall only strengthen the Sino Indian ties. And having already had a tie up with Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS) Pakistan last year, FMS is clearly having a head start in grooming global managers; an art that the faculty has mastered since its founding in 1954.