Ms Ching had wanted to retire early when she returned to Hong Kong in 2004 after having worked in the mainland and Singapore for a decade, but she changed her mind after learning about the business challenges in different parts of the world through the course.

'We went on trips to different cities and listened to public and private sector representatives talk about various issues. We found that concepts such as corporate social responsibility are so new in some places. The role of global executive leaders is to influence their team members, so they all work in the same direction in a cost-effective and socially responsible way.'

The OneMBA programme is designed to prepare executives to meet global challenges. Every few months, students have residence weeks in one of the five partner institutions of the programme - School of Management Erasmus, the Netherlands; Kenan-Flagler School of Business, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, United States; EGADE, Monterrey, Mexico, and Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Brazil.

Mike Hall, administrative director of the programme, said: 'So many global companies today have project management teams spread around the world facing so many challenges. For example, time zones, responsibility versus authority and little face-to-face communication. The OneMBA lets the executives from around the world work in the same manner. The international network the OneMBAs develop is also hugely valuable.'

Ms Ching agreed. 'You have a comparative advantage if you are flexible and not regionalised in your outlook.'

Other MBA courses are also multicultural in terms of curriculum and student intake.

In the current class of the EMBA programme at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), taught in conjunction with the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 17 nationalities are represented with more than 50 per cent of the students based outside of Hong Kong. The programme came top in this year's Financial Times EMBA global rankings - the first time a Hong Kong-based programme topped an international poll. It was also top-ranked for 'work experience' of its participants, second in 'international faculty' and third place in 'international students'.

HKUST MBA programmes, available in both part-time and full-time modes, are also internationalised. The full-time students have the option of going on exchange for one semester to one of 50 partner universities abroad.

Chris Tsang Chi-on, associate director of postgraduate programmes at HKUST Business School, said: 'More students from other countries are coming to Hong Kong to study to know more about China, while an increasing number of mainland students have come here to be exposed to international perspectives. Our courses feature not just Hong Kong but also international cases.'

Hong Kong's position as an international financial centre made it an attractive place to study an MBA, and students had more contact with different business leaders at special talks and functions, he added.

At HKUST, students are given career-related training in areas such as learning about different industries, soft skills and skills that are useful for working in a multicultural environment. While students of different backgrounds share their work experience and help broaden each others' perspectives, some schools take pride in their expertise on global issues.

The Australian Graduate School of Management's Hong Kong MBA programme draws on its research strengths to equip students with leading-edge knowledge, and help them to apply their knowledge in different contexts. According Mark Hirst, the programme's director, among the issues covered are how climate change and the growing digital economy affect businesses.

'We have a strong focus on strategy development and execution. It is important that firms know how to position themselves to compete in a changing environment.'

Professor Hirst added: 'Senior managers need to have the latest knowledge. Apart from the range of subjects covering the necessary disciplines of managing people, marketing and finance, we make sure that we offer the latest understanding from the research community on the best practices in the different areas, and that our programme has the most up-to-date materials.'

The concern for climate change, for example, might mean that coal producers needed to develop technology that could capture and store carbon dioxide - producing a product that was 'more favourably viewed' by regulators in a country - Professor Hirst explained.

Helen Lange, dean, business management programmes at U21Global, the Singapore-based online graduate school, said today's MBA training encompassed more diverse elements than it did say two decades ago when it was largely designed for engineers moving into managerial roles. But perhaps more than ever, the postgraduate qualification put one in good stead in today's economy.

Dr Lange said it helped aspiring managers to work more effectively in a team. 'The need [for the qualification] is further enhanced as undergraduate and professional education and development tend to hone even greater specialisation. The knowledge economy requires far more teamwork than in the production economy, especially among the managerial team.

'Project management is a key to modern workplace management, and project management requires an understanding of general management and organisation,' Dr Lange said.