Wang Tao,

This is not anything official, which is only represent my personal feeling. I will rank China's MBA program's brand image in HK's job market as below:

1. HKUST
2. CEIBS
3. CUHK
4. HKU/Beijing/TsingHua
5. Shanghai Jiao Tong (Communication)

Dear folks, thanks so much on your sharings. Giving me such a great reference on deciding which MBA school to go for. The point about western-style teaching is such a good point to keep in mind when I'm searching now as I studied and lived abroad for many years before residing back in HK. The passive study style is really not worth to keep up esp. when we're now paying soooo much to get the credential.

Cheers~~

Folks, these comments about HKU MBA are really from a very subjective point of view. I graduated 2 years back and thoroughly enjoyed the MBA experience at HKU; the course content is good with great amount of exposure and nice classmates. I just don?t understand why this person is so negative!! I suppose everyone has different objective of doing MBA and as far as my class was concerned majority of us got what we wanted from the course. My advice to everyone will be to not get swayed by any great comments or bad comments about any MBA school. It?s impossible that all the people will be happy and at the same time there is no perfect school, so follow your own objective and as long as the school is well known with good reputation and provides you what you are looking for then just go with it. In my class, majority of us are doing quite well and to some extent I must say that HKU MBA has contributed in this??.maybe going to another school could have given the same result?.but then who knows?.for us HKU MBA worked well?.

Hi Guys,
I have just joined this forum while looking for information on HKU MBA. I am telecom professional with 14 years of expereince in technical domain. Like most of us, I have planned to do an MBA that has good reputation in mind of recruiters and provide good learning experiece.
I have admission offer from HKU and NTU, Singapore (MBA-Fellowship Program). Can anyone please let me know pros and cons of the programs?

Robin, it's good you enjoyed your time there and it sounds like we had differing experiences. Your great time at HKU is also purely a subjective call and "just fine" means different things to different people (depending on expectations, financial pressures i.e. a family, debt that needs regular source of income to service).

as an alumnus, the motivation should be to upsell the program to increase applications and reputation, but I really have no vested interest in the program - just want help people make informed decisions.

Also, I trust readers here are sensible enough to be their own judges (i.e. completely discount everything they've read positive or negative here or otherwise) based on what they read and independently gather...

I also think you completely missed the forest for the trees with my original post - which meant to point out:

1. know your expectations (where you want to work post grad, quality of faculty, quality of alumni) - also do a brief calculation of the opportunity cost of attending school for almost 2 years vs. working and how much additional salary you *think* you can earn w an MBA (not just HKU, any school for that matter). perhaps being unemployed for months after you graduate from HKU is not "just fine" for some as it is for others...

2. do a lot of research before you drop that big wad of cash: talk to students/alumni (and NOT just the ones referred to you by the school, of course) - I feel like any MBA board is a good place to start - also talk to career services and find out their placement rate and with which companies. HKU is not the place to go to if you want to get into a major Investment banking associates program. Just keep that in mind. Also, talk to professors and see if it's a good fit. Due to the size of the program, there is relatively less flexibility when it comes to choosing/specializing your track (i.e. some MBA programs let you specialize in corporate finance, entreprenuership, venture capital, etc .HKU does not. )

3. Get a head start and talk to employers, to see their opinions on HKU or whatever program you want to apply to. Some companies use software to filter candidates from certain schools upfront... so you're better off knowing whether your dream company would (or would not) consider hiring you because of your school

4. Be wary of HKU marketing brochures. They oversold the program (and i can refer you 3 or 4 of my classmates who concur) . I would compare the teaching quality to that of a community college for those familiar with that concept in the US.

HKU is not for everyone and again, for those who want to work outside of HK/China (i.e. in Europe or the US), I would not recommend this as an option as it is not highly recognized (and I speak from experience interviewing on both continents). of course you can always augment your chances with an additional certification such as a CFA - but again, depends on what you want to do post-MBA.

that is not to say that things can change but I believe the program still has quite a ways to go before it reaches even HKUST's level, much less that of any established MBA program -

and finally, good luck to everyone with their decision!

Folks, these comments about HKU MBA are really from a very subjective point of view. I graduated 2 years back and thoroughly enjoyed the MBA experience at HKU; the course content is good with great amount of exposure and nice classmates. I just don?t understand why this person is so negative!! I suppose everyone has different objective of doing MBA and as far as my class was concerned majority of us got what we wanted from the course. My advice to everyone will be to not get swayed by any great comments or bad comments about any MBA school. It?s impossible that all the people will be happy and at the same time there is no perfect school, so follow your own objective and as long as the school is well known with good reputation and provides you what you are looking for then just go with it. In my class, majority of us are doing quite well and to some extent I must say that HKU MBA has contributed in this??.maybe going to another school could have given the same result?.but then who knows?.for us HKU MBA worked well?.

