Hong Kong Offers Rapid Career Advancement for MBAs
The former British colony of Hong Kong offers unique opportunities for MBA students. It is one of the busiest ports in the world. Global banks, consultancies and other multinationals have large offices in the territory. It borders China’s special economic zone of Shenzhen, China’s hardware manufacturing hub. The territory is rightly known as the gateway to China.
From a personal point of view, though, MBA students report that it is relatively easy to obtain a student visa and to stay on and work after completing their degree. This means they are better able to achieve the rapid career advancement that can be on offer in such a fast-moving environment.
In an interview with Financial Times, MBA alumnus of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, Gerardo Salandra says “something that Hong Kong has that is special, is a mix from east and west,” adding that “in Hong Kong, people work hard but are innovative. It is a mix of two extreme poles in one place and that’s fascinating.”
Moving to Hong Kong to study for an MBA was a good decision for Salandra. After graduating from CUHK Business School, he has taken advantage of the city’s ambitions to nurture high growth start-ups by launching Rocketbots, a tech venture building AI-powered chatbot systems.
Ishita Dikshit, current full-time MBA student was also interviewed by the newspaper. Dikshit has just started on the MBA program at CUHK Business School in September 2017, having moved to Hong Kong from her home town, New Delhi. She shared in the interview that the biggest shock was the cost of living in Hong Kong, with travel and food more than double the price she would pay in India’s capital city.
“The cost of living is definitely high, compared to India,” she says, but adds: “If you end up working in Hong Kong you’ll end up earning more, so maybe that will compensate for the expenses at the moment.”
The above mentioned interviews were conducted at the CUHK Business School campus on 4 September 2017 by Financial Times’ London-based business education correspondent Jonathan Moules. Moules visited the School for the special report entitled “Educating the Next Chinese Business Leaders” which was live in the newspaper’s online news portal on 28 September 2017.
On 4 September 2017, the Financial Times journalist also met with Prof. Kalok Chan, Dean of CUHK Business School and Wei Lun Professor of Finance; Stephanie Villemagne, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs and Director of MBA Programs; Prof. Andrew Chan, Director of Executive MBA Program; Prof. Shige Makino, Professor of Department of Management and Co-directors of Master of Science in Management (MiM) Program; Prof. Kevin Au, Associate Professor of Department of Management, Associate Director of Center for Entrepreneurship and Director of Center for Family Business; as well as Dr. John Lai, Senior Lecturer of Department of Management and Co-Director of MiM Program…
You can click here to view the video entitled “Doing an MBA in Hong Kong” with our MBA alumnus’ and student’s interviews featured in 00:01-1:09.
Media: Financial Times
Section: Business Education
Date published: September 28, 2017