Part-time MBA

Gloria Siu

Gloria Siu
Class of 2016
Hong Kong

“If you push yourself hard enough, you will make it”

My reasons for choosing HKU as the business school to complete my MBA were twofold. Firstly, the university is highly reputable at a global scale. Secondly, the flexibility of the weekend mode worked well with my schedule, as I had recently moved to Macau for a new job when the MBA programme started. I lived in Macau Monday-Fridays and would take the ferry back to Hong Kong Friday evenings for the Saturday classes.

Getting an MBA wasn’t a difficult decision for me. I love studying and continuous learning, so decided to pursue an MBA to provide me with a holistic business acumen, given my bachelor degree was in linguistics. Working in the real estate and retail industry, I knew getting an MBA would benefit me at both a personal and professional level.

I really enjoyed the weekend mode and the group work assignments. My group consisted of mixed nationalities, which was an advantage, and surprisingly we complimented each other fairly well. Working in a group of diverse cohorts allowed me to build up my soft skills and learn how to communicate better with others. The main thing we learned from working in a group setting was how to manage each other’s schedules.

The lifelong friendships I made with my cohorts have been a highlight of my MBA journey and I would do it all over again today if I could.

I found the networking events to be more beneficial for me than the business aspects. Being in the part-time programme, I bonded a lot with my cohorts and we would organise events outside of the classroom together. The networks and connections I made during the MBA journey were a key takeaway. HKU hosted several social networking events in which I found the Leadership Talks the most useful and inspiring.

During my MBA journey, not only did I start a new job in Macau but I also had to plan my wedding on top of my studies, which made time management extremely important. What I told myself is once you’re in it, you are committed and you must do it. Not only did I have to manage my workload, but I couldn’t let my group down either. We carried each other through the journey.

Time management was a key skill I learned. Luckily my job was flexible in Macau, allowing me to study in the evenings. If some of the group members didn’t have time to complete their parts we would all help where possible.

Industry: Retail
Company: K11 Concepts Limited
Job Title: Assistant General Manager, Leasing