Definitely HKUST particularly if one wants to become an IB. HKUST's MBAs are all highly ranked and outranked CUHK and HKU's
Definitely HKUST particularly if one wants to become an IB. HKUST's MBAs are all highly ranked and outranked CUHK and HKU's
I am currently an MBA student at CUHK, so I am able to separate some of the facts from the fiction. I chose CUHK instead of HKU and HKUST because CUHK is good at combining real life Western and Asia Pacific business practices, however this is a matter of personal preference.
Focusing on your choice between HKU and HKUST only, there are two primary (sensible) reasons why you would take an MBA-to get a good job afterwards that is an enhances your career aspirations, and to be good at doing that job. Both are respectable MBA courses, and for whatever reason, from the point of view of most employers, there is in fact not much difference between any of the top 3 MBA programs in Hong Kong. However, HKUST compared to HKU, will probaly give you better training to do a good job when you get one. I have noticed that many employers seem to give greater emphasis on work experience before the MBA and language skills, rather than differentiating between these respective MBA programs.
One should treat rankings with some caution, since HKUST is well known for its heavy marketing and understanding how the ranking system works to maximise its position. For example, if an MBA course is of a smaller size and/or not many students bother to participate in the surveys that form these rankings, then that business school receives a lower number of votes and this drags down its overall score when all factors are considered, even though the course content may in fact be very good. Similarly, a business school can receive a higher ranking simply because of its larger student intake and those students are then encouraged to vote for their home team. That said, the HKUST MBA is still a perfectly respectable course, and there are other business schools who are even more aggressive at promoting their rankings.
It is notable that the average GMAT scores is similar for all the top 3 business schools in Hong Kong-as is the top score. For example, at CUHK the top GMAT score was 770, so there is not much difference in student intake quality on this basis although there are obviously other more subjective factors to consider.
I am unsure about the significance of parnterships with various business schools around the world. Even though HKU has a partnership with the London Business School, there are CUHK students who are still going on an exchange with the London Business School, and many other places in the USA, Europe and China/Asia Pacific. Moreover, we get a lot of exchange students from very respected business schools around the world, such as Chicago, etc. In my opinion, the value of these exchanges partly depends on whether you wish to increase or decrease your exposure to training in Western or Asian business practices. The choice of school that you exchange with will probably depend on your performance during the first term and/or second term of your MBA.
Internships are most useful if you can get a good placement (which is often due to luck and persistance) and if you do not have much industry experience prior to your MBA.
Hope that helps.
I am a graduate of HKUST MBA and I like all the inspiration and neuronic rewiring stimulus they effect on out mental apparatus when they conduct the lectures. Talk to one of my most beloved professor Kristiaan Helsen HKUST Web Server and you will know the HKUST MBA is really a kick-ass MBA program. By the way, Professor Helsen is a Hungarian who graduated from Wharton BS
Both are usually ranked so close together both in terms of job prospects and average starting salary (at least according to the rankings) that it's tough to provide an unbiased opinion.
I'd just point you to some data off the rankings from the economist :
Which MBA? | University of Hong Kong—School of Business
Which MBA? | Hong Kong University of Science and Technology—School of Business and Management
Which MBA? | Chinese University of Hong Kong
Insead or HKUST, HKU or CUHK is what you should be asking.
HKUST and HKU are not in the same league when it comes to Business Schools.
Cookie, the one thing you miss here in Hong Kong is the expat and local perspectives on the business school rankings. They are very status conscious in HK as to where that person got his MBA. HKUST has the better ranking among the business folks here.
I have an MBA and hired MBAs in Canada and other than being interested in the backgrounds of my new hires I did not rate MBA job candidates by the school they graduated from as I have interviewed some top university grads who have had as much business acumen and judgment as a door knob.
I would only be concerned if I was the OP which job market I was targeting. To me it is what you put into the MBA not what school. I do know the chance to study at the LBS was appealing to some of HKers I know who went to HKU.
HKUST & HKU both have shockingly bad websites. This is probably an indication of how well run they are in reality. If neither can implement a unified customer facing IT strategy, can they really develop a joined up approach to education or are they just benefiting from bright mainland students?
? how is this a "bad" website? link below..
MBA
Last edited by copernicus; 04-02-2011 at 12:25 AM.