HKU vs HKUST

Question

Good morning, I know this question might sound peculiar given that usually people here are ask which MBA to choose, but I’ve been given the opportunity to do an Exchange program of one term during my bachelor in Economics and Management. My choice would be between HKU and HKUST. Given that I’d like to continue my studies with a Msc in either Management or Finance( I’d like to break into PE) which b-school should I choose? P.S. the options seem almost equal money-wise as they’d both offer me housing.

SarfrazAP · Answer

HKUST just seems like the better school to me, given your finance orientation and desire to break into PE. It has very strong finance reputation, it has a lot of alumni in PE/IB roles, and it just generally provides better finance exposure. I've always thought of HKU as a more generalist school than a finance focused one.

GreyWhite · Answer

Is HKUST as internationally well-known as HKU? It seems HKUST is not that famous in Europe and the USA

SarfrazAP · Answer

Yes, HKU has a stronger international recognition because of its longer history, but in finance and tech circles, HKUST is very well known, probably even better known. So really depends on what you want more.

GreyWhite · Answer

So if you want to have a career in finance, you should go for HKUST while you should choose HKU of you want to do general management? What about CUHK?

GreyWhite · Answer

I also notice a lot of expats, especially those from Europe and N. America tend to choose to study for a business or other non business master's at HKU. Seems it says a lot about its rep.

SarfrazAP · Answer

Yes, broadly speaking HKUST is stronger for finance, investment banking, and quantitative fields, with a solid reputation in Asia for these industries. HKU is better for general management, law, and public policy, with stronger global recognition and a well-established alumni network.

CUHK would be below both of these as far as international prestige is concerned.

If PE is what you want to get into, I still think HKUST is the better choice because it will put you in the right network and openings in PE/VC are all about network.

GreyWhite · Answer

thanks for your advice!!

GreyWhite · Answer

HKU MBA is absent from some mba rankings such as the LinkedIn and Bloomberg one. Does it imply it’s not as good as the HKuST one in the business sector?

GreyWhite · Answer

In general rather than their mba programmes, which university is more known?

bb · Answer

Not known. Business schools are not known and the universities are not known.

The reason HKU is missing from rankings is that it just takes time to get invited sometimes or they are too small of a class size or they do not want to participate. Hard to tell, but HKUST is more established.

GreyWhite · Answer

Didn’t realise HKust or HKU weren’t well known in the world. They have been advertising themselves as global universities with a lot of European and North American students😁😂

bb · Answer

I’m sure they may have many European students but have you looked at the class size?

It’s hard to have a lot of students when your class is only 50 people. It’s also hard to be well known in Europe if you have such a small class size.

Hong Kong is a very nice place but it will be almost impossible to get a job without language skills in Hong Kong. For example, most HKUST, most non-HK students recruit in Singapore.

GreyWhite · Answer

Yes I also checked that on LinkedIn. HKU MBA has more students and graduates from North America and Europe than HKUST

bb · Answer

HKU enrolled 50 people per year.

GreyWhite · Answer

I think it's more than that because they have 4 study modes. Overall there should be around 200 students per cohort. But yes full time is 50.

HKU vs HKUST

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