Meet The National University Of Singapore’s MBA Class Of 2022

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOCHEN WIRTZ

This year, NUS Business School climbed to 14th in the 2021 Financial Times MBA Ranking. Notably, graduates saw their pay jump to $161,168 after graduation – a 138% improvement over their pre-MBA earnings. One reason: the school is popular destination for recruiters, with the program ranking 8th for the diversity of recruiters who visit campus. This appeal stems from a mix of innovative programming, deep resources, enviable location, and promising students. In February, P&Q reached out to Jochen Wirtz, the vice dean of the MBA Prorgrammes Office at the NUS Business School. From new developments to career development options, here are Wirtz’s thoughts on the state of the MBA program.

P&Q: What are the most exciting new developments at your program?

Wirtz: “We’ve furthered our commitment to make our MBA the most transformative experience in this part of the world. Specifically, we’ve made enhancements to our curriculum, dialed up the focus on experiential learning, and strengthened the MBA experience overall.

And to further promote more risk taking and exploration of new learning opportunities, a coarser grading system will be introduced later this year, whereby grades will fall into a 3-scale instead of a 10-scale system.

Here’s an overview on the recent enhancements we’ve made on the programme:

1. A solid dual core foundation

True to our focus on experiential learning, we have added them to our core subjects, giving rise to a unique curriculum with a “dual core” foundation.

We’ve added a mandatory Experiential Core to complement our Academic Core, so our students can acquire the critical skills they need to navigate through these uncertain times, become better managers and communicators, and excel as business leaders.

Our Academic Core equips students with fundamental MBA domain knowledge in the areas of corporate strategy, finance, marketing, operations, analytics, and leadership.

The Experiential Core takes our students beyond the typical classroom and helps them build qualities that are highly sought after by recruiters: problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, communication, adaptability, and interpersonal skills.

2. Dialing up our focus on experiential learning

To encourage our students to make the most of their learning experience, we have introduced The NUS MBA Experiential Learning Grants, which are awarded to deserving students to help fund their experiential learning activities such as international study trips, case competitions, conferences, MBA Consulting Projects, and more.

Our students’ experiential learning journey starts from day one, with students launching themselves into an intensive 5-day boot camp aptly called Launch Your Transformation, aimed specifically at getting students out of their comfort zones and instilling critical communication and influencing skills.

They then embark on a series of MBA Survival Kit classes, where they learn to work effectively in teams and to manage business across cultures. Students learn to apply hypotheses-led thinking to project planning and structure and present a value creation model. They then acquire the skills necessary for effective solutions delivery such as problem solving, gap analysis, and crafting a value proposition. This module sets our students up with a set of critical skills that will help them to excel in the MBA and beyond.

This then culminates in the MBA Consulting Project, where students get to put what they have learnt in the classroom to practice in the real world, to solve a business challenge or tap into growth opportunities. Working in small teams and closely with key business stakeholders, students research and analyse issues, they then recommend a comprehensive, in-depth, strategic business plan that incorporates financial, marketing, operational and strategic recommendations.

3. More flexibility and options for electives

We’ve increased the number of Academic Electives, and students have the flexibility to customise their MBA learning pathways to fit their career aspirations. We’ve added exciting specialisations in the areas of Digital Business, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and Analytics & Operations, among others. Students may choose not to specialise in just one area, and are able to select electives from different specialisation areas according to their desired learning pathways.

We’ve also added exciting experiential electives, for those who are interested in gaining hands-on experience in a start-up environment. The Lean Launchpad, offered in collaboration with NUS Enterprise, gives students the experience of taking inventive technology from lab-to-market. TechLaunch, another unique experiential elective offered with the NUS Institute for Engineering Leadership, sees students working in cross-disciplinary teams, each assigned a patented technology with the potential for commercialisation.

In all, we offer more than 50 electives, and in addition to that, cross-faculty electives and those offered through exchange programmes with our partner schools which include Yale and Oxford.

