CEMS is a Global Alliance in Management Education organization composed of academic and corporate institutions which are dedicated to educating future generations of global business leaders. The aim is to help these leaders enter into the multilingual, multicultural and interconnected business world through its Master’s in International Management (MIMT). Since 2013, the HKUST Business School has collaborated with CEMS to offer the MIMT program.
The HKUST Business School (the School) is the only academic partner of CEMS in Hong Kong. The curriculum is consistent across all 29 member schools around the world, and students typically spend one semester each at two schools in the network to gain double recognition on graduation. This collaboration with CEMS not only provides an exceptional platform for students to develop management knowledge and skills on managing global organizations, but is also chance to acquire an extensive network of academic and corporate partners that they can capitalize on in future career.
Practical Program Creates Strong People Network
Ms. Summer Tang is one of 33 graduates of the MIMT program’s first intake. After graduating in 2014, she joined Hilti, a Liechtenstein-based company, as a Management Associate in a two-year fast track development program with responsibilities in different core positions. She is now working at Hilti China as a Business Development Executive and will rotate to the Strategic Marketing Department in the beginning of 2016. Hilti, which is a corporate sponsor of CEMS, develops products for the construction, building maintenance, and mining industries. Ms. Tang said the MIMT program provided a valuable springboard for her to develop an international career.
“It was the comprehensive lectures we took, the real-life business cases we solved, the challenging international consulting project we conquered, the international internship that we accomplished and the worldwide classmates we worked with, that make the program exceptional,” Ms. Tang explained. "These experiences can allow us to bring unique perspectives and skills to any business equation.”
She continued, “for instance, one of the mandatory courses in the program, the Business Project, was not only valuable for acquiring necessary skillsets for career development, but also a chance to work with potential employers for a period of three months. While the on-the-job experience can let students demonstrate their talent and skills, it also bridged the gap between senior management and students.”
Channels to Engage with the Global Business Community
In addition to classroom learning, the collaboration with CEMS enables the School to work closely with its 73 corporate partners and 29 academic partners. Students can benefit from exchanges, workshops and conferences partnered with CEMS or its partners, where they can know more about the business world firsthand and establish an early linkage with renowned international companies.
To illustrate an example, the School partnered with Hilti in arranging several Corporate Strategy Workshops, where participants closely interacted with senior executives of the company. Some students were so impressive that they earned job opportunities through participating in the workshops.
This year, the School also cooperated with CEMS to hold the first corporate benchmarking conference in Asia (Click here to review event highlights). This provided many top-performing Human Resources managers from international companies, including ABB, Aon Hewitt, Hilti, LinkedIn, Maersk Line and United Overseas Bank among others, with an opportunity to discuss recruitment and staffing procedures. This was an occasion for our students to learn significantly more about these global companies.
The School in partnership with CEMS, and its many global academic alliances, represents a long-term commitment to bringing a truly international learning experience to students in the region.