INSEAD - Mandarin A2 from scratch within a year?

It actually does- while I'm still a bit confused (since it seems HSK changed recently) it appears the exam presents the questions in both characters AND pinyin. If you don't have to memorize 300+ characters then it's much more feasible.

It will still be a hard task, though. My BIL graduated from INSEAD and the demands of the one year program were very intense... so just go into it with your eyes open I guess

You would be a language genius to master Mandarin in less than a year with part time studies and being outside China. In order to get major improvement, one has to go to China/Taiwan for full time immersion. To give you an idea:

300 Chinese radicals is doable with disciplined studying (note: writing, reading, speaking and listening comprehension)
Mandarin has 4 tones in phonetics for each radical
Chinese derives from Sino-Tibetan language and follows different linguistic rules

I did German and French and it was easy compared to Chinese. what are the recent changes in the official HSK exam?

It appears they made HSK a bit easier- there are now 6 written exam levels, and 3 oral exam levels. You can see further details here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanyu_Shuiping_Kaoshi

There's a link to the list of characters/vocabulary required, too. While I do think OP is a little crazy to consider this (and completely agree that it's necessary to spend time HEARING the language in order to actually grasp it) the OP could ostensibly spend a term on the Singapore campus and make some pretty fast progress.

Sailorette,

Thanks for the HSK info, didn't know that the board revamped it and reduced levels from 11 to 6. Simpler with basics, intermediate and advanced.

Socan,
I think one can start from scratch and pass equivalent of HSK basic level 2 within a year with structured studying. But it may be stressful with Insead's 10 month programme and job hunting. Easier in Singapore than Fonty as you get cheap Mandarin language tutors or do free language exchange. But on the street in Singapore, people speak various Chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Fokkien, Cantonese. Note: There are hidden costs at Insead's language classes and exams. Not fully covered by tuition. Most firms in China would like to see intermediate level and higher as proficiency to communicate effectively in Mandarin. To be considered literate and reading Chinese newspapers, one needs a minimum of 1,700 Chinese vocabularies.

it's possible but requires hard work.