4. An amplified MBA learning experience through student clubs

We’ve been investing in our student club ecosystem, which sees our student leaders working with alumni and corporate partners to take charge of enriching the learning experience for the cohort. Throughout the MBA, through various activities organised by the clubs – from fireside chats, workshops, talks and more – students pursue new interests, deepen their domain knowledge, and explore career pathways, while they build and strengthen connections with industry practitioners and alumni.

We now have a total of 12 student clubs, from industry focused ones such as Consulting, Technology, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Energy, Marketing, Healthcare, to general interest ones such as Diversity & Inclusion, and Sustainability, Ethics & Impact clubs.

P&Q: What are the two most unique or differentiating features of your full-time program? How do they enrich the MBA experience?

Wirtz: “Firstly, The NUS MBA offers highly tailored opportunities for our students to grow both professionally and personally. We offer what most schools do not – a fully integrated experiential learning curriculum that includes both credit-bearing courses, as well as an entire ecosystem that includes opportunities to work in start-ups, interactions with industry through case competitions, industry networking sessions, conferences, mentorship programmes, internships, international study trips and exchange programmes. Students can immerse themselves with the larger ecosystem of the University, taking advantage of cross-faculty electives and outside of the classroom learning.

The unique duration of the programme (17 months) gives our students just the right amount of time to take advantage of the multitude of opportunities available, so they can maximise their personal and professional development, and benefit from a truly transformative MBA experience. At the same time, it is shorter than the 2-year programmes, which many believe takes them out of the job market for too long.

Our strong partnerships with prestigious business schools and networks around the world give our students access to opportunities beyond Singapore, and gain valuable international exposure. We offer double degree programmes with leading partner schools in Asia, Europe, and the US, including Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, HEC Paris, and the Yale School of Management. Through our Global Exchange Programme, our students can choose to spend a full semester at one of our 62 partner universities – all members of the prestigious Partner in International Management consortium – including Kellogg, Yale, LBS, IE, CEIBS and more. We are also the only Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM) member school from Singapore, and through this our students are able to take part in a host of exciting opportunities, from investment competitions to online courses and exchanges.”

P&Q: How has COVID-19 impacted your business school?

Wirtz: “In Singapore and at NUS, we are fortunate that face-to-face instructions have been the norm since August last year, which we think is valuable to enabling a transformative experience. This has been enabled by strict safety measures, including daily temperature taking, social distancing, and mandatory mask wearing

Class sizes are limited to 50 with social distancing, and we’ve decided to teach our students face-to-face to the maximal extent possible. They can either attend class in-person, online, or both, including watching the recording afterwards. Students are also allowed to join in other activities on campus physically or virtually. The in-person interactions are a valuable aspect of the MBA experience, and our students, especially international students, value this as elsewhere around the world, their peers may only have the option to attend classes online.

Since the pandemic, we’ve seen an increase in MBA applications in the last year. The uptick has been more evident in our part-time applications, where we saw an 80% increase in applications, as Singapore-based candidates look to future-proof themselves amidst the global uncertainties. Our latest part-time intake has doubled in size as a result, with international students comprising more than half of the cohort.”

P&Q: How does your location enhance your MBA students’ access to learning and employment opportunities in Singapore in general and the Asia-Pacific region in particular?

Wirtz: “The “Asian Century” story is more compelling than ever. With the economic centre of gravity well and truly in Asia, one cannot do global business effectively without a good knowledge of the region – and there is arguably no better gateway to Asia than Singapore. Singapore is largely a fantastic springboard to the region, with over 7,000 APAC headquarters of MNCs located here, and a thriving start-up ecosystem. And there’s a strong conviction that Asia may emerge from the current pandemic crisis with even greater influence on the world stage.

While not all our graduates work in Singapore after their MBA, all of them pursue careers that leverage their knowledge and experience of Asia, giving them a distinct advantage wherever they go.”

Page 3: Profiles of 12 MBA students