Pricey Prepping

    The 30-day Elegant Women Training Class cost Jin Li RMB 36,000, equivalent to the combined annual incomes of three migrant workers.

    A survey of tuition fees for such training programs paints a picture of very pricey prepping: RMB 3,800 for a 4-day personal image building class, RMB 16,800 for a 5-day health preserving training, RMB 36,000 for a 25-day training course for women, RMB 48,000 for a 24-day Chinese tradition and culture training, and RMB 49,000 for a 24-day class for COOs (capital operation officer).

    The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (Cheung Kong GSB) is well known for its EMBA program, the tuition for which reached RMB 528,000 in 2009, making it the most costly program in China. Consider the fact that the per capita disposable income of China's most economically developed city – Shanghai – is only around RMB 27,000. The two-year EMBA program consists of roughly 640 class-hours, which means that the per capita Shanghai annual disposable income might only cover around 33 class-hours.

    What makes the upward spiral of tuitions more peculiar is that the per capita disposable income for urban residents in China in 2009 was only RMB 17,000. You would think the current economic situation would make it very difficult to promote such high-end training programs to the extent they are in developed countries. China should in theory be a relatively small market considering disposable income only. Instead, even with the exorbitant fees, supply still falls short of demand, which further escalates the prices. According to statistics, from 2002 to 2009, tuitions for EMBA programs offered by the nation's top schools have grown on average by over 45 percent. Compared to 2007, over half of the top ten EMBA program providers in China have raised their 2009 tuitions by 30 percent or more. In early 2009, the number of applicants for EMBA programs had already increased by 20 percent.

    Mutual Consent

    Why do such programs cost so much? A trainer at a high-end training institution told China Today that a high-quality education coupled with a low sticker price is a contradiction. But such lofty fees are only justified by high-quality training involving top facilities and faculty.

    "Only renowned teachers could draw these 'high level' clients," states the management of one high-end training institution. The Cheung Kong GSB program professes to have a team of world-class multicultural professors, all experts in business management. They for the most part were born and raised in China, but have lectured at top universities throughout Asia, Europe and the U.S., such as the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the London School of Economics, Yale and INSEAD. A staff member from one of the etiquette training schools told China Today that the educational background of their trainers ranges from bachelor's to post-doctoral degree. The Elegant Women Training Class in which Jin Li participated has brought together famous teachers from the Chinese Artists' Association, the Chinese Writers' Association and the Chinese Calligraphers' Association.

    On the other hand, since applicants to these programs are acclimated to the high life, they don't feel the "sticker shock." Zhu Jiangtian, a professor and lawyer from Zhengzhou City in Henan Province, recently enrolled himself in a training course in Beijing. This one-year program requires around 24 class-days and costs nearly RMB 50,000 (excluding the cost of food, accommodation and the commute between Zhengzhou and Beijing).

    Jin Li told China Today: "If the training brings about a change in my life, I feel I got my money's worth or even more." Maybe it's that notion that drives people to pay these fees no mater how high they go, or it could be that the high price confers on clients the badge of exclusivity.

    The real situation however is that both qualified and unqualified training institutions are mixed together and the standards for pricing are undeveloped. Fees for these programs can vary wildly. Take the EMBA programs as an example. The lowest tuition in the current market is RMB 152,000 while the highest hits RMB 528,000, with a 3.4-fold disparity.

    Yang Shu, director of the Consulting Center at Tsinghua University's School of International Engineering Project Management, told China Today: "One thing that is lacking in this industry is a comprehensive and unbiased assessment system to evaluate and classify the training programs." But even that probably won't stop a nation with an insatiable appetite for knowledge.