Part-Time MBAs Reap Rewards at HKU
Hong Kong University (HKU) is ranked the number one university in Asia and the HKU MBA part time program bears similar accolades with The Economist ranking it the number one MBA program in Asia for the fourth consecutive year. With a part-time MBA course through HKU, students benefit from being able to continue their careers as they study, incorporating what they learn from world-class lecturers into their working lives.
Whilst professors, alumni, and students bring expertise from all over the world, the course has a distinctly Asian perspective, focusing on giving students the tools and experience required to build long-lasting corporate advantage in the fast-growing region. Project-based learning and real-world local business examples prove the most advantageous for students who can put theories through various iterations to learn how to conduct business in Asia more successfully.
The HKU MBA part time course allows students to study at a pace complementary to their business workload. There is both a weekday evening and a weekend mode. The former meets twice a week for three hour sessions while the weekend option conducts classes on Saturdays. The city center location proves convenient and the semester abroad option – at prestigious London Business School or Columbia Business School - gives eager students the opportunity to compare and contrast their learning of Asian business with Western approaches.
There are four key themes have been identified as drivers of success at HKU with their part time MBA offering.
● Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Operations Management
● Financial Management
● Managing in China & Asia
● Marketing & Services Management
By structuring courses around these key areas, the HKU MBA part time program gives students a diverse knowledge base alongside the opportunity to focus on their particular aptitudes.
With a modular structure where students study 11 core modules plus an additional 7 electives relating to these themes, students can design their course schedule to fit around other commitments. Modules are studied one at a time and last for approximately five weeks. Part time students can choose to skip a module if their workload is particularly heavy or wait until later to study a module that fits with a particular work project.
Where full-time students tend to complete the course in 14 months, part-time students can take between 2-4 years to complete the total 18 modules. This not only allows students to continue in their current jobs, but also to develop a more considered response to the course teachings. With additional time there is more opportunity for interaction between theory and practicality, and for experiences to further enrich the student.
Networking opportunities and extracurricular events are plentiful and HKU has one of the strongest alumni networks of any university in the world (ranked 26th globally). Both peers and alumni make no distinction nor preferential treatment of either full or part time students, but part time students have more time in which to engage in these extracurricular events, thus deepening their connections with other participants.
With such high standards and impeccable results, HKU receives many applications and admission procedures are tightly-managed. Interested parties must possess:
● Bachelor's degree
● Satisfactory GMAT score (exemptions may apply for those with 7yrs+ work experience)
● English language proficiency (minimum TOEFL 550 or 80 for online, or IELTS band 6.5)
● 2 years postgraduate full-time work experience
The HKU MBA part time option is proving one of the most popular in the Asian MBA landscape as it combines the convenience of part time study with academic rigor and a unique Asian focus. Students from all over the world, keen to learn how to succeed in the fast-developing world of Asian business, are discovering that the MBA programme at HKU, whether full or part time, paves the way for bright futures.
*Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