I also graduated from the program last year and I have a pretty good idea of who "HKStan" is. If my suspicions are correct (and I?d wager they are) this is a person who loudly derided the MBA program almost from day one to anyone who would listen, routinely refused to attend classes, was repeatedly admonished for lack of commitment and effort by fellow classmates and professors alike, was forced to re-take several failed classes, and generally did very little to contribute to anything MBA related.

This person is also of low intelligence. Derogating the program under the guise of ?helping others make an informed choice? in a pathetic attempt to settle a grudge is wildly idiotic. This is simply someone who has wasted considerable time in pursuit of perverted, self-serving vindication. Since Mommy and Daddy paid for this student?s education, however, it is hardly a surprise. Indeed, the handful of students who complained the loudest seemed the least committed to the program and had the least to lose either way.

HKU MBA was an EXCELLENT experience for me and for countless others, and one I would not have traded even for a free ride at Harvard. It is true that the program has some shortcomings, but every MBA program has a few - including Stanford, Harvard, and HKUST. The HKU MBA administration are all genuinely determined to advance the overall quality of the program on a continual basis, and the professors boast some really outstanding credentials. (In fact, there were only two who I personally felt were unqualified to teach, and both were asked to leave in 2009.)

Please do not rely on this person?s misguided "advice." As a very highly compensated country manager for a multinational, I am far more qualified than this contemptible young unprofessional to validate the sufficiency of this world-class business education program. Perhaps HKU's greatest weakness was that it bothered to recruit someone unsophisticated enough to dog the validity of his or her own business education after graduation.

There are always going to be a few exceptions, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the school and found most of the faculty and a majority of students quite capable and committed. In terms of life experience the program is outstanding, and I learned a great deal about business, both in Asia and in general.

From your post HKStan is terrible person and because of this every one should ignore misguided advice on doing research on schools and careers and talking to teachers? OK, fine.

this note sounds like a personal grudge to me, maybe you send HKStan personal note if you feel this passionate. You may question HKStan's motivations but you also have motivations of your own - clearly it benefits you personally to sell the reputation of your school as you have a lot to lose from a worthless degree. can you counter dontgohku's post? is every one who does not say nice things about your program of poor character?

Also why should anyone take advice from a person who claims they would choose HKU MBA over a hypothetical imaginary free ride Harvard MBA? Are you serious? Give us a break, 'very highly compensated country manager for multinational' -

It absolutely benefits me to sell the reputation of my school, as it would anyone who has invested in any given MBA. That's precisely what makes HKStan such a raging moron and badly damages that person's credibility. So what's your point? I never suggested that anyone who is critical of the HKU MBA is of poor character, only that I have a reasonable idea of who HKStan is (and probably dontgohku as well), and these are absolutely not accomplished professionals worth listening to.

The reason I would choose HKU over Harvard is the life experience that HKU provided. I would not expect most people to make the same choice, but I really wanted an MBA that would fully immerse me in Asia and offer the opportunity to network with powerful decision makers in the region. HKU did exactly that, and with outstanding direct connections to two of the world's best business schools in the process. I leveraged that relationship to the very best of my advantage, and I simply could not have accomplished this at Harvard. There are others who will want to accomplish the same goal, and I encourage them to look carefully at HKU as an option.

I am based in the U.S. and I earn a six-figure salary with a significant revenue sharing bonus plan. My company is headquartered in Hong Kong, and my education at HKU directly resulted in my landing this position. If you or anyone else don't believe that I am who or what I claim to be, feel free to send an email to [email protected] with your full name and phone number, and I would be glad to call you and provide whatever proof is desired. Further, if HKStan and dontgohku will reveal their true identities on this site, I will gladly do the same. I have nothing whatsoever to hide.

I totally agree with western grad, we as proud HKU MBA alumnus are just trying to clear the air and bust all these false claims. I just received the HKU MBA alumni magazine and was so happy to see that in the current batch students have already got jobs though they will graduate in September. I am from Mainland China and now working in Hong Kong, this was possible only because of HKU MBA and the good platform they provided to us.

It?s really funny that people like dontgohku are commenting about MBA as he/she has clearly indicated about being an ?exchange undergrad? student earlier. Also I wonder which ?top? MBA takes fresh undergraduate!!!

I think people like HKStan are cry babies who blame everyone else. I know for fact that most of my classmates really benefit a lot from the program. So lets not get carried away by a small set of people trying project a wrong image about HKU MBA.

