Hong
Kong's Business Schools:
Their Goals and Challenges
By Bong Miquiabas
Hong Kong richly deserves its reputation as a great place to do
business. Its strong rule of law, clear regulatory systems and
minimal bureaucracy have helped create one of the largest and
most vibrant financial services sectors anywhere. And a close
proximity to booming Mainland China has only heightened the appeal.
But while much of Hong Kong's international stature has been built
by foreign banks and other financial institutions, the quality
of its locally-offered, business-focused educational programs
plays an important part in the sector's continuing success.
Last year, the Bauhinia Foundation Research Centre sponsored a
study conducted by strategy consultants Enright, Scott & Associates
Ltd to examine Hong Kong's overall competitiveness in a variety
of economic sectors.
The study's authors concluded that Hong Kong's position as a global
financial center was "extremely strong" but the ascent of competitors
such as cities in Mainland China should be addressed by bolstering
Hong Kong's educational resources. Hong Kong educators agree.
According to Raymond So, a professor of finance at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong and a member of a government advisory
committee on financial services: "Our business programs are improving,
but the progress is still moving at a very slow pace."
Amy Lau, director of the school of business at The University
of Hong Kong (HKU), says that, although there is high demand locally
for business courses, "there is a lag in getting resources for
employing additional faculty members to teach those classes."
Lau adds, "[Hong Kong's] salary structure and the whole compensation
package are not competitive with [those of] North America and
parts of European and Asia Pacific countries."
Angela Ng, associate dean and director of undergraduate programs
at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST),
shares Lau's view: "I would say our number one challenge is faculty
retention. We see competition from the Mainland and Singapore."
To enhance their competitiveness with top business schools around
the world, Hong Kong's top educational institutions have affiliated
with well-established international business schools.
For example, HKUST's ten-year partnership with Northwestern University's
Kellogg School of Management sends EMBA students to the two schools'
respective campuses. HKUST has also recently initiated a joint
master of science in global finance program with New York University's
Stern School of Business.
CUHK's bachelor of science in quantitative finance operates exchange
programs with the likes of the University of Chicago and the University
of Pennsylvania. For its part, HKU just launched EMBA partnerships
with Columbia Business School and London Business School.
Monica Tang, who holds a 2006 BBA in accounting and finance from
HKU and currently works for Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong, credits
her exchange program experience at Shanghai's Fudan University
with helping her professionally. "[The] unique experiences with
people from different backgrounds come in handy when I deal with
clients."
 |
Kathleen Slaughter
Dean, Ivey Asia |
And the Richard Ivey School of Business in Hong
Kong, which opened its doors in 1998 as an Asia-based extension
of the same program at the University of Western Ontario in Canada,
has been partnering with Tsinghua University since 1985.
Hong Kong's three most prominent locally-initiated business programs
¡V CUHK, HKU, and HKUST ¡V offer degrees at undergraduate and graduate
levels that are routinely updated to meet the needs of Hong Kong's
financial services sector. (Ivey's sole degree offering is an
EMBA.)
CUHK's business courses operate from the university's faculty
of business administration. Its postgraduate programs include
the MBA ¡V the first university in Hong Kong to confer the degree,
in 1966 ¡V the EMBA, and various master of science degrees.
Its undergraduate programs are quantitative finance; professional
accountancy; insurance, financial and actuarial analysis; hotel
and tourism management; and integrated studies that can tie in
management information systems and human resources management.
Similarly, HKU's programs operate from the faculty of business
and economics. HKU divides among undergraduates, taught postgraduates
(MBAs), research postgraduates (MA and PhD) and short-term executive
education courses leading to certificates.
HKUST encompasses a similar range of programs. Undergraduate students
can obtain a BBA in any of ten finance-oriented programs or a
bachelor of science in one of two programs. Part-time MBA students
may enroll in Hong Kong or Shenzhen.
Annetta Pang finished HKUST's undergraduate marketing program
in 2007 and says the case study method favored by her professors
has proved one of the best preparations for her new career in
banking. "These case studies triggered vigorous discussion. We
learned that no one rule was applicable to all [situations]."
But Pang also says business programs could improve by offering
more Mandarin courses to make students even more competitive.
"Due to the rapid growth of the China market and international
trade with China, Putonghua is becoming more and more popular
in the business world."
The demographic profile of business students in Hong Kong depends
on one's level of study. For the most part, local Hong Kongers
dominate undergraduate ranks, while graduate-level programs have
in recent years become increasingly international.
