When the Financial Times ranked the Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA programme number one in the world last year, the glow on the Clear Water Bay campus was almost palpable.
'Everyone is very proud. The alumni are walking around like peacocks. There's something special about being at the top of the heap,' said Steven DeKrey, senior associate dean of the business school at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and founding director of the EMBA programme.
It was the first time that a Hong Kong-based programme had topped an international rankings chart.
Besides the programme's global number one status, the Financial Times ranked the programme number one for the 'work experience' of its participants, number two in 'international faculty' and number three in 'international students'.
The partnership between the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the United States and HKUST's business school was behind the creation of Asia's first international EMBA programme.
The aim was to create an effective cross-cultural programme that combined cutting-edge Western business practices and knowledge with in-depth experience from the Asian corporate world. Launched in 1998, the elite programme vaulted into the world's top 10 within five years and has remained there ever since.