A colleague of mine studied Finance at HKUST and he was really pleased with the program. But he did mention that a lot of his experience was about networking more than studying, in order to secure the job he wanted. Do you speak Mandarin? For studying, it's not necessary, but in the Financial sector it might narrow your possibilities if you don't speak it and you want to stay in Hong Kong. Also, are you looking to change your sector? If so, the MBA would be good, if not, perhaps it's not so necessary. Are you already based in Asia?

Yup planning to work in Honk kong, singapore or malaysia after finishing the course.

Sounds good. As I said, I'm mostly familiar with HKUST, and both people I know who went there found jobs quickly in Hong Kong and Singapore. Good luck!

Sounds good. As I said, I'm mostly familiar with HKUST, and both people I know who went there found jobs quickly in Hong Kong and Singapore. Good luck!

Your friends are very lucky. Being a financial center, recruiting in Hong Kong has been a bit slow and many HK-UST mba'ers have struggled to find jobs. Be careful when you read career statistics. "90% have jobs within 3 months of graduation" sounds great, but if a large portion of them have (a) not found jobs in the industry they want, (b) returned to former positions, (c) taken low paying jobs because they can't get what they want, then the statistic is meaningless. I have a friend at HK-UST and he said the career support is terrible. They've gone through 3 careers directors in 3 years and students receive virtually no meaningful support. He said the resume/interview preparation is OK, but HK-UST can't pull the big recruiters on campus so finding the job is entirely up to the individual.

I think this is the 'new normal' for schools everywhere, other than the top US and Indian schools. If you look at http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings-2012 and add in the column for Placement, you'll that that for careers services HKU is rated 81st, HKUST 77th and even Peking 71st. The Australian schools are 89th and 94th. (Indeed, in the whole of Europe there are only three schools in the top 50).

So, there's a generalised paradox: students have misconceptions of how MBA hiring actually happens, and schools are not shifting to provide coaching and networking support: the European and Asian schools need to stop prioritising bring employers' hiring managers onto campus and instead focus on more intelligence, alumni networking and individual support.

Excellent Duncan, nobody cant put it more right than yourself.

Only when you experience the american way of career services, then you see the rest of the world is far lagging behind.

The 3 top non-us schools are in fact those that copied the american way with good success such as INSEAD or LBS. Aside from LSE, Oxbridge or very grand schools such as the Science Po no other schools have a meaningful way to organise alumni networking and individualised career support.

The alumni efforts of elite universities is more like a tradition rather than an organised effort. In the US, once you graduate you bring the name with you your whole life. Be it the ivy league or a upstate univeristy

It's not that the rest of the world is lagging behind the US and India; it's that the realities of these markets are very different. These are massive national markets with a huge division of labour inside their largest firms and, thus, the possibility to fill large, centralised MBA recruitment schemes. Even in a regional city in the US, you will find a global business looking to hire large numbers: Coke for Emory; Dell for UTA; Exxon, BP and Chevron for Rice etc. The top ten employers might pick up most of the class.

The non-US and non-Indian schools can't copy the US and Indian model of feeding into local multinationals. They have profoundly national markets and need to supplement the account management style. At HKUST, the top ten employers account for around 6% of the alumni base. You can't have a Indian-style placement approach in which employer send buses to collect large numbers. Greater China, like Europe, Latin America and the Arab word, is based on relationships. The school's careers service needs to be entwined with the alumni organisation, and bringing alumni (not just alumni recruiters) into closer contact with students and each other. That is -- of course -- exactly the way that Oxbridge and the top Grande Ecole work.

PS INSEAD actually isn't one of the top 50 schools for placement. It has a few strong relationships: with McKinsey and the 'Three Bs' (which traditionally recruited most alumni) but really not such strong resources outside that. The three top European schools for placement are IMD, IESE and LBS.

The school's careers service needs to be entwined with the alumni organisation, and bringing alumni (not just alumni recruiters) into closer contact with students and each other. That is -- of course -- exactly the way that Oxbridge and the top Grande Ecole work.

This is on the money! Many HKUST students compare their alumni services to that which they experience on exchange, and find the HKUST offer is sadly lacking. More interaction with alumni and better networking is vital.

Well, the key to this is to make the students work in and through the network themselves, and not wait for the school to make introductions. It would not be too hard for every student to call ten alumnus - one a month each - and then they could speak to the whole community person to person.

I certainly agree with this. Finding a job is a student responsibility and they need to take ownership for networking and creating opportunities. At the same time, the school can do a lot to assist and this goes beyond "how to prepare a resume" workshops and a resume book.

Your suggestion regarding calling alumni is gold, so you will be surprised to hear at HKUST there is relatively low levels of alumni engagement and, unbelievably, the alumni office is often reluctant to facilitate connection b/w students and alumns. Reason being many alumns leave the the HKUST MBA being glad it's over, and not with fond memories of the program or how they were treated. Sadly, this means they're less likely to assist current students.

As for each student calling 10 alumns, considering alumns in blue-chip firms would get more than their fair share of calls, I'm not sure this works in practice.

If it was a part of the HKUST 'rite of passage' then alumni would understand it and respect it. Not everyone would pick up the phone but some would. Of course it would be better to call for a specific reason but, even if it was a mechanical thing, you'd be surprised how often the phone doesn't ring - even for senior people. One call a year from the place you spent your formative times... that doesn't sound too much.

One call a year from the place you spent your formative times... that doesn't sound too much.

I agree. Unfortunately, if graduates finish up feeling glad it's over (and feeling animosity to the school for the way they've been treated) even that one call a year can be too much.

Last year HK-UST invited three year alumns to a reunion, but when they arrived they realised it was all about the Financial Times rankings questionnaire which was about to be sent to those who graduated 3 years earlier. At the "reunion", HK-UST asked these recent alumns to say good things on the questionnaire.

I know for a fact many of these alumns were upset they hear nothing from the school for years and then they get invited to a function where they are told how to fill out a school evaluation. Hardly ethical and hardly consistent with building a strong alumni body which connects to the school in a manner which helps current students.