Lecturers at Western business schools have a deep understanding of business practices, Verbitsky said. Al­though Russian lecturers have a great grasp of the subject, they were brought up in a completely different environ­ment, he said. "World outlook is very important in business education."
Russian-language courses are not only for those with no English. "Many people have a knowledge of English in one particular sector but not a clear un­derstanding in all," Verbitsky said. "A course in Russian can help you under­stand the nuances of different sectors."
Verbitsky is currently studying in an EMBA program at the Stockholm School of Economics' campus in St. Pe­tersburg. The school launched a new Russian-language EMBA program last fall alongside its English-language courses. Following high demand, SSE Russia is preparing a second intake for the program, which has developed from the schools' previous Oil & Gas MBA. "This is the first time we are having a spring intake," said Anders Liljenberg, dean of SSE Russia, adding that when the school launched the course it was unsure what the demand would be.
Given the reduced number of appli­cants in Russia, the course, it appears, has found a niche in demand. "This year the fall in recruitment is, according to our figures, 40 to 50 percent, compared with last spring," said Yury Tazov, pres­ident of the Russian League of MBAs. "Several Russian business schools have completely postponed their courses to the fall because of recruitment levels."
Instruction in Russian does not mean
that the education is any less interna­tional. The program is for students with a global mind regardless of language abilities, Liljenberg said. "If you want to learn about running a small business in a Siberian village, this course is not for you," he added. "If you want to stay in Russia and get an international educa­tion, it is."
The course content is the same as the school's English-language program and also includes modules abroad — for this particular course, in China. "Sometimes the details of the content may be altered depending on the course books avail­able in Russian, but students get exactly the same diploma," Liljenberg said.
Other institutions offering MBAs in both languages provide different con­tent for each. "Our Russian-language program has a maximum number of cases from the Russian economy," said Alia Grobovskaya, director of the Mos­cow office of LINK, the Open Univer­sity's Russian partner. "Mainly middle and senior managers from large Rus­sian firms study in our Russian-lan­guage program," she added.
Students in the English-language course gain an Open University de­gree, while those in the Russian-lan­guage program receive a state-accred­ited MBA from LINK. But, the first two parts of the Russian-language program follow the OU course, so those students gain an OU diploma in management.
Teaching methods also differ. "While the English-language course is taught by native-English-speaking lecturers, lec­turers in the Russian language program are Russian," Grobovskaya said.
SSE Russia, however, uses simulta­neous translation for its courses. The in-structors from the course in English lee-ture in the Russian-language programs with an interpreter and translated ma­terials. While this sometimes causes dif­ficulties if students with basic language skills ask questions in English, there were few problems, Verbitsky said.