Top Asian Business Schools Unite for International Recruitment

Four top Asian business schools have announced they are collaborating in order to recruit more international MBA students, starting in America.

The HKUST Business School in Hong Kong, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, and Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have formed a coalition specifically for overseas recruitment, dubbed ‘Top Asia B-Schools’.

Due to make a debut in North America at the QS World MBA Tour in Los Angeles (September 11th), San Francisco (September 12th), Toronto (September 19th) and New York (September 25th), the ‘Top Asia B-School’ alliance is made up of four of the top 15 business schools in the Asia Pacific region, according to The QS World University Rankings™.

Joining forces

“While we compete with each other for students, we have joined together because we share a real passion for excellence in business education and for Asia,” explains Professor Yeo, Nanyang Business School‘s interim dean. “To sustain this region’s rapid growth, we need more global business leaders with a deep understanding of the region.”

“By presenting ourselves as a group, it is easier to showcase opportunities for North American students at each of our schools. We want to encourage their applications to increase the numbers of globally minded students in our annual admissions.”

While HKUST, Nanyang Technological University, and CEIBS already have high percentages of international students at 93%, 79% and 37% respectively, international MBA students at the Indian School of Business are currently lacking, at only 4%. However, it is hoped that the new MBA recruitment alliance will increase international MBA student quotas from outside of Asia at all four business schools. 

Destination Asia 

Emphasizing the ever growing importance of Asia, and in particular Singapore, Hong Kong, India and China in the business world, Professor Cheng, dean of HKUST Business School explains, “More business, and consequently more wealth, is moving from West to East each year. Some 139 of the Fortune Global 500 are now based in Asia, a 10% increase from 2008 to 2009. Despite the global financial crisis, Asia is growing at an astonishing rate.

“Tomorrow’s global business leaders see this. They are beginning to appreciate the value of understanding Asian culture in kick-starting their careers, something they can only achieve by living and working in some of the region’s most influential cities.”

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