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UB earned international recognition in May 1984 with the signing of an agreement between the Chinese and U.S. governments establishing a graduate business program in China under the direction of the UB School of Management.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Chinese Ministry of Education, the agreement was signed at the conclusion of President Ronald Reagan’s six-day diplomatic visit to China, and plans called for the creation of a Master of Business Administration degree program at the Dalian University of Technology in northeast China.

As the first accredited U.S.-style MBA program in China, the curriculum was designed to provide Chinese business executives with a complete education in Western management practices. Participants in each incoming class spent a preliminary year studying English, mathematics and computer skills, followed by enrollment in a traditional two-year MBA program, taught in English by UB and other American faculty.

Joseph A. Alutto, dean of the UB School of Management, spent more than a year planning the China MBA program, and described the initiative as “a very unique and singular achievement for the university.” He is pictured here with a group of Chinese MBA students.

More than 200 students graduated from the China MBA program before it came to an end in 1991 in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident. Since that time, the School of Management has developed several other successful programs in Asia, including Executive MBA programs in Singapore and Beijing.

—Kathleen Quinlivan, University Libraries