Travel helps broaden horizons of learning
The opportunity to learn from some of the best instructors in the world and immerse yourself in high quality curriculums and learning environments is a major reason people enrol in MBA programmes from highly regarded overseas universities or business schools.
Having completed the programme, you will be awarded an internationally recognised MBA degree from a prestigious institution that should enable you to take your career to the next level.
Some have harnessed the latest communication technologies to deliver their programmes on a part-time basis through distance learning. Others have maintained the more traditional face-to-face approach using a series of residential study blocks.
However, all require a significant time commitment and the costs can be high.
'We set high expectations for our students while they are with us. We expect them to be innovative forces of change within the companies they work for. Businesses are always looking for new ways to grow revenue. Our students usually find that their profile within their company has risen after completing our programme,' explains Nigel Banister, CEO and chief global officer of Manchester Business School Worldwide.
The Manchester school is highly reputable and makes its global MBA programme available to prospective students in Hong Kong on a part-time basis, with a significant amount of materials and support provided via the internet.
Being part of the University of Manchester, it has been consistently ranked in the top 10 business schools in Europe on the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings.
The programme can be completed in three to five years, or in two years in an accelerated executive-style format and costs from HK$260,000 to HK$273,000. There are four areas of specialisation available - finance, engineering, construction, and sports and major events.
'The combination of academic rigour and project work contained in the course provides students with the opportunity to put all the theory into practice,' Banister explains. 'At the end of the programme, the students complete an interbusiness project in multinational work teams. This becomes a good simulation for the future if students work for a multinational company. The work that the students do is effectively the same as the work done by consultancy firms. The topics of these projects can be related directly to the companies that the students work for.'
The Manchester Business School operates seven international study centres in developed and developing countries. Students have the opportunity to travel to two different locations to complete their group or individual projects. The school provides sponsorship for the students' accommodation expenses.
'We ask students at the start of the programme where they would like to go. Then we schedule the trips to fit in with the students' work commitments,' Banister says.
Completing an overseas-based MBA provides students with sufficient flexibility to fit their studies around their work and family responsibilities. The Manchester global MBA programme does this through a blended study schedule involving face-to-face workshops, online discussions with instructors and other students, and interactive online learning activities.
'After completing the programme, students should leave with an up-to-date tool kit of management skills. They should have developed an international network of business contacts. By making use of the career guidance services we provide, they should also be able to make the best use of their new skills in further developing their business careers,' Banister adds.
Other highly ranked overseas-based MBA programmes available in Hong Kong are the executive MBA (EMBA) global programme jointly run by the London Business School, Columbia Business School and the University of Hong Kong, and an EMBA programme run by the Canadian Richard Ivey School of Business. These are mainly delivered through a series of residential study blocks.
The programmes have similar characteristics such as curriculums containing core courses and elective subjects, a mix of high quality case studies, class discussions, simulations, group work and practical projects, residential study blocks in overseas locations, flexible scheduling, groups of highly experienced international students to collaborate with and an international alumni network. The differences are in the details and the costs.
In the EMBA global programme, students get to take classes in all three campuses. The elective component enables students to participate in one or more international seminars or assignments.
Students are also able to undertake an independent research study. Study locations depend on your elective choices and may include London, New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and other destinations in developed and developing countries for the international seminars and assignments.
The programme costs US$127,920 and includes tuition, course materials, accommodation costs for all teaching blocks and the required international seminars or assignments.
The EMBA programme offered by the Richard Ivey School of Business can be completed over 18 months and is delivered mostly at weekends in Hong Kong.
There is a two-week residential also held in Hong Kong and one-week residential held in London, Ontario. The role life partners play in supporting students involved in the programme is recognised through a special partners' orientation programme.
The aim is to introduce the programme and make a personal connection with each individual partner as soon as the programme begins.
The programme costs HK$700,000 and includes tuition, text books and reference materials, meals and accommodation during residence weeks in Hong Kong and Canada.
