Chinese U ranks No1 in poll snubbed by rival institutions

Chinese University of Hong Kong's MBA programme has been ranked number one in East Asia by business magazine Asia Inc for the second year in a row.

Like last year, the University of Hong Kong came second in the 'Asia's Best MBA schools' poll. But other major universities in the region, including Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, boycotted it.

HKUST and six other well-known institutions, including the Asian campus of INSEAD, the Guanghua School of Management in Beijing, Korea's KAIST Graduate School of Management, and business schools from the University of Auckland, Melbourne University and the University of Queensland, challenged the validity of the poll.

INSEAD's director of communications Nick Barniville said it failed to evaluate the crucial areas of alumni's return-on-investment and career progression. He also challenged the criterion on students' years of experience.

Asia Inc said the poll was conducted on the basis of peer evaluation and student and faculty quality. The latest survey commended CUHK for its large and strong student base.

The number of non-local students at the CUHK programme had been on the rise, making up 76 per cent of this year's student intake, according to Professor Lee Tien-sheng, dean of the Faculty of Business Administration. These students came from the mainland, Taiwan, Holland, Canada, and the US, among others, he said.