For example, nearly all of CUHK's 160 undergraduates come from
Hong Kong, but of its 200 graduate-level students in a given year,
twenty to thirty percent are from institutions abroad.
HKUST Business School boasts the largest total number of students
¡V 700 undergraduates matriculate every year and about 500 at the
graduate level. HKUST's undergraduate student profile is similar
to CUHK's, as ninety percent of students are from Hong Kong.
But at the graduate level, eighty percent of HKUST's student body
is from outside Hong Kong, and one-third of HKUST's full-time
MBAs are from the Mainland alone.
Ng at HKUST says recruiting more non-local students gives rise
to a better learning environment. "We want to increase the number
of internationals to have a more diverse student mix. The exchange
of different ideas and different ways of doing things can only
benefit everyone."
HKU has adopted a similar strategy. Of the 627 undergraduates
enrolled this school year, more than one in five students hails
from the Mainland. What is more, the total number of business
students at HKU has increased ten percent from the previous year.
Ivey's scale is smaller than the other three schools. There are
40 EMBA students per year, and, with an average student age over
40 and most with at least ten years of working experience in the
industry, they tend to possess extensive managerial experience.
Kathleen Slaughter, Ivey Asia dean and professor
of management communications, says her program targets "travelers,
people who come through Hong Kong" on a regular basis. "We now
only offer courses on weekends, so it's a very attractive format,"
she says.
One challenge common to all the schools is that of meeting the
demand for more finance professionals. CUHK's So says, "We are
moving at a very slow pace. We are limited by the number of students
we can take."
So says that there are now only 40 seats available in CUHK's graduate-level
programs, yet the school receives more than 1,000 applicants each
year. "If we get more finance students trained, then that's better
for society. Demand is high, but what about our supply?"
Ada Lai, placement director at CUHK's finance department says
the government can do more. "[The Hong Kong government] could
help in funding and participate as a bridge between industry and
academics by creating incentives to place interns," she says.
Steven DeKrey, senior associate dean of the HKUST Business School
(and chairman of AmCham) says he can understand the concern Lai
expresses. "People were used to a subsidized program" until 1999,
when the old funding scheme was abolished, he says.
But DeKrey says the government's ¡¥hands-off' approach has yielded
other benefits. "Tuition has tripled but we've seen better growth
since the money goes back into the school. It gives us a lot more
freedom, we set the price, and we listen to the market in terms
of the courses we offer."
Benno Jaeggi, a 2006 HKUST alumnus from the MBA program, says
tapping successful alumni more often to share their knowledge
with students and network can help schools improve.
"Financial markets develop extremely fast, and to stay abreast
of developments, it's best to let the practitioners speak," he
says. But Jaeggi concedes that the busy schedules typical of high-ranking
executives can make this task difficult.
Most CEOs in Hong Kong hold business degrees from institutions
based outside Hong Kong, yet that pattern could shift over time
as more Hong Kong business program alumni move up the corporate
ladder.
Some finance executives, such as those studying with Ivey in Hong
Kong, already hold top positions in their companies. Ivey's alumni
and current students include senior staff with companies like
Lane Crawford, the International Herald Tribune, and JPMorgan
Chase.
But for undergraduate alumni of the other three university programs
¡V each of which has steadily earned more respect in the past ten
years ¡V the rise will inevitably take time.
Lau at HKU says major competitors for jobs in Hong Kong are usually
returning overseas graduates from top universities in North America
and the United Kingdom. "For our local students, they see Mainland
students who came to HKU to study as their competitors too," she
says.
Lai, CUHK's placement director, says her graduates are praised
"for their good qualitative skills," helped by an emphasis on
technical courses. Over sixty percent of CUHK alumni enter the
banking industry. At HKUST and HKU, the majority of new graduates
join multinational accounting firms like ¡¥the big four' as well
as banks.
Lai adds that new professionals in Hong Kong's financial sector
can help themselves best by preparing for the sector's expectations:
"Industry wants students with passion, people who are independent
thinkers, who can deal with stress at a fast pace and are able
to work in a multicultural environment."
Ng at HKUST echoes this sentiment: "Local Hong Kong students need
to enhance their soft skills, the interpersonal aspects of teamwork.
In our experience, local Hong Kong students are usually weaker
than their international peers in marketing their ideas."
Ivey's Slaughter speaks for many when she says Hong Kong should
be an ideal location for business students to gain new skills
and plug into the finance sector. "Hong Kong is where everything
is happening," she says. "We are a springboard to China and Asia."
AmCham
September 2008
|
