Singapore, The Ideal Location for an International MBA?

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Singapore, The Ideal Location for an International MBA?

MBA part-timer on juggling world travel with world class education at Nanyang

Lyn Kwek chose to stay home and hedge her bets by studying in Singapore

Lyn Kwek was born and raised in Singapore and is looking for an international career, so why then did she opt for an MBA at Nanyang? When there are so many other top schools abroad, shouldn’t the Yunnan Garden Campus have been the last place she wanted to study in?

Lyn believes her homeland’s merits more than justified staying put. A marketer by trade, she dives right into explaining why Singapore is easy to pitch to foreign students. “I’ve lived here all my life and enjoyed every minute of it,” she says.

“Singapore offers an appealing mix of cutting-edge infrastructure, a world-class education system and a dynamic cosmopolitan vibe thanks to a blend of Eastern and Western cultures.”

She also points out that The World Bank’s Doing Business 2010 Report ranked Singapore as the easiest place in the world to do business.

The city state’s profile seems even better when compared to stagnating western rivals. Singapore’s export-dependent economy contracted by 1.9% in 2009, only to bounce back by growing14% the following year. It currently ranks sixth for GDP per capita, above the US and Hong Kong.

Nanyang itself is a great school for students who wish to familiarise themselves with the region, Lyn claims.

“We have many international students who maximize their Asia experience by travelling to other Asian countries during school breaks and Singapore’s excellent geographical position makes travel within Asia a breeze.”

During her part-time MBA, Lyn has continued working as a Marketing Manager, which often requires her to hop frequently between airports in the Pacific.

But despite Singapore’s central location, she admits that “the hardest part of the course is to juggle between my travel plans and attending classes.

“Fortunately the MBA course is flexible in terms of allowing me to decide how many courses I would like to take in a trimester which helps me in my time management.”

Lyn has chosen to build on her impressive background by specialising in marketing at Nanyang. When she finishes, she plans to stay within her sector and hopes to rise to more strategic roles as her career progresses.

For now, she’s enjoying playing host to a class of mostly international fellow students.

“My favourite part of the course is my classmates. I love being surrounded by so many smart people from diverse cultures and backgrounds and having the opportunity to work and learn from them is very stimulating.”

This is also a useful networking opportunity for Lyn. About 90% of Nanyang MBAs graduating from last year’s class went on to work in Asia.

Comments

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Thursday 17th March 2011, 15.14 (UTC)

Alexandra Dean

Singapore is a great first city to live in in Asia but mainland China is where all the action is gona be over the next 20 years!

Thursday 17th March 2011, 15.29 (UTC)

Nathan Portman

@Lyn what kind of marketing do you specialise in? Is Nanyang a good school for marketing or did you go there to learn about other business disciplines?

Sunday 20th March 2011, 16.02 (UTC)

Lyn Kwek

Hi Nathan, there is a diverse range of courses under the marketing specialisation for you to choose from eg product marketing, consumer marketing, marketing communications etc. Personally, I tend to choose courses relating to B2B marketing because it is more relevant to my current job scope and interest. The Nanyang MBA provides a good basic foundation for different aspects of business and deep dive into your choice of specialisation, be it finance, strategy, technology, which in my case I specifically went there to take up marketing. And yes, so far so good!

Hi Nadejda, agree! Even the Singapore government encourages Singapore companies to explore business opportunities in China so that we dont miss out on this next big wave and the Nanyang MBA also run course such as "Doing Business in China" as well as exchange/summer programs with the Chinese schools for students who like to have more exposure to the China market.

Tuesday 22nd March 2011, 08.38 (UTC)

Shibley Rahman

Dear Lyn,

This is a fantastic article.

Singapore would interest me for quite different reasons. My training is predominantly in corporate law, and therefore it hasn't gone unnoticed, let's say, that Singapore presents a huge emerging market for technological advancements, and progression of business through commercial vehicles and transactions (such as joint ventures and share acquisitions).

The article raises by accident of how you measure the success of the country. Indeed, here in England, there has been much interest in our well-being or happiness index, coincidentally as GDP slows down (albeit more slowly) here for us. Singapore could rank more highly on these happiness indexes, but the general consensus appears to be that this reflects more on the measurement of happiness (and its faults), rather than some intrinsic problem with happiness in Singapore.

Given a choice between London and Singapore, I'm afraid there's no doubt that I would like to try Singapore - but indeed, as you've expressed Lyn, home is where the heart is, so I don't think I would go for long.

PS I'm doing my MBA at BPP Business School at London, here at St Mary Axe, and our student mix is excellent; it would be great if you could encourage some of your colleagues to visit us!

Kind regards.