It has become apparent that it is crucial for executives to continue developing their management skills and keep up with best management practices in the market. Taking on the challenge of an EMBA program is a great way of keeping up, expanding your perspectives and growing your network.

The EMBA is surely one that is widely recognized and respected in many professions and industries. However, for most, the EMBA translates into a substantial commitment both in terms of time and money. To manage the time required, proper prioritization and the saying ‘plan your work, and work your plan' probably are the best tips for program participants. And to manage the financial investments involved in an EMBA, planning and prioritizing, again, are the keys to success.

Having been through the program experience themselves, alumni from the Richard Ivey School of Business understand the commitments first hand. To alleviate the financial pressure that may come with the EMBA, they have created various scholarship funds for qualified candidates entering the program. Their intention is to see more executives benefit from the case learning method that is so unique to the Ivey Business School, and to contribute to the societies in which they operate – which is part of the Ivey Business School's mission.

The following grants are available for EMBA applicants entering the Ivey Business School in Hong Kong.

• Alumni Grant – eligibility for this grant is based on professional and personal achievements, uniqueness in experience and background, as well as financial needs. Grants vary in amount and include some full grants of up to HK$100,000 for candidates with exceptional financial needs.
• Scholarship Grant for Civil Servants and Executives from the Non-Profit Sector – applicants from non-commercial sectors are welcome in the class. Applicants from these sectors usually have very unique views to share and can add a very different flavor to the class's learning. To encourage candidates from these sectors to apply, special scholarships of various amounts, with maximum being HK$156,000, are offered.
• Scholarship Grant for Western Alumni – all applicants who are alumni of The University of Western Ontario will be granted a scholarship of HK$50,000.

These scholarship grants are created to strengthen diversity in the EMBA class. The Ivey Business School is a case-based school. In this kind of environment, you will find yourself in the shoes of the decision-makers of real-life business cases that you will study, struggling with real challenges, incomplete or too much information, time limits, people issues and resource constraints. The diversity in the class escalates everyone's learning to a much higher plane when you all contribute your views and experiences in making the decisions for these cases. This is why the Ivey Business School places so much emphasis on recruiting a class that is greatly diverse and represents over 12 ethnicities and virtually every industry.

To apply for the above scholarship grants, submit an essay to the Ivey Business School explaining why the grant is merited when you apply for admission to the EMBA program. Application deadline for the class starting July 2008 is May 20, 2008.

Richard Ivey School of Business, business faculty at The University of Western Ontario, Canada, first established its presence in Hong Kong in 1998. It is one of the four true case-teaching business schools in the world, and is the only one within this group with a permanent campus in Hong Kong. At its permanent campus, the Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute, located at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Ivey Business School offers Executive MBA and non-degree Executive Development programs to executives from Hong Kong and across the region.

The Standard
7th April, 2008