Recruiting in China

SINGAPORE : Asian universities are gaining a foothold in the Financial Times' Top 100 MBA list.

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) from China moved up by three spots to 11th position and the French-Singapore collaboration - Insead - was up a notch to 6th position.

At the same time, the Hong Kong UST Business School and the Indian School of Business are making their debut in the upper half of the list.

Jumping 21 spots to 46th position is the Nanyang Business School, the first Singapore university to make it to the top 50.

Not only is the Nanyang Technological University's MBA programme the top 46th in the world, it is also the 15th best in terms of value-for-money.

While the current fees average about US$21,000 (S$30,000), annual salaries earned by its students three years after graduation have gone up by a whopping 111 per cent to an average of US$89,836.

When it comes to finding work anywhere in the world - or international mobility as the survey calls it - the Nanyang Business school is ranked 9th best.

The University's MBA programme has about 100 students and almost 80 per cent of them come from over 20 countries. The school says it expects a spike of 20 to 30 percent in terms of enrolment for its July intake.

One of the driving factors not just for NTU, but also other Asian universities is the rising economic power in the region.

Professor Jitendra Singh, Dean, Nanyang Business School, NTU, said: "One of the primary reasons they have done so well in the FT rankings is that the salaries in China and India, in particular, are increasing dramatically as these economies are opening more and more to global competition."

The school will also be trying to improve the salary rankings of its students, which still fall behind their western counterparts. For example, students from top ranking Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania earn nearly US$76,000 more annually than the NTU alumni.

In terms of global ranking, NTU hopes to be in the top 25 within the next six years. It says it will be constantly recruiting top professionals and reaching out more to global recruiters for its students.

In October last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit placed NTU's MBA as the top three in Asia. - CNA/ch