Its AACSB-accredited MBA, the first in Asia, celebrates its fiftieth birthday this year. It’s just as well, as there’s never been a better time to be a finance-focused MBA student in Hong Kong.
“Around 40% of our MBAs go into careers in finance”, says CUHK's MBA recruitment director Lawrence Chan, at an event in London discussing China's private equity markets.
Known generally as the largest market for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the world, more companies go public in Hong Kong than anywhere else. Additionally, the Hong Kong government doesn’t suspend IPOs, as you often find in major Asian cities like Shanghai, and it has one of the highest concentrations of banks of any city in the world.
Moreover, due to restrictions on stock markets in major Chinese cities, giants such as PetroChina, China Mobile and HSBC aren’t registered on stock markets on the mainland, rather in Hong Kong.
“Our MBAs stand to benefit from one of the most intriguing boom markets in the world”, says Paul McGuinness, who teaches finance on the program. “Hong Kong is in the uniquely advantageous position of not being in a bubble despite having a stock market capitalization to GDP ratio of over 1200%.”
The figure for London, comparatively, sits at 150%, with a standard figure of 200% being the threshold for a boom.
“It’s also much easier for non-Chinese investors to invest in Hong Kong than in Shanghai, for example”, Paul continues. Having benefitted greatly from liberalisation, Hong Kong is truly bringing together the East and the West.
For CUHK MBAs, the power of Hong Kong’s equity markets inevitably spills over into other sectors in business, be it marketing or supply chain management. A stronger economy benefits all in terms of careers.
“We find that many of our MBAs are looking for work in Chinese financial institutions, whereas in the past more gravitated towards the West”, says Lawrence Chan. “This is partly down to increasing pay compared to those regions, but also because of the increasingly-globalized outlook many companies in Asia now have.”
However, finance isn’t the only route for CUHK graduates. “There’s increasing attention on a lot of the young tech companies coming out of Shenzhen”, says Paul.
And CUHK has established a campus to create opportunities for graduates, many of whom have left Hong Kong to work in Shenzhen.
“Hong Kong and Shenzhen are symbiotic, to an extent”, says Paul. There are many reasons why technology companies find it very difficult to grow in Hong Kong, whereas Shenzhen has a much better environment. What Hong Kong can do, however, is service these tech firms and help them to grow.
CUHK’s Hong Kong campus, however, is also home to a science park, which students are using to find work in high-tech firms.
Other destinations for CUHK MBAs include consulting (particularly in the tech sector), marketing and branding. Compliance, risk management and tech careers are also on the rise. Hong Kong’s job market is famously exacting, and it’s often joked that five years experience in Hong Kong could equate to seven years in the US.
At the school itself, 50 electives cover a wide range of material, including venture capitalism, entrepreneurship, private equity and China business.
More than anything though, it’s the ease of acquiring a visa to work and study in Hong Kong, along with the portability of skills students can expect to learn, that makes the CUHK MBA so attractive.
“Everyone’s interested in the China growth story”, says Lawrence. “Our deep China focus is unique among schools in Hong Kong, and the skills our MBAs learn can be taken all over the world.”
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