Abstract:

This paper discusses the findings of a research project that explored learning experiences of international management students who followed an online Master of Business Administration (MBA) course with a UK business school in Russia and in other post-Soviet countries. Previous studies focused on perspectives of full-time students coming to study at campus universities, whilst more recent trends in the form of massive open online courses (MOOCs) showed high enrolment rates onto distance courses in Business and Management from students based outside of Western Europe or North America (Christensen, Alcorn and Emmanuel, 2014). Perspectives of Asian students, especially those coming from China, have been overrepresented in previous studies on the subject; emotional and cultural challenges of adjusting to life and studies in the new country were also given more prominence (e.g. Lamb & Currie, 2011).

The focus of the study was on academic challenges that part-time international students experienced in the first year of their studies with a UK business school and on the salience of instrumentalist views of management. The main data collection method were semi-structured personal interviews conducted either face-to-face or via phone or Skype. The sample was comprised of 18 students studying on Stage 1 of the MBA in Russian translation with six regional centres in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

The results of data analysis showed that there were four key themes in participant responses: significance of academic acculturation, tensions between management practice and theoretical models, individualistic and instrumentalist orientations and salience of human resource issues. Adult learners from post-Soviet countries typically had sufficient management experience and acumen, but struggled with academic demands of following a part-time course with a UK university due to both cross-national differences in educational systems and to differences in institutional and socio-economic contexts where their practical work was set. However, exposure to global perspectives on management also encouraged learners to develop novel skills and ways of managing. In contrast to some of the earlier empirical work on Russia (e.g. Hofstede, 2001), which described it as partly a collectivist society, the participants in this study showed strong individualistic orientations in line with more recent data showing a shift to more individualist orientations in Russian society (Magun & Rudnev, 2010). The paper provides more detail on each of the key themes and concludes with discussion on the implications of its findings for advancing theory and practice of international management education.

References:
[1] Christensen, G., Alcorn, B. and Emmanuel, E.J. (2014). MOOCs won’t destroy business schools – they’ll diversify them. Harvard Business Review. Available at: http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/06/moocs-wont-replace-business-schools-theyll-diversify-them/ (accessed on January 10th, 2016)
[2] Hofstede G. (2001). Culture's consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations (2nd Edition). London: Sage.
[3] Lamb, P. & Currie, G. (2011). Eclipsing adaptation: The translation of the US MBA model in China. Management Learning, 43(2), 217–230
[4] Magun, V.S. & Rudnev, M.G. (2010). Bazovye cennosti rossiyan v evropejskom kontekste [Basic values of the Russians in the European context]. Obschestvennye nauki i sovremennost, 3, 5-22.

Keywords:

International management education, academic acculturation, Russian management.