any takers?

after Insead Singapore is this the best school in Asia?

I would think so. IIMA (India), CUHK (Hong Kong) and Asian Institute of Management would be other top Asian programs to consider. For international applicant Insead, NUS and maybe CUHK will be the most obvious choices (not including Australia).

I would think so. IIMA (India), CUHK (Hong Kong) and Asian Institute of Management would be other top Asian programs to consider. For international applicant Insead, NUS and maybe CUHK will be the most obvious choices (not including Australia).

The idea of a merger of HKUST ("MIT" of Asia) with another HK university has been discussed for some years. However, as far as I know this was mainly about a merger with CUHK, not HKU:
http://home.doramail.com/hkust/
http://www.scidev.net/gateways/index.cfm?fuseaction=readitem&rgwid=3&item=Features&itemid=192&language=1&CFID=8275422&CFTOKEN=95042387
http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/publication/press/2004/pr030304e.htm

Where did you find that rumor about HKUST/HKU?

I categorically dissagree that National University of Singapore MBA is the second best school in Asia. I have applied for MBA course this year. Since I was interested in enterpreneurship/strategy or management of technology, the two schools I mostly focused on were National University of Singapore and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I have got admission to both schools. In short, by my standards HKUST beats NUS in every single aspect. These schools are just incomparable - so much better HKUST was. Here is my reasoning for those who are interested.

First, the MBA Fairs. I have met both schools on two MBA Fairs. If NUS just bothered to handle as many leaflets as possible, and asked me not to trouble them with questions on the Fair because they are busy, the HKUST guys have found twenty minutes for one-to-one discussion and to answer my questions. This was the same thing on both Fairs.

Second, the way the schools handles the questions. I have sent a few emails to NUS, but received no any single answer. At the same time all emails to HKUST were answered in a couple of days or so. When I asked for the reason for this policy from NUS on the MBA Fair, they answered that they have no time to answer emails. Sorry, but this is not the approach a reputable school should take.

Third, spam. Yes, spam. The NUS did not bother to answer any single email I have sent them, but they kept sending me emails "our school is great, we encourage you to apply to our MBA programme" even after I have gained the admission to their MBA programme! It is quite annoying, and I don't think that this is a good sign. At the same time, I did not receive any such an email from HKUST.

Fourth, the admission interviews. NUS conducted two interviews with me. Each interview took about ten minutes, only general questions, which were almost the same for both interviews. Besides, neither of interviewers - including the professor in the area I was interested it - seemed to bother to read my applicaiton at all. Both were telephone interviews. The quality of connection was terrible, but they did not bother to do anything with it. And although they were impressed with me, I was dissapointed in them. HKUST conducted one interview, face-to-face, one hour of intersting questions and discussions. The interviewer knew my application by heart and asked really good questions.

I think that if the MBA programme administration cannot develop a competitive admission process, they would be unable to develop a good programme. Comparing my experience in NUS with experience in HKUST, I can say that HKUST is MUCH better than NUS. If I am asked for an advice, I would discourage from application to NUS MBA programme.

I categorically dissagree that National University of Singapore MBA is the second best school in Asia. I have applied for MBA course this year. Since I was interested in enterpreneurship/strategy or management of technology, the two schools I mostly focused on were National University of Singapore and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I have got admission to both schools. In short, by my standards HKUST beats NUS in every single aspect. Comparing my experience in NUS with experience in HKUST, I can say that HKUST is MUCH better than NUS. If I am asked for an advice, I would discourage from application to NUS MBA programme.

Easy questions first :).

Regarding my enrollement, initially I was much more interested in NUS because it looked much better on paper - lots of interesting courses, lots of concentrations etc. But after the interviews I changed my mind and enrolled in HKUST.

Regarding HKU vs HKUST. So far as I understand, HKUST as an MBA brand is more respected in HK and the world since, in contrast to HKU, HKUST's Executive MBA is very highly ranked, and HKUST's GSB research rankings are high. But HKU is not to be neglected - in fact, I did not consider HKU only because their academic year starts, if I remember correctly, in November, and I was interested in programmes started in August only. Besides, I was interested in a school in HK with exchange programme in India (I am from Europe and I have MSc Asian Studies, so MBA from HK with exposure in India would strenghten my background a lot), while HKU concentrates on their arrangements with London and NY. I say it again, I do not know the real situation, but as far as I have nosed it out, HKUST is more reputable than HKU, but HKU is also very very reputable. But also it may be just because HKUST MBA better fits my expectations.


