Part-time MBA

Royce Chow

Royce Chow
Class of 2019
Hong Kong

Everyone has different reasons for pursuing an MBA. My journey started when I wanted to become more business driven and change my profile appearance to be more well-rounded. The knowledge you gain through an MBA is invaluable and I was able to take everything I learnt in the classroom and apply it to a real work environment.

My reasons for choosing the MBA programme at HKU Business School were twofold. Firstly, I had read a lot of information about the unique business lab course offered and believed it would offer me a holistic view of how to do business. Secondly, my family has a family business background and I wanted to continue this legacy.

I considered other schools in Hong Kong when researching MBA programmes, however, in the end I chose HKU Business School because of the overall holistic business offerings. The school’s faculty is made up of well-regarded industry leaders, which was a strong selling point for me, and they also use real case studies for learning. The curriculum fit perfectly with my schedule for working full time in the CBD area and I enjoyed the location of being in Admiralty, Town Centre. I chose the weekday study mode, rather than the weekend mode, as I have a family and wanted to keep my weekends free to spend time with them. The weekday mode provided me with a balanced, healthy routine.

The courses I found most helpful were Dr Eric Chin’s Ecommerce class and Virginia Morris’ Organisational Leadership class. Virginia was very motivating and focused on having her students participate. Whilst I don’t necessarily believe that any one specific course has helped me in my current role, the strategies and methodologies I learned throughout my MBA experience have definitely contributed to the way I think and handle new situations in my current role as a manager.

I enjoyed the alumni and networking events that I often attended, especially towards the beginning of the programme. I didn’t use this so much for business connections, but more for mingling and building new relationships. I am grateful for the new friendships I made on my MBA journey. All of my cohorts were easy to get along with and extremely down to earth.

A lot of MBA aspirants may be hesitant about the workload and worried about balancing a job with studying. I myself was ambitious and actually tripled up my courses to complete the programme in a little over a year. It was difficult to get all the homework completed, discuss projects with various teams, etc. Time management was tough, however, despite the many sleepless nights and stress I felt at points, I didn’t want to let any group members or professors down. To make sure I was working to the best of my ability I often worked late into the night and through the weekend. However, you must remember that it is your own reputation on the line if you don’t contribute. That is how I found the strength to power through: to not let yourself, or others, down.

After completing my MBA I changed my job and got a substantial pay rise. I would therefore say that the programme was a good investment for me. The programme was the defining contributing factor of my new-found confidence to change career paths; it was the driving factor to pursue new challenges and open up new doors.

Industry: Investment Management
Company: Fosun 复星
Job Title: Senior Director, Hong Kong Regional Office