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Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, and the Indian School of Business, four rival Asian business schools, have joined forces to recruit students from North American and Europe, reports a Bloomberg Businessweek article, "Asian B-Schools Target Western Students." Collaborative initiatives include traveling to target countries together to give joint presentations, and maintaining a joint website, TopASIAbschools.com. For their first recruiting tour, the four Asian schools plan on visiting London, Paris, Madrid, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Students that are considering MBA programs at schools like London Business School, Harvard, or Wharton are the target students for these top Asian b-schools. "There's the Ivy League in America," says Nick Soriano, Nanyang's director of marketing and admissions, "so we thought: 'Why can't we Asian business schools do the same kind of thing.'"
Asia's recent economic boom is responsible for the concurrent success of its business administration programs. Singapore and Hong Kong universities report that in the last five years their Western applications have doubled. At Nanyang last year alone the number of students from the Americas increased fivefold.
Last year American and European students made up 20% of Hong Kong University of Science & Technology's MBA class; in 2001 there were half as many. At CEIBS 22% of the MBA class hails from the U.S. and Europe. 80% of the Western students who attend CEIBS remain in China after graduation to work.
Western students are attracted to these top Asia b-schools for a number of reasons. First, English is the language of instruction, making the coursework 100% accessible. Also, the programs are shorter and cost less. Studying at the Indian School of Business where you can walk away with a degree one year and less than $50,000 later, is a lot more appealing to some students than studying at Wharton for two years at a whopping hundred grand. The opportunity to gain international work experience is yet another considerable draw, in addition to the fact that large western companies have begun recruiting more and more from top Asian business schools.
And these schools are good. Very good. In the 2010 Financial Times global business school rankings, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology tied with Chicago Booth for ninth place. The other three schools in the new alliance are all included in the FT's top 30: ISB was ranked number 12 this year; the China Europe International Business School came in at the number 22 spot; and Nanyang came in 27th on the list of the top 100 b-schools. (London Business School, Wharton, and Harvard snagged the top three spots.)
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