From Japanese literature students to architecture graduates, NUS Business School in Singapore has one of the most diverse MBA cohorts in the world. Here’s how students from the NUS MBA benefit from that diversity.
There’s a case to be made that Singapore has an offering for MBA students that other destinations can’t match.
It is ideally located geographically and culturally between the East and the West, which influences the city-state’s MBA programs. Study an MBA in Singapore, and you’ll be blending Western business education with Eastern leadership ideals.
After your MBA, you’ll be entering one of the world’s most vibrant and fastest-growing job markets. Singapore has the 2nd-highest GDP per capita of any country. Additionally, its economic growth in recent decades has been described as a “miracle”.
Singapore is also one of the most diverse areas in the region, with 30% of its population foreign-born. That diversity is reflected in Singapore’s business schools.
Just take NUS Business School, which was the top-ranked Singapore school in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2023. It has a large international student population even for programs that don’t traditionally attract a high volume of international applicants.
One such program is the part-time MBA. They tend to attract a high number of domestic applicants, primarily because students can do an MBA without leaving their current role. On the other hand, international applicants are more likely to be able to commit to a full-time program abroad.
Yet NUS has an exceptionally large number of international students in its part-time MBA. In the USA for example, international applicants make up just 17% of overall part-time MBA applications. This contrasts with NUS where international students make up 66% of the part-time MBA.
It means that NUS is bucking a common trend in the world of MBAs. Here’s how diversity in the NUS MBA programs adds extra value to an already unique offering.
Diversity typifies both Singapore and NUS Business School.
It means that the school’s part-time MBA students benefit from a level of diversity that isn’t typical for their program format. According to NUS part-time MBA student Colton James Foster, the high number of international students adds an extra dimension to the program.
“I think in a lot of part-time programs, people tend to be from one background or local,” he says. “But in the NUS MBA part-time program we have people from all over with all different backgrounds, so I get to learn something new every day from a different type of person.” (04:26)
The school’s faculty also has a strong international flavor, while the school’s alumni network stretches across the globe. Shaurya Thapar explains how the international feel at NUS benefits the school’s MBA students.
“Learning does not only happen in a classroom. Apart from the academics, I also really wanted to learn from the people coming from all over the world. NUS alumni are spread across the entire globe. They’re in industries that I want to work in, and they’re at very good positions,” he explains. (03:06)
At NUS, diversity comes in many different forms from a diversity of nationalities to an above-average representation of women. The school’s MBA students also come from a range of different industries. Joanna Zhou Yuqiao, for example, belonged to another world entirely before embarking on her MBA.
“I’m not [from] a business background,” she says. “I learned Japanese literature during [my] undergraduate. I chose not to become a writer but to enter the Big Four. I entered Ernst & Young as my first job to become a tech professional.”
However, she believes her unusual background has actually helped her during her MBA. She believes it has given her the ability to “understand very different cultural backgrounds” – something which also helps her to communicate better in business. (01:38)
It’s clear that at NUS, there really is no “traditional”’ MBA background. Gaurav Gupta is another NUS MBA student who came into the program from a different angle. He says the diversity among his peers “opened my mind” to fresh perspectives and different ways of learning.
“I was a bit more skeptical because of my background (architecture),” he admits. “But when I came here, I met people who are lawyers, doctors, who are scientists … it’s not like you’re coming from a different background that doesn’t fit in.” (03:36)
It’s not just students from unusual backgrounds who reap the benefits of diversity in the NUS MBA programs. Kishor Jain is from a finance background; an industry that’s closely associated with MBAs. For Kishor, working with people outside of the finance industry changed his approach to problem-solving.
“After coming here, I realized how I can open my thinking to new ideas, to new paradigms. And that is something that I could learn from my classmates, because I can see that in their thought process and I happily borrowed it from them.” (02:33)
MBA programs can give a huge boost to your career. They can help you switch industries, break into a management position, or even start your own business.
But according to Fadhli Adesta, the most valuable part of the NUS MBA was not the career development aspect. It was the diversity in its MBA programs. It helped him understand how other people think, interact, and behave. That is an invaluable skill for any MBA student to have.
“Coming here with an eagerness to learn as well as an open-mindedness to take into [account] other people’s perspectives – I think that is the most enriching part of it.” (04:42)
If you want to learn more about studying an MBA at NUS Business School, feel free to reach out to one of our NUS ambassadors.
