The CLGO Steering Committee Visited MIT

On Apr. 26th & 27th, 2012, CLGO steering committee led by SJTU Vice President Huang Zhen and visited MIT. Delegation members included deans from Graduate School, Antai College of Economics and Management, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering and School of Mechanical Engineering of SJTU. This visit aimed to better understand operation model of the interdisciplinary program in MIT, and learn the successful development experience of MIT LGO(Leader for Global Operations) and discuss the development plan of SJTU-MIT CLGO(China Leaders for Global Operations) for the next five years.

In 2006, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, MIT LGO and several famous enterprises jointly founded CLGO program. Through 5 years’ development, CLGO has established its unique brand in Chinese education market. It was elected one of “The Five Unique Competitive Programs” in China by 21 Century Media. CLGO graduates are welcomed by cooperative enterprises and their average starting salary are higher than other similar programs. How to use the platform of CLGO to construct the bridge for university and industry and copy the cooperation model to other disciplines in SJTU is an important objective for this visit to MIT.

On Apr. 26th, the delegation visited MIT Engineering School first and had meeting with associate dean, Prof. Cynthia Barnhart. Prof. Barnhart introduced the history of interdisciplinary cooperation in MIT, for example, LGO already had a history of 20 years. And she said it was a win-win for both enterprises and faculty. Prof. Barnhart also gave some advices for motivating professors to participant in program operation. Dual-Degree program was not a simple combination of Business and Engineering, but a new program.

On Apr.27th, the delegation met Prof. Don Rosenfield, LGO Program Director, Mr. Vah Erdekian, LGO industry director and Prof. Georgia Perakis, LGO Co-Director. LGO directors gave an detailed introduction about program development, cooperative enterprise relationship and professors’ benefit from this program. The delegation also had a discussion with MIT faculty on cooperative enterprise recruiting and resource integration.

Then, the delegation visited Sloan School of Business and talked with Dean Prof. David Schmittlein. Prof. Huang Zhen said SJTU had cooperated with MIT on energy training program and high-end management training program and would like to expand cooperation with MIT to scientific research and students’ education. Prof. David Schmittlein introduced the history and philosophy of Sloan School and he looked forward to more cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

CLGO is focusing on developing a special type of leader for China and the world–one who can apply both managerial and engineering expertise to global operations with a deep understanding of Chinese economic environment. It is expected that more students who are interest in global operation join this kind of activities and make the CLGO program get more support and recognition, and all parties benefit from it.