Celebrating 25 years of excellence

This year marks a major milestone for Asia’s most established EMBA – The NUS Executive MBA. In the span of 25 years, the programme has attracted close to 800 senior executives from more than 45 countries, with a cumulative wealth of some 15,000 years of experience across a diverse range of roles and industries.

“Our Executive MBA will always be the heart and soul of the business school. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Our success owes much to the staff and students, who have all put in great efforts in learning together, collaborating, and creating a tremendous network, which is a great resource for our current students and future students,” says Distinguished Professor Andrew Rose, Dean of NUS Business School.

The programme was launched in 1997 as the Asia-Pacific Executive MBA (APEX-MBA). By 2005, it was ranked among Financial Times Top 30 Executive MBA Programmes and has been consistently ranked in the top tier of EMBA rankings worldwide. In line with its rising global prominence, the programme was renamed The NUS Executive MBA in 2016.

“Whether you see your future as a professional or an entrepreneur, if it’s in Asia, this is a great programme for you. Our Asian focus within a global framework is supported by a rich array of content, including case studies, guest speakers, and company visits to key destinations around the region. Participants will leave with a wealth of Asian contacts, networking, and immersive experiences,” according to the programme’s academic director, Associate Professor Prem Shamdasani.

Offering some of the most immersive and impactful insights into business in Asia, the programme’s footprint covers key destinations that represent the economic lifeblood of the Asia Pacific region, with participants spending more than 50 per cent of their time outside of Singapore.

“What attracted me the most of this programme was its strong focus on the Asia Pacific region,” says Maria Riolo, Class of 2014. “The programme delivers a holistic approach to doing business in a diverse cultural context, and a great blend of management theory in a university environment with practical experience and insights on the ground, in various countries and local organisations. The NUS EMBA also provided a great platform to build connections with peers and to maintain friendships that last to this day.”

Enabling the right connections is a cornerstone of any good EMBA programme, and our participants find themselves in good company, with peers drawn from around the world and united by a global perspective and a keen interest in learning from other industries and cultures. In addition, a diverse and experienced faculty team made up of some of the world’s most respected academics teaches the programme’s rigorous and relevant curriculum.

“The NUS EMBA provided good teaching of management knowledge, but the most valuable takeaways are the exchange of know-how and know-who from your classmates’ years of experience which is not possible to get them from textbooks,” says Tan Yong Wah, Class of 2000, who has recently retired from his role as Chief Information Officer for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Iwan Murty, Class of 2013, have created lifelong friendships with the peers he met on the programme. “Spending time with other fellow learners in the NUS EMBA humbled me! My cohort included other senior people in their respective industries, and they are amazing! Many of them became my friends and enriched my network. The knowledge I gained from my NUS EMBA professors in terms of theories and frameworks have validated some of the things that I had done in my work and leading companies and taught me what I should not do and should do differently.”

Beyond building connections and gaining insights into other industries, Thomas Fjeldbonde, Class of 2012, says programme has helped him shape and form his thinking and put theory to many of the things that he had built up before joining the programme. “It confirmed many things I knew already, while teaching me other ways of approaching challenges I had not considered before. In metaphorical terms, it took an already well equipped (but perhaps scrambled) toolbox, organised it so I knew what tools I had at my disposal and where everything could be found, while adding new tools and sharpening other tools in the process.”

The Asian century requires leaders with strategic vision, purpose, agility and speed. Some of our alumni have leveraged The NUS Executive MBA to transform and reinvent themselves to take advantage of opportunities, and their organisations for long-term growth and sustainability.

Robin Speculand, Class of 2000, a specialist in strategy and digital implementation, conceived an idea for the first company he founded while on the EMBA. “At the time, I already had a passion for starting my own business and had seen so many organisations struggle with implementing their global strategies. The EMBA programme came along at just the right time, and it allowed me to test out my ideas with my professors and several organisations. The programme helped lay the foundation, complimented my thinking, and gave me the confidence to launch my company in 2000.”

Tong Ping Heng, Class of 2007, have started three companies since he graduated from the programme. “The NUS EMBA has given me additional confidence and perspective to build MNCs across Asia. It has helped catalyse my dream of running my own companies. I’ve been able to do more innovative and game-changing ventures in healthtech, which I hope to benefit the local ageing population.”

Maria Riolo, Class of 2014, is currently based in Germany and recently took the plunge from a longstanding corporate career to start her own business. “The NUS EMBA in conjunction with my professional experience and the roles that I held exposed me to multiple facets of intercultural collaboration, such as how to build trust remotely, how to understand the origin and reasons for different perspectives in negotiations, and how to