As a current student at HKU MBA, I am shocked at the comments by HKStan and dontgohku. Are you referring to the same MBA am attending, you guys must be joking.

I choose HKU MBA for its Asia focus and have exactly got what I wanted. The courses along with many industry interaction has given me good understanding of Asia along with exposure to global business (I am currently at LBS as part of my studies). All this negative talk about HKU MBA is untrue. I have personally worked along with the MBA team on certain initiatives like the mentorship programme and found that they are constantly trying to improve every aspect of the programme. For my Strategy class I had ex- managing partner of BCG, Global Marketing was taught by the marketing director of Starbucs, branding was taught by CEO of Ogilvy & Mather (one of the biggest advertising companies) and these people are talking about teaching at the level of community colleges!! Get a life guys.

I have great classmates with excellent profiles and the exposure I have got thanks to HKU MBA cannot be replicated. The career office at HKU MBA has already secured an internship for me on my return from London, which I hope to convert into a fulltime position. If given a chance I will without doubts choose HKU MBA again.

I totally agree with western grad, we as proud HKU MBA alumnus are just trying to clear the air and bust all these false claims. I just received the HKU MBA alumni magazine and was so happy to see that in the current batch students have already got jobs though they will graduate in September. I am from Mainland China and now working in Hong Kong, this was possible only because of HKU MBA and the good platform they provided to us.

It?s really funny that people like dontgohku are commenting about MBA as he/she has clearly indicated about being an ?exchange undergrad? student earlier. Also I wonder which ?top? MBA takes fresh undergraduate!!!

I think people like HKStan are cry babies who blame everyone else. I know for fact that most of my classmates really benefit a lot from the program. So lets not get carried away by a small set of people trying project a wrong image about HKU MBA.

Your further vague claims about the programme in no way change the fact that the HKU MBA has no (or a negative) reputation, poor facilities, poorly qualified professors, and a very doubtful placement record (even in HK!!).

I am an outsider here.
And I think the best way to judge who is telling the truth is to offer concrete examples of placement both in HK and out of HK.
The ultimate goal for most people pursuing an MBA program is to get a better job.
It will most helpful if we know a couple of examples with ex-MBA background and post-MBA jobs. In this way, we can tell from first glance how much value the program adds.

I actually turned down an interview opportunity for this programme due to a number of reasons, with dontgohku's negative feedback playing a significant role in it.

To be honest, with this programme being relatively young, there isn't much talk about it on the internet. Wished that this debate happened earlier for perhaps a better decision-making process, I certainly hope I won't live to regret this decision...

FYI... I decided to do the Master of Applied Finance with University of Melbourne instead...

Weird choice... perhaps... fingers crossed...

Your further vague claims about the programme in no way change the fact that the HKU MBA has no (or a negative) reputation, poor facilities, poorly qualified professors, and a very doubtful placement record (even in HK!!).

Folks, this person just lost what little credibility he or she may have had on this board previously. Here's a partial list of the "poorly qualified professors" that this poster is referring to:

Dr. Sung Joo Bae PhD MIT
Dr. Gary Biddle Ph.D. University of Chicago
David Bishop JD, The Georgetown University Law Center
Dr. Indranil Bose PhD Purdue
Dr. Konan Chan PhD U of Illinois
Dr. Eric C. Chang PhD Purdue
Dr. Stephen Y.W. Chiu MA, PhD Penn State
Dr. Michael J. Enright AB, MBA, PhD Harvard
Dr. Gerald J. Gorn PhD., Penn State
Dr. Yanling Guan PhD London Business School
Dr. Di Guo PhD University of Edinburgh
Dr. Timothy D. Hau MA, PhD UC Berkeley
Dr. Paul S.H. Lau PhD Stanford
Dr. Mei Lin PhD UT Austin
Dr. Tao Lin PhD Duke
Dr. Qiao Liu PhD UCLA
Dr. Melody P. Lo PhD Yale
Dr. Y.F. Luk PhD Cornell
Dr. Yulei Luo PhD Princeton
Dr. R. Meng PhD Duke
Dr. Huiyan Qiu PhD Minnesota
Dr. Alan Siu PhD Harvard
Prof. C.J. Tan PhD Columbia
Prof. Zhigang Tao PhD Princeton
David K.C. Tse PhD Berkley
Dr. James P. Vere Princeton
Dr. Echo Wen Wan PhD Northwestern
Dr. K.F. Wong PhD Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Richard Y.C. Wong SBS, JP, AB, AM, PhD University of Chicago
Dr. Chun Xia PhD Minnesota
Dr. G. Xiao PhD UCLA
Dr. Benjamin Yen PhD Columbia
Dr. Chi Kin (Bennett) Yim PhD Purdue
Dr. C.W. Yuen PhD University of Chicago
Dr. Jin Zhang PhD Cal Tech
Dr. Liu Zheng PhD USC
Dr. Wen Zhou PhD Duke