Now about what I have compared and why I made my decision like that. Of course, everything is subjective, but I hope it helps.

First of all, about the students. If the admission is easy, the students are usually not so good. Based on the essay topics, interviews, and the behaviour of the schools in MBA Fairs, I would say that (well, for me at least) the admission to NUS is much easier than the admission to HKUST. Also I suggest you search the internet for "admitted to NUS MBA" keywords - you will find a good MBA forum discussion on an Indian website. Read it, and you will see that at NUS MBA you will get about one third of its class of Indian students from IT industry with two-year work experience and rather immature life attitude. I have nothing against Indian students or IT industry at all (even more - I am going to specialize in IT in HKUST, and to spend a semester in IIM or ISB as an exchange student!), but I do have something against a class for my major MBA coursework where 30% of students represent one nation, one industry, and have two years of work experience. Yes, in HKUST I would get a lot of Chinese students. But mostly they have four-five years, not just two years of work experience, and come from a large spectra of different industries. Therefore, in my opinion, the MBA class is better in HKUST. Again, I am 29 with six years of work experience, three university degrees, and four years of residence abroad. If, for example, you are 25 with two years of experience and no residence abroad, NUS class may be more appropriated for you.

Second, as a foreigner in either Singapore or HK I will have a large spectra of problems, such as residency permit, dormitory assistance, medical insurance etc. I assume that if the admission office, or whatever person I talk to before the admission, does not bother to help me with simple questions, he or she will not help me efficiently with really complicated issues. Therefore, the admission was the first thing I judged - not the most important one, but just the first in order.

Third, professors. The interview in HKUST was conducted by the Associate Director for Graduate School of Management. God, this was the most interesting interview in my life! I mean, my feeling was "THIS is what I want to see in my MBA course!". The interviews in NUS were conducted by the Professor in Strategic Management, then by the Dean (or something like that) of the Graduate Business School together with Vice-Director (or something like that) for MBA programme. All three of them asked me the same quesitons: "Why MBA? Why NUS? What are you going to do after MBA? Do you have any questions?". This is not what I expect from MBA. And this is not what I expect from the teaching staff of the programme I am going to get involved in. Besides, please take into account that HKUST has 100% of their MBA lecturers with PhD degrees - this says something. HKUST Graduate School of Business lecturers provide, although in collaboration with Kellog, the second-third best Executive MBA course in the world - nothing similar exists in NUS. HK is also much more a business place than Singapore, therefore invited lecturers and guest speakers in HK are expected to be more interesting and more global. I may be mistaken in the last statement, but this is what many people told me.

Fourth, regarding the facilities. I would count the facilities in NUS absolutely equal to the facilities in HKUST. Both campuses are world-class, pretty new, and pretty rich. The differences in facilities, including libraries, computer rooms, sport facilities etc will be insignificant. I have not visited either of the campuses, but this is what I expect based on feedback from current students.

Fifth, the career opportunities. HK as a place is more booming than Singapore. Therefore, if you are looking for post-graduate employement and career in HK or Singapore, the HK option has higher growth opportunities. If you want to pursue a global career, than HKUST is also a better choice because it has a more global reputation, ranking etc (just compare the exchange arrangmenets of HKUST with those of NUS). The NUS MBA gives you a better start only in two cases. First, you are dreaming of living in Singapore . Second, you are going to work somewhere around Singapore, such as Malaysia or Indonesia.

Well, the last, but not the least. The tuition fee in HKUST is almost twice as high as the one in NUS. Usually the tuition fee is a good indicator of the quality of the programme. Also compare the rankings - the major ones, the Financial Times World top100 and the Economist World top100. HKUST is not in the FT this year due to insufficient number of responces. But last year's data places HKUST as N45 or so in the world, while NUS is ranked N92. The Economist this year ranks HKUST as N37, while NUS is only N99. Okay, rankings are easy to make-up. But the whole picture together looks to me like that this time the rankgins really show the right picture. Regarding HKU MBA, the Economist places it N39 this year - slightly under HKUST MBA, but this programme is not in the FT ranks, which makes it a bit weird. But I still think HKU may be better than NUS. Although you will get a larger course selection in NUS than in HKU or HKUST. Regarding the quality of the courses - probably NUS will be the last out of these three.

