Top 10 MBA Programs in China and Hong Kong

Triple-accredited Tongji runs a 24-month international MBA taught in English and costing about $45,000. It is open to students from all over the world, with the diverse cohort enriching the learning experience. What’s more, students can go on exchange to more than 50 other business schools to further hone their global management expertise. 

Guanghua is accredited by both AACSB and EQUIS. It benefits from its brand, being based on the beautiful campus of Peking University, China’s oldest educational institution. The full-time MBA focuses on providing a China-centric lens on doing business, which will give anyone who wants to work in the region an edge. With many markets and companies looking to China for growth, knowledge of the Chinese business landscape could serve many people well.  

Beijing’s Tsinghua is a prestige name in China and beyond. The school’s full-time MBA is taught with MIT Sloan in the US and can be completed in just one year, providing a quick return on investment, plus a truly global perspective. The business school, whose course is taught in both Chinese and English, was the first school in the Chinese mainland to be accredited by AACSB. 

The Sun Yat-Sen Business School is accredited by the three major bodies and is ranked by the Economist. The international MBA program is taught in English and runs for 24 months. Program fees are a bargain compared with some bigger-brand competitors. 

CUHK is one of the longest-established business schools in Asia. Its strong and connective alumni network numbers 34,000 globally, including 6,600 MBA alumni. The combination of brand, prestige and networks give CUHK MBA graduates strong employment outcomes: more than 90 per cent of them land a job within three months and the average class salary is nearly $116,000. 

SJTU Antai was the first business school in China to be triple-accredited by AACSB, EQUIS, and AMBA. SJTU Antai is also the only business school in China to be situated in in the booming commercial district of Xujiahui in downtown Shanghai, one of China’s key business capitals, which provides easy access to top corporate recruiters. 

The Economist has ranked the University of Hong Kong’s MBA as the best program in Asia for eight consecutive years — an impressive feat, and 25th globally. The school’s MBA also scored particularly highly on the FT’s specialty ranking for finance, suggesting career prospects in that field are excellent. 

Fudan in Shanghai boasts an enviable accolade: the highest increase on pre-MBA pay among FT-ranked schools. Alumni three years from graduation increased their salary by 195 percent to more than $110,000. What’s more, Fudan alumni ranked third in terms of career progress and were the sixth most likely to be hired three months after graduation, with the employment rate 97 percent. 

In Hong Kong, HKUST is one of the best business schools. It is ranked 18th globally by the FT and the school is ranked similarly highly for the quality of its research. HKUST was also the first business school in the region to achieved accreditation by both the US-based AACSB International and Europe-focused EQUIS awarding bodies. 

Shanghai’s CEIBS has had a stellar past few years. It has rocketed up the Financial Times Global MBA ranking, achieving fifth place in 2019, its best ever performance. That puts CEIBS, which was only established 1994, in the very top tier alongside big-name US brands like Harvard, which pioneered the MBA degree about a century ago.