MBA Jobs: Asia School Of Business Cohorts Sail Uncharted Waters

13% ANNUALIZED SALARY GROWTH FOR ASB MBAs

When school officials first started drilling down on the numbers from their graduate survey, they thought the salary progression might be attributed to faster growth and opportunities in Asia’s emerging markets. But ASB graduates working in advanced markets – such as the U.S. and Europe – also showed much stronger salary progression:13% progression for ASB graduates compared to 3.3% (U.S.) and 2.5% (Europe) salary progression for graduates from FT’s ranked schools. 

Then, ASB looked at the promotion rates three years after graduation: 80% of ASB graduates were promoted at least once, with 25% promoted twice. That more likely led to the higher salary growth.

• Of the 2018 class, 56% were promoted once, 25% promoted two or more times, and 19% haven’t yet been promoted.
• For 2019 graduates, 57% have one promotion, 21% have two or more and 21% have none so far.

“Most schools, if they do action learning, they do it once in the program. Because we do it in each of our five semesters, I think our students develop a competency that allows them to do really, really well in different environments,” Ferguson says. 

“When you pair the kind of students that we have – unconventional students who are generally comfortable being uncomfortable – and you put them in settings where they get to apply the tools and the theories they learn in the classroom, we think that is what contributes to their promotability. 

“We think it reinforces our value proposition.”

ASB ALUMNI, WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Graduates from ASB’s pioneering cohorts work around the world. While the majority work in Malaysia (35%), 21% work in North America and 12% in Europe. Another 9% work in Asean (Association of Southeast Asican Nations), other Asian countries, and Africa respectively. 6% work in Latin America. 

While ASB is strategically located in Malaysia’s capital city, the degree is globally portable, Ferguson notes. 

“We see Asia as a kind of canvas for training our students. We feel like Asia is the most important economic region in the world because it’s the predominant driver of global growth,” he says. 

“When I first came to Asia nine years ago, it was about coming to Asia to do business in Asia. I think what I’ve seen shift is that Asia is now so important to the rest of the world, that you don’t necessarily stay in here for this to be a relevant MBA. Asia is important to companies with headquarters in the U.S., Europe or wherever because every company has to have a point-of-view on Asia. It is going to impact everyone’s bottom line.”

ASB’s graduates’ most popular industry is technology (30%), followed by finance (23%) and manufacturing (15%). Other industries in which the graduates work are listed in the chart below, with both education and pharma making up 3% of graduates.  

 

SIX YEARS OF GROWTH 

Five years ago, the inaugural class entering in the fall of 2016, had 47 students. They came from 26 industries, six continents and 12 countries. Today, the school lists 83 MBA students on its current MBA class profile.They are from 29 nationalities with an average of work experience of five years. 70% are international students, while 45% are women. 

While the first students lived in a private, upscale hotel and attended classes in Bank Negara Malaysia training facilities, ASB opened a shiny 22-acre campus in 2020. The residential hall, located next door to the academic building in the heart of the city’s business district, can accommodate more than 1,200 students, faculty, and staff. Ferguson notes that they have room to grow and jokes that they are well equipped for social distancing. Students and staff are still just moving in because of COVID restrictions much stricter than in the United States. 

The school is still growing. It started an MBA for working professionals in 2019 and, in November, welcomed the first cohort of its new Master of Central Banking (MCB) program.  

In October, it introduced changes to its MBA program including greater flexibility, new concentrations, and a greater focus on entrepreneurship, according to the school’s website. Beginning with the MBA ‘23 class, students can choose to complete an accelerated program in 16 months in order to better capture career opportunities in Asia. New concentrations in Finance & Analytics and Supply Chain were added in response to student feedback and market demand while the Entrepreneurship Trek was expanded to four semesters of the core curriculum.

“We always say that we are looking for people with the frontier mindset. If you think about westward expansion in the U.S., there was a saying to ‘Go west young man or woman.’ I feel like we’re saying, ‘Go east,’” Ferguson says.

“I think if you’re frontier minded, and looking to build a globally oriented career, no one has a more compelling value proposition than us.”

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