Hello Vasilejis,
It's true that your arguments in favour of HKUST were more annex, they are not core arguments. It's not the main issue how good the admission procedure is, but how the quality of studies is, and alumni network etc, all these things that lead for the program to be ranked in the relevant rankings.
Of course it tells us something more significant about the overall qualitiy of the program to know the rank it has in the FT ranking or the Economist ranking.

Anyways, it was very interesting for me to read you comment, especially what you wrote about your experience at the fairs and during the interviews at both schools. I think that for the users of this board it is most useful to get this kind of information you cannot get on the website of the schools - ideally from people with a personal experience.
Did you start your studies yet or only next August? If, what can you say about the courses, professors, composition of classes etc.? Please share!

I will start my studies in August 2007, so that I will try to update this topic some time after that date.

Of course, the arguments I have listed above are not the very core arguments. The very core arguments can be derived from the rankings (HKUST is much higher than NUS in almost every ranked category), lists of the professors, curiculum etc - you can get it all from the school's website. What I tried to list here is - correctly! the information which is not available from the oficial sources. I guess, you all more or less agree that the general rule is, it is more likely that a well-managed school will provide a better programme and attract better students than a mismanaged one. Remember the basics of management science: bad general management leads to bad performance. And the general management is what you can evaluate through observing the school in the activities prior to start of the course. In my case the situation with the general management of the school, in fact, was approximatly the same as with the rankings. But - will see what I can say when i start the studies. At the moment, based on my experience on admission process, HKUST is clearly and incomparably better than NUS.

Easy questions first :).

Regarding my enrollement, initially I was much more interested in NUS because it looked much better on paper - lots of interesting courses, lots of concentrations etc. But after the interviews I changed my mind and enrolled in HKUST.

Regarding HKU vs HKUST. So far as I understand, HKUST as an MBA brand is more respected in HK and the world since, in contrast to HKU, HKUST's Executive MBA is very highly ranked, and HKUST's GSB .....blockquote>

oh man, that is some piece !! thanx a lot!
really enlightening info.

so I assume you are enrolling in HKUST in late August 07?

One more note. HKUST MBA is about 20 year old. HKU MBA is less than 10 year old. Even with the quality of both programmes being equal or comparable, HKUST MBA has a longer reputation and is better known on the market.

I enroll in early August 2007 to take the Preparatory Chinese class.

One more note. HKUST MBA is about 20 year old. HKU MBA is less than 10 year old. Even with the quality of both programmes being equal or comparable, HKUST MBA has a longer reputation and is better known on the market.

I enroll in early August 2007 to take the Preparatory Chinese class.

I am hoping to enroll in 07 :-)
anyone interested in talking about hkust 07' pm me !

Good luck! I have applied for the first round. It took three weeks for them to notify me that I am shorlisted, the interview took place within a week after I received the notification, and I received the admission decision two weeks after the interview.

Drop me a personal message - we can talk online in some chat programme if you have questions.

Anyways, it was very interesting for me to read you comment, especially what you wrote about your experience at the fairs and during the interviews at both schools. I think that for the users of this board it is most useful to get this kind of information you cannot get on the website of the schools - ideally from people with a personal experience.

Did you start your studies yet or only next August? If, what can you say about the courses, professors, composition of classes etc.? Please share!

Hi Vasilijs,

Thanks so much for taking the time and making the effort tho write such a long post. This is the valuable first hand information we all REALLY need, going beyong the information you can get from outside, rankings, statistics, random opinions.

I guess we will refer to your post quite a few times from now on, whenever there is a question about HKUST ;-)

Have a good time - anyways, sounds like a good experience!

Hi vasilijs,

Terrific post! Can you shed any light on why Insead's average salaries are higher than HKUST's in Hong Kong?

Thanks,

wonderful observations. Thank you very much. it was really helpful.

To introduce myself, I am an IT professional from India. Currently am in USA. I have a some total experience of 4 years.
I want to do pursue my MBA so that it would enhance my career in the IT field.

Would a MAB from NUS (or any other Asian B school) be a good choice for me ?
Secondly, what should be my specialization?


Thanks in advance

Hi vasilijs,

Terrific post! Can you shed any light on why Insead's average salaries are higher than HKUST's in Hong Kong?

Thanks,