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The 33-story China Life Tower is the location of California State University Hayward’s offi

California State University, Hayward is not confined to Hayward, California alone. Satellite campuses have been popping up since 1993 in Moscow, Vienna, Hong Kong, Beijing and most recently in Singapore. CSU Hayward is one of several universities that have established MBA and executive MBA programs internationally for locals whose demand is not being met – a strategy some say the UC system should imitate.

Dr. Nancy Mangold, the director of the CSU Hayward executive MBA program in China, said these programs respond to the changing state of business.

“Business is really global, so you cannot just look at one country,” she said.

The UCLA Anderson School of Management said while there had been no discussion of open satellite campuses abroad, the school is continuing to develop partnership relationships with universities around the world, and the school does have international programs that allow UCLA students to study abroad.

Richard Rodner, an associate dean of the Anderson School, said satellite campuses were not part of the school’s operational strategy, which he said could be the result of limited budget and faculty. The school does heavily recruit abroad, and 27 percent of this year’s incoming class were international, representing 43 countries.

Rodner said he did not think international campuses abroad, like CSU Hayward’s, would reduce the number of international students who are successfully recruited to the Anderson School.

“One of the lures of a UC education is to be able to come to the United States and gain that sort of experience,” he said.

If at some point opening a satellite campus seemed viable, UCLA and the Anderson school would consider the possibility and its impact, he said.

“One would hope they would be successful,” he said. “Certainly the market is there.”

The UC system has not considered the idea of satellite campuses either, said Noel Van Nyhuis, a spokesman for the UC Office of the President.

Van Nyhuis said CSU Hayward’s international campuses would definitely help Hayward and the CSU system’s reputation abroad, and the success of the international programs would determine whether the UC imitates them. “It’ll be interesting to see how effective it is for the CSU. If it is, I think it’s definitely something for the UC to consider,” he said.

Mangold said she believed a UC international program would be successful, at least in China where she works, because of the UC’s international recognition. “I know for sure that Chinese students would love to enroll in one of your UC programs,” she said, but added that the UC focus on research would be a constraint on establishing such a program.

Students in CSU Hayward’s international programs benefit from an American faculty, curriculum and accredited CSU Hayward diploma, without leaving their jobs or incurring extra living expenses in America.

They can also take courses at Hayward’s California campus. The same rule applies to Hayward students in California who can attend any of the international programs and work with international students, faculty and businesses.

Mangold said the success of these programs helps CSU Hayward recruit top students and faculty, because both are attracted to the opportunity to work with companies abroad.

“Students who like to work in the international business field find this is actually one of the best programs,” she said.

The international programs began in 1993 when the Russian government was searching for US institutions where they could train officials in changing from a communist to a capitalist economy. They selected CSU Hayward, and after a few years of sending officials to California, they asked the university if it could establish a less costly program in Moscow.

The program has been rated the top MBA program in Russia since 1998 by the Russian magazine Career, and other international programs have followed. All of the programs are self-sufficient because partner universities pay the start-up costs, and the programs have even become somewhat profitable, Mangold said.

“(The programs) provide an income for our university in small ways to help support some of the programs we would otherwise not be able to support,” she said, citing programs such as technology upgrades, faculty research and opening extra sections of courses.

Mangold added that the ultimate goal of the programs is not financial success, and that the income was relatively small in light of the shortfalls in the state budget for the UC and CSU.

The MBA programs have been so successful in fulfilling the international demand for programs that CSU Hayward has been asked to expand the practice to other programs, Mangold said. The university is tentatively considering establishing English as a second language and teacher education programs in China that the government has requested.

“The recognition is helping us, so when the government needs other programs, they will talk to me to see if we might be able to provide (those programs)” she said.

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