Hey everybody,

I have recently graduated (Industrial Engineering) from a German technical University and am now working in a project controlling function of an utility company in Germany.

Since, my specialization during my studies was not in particular finance or accounting I am thinking of doing a post-graduate program after several years of work experience in order to gain further qualifications in this area. Moreover, I would like to develop towards a more strategic finance function, such as M&A Manager within an industry company.

I have an Asian background and already did an internship in Thailand at a MNC during my studies. So, I am thinking of doing an Asian MBA focused on finance in the future. Working in Asia (mainly SEA countries) is definitely my next carreer goal. However, I also would like to have the chance to return to Europe in the longterm. So I was asking myself, if doing in MBA in Asia would give me that chance or an MBA program from a prestigious school in Europe would be the better choice.

The schools in Asia I am considering are:
HKUST, CEIBS, NUS, Nanyang Business School

These are great schools, and I'd also add HKU and Insead to your list. To be honest, even SMU, ESSEC, CUHK etc are good.

NUS and NTU are the obvious schools in Singapore, and I think Singapore's a better place for strategic finance than HK or Shanghai. HKUST is the top place there. In Shanghai, Fudan and SHUFE are also worth considering.

Thanys JK Duncan for your first input. I haven't had ESSEC on my list because I did not know they had a Singapore Campus. I checked their site but I could not see if their MBA is offered on the SG campus as well. Furthermore I think their MBA is relatively young because they used to have only their MSc. (Grande Ecoles) and EMBA program.
Insead is on my list indeed. However futur will tell me if its out of my range or not.

To be honest I am looking for a finance oriented program which is highly recognised in SEA (excl. mainland China), e.g. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia or Vietnam. For that purpose I suppose that the Singapore BS are the better choice, right?
I added the HK and Shanghai Schools on my list because they have great programs which are recognised in France and Germany as well. During my MSc. I did an exchange at EMLyon and meet MBAs from CEIBS, which were very good students.
So my question is: if I want to work in ASEAN countries AND would like to do a program which has a global brand, which schools would fit my purpose better? Rather NUS/NTU or HKUST or CEIBS. I should add that I dont speak mandarin but have an ASEAN background and already lived in 2 ASEAN countries. My concern is, that NUS/NTU are too far away from a world class MBA and with such a degree the job search outside ASEAN could be difficult. On the other hand I am not sure if an HKUST (or another school from HK) degree would bind me too much on chinese business.

I think the main task for you is to resolve if you want to work in ASEAN. If you think that you need to have a degree with a strong network outside ASEAN then a programme that's divided between ASEAN are elsewhere will be a safer bet. The NTU-HSG MBA might be an example.

ESSEC would involve at least one term in Paris. I think their advanced masters in financial techniques might also be worth looking at. They have been teaching the MBA in English for around 20 years. It's strong for finance but, yes, I think you're right that the Singapore universities will be strongest.

I would generally agree with Duncan that a program where you study in Europe might serve you well.

CEIBS also looks like a strong option. Its alumni base is spread out, so you have alumni networks in the various places where you may want to end up working. For example, although about half of the class of 2011 ended up staying in China, almost 1 in 5 went to ASEAN countries, and a good number also ended up in Europe.

Hey everybody,

I have recently graduated (Industrial Engineering) from a German technical University and am now working in a project controlling function of an utility company in Germany.

Since, my specialization during my studies was not in particular finance or accounting I am thinking of doing a post-graduate program after several years of work experience in order to gain further qualifications in this area. Moreover, I would like to develop towards a more strategic finance function, such as M&A Manager within an industry company.

I have an Asian background and already did an internship in Thailand at a MNC during my studies. So, I am thinking of doing an Asian MBA focused on finance in the future. Working in Asia (mainly SEA countries) is definitely my next carreer goal. However, I also would like to have the chance to return to Europe in the longterm. So I was asking myself, if doing in MBA in Asia would give me that chance or an MBA program from a prestigious school in Europe would be the better choice.

The schools in Asia I am considering are:
HKUST, CEIBS, NUS, Nanyang Business School

SMU is a young school and it takes time to appear in the rankings, but I think it's obviously a school that's already recognised by the top international employers in Singapore (Deloitte, HP, IBM, Oracle etc). In five or ten years time I am sure it will be in the major rankings.

So would you say that SMU is comparable to the other schools in Singapore - NUS and Nanyang, specifically?

Right now, it's clearly NUS > NTU > SMU but all three schools are strong and SMU will certainly enter the top tier of schools eventually. I think it might overtake NTU given 10 or 20 years.

It's too bad that SMU doesn't publish employment reports, it would be interesting to compare these Singapore programs based on actual stats. I was surprised to find out that more Nanyang grads go into sales/marketing roles than financial/accounting...

Right now, it's clearly NUS > NTU > SMU but all three schools are strong and SMU will certainly enter the top tier of schools eventually. I think it might overtake NTU given 10 or 20 years.

I've got around 600 gmat, and would consider applying to SMU, do I need to improve further on gmat? once again there is no ranking or placement stats for SMU, could anyone share some light on this..

I expect the average GMAT at SMU will be 680. I'd recommend getting this score if your work experience and academics are similar to or better than other applicants; higher if not.