Here is the Wiki entry for Cyberport one the ?poor facilities? that the poster is referring to. It was built a few years ago a cost of over $2 billion USD:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberport

I could go on to address the other accusations, but I think you get the point. Please don?t pay attention to unsuccessful folks with misguided vendettas and no credentials when making a decision about which MBA to pursue.

The HKU MBA experience rocks, the school has a solid reputation and outstanding faculty, and all of it will only continue to improve with time. If you are interested in a future career in Asia, the best thing you can do is invest in this truly world-class education.

Very interesing debate going on - and I think it applies to many other schools, not just HKU, but Chinese and HK MBAs as well. It appears that the major concern with doing an MBA at HKU is regarding career prospects.

One side believes the career prospects are not good. That you will at best be a "clerk at HSBC" and that no respectable firm will recruit you. Question - is this because these people are focused in finance? If so, it is common understanding in MBAs that only top 10 MBAs from the US, with solid background in an investment bank, a chinese face, and fluent chinese will give you a good shot at a top recruitment firm in HK/Asia. HKU, or neither HKUST or CEIBS can give you this option. You will be best stuck with mid-level finance firms (that does not mean you cannot make money however) unless you get lucky.

Then there is the side which says HKU has great career prospects leading to 6 figure salaries at MNCs. Question - is this for the majority of classmates at HKU? Is the 6 figure salary in what type of job function? Do Westerners who go to HKU find that the 6 figure salaries are in Asia or the US?

dontgohku you really have NO idea about HKU MBA. HKU MBA is Faculty of Business and Economics !! ha ha, you proved it that you in fact have NO connection with HKU MBA but still keep commenting. Just stop it and go back to your 'top' business school. All the professors listed by western grad are teaching MBA at HKU.

All those professors have PhD from top US schools and that prove their research abilty but say less about their ability to teach and as dontgohku says are they fresh PhD students or established professors who have a stellar teaching and researching and shaping future of world economy?

But again except from the very cream staff of top MBA, most wouldnt.

Also in the brochure, they did not mention about teaching staff and they did mention about career after graduation.

I still believe this is a good programme but not as good as truly world-class ones.

When I heard from some HKU MBA alumni about few people doubting the reputation of HKU, could not resist joining this forum. As a Hong Kong person I can truly give a real picture about the reputation of HKU in this part of the world. The ?Who?s Who? in Hong Kong are ALL alumni of HKU, the brightest students in the territory are HKU students and even after nearly 100 years getting into HKU for any local family is a dream and honor.

As a local I still decided to do my MBA in Hong Kong since my business is Asia based and for me the 1 year at HKU MBA was a fabulous experience. I benefit a great deal as now I have expanded my business in Malaysia and Indonesia through my classmates who are my partners for the joint venture in South Asia. Doing MBA at HKU was one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

?HKStan? and ?dontgohku? have done one good thing ? to wake up us alumni and current students, as we had taken a backseat and allowed these people to shamelessly write wrong postings. I think both of them have a personal grudge for some reason, but this is not the platform to air the same.

I know of so many HKU MBA alumni who were able to change their career track after HKU MBA. Here are some of the people I am aware about.

1. Many typical IT engineers now working in shipping finance in Singapore, carbon trading in HK, medium-sized consulting in HK, few in Dubai developing strategies for big groups. Some of the companies I remember my classmates and some alumni I know work for are ? Standard Chartered, Citi, ING, Credit Suisse, Huntsman, IBM, Philips, L?Oreal, Prudential etc.
2. Many Chinese folks who worked at State Owned Enterprises and now are working in companies like LVMH, Intel, Blackrock, Deutshe Bank, DHL, UBS, Philips, Fidelity, FedEx and so on.
3. Westerners working in HK in companies like Goldman sacs, Van cliff & Arples and in fact many of them went back to their country of origin to become so called ?Asia expert? which in today?s business world is the most sought after qualification.

I suppose purpose of doing MBA for everyone is different. My Indian classmates wanted to move from India to HK/Singapore and many of them did so. Westerners wanted ?Asia? experience and someone like me wanted a new network which I got. No business school is a job portal, it depends a lot on you yourself. HKU MBA is a good solid program with many opportunities and it?s up to us how we leverage that.