MBA Discussion Board

Many would agree that degrees from these two schools are the best in Asia. Finance junkies will surely choose Hong Kong UST, but for overall MBA prestige INSEAD does have the edge outside of Asia. In my opinion the only way to find out which one is the best for you is to apply to both of them and talk to as many people as you can.

I personally would take HONG KONG UST anyday, not only in Finance.. Insead Singapore is very overrated, one quick visit to that campus tells all. but then again if someone is into the whole "image is everything" mantra, he/she might think different.

Every MBA program is unique and everyone needs to make a careful decison when choosing an MBA, its one of the bigger expenses in life! In Asia however I would narrow it down to Hong KOng UST, Insead, and possibly CEIBS if one speaks Chinese and wants to work only in Mainland CHina (Beijing or Shanghai)

To the person using various identities/usernames and staging fake "discussions" about how great HKUST is and how bad INSEAD is: I don't know if you get paid by HKUST to do this (which would shed a new light on its marketing techniques). But please stop, you are boring everybody on this forum to death!

[Edited by Kate_hk on 30 Sep 2007]

[Edited by Globetraveler on 01 Oct 2007]

Can anyone be more "facts full" from a third party or verifiable source, than I have been in my first post on this thread??

when INSEAD starts posting facts, cold hard facts, and starts citing statistics, instead of just talking with no supporting documents than we can have a true discussion here.

For the 100th time, can someone answer this question.

What is INSEAD known for ???

being an MBA factory with no specific specialization? can anyone do better than that?

Kate_HK which statements in this thread about INSEAD and Hong Kong UST do you specifically disagree with?

[Edited by jelt on 08 Nov 2007]

Also, INSEAD just introduced a dbl degree EMBA programme with Tsinghua. I think there's a reason why they didn't choose HKUST. The name of HKUST is just not very big at all.

[Edited by shawn.hk on 09 Nov 2007]

I'm new to here but from reading the past posts, there seems to be some ignorant HKUST people in here. I live in Canada and i have never even heard of HKUST and Insead is ranked number on Forbes and what's funny is that when you look up insead on wikipedia and you scroll down to the alumni's you will be seeing a "shit load" of Ceo's and Presidents who have gone through training at Insead and not HKUST such as the presidents for Louis Vuitton, LVMH, and MTV...etc.............................................

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INSEAD

[Edited by shawn.hk on 09 Nov 2007]

Also, INSEAD just introduced a dbl degree EMBA programme with Tsinghua. I think there's a reason why they didn't choose HKUST. The name of HKUST is just not very big at all.

Do you want to say that Tsinghua is a much bigger name? Well, won't really believe it. HKUST also has got quite strong alliance partners for joint - NYU and Kellogg - I think, INSEAD did not want to exlore this hub since it is already saturated.

Regarding rejecting Wharton for INSEAD - I have just talked to a person who was admitted to INSEAD, but rejected it in favour of Melbourne Graduate School of Business.

For the quality of students - not only quality if important. I have talked to a number of INSEAD students, and it was one of the major reasons I rejected the INSEAD option. The students in INSEAD may be smart, but I did not want to be friends with 50% of those I spoke to...

And I definetely agree with you - the agressive HKUST posts against INSEAD all over the net is a bad way to market the programme. I don't know who and why really does it - I am a current HKUST MBA student, and I don't see this "Hate INSEAD" attitude here.

I think the fact is that people choose their schools for many reasons. I had a friend who rejected Chicago GSB and Wharton for INSEAD. It doesn't mean that INSEAD is better than the others; it just means it fit his needs better. I have also talked to many INSEAD students, and many of them really impressed me. So I guess it really depends on your individual experiences.

To give another example (anecodotal, but I suspect it may be how many asians think about these schools) today I learnt that in the new world-wide rankings of educational institutions (not just MBA), HKUST is ranked higher than Stanford. When my Hong Kong native friends discovered this, they heaped scorn on HKUST and said that the rankings were just stupid.

To be honest, I've heard the same from many Singaporeans about NTU/NUS and many Chinese students about the MBA programmes at CEIBS/Tsinghua/PKU.

For a foreigner looking to come to Asia, though, it might be a different matter. If you want to work in the HK financial markets, HKUST may indeed be your best bet, just like Columbia or NYU may be a better bet if you want to work in NY's financial market than even maybe Stanford or Harvard.

However, if you're looking for name recognition across Asia and maybe beyond, practically everyone in China and increasingly across Asia too knows Tsinghua/PKU. These two schools may not have very strong MBA programmes, but they're beneficiaries of the extremely strong names of their parent schools.

As for INSEAD, as another Canadian poster has noted, world-wide, many many more people know INSEAD than any other Asian school.

Having said that, I really appreciate your lucid, rational post. You've redeemed the name of HKUST, in my book.

[Edited by vasilijs on 10 Nov 2007]

does anybody know how HKUST stacks up against INSEAD in placements?

gerard,

good timing for the question...found a link that shows exactly this.

A big firecracker on this whole debate... puts everything to perspective. Now every time I read globetraveler's post, I wonder what he was smoking. Just look at the freaking numbers! I think those who keep claiming HKUST is "way better" than INSEAD, and finance rocks and what not - should take a look at this guys blog - seriously.

onwardtomba.blogspot.com/2008/05/insead-vs.html

does anybody know how HKUST stacks up against INSEAD in placements?

[Edited by phonefreak on 12 Jun 2008]

[Edited by copernicus on 14 Jun 2008]

yes indeed i need to stop posting here because its a waste of time responding to someone such as yourself...

exiting salaries for Kellogg/HUST EMBA are 315K which is 50k more than Wharton EMBA and 100k more than Insead EMBA.

rankings.ft.com/emba-rankings

how do you figure hkust mba salary is 1/2 insead?

the same perso might go to Insead, sure depends on what you are looking for in an MBA.

so brilliant. comparing EMBA exit salaries with MBA! any other tricks that you want to use? why are you comparing EMBA executive salaries with regular MBA?

please don't post anymore bcoz that will really help others ;)

well it seems your take on MBA is strictly focused on salaries. going that way the best salary/networking combination in Asia is that particular EMBA without any doubt.

i apologize, now i see that when i first mentioned the program i somehow wrote Kellogg/HKUST MBA, it should have been EMBA!

so brilliant. comparing EMBA exit salaries with MBA! any other tricks that you want to use? why are you comparing EMBA executive salaries with regular MBA?

please don't post anymore bcoz that will really help others ;)

well it seems your take on MBA is strictly focused on salaries. going that way the best salary/networking combination in Asia is that particular EMBA without any doubt.

i apologize, now i see that when i first mentioned the program i somehow wrote Kellogg/HKUST MBA, it should have been EMBA!

ok too much fighting going on. in any case let's not now debate EMBA with MBA -- they're very different. whatever the case, good luck with your MBA and hope you get a job you want. this is my last post too...need to focus on prepration.

[Edited by copernicus on 17 Jun 2008]