Students in Asia are spoilt for choice when deciding on an EMBA programme. The Financial Times EMBA rankings of last year show five of the top 11 EMBA programmes in the world are taught in the region.
Topping the list of Asian business schools is the Kellogg-HK University of Science and Technology EMBA programme. Insead and the University of Chicago, which both offer EMBA courses in Singapore, take places six and seven, with Washington University and Olin Business School taking eighth spot with their Washington-Fudan EMBA. Chinese University of Hong Kong ranks No 11 and has also ranked as the No 1 independent EMBA programme in Asia-Pacific since 2003.
Alongside these are other globally renowned institutions that rank in the top 100 schools worldwide.
With such a choice, local EMBA students have a tough decision to make, but ask any of them what factor is most important in their choice of business school and they will invariably give the same answer: the brand.
For Shuo Wang, a student and business development manager in the first intake of the EMBA-Global Asia, the fact that it is run by three of the best-known and most highly ranked schools in the world is the primary reason for choosing the course.
'Having the best names is always important. And, on this course, we have three of the best schools teaching the course, and we get the qualification from all three of them,' Wang said.