SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With Shanghai’s Expo 2010 less than eight months away, and the memory of last year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing still strong, companies in China are increasingly focusing on global marketing and branding opportunities in order to leverage the international spotlight.

New offerings from the University of British Columbia’s Robert H. Lee Graduate School IMBA at the Sauder School of Business mirror this business trend in the world’s fastest growing economy.

Now into its ninth year, the school’s Shanghai-based IMBA program has been strengthened by the Young Entrance Award, a scholarship that will recognize outstanding Chinese marketers who pursue the IMBA in 2010.

The award is given by Hong Kong entrepreneur Alex Yeung, and is valued between $6,500 and $13,000.

The gift also enables a brand development module to be added to the IMBA curriculum. The resulting module will help students develop further expertise in marketing and branding in the Chinese and global marketplace.

“We are at new crossroads of doing business in China and Asia, and I feel that more than ever, there is a need for ongoing dialogue in the finer aspects of marketing and building international brands,” said Mr. Yeung.

“We are seeing Chinese companies growing in size through business growth and mergers and acquisitions,” he said. “Many of these firms are also evolving from privately held entities into publicly listed national and international companies. Branding and the development of goodwill will become an essential part of current and future business strategies.”

According to Tim Silk, an assistant professor of marketing at the Sauder School of Business who teaches the branding module in the IMBA program, today’s marketing professionals must have the knowledge necessary to develop international brands.

“Many Chinese companies have gone global and inversely, companies that are based in other countries also need marketing specialists who can promote their products in China,” said Silk.

The 21-month part-time IMBA is fully approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education and provides the same world-class professors and in-depth academic content as the full-time UBC MBA in Vancouver.

“This program allows young executives in the region to continue their careers while attaining an international quality MBA degree,” said Grace Wong, assistant dean and senior advisor-international at the Sauder School of Business. “From a developmental point of view, it makes perfect sense for us to offer the UBC International MBA degree in Shanghai together with our longtime partner, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, since the Sauder School has been working in China since 1980.”

The Robert H. Lee Graduate School at UBC's Sauder School of Business is regularly ranked among the top business schools in the world by the The Financial Times, Forbes and The Economist. It is recognized globally for its contributions to the transformation of business practices through innovative research and teaching.