Beijing's University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) To Offer Degrees To Meet Demand For Domestic Managerial Talent#
China's rapidly expanding luxury market, which is projected to surpass Japan to become the world's largest by 2015, has created new opportunities and career possibilities for Chinese students. Following the introduction of new majors in other high-demand areas such as arts administration at a number of art schools, the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing has announced that it will begin offering a bachelor degree in luxury management in September of next year. The university recently began offering a similar test program for postgraduates.
As the Global Times notes, the luxury management program will include intensive study of localization strategies and consumer behavior, two critical areas that luxury brands both imported and domestic will have to master if they are to maintain strong sales or build brand loyalty in the ever-changing Chinese market:
Zhu Mingxia, director of the university's Cheungkei Research Center for Luxury Goods and Services, China's first luxury research institute, said that successful graduates are expected to become managers in the luxury market after studying subjects like luxury brands' localization strategy, consumer behavior and brand management.
Future careers for the postgraduates and graduates-to-be are guaranteed, Han Shujuan, the center's office director, said. "Last Monday, a representative for a top cosmetic company came and asked for all the postgraduates' resumes – they have a vacancy for a manager."
Echo Yang, HR manager of Prada China, said her company is interested in hiring graduates from the new program, as they will have academic expertise in the industry.
China's luxury market accounted for about 20 percent of global sales in 2007, and is poised to become the largest market by 2015. Salary statistics show that managerial staff, such as marketing managers in the luxury industry, earn 20 to 70 percent more than their counterparts in conventional management.
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