Foreigners flock to Korean MBA programs

Students engage in discussion in an MBA class at Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business (SKK GSB). Domestic MBA programs are increasingly popular among foreign students seeking to learn about the success of Korean corporations. / Courtesy of SKK GSB

By Kim Bo-eun

Peter James Fisher, a British student in Yonsei University’s global MBA program, hopes to join a Korean company when he graduates.

“Yesterday I had an interview at one of LG’s affiliate companies. The interview was quite difficult, since I was required to speak both in English and Korean, and my Korean language skills are not so good,” said Fisher, who is in his third semester in the program.

Landing a job at a Korean firm is one of the major reasons he decided to apply for an MBA program in Korea.

“I applied for the program not only due to the reputation of the school, but also because it would give me a chance to learn about Korean businesses,” he said.

According to Fisher, the classes often invite guest lecturers from Korean companies or foreign corporations based here to provide insight on Korean corporate management. “Two days ago, the CEO of Pizza Hut Korea came and gave a lecture,” he said.

The students also have opportunities to go on field trips to the companies, which are organized both by the school and by the students themselves, through networking.

“Most of the foreign students in my class are interested in working at Korean companies such as Samsung, LG, POSCO or Hyundai because they have become leading global corporations,” Fisher said.

At Yonsei University’s global MBA program, more than half of the students enrolled are foreigners. At 57 percent, it has the highest number of foreigners among Korean MBA programs.

There are students from the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The majority are from countries in Asia, including India, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.

Rise in foreign students

According to the Ministry of Education, 121 new foreigners enrolled in global MBA programs at 12 Korean business schools last August.

Students from 40 countries enrolled in the programs, of which Americans constituted 25 percent, Chinese 14 percent, Canadians 7 percent and Uzbeks and Indians 5 percent.

The number of foreigners in domestic MBA programs has risen over the past years, with 61 in 2007, 86 in 2009 and 97 in 2011. The students come from an increasingly diverse number of countries: there were 19 in 2007, 31 in 2009 and 35 in 2011.

Like Yonsei’s global MBA programs, those offered by renowned institutions in the nation are seeing a rise in foreign students.

At Seoul National University’s global MBA program, 23 percent of the students are from abroad.

In the program, students take a course that provides an overview of doing business in Korea, including an introduction to the Korean economy, history and culture. Lecture topics cover the evolution of the Korean business system, the organizational culture and human resource management of Korean firms.

Corporate executives from Goldman Sachs Korea, Bain & Company Korea and Crown Confectionary give lectures about doing business here. The course also includes study trips to telecommunications company KT, mobile messenger operator Kakao and home shopping provider CJ O Shopping.

Based on the growing interest in Korea and other Asian economies, Korea University has created a program focusing on the region, called the S3 Asia MBA.

Seventy-four percent of students in the S3 Asia MBA program are foreigners, compared to 31.3 percent of those in the global MBA program.

In the program which lasts for three semesters, students complete each at Fudan University in Shanghai, Korea University in Seoul and the National University of Singapore based in the city state.

Although most of the students are from the countries where the universities are based, many also come from Southeast Asian nations such as India and Malaysia, the school’s MBA coordinator said.

The curriculum at Korea University covers business practices, insights and ethics, as well as corporate governance in Korea and Asia.

“Case studies are based on Korean companies. Students are able to visit conglomerates such as Hyundai Motor and Doosan Heavy Industries,” the coordinator said.

Sungkyunkwan University’s Graduate School of Business is also renowned for its MBA program. Forty percent of its students are foreigners.

“We have seen a rise in applications from foreign students in recent years. Now there are more foreigners applying from abroad than those living here. Their countries of origin have also become much more diverse, and include those in South America and Africa,” said Lee Sang-soo, MBA director at the school.

“They have been showing an interest in the management strategies of Korean companies in dealing with the economic crisis,” he said. “Most of the foreign students start working at Korean corporations or go back to their home countries to head the Asian business division at companies there.”

Competitiveness of domestic MBA programs

The rise in the influx of foreigners to Korean MBA programs is also attributable as due to the increasing competiveness of the programs.

Forty out of 44 programs offered at 13 schools have English courses. Ten full-time courses and two part-time ones are conducted in English, according to a report from the education ministry.

Nine schools have received accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a U.S.-based organization that evaluates business schools’ operations, faculty qualifications and programs. Two have been accredited by the European Quality Improvement System, an international accreditation for business schools affiliated with the European Foundation for Management Development.

The Economist ranked Yonsei University 83rd in its 2012 full-time MBA ranking, Sungkyunkwan University 51st and Korea University 86th in the 2013 Financial Times’ Global MBA Rankings.

Nine institutions also offer joint degrees with 24 schools based in seven countries.