Introduction and Background Since the year 2000 multi-national collaborative universities, colleges and projects have become popular all over China. According to statistics, there are 380 三Sino-foreign cooperative education institutions of undergraduate education and projects approved by the Ministry of Education of PRC (People's Republic of China) (Ministry of Education, 2010). Jiangnan University-Lambton College is one of most successful cases in Jiangsu Province. With 10-year development, JNU-LC currently has 2500 students, 55 Chinese staff and 40 international teachers on campus. It operates triumphantly with existing resources. In order to get better development, the dean of LC is planning to expand a new graduate collaborative program.
Horizontal expansion (a graduate collaborative program) Jiangnan University- Lambton College is planning to begin horizontal expansion into a new graduate cooperative program with its one of pre-existing partners- Northwood University. Students will start their master’s degree with one year in JNU-LC located in Wuxi, China and another year in NU which is in Midland, Michigan. They will eventually acquire master’s degree certificate from NU. Five graduate-level majors will be developed such as Telecommunication Engineering, Computer Technology, Business Administration, Management Information System and Hospitality and Tourism Management. The admission criterion is that TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score is waived and GMAT score is also waived (Only if GPA is greater than 3) for students who are undergraduates from JNU-LC.
Efficiency gained and Increased Scope The expansion into graduate cooperative program will lead to substantial efficiency improvements. It is expected that economies of scope realized from this new graduate collaborative project and more graduate-level majors would improve the school’s total revenue through a reduction in the costs. The horizontal expansion into graduate cooperative program is able to better use underutilized resources. (Besco, 2007, pg167). Graduate students’ classes will be arranged at night time on weekdays and at daytime on weekends, which fits well with undergraduate class schedule at daytime on weekdays. Also, academic professors are available for graduate-level classes at night time and weekends, since they teach undergraduate students during the day. This arrangement saves the cost of educating per student. (Guanghui Song, 2011) Furthermore, while administrative teams such as Academic Administration Office, International Liaison Department, Student Service Department and Logistic Department will have increased work for the new program, the tasks are exactly the same as those they currently do. LC does not need to employ more administrative staff to work for this new project, so administrative costs will be saved. (Guanghui Song, 2011) Moreover, transaction costs are saved. Transaction costs in colleges and universities are buying knowledge. (Guanghui Song, 2011). The college buys knowledge product from teachers, then students buy knowledge product from the school. Types of knowledge product in this new program (five majors) in JNU-LC are various, so the college is able to make the transaction inside the college, not from outside. (Guanghui Song, 2011) In addition, the division of labor brings efficiency and economics of scale in the new program (Guanghui Song, 2011). Five different graduate-level majors are set up and the more academic atmosphere enables undergraduate and graduate students to communicate with each other. These communications reduce the costs of teaching students new knowledge. Teachers are then able to concentrate more on research in their fields. This degree of specialization can improve the efficiency of teaching and scientific research. (Enrollment, 2011) Further benefits can be found from JNU-LC’s good reputation. JNU-LC is popular for its beautiful campus, highly
