Recruiting in China

Businesses are turning to MBA students from China because they believe too few British graduates have Chinese language skills, according to a report.

Meanwhile, staff at Liverpool John Moores University used graduation ceremonies this week to protest against the cutting of Chinese studies as part of a reform of its language school.

Forty-one per cent of business leaders surveyed by the Hay Group consultancy said they planned to recruit Chinese MBA graduates.

Universities produce fewer than 500 graduates a year from programmes in which Mandarin forms a substantial part and the report's authors said the lack of linguists would lose the UK opportunities in the Chinese market.

Deborah Allday, one of the authors, said: "We are about to face a war for talent both in China and in domestic markets as companies scramble to recruit talented leaders and managers with an understanding of the Chinese market and business culture.

"The British government needs to take a fresh look at the higher and further education curriculum in this country to determine the best way to make UK graduates and UK plc competitive in the global market place."

She said companies should demand that all MBA students they fund should do a China module on their course and that the government should introduce more Chinese language teaching.

The study, based on interviews with business leaders in Europe, north America and Asia Pacific, found that British business expects sales to China to be worth 10 per cent of their global revenues by 2009.

Managers at Liverpool John Moores decided to drop courses in Chinese to concentrate on those in higher demand and with greater growth prospects.

Don Starr, president of the British Association of Chinese Studies, said: "It is a very resource intensive subject to learn and it is therefore expensive to teach. Because the funding does not recognise that extra cost, vice-chancellors find it cheaper to offer subjects like English and psychology that can be taught in large lecture theatres."

The school system was compounding the problem, he added.

"Private-sector schools have been introducing Chinese in large numbers but the government has allowed 14-year-olds in state schools to drop languages entirely."

The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it would work to find alternative universities for the 15 places that will be lost each year.

Teresa Tinsley, assistant director of the National Centre for Languages, said that although the number of people taking A-levels and GCSEs in the subject had steadily increased, the overall number still remained tiny.

"It is alarming that employers are turning to foreign students with Chinese language skills because that will make them less likely to tackle the shortage of UK nationals," she said.