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Michael Taylor

The University of Hong Kong has expanded its full-time programme to position itself as a global hub for MBA education.

Its Faculty of Business and Economics launched the full-time MBA programme in 2001 and expanded it this year to include students from throughout the region.

In the last intake of 62 students, 45 came from the mainland, 10 from Hong Kong and the rest from Taiwan, Japan and India.

'In the long term we are going to be one of the global centres for MBA education,' says Maurice Tse Kwok-sang, associate dean and MBA programme director.

'That's why we have started recruiting from outside the immediate region.'

HKU launched an MBA  with Fudan University in Shanghai in 1998.

Referring to the pilot programme launched in 2001, Professor  Tse  says: 'We recruited about 20 students from Shanghai a year during the first two years. When the first class graduated, they all went back to Shanghai and found jobs right away.'

Of the nearly 100 MBA programmes on offer in Hong Kong, only three are taught on a full-time basis. In addition to the HKU programme, there  are  courses at the Chinese University of Hong Kong,  which  launched its programme in 1966, and  at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Students in full-time programmes tend to be younger than their counterparts in part-time ones,  and usually have less work experience.

Some students enter these programmes after  they graduate from university. While most  argue that students get more from their studies if they  had some work experience first, there is no clear consensus on  whether it is better to study full or part time.

But  full-time programmes allow students more time to focus on their course work.

When Vivian Lee Wing-yiu, who now works as a marketing officer for the MTR Corp,  decided to do an MBA a few years ago, she did not  consider doing it part-time.

'I planned to do it full time no matter what,' says  Ms Lee, a CUHK MBA alumna. 'In my opinion, an MBA is a total experience. It's not just about the knowledge you gain in class. It's also about the interaction with other students and the life at university.'

One factor  that sets Hong Kong's  full-time MBA programmes apart from the far more numerous part-time ones  on offer is the significantly higher ratio of students from outside Hong Kong. This not only shows  the drawing power of the city's  business schools, it also offers  local students an enhanced learning environment and the chance to build a multinational network without  leaving Hong Kong.

Steve DeKrey, MBA/EMBA director at HKUST, says non-local students  now account for  80 per cent of its enrolment. Mainlanders comprise 50 per cent,  with  15 per cent  from elsewhere in the region and another 15 per cent from the United States and Europe.

At CUHK, locals  account for 38 per cent of full-time MBA students, with 49 per cent  from other parts of Asia.

'We believe the MBA programmes offered in Hong Kong - not only at CUHK - have a competitive edge and would be able to attract qualified applicants to apply,' says Vincent Lai Siu-king,  director of MBA programes at CUHK. 'We believe that a high percentage of non-locals not only improves our overall quality but enhances intellectual learning and cultural exchange among students.'

Yves Slachmuylders, of Belgium, is  a student who visits  Hong Kong each year on exchange programmes. He chose the city  for its international status and also because it offers a unique vantage point on the region.



HKU expands programme in bid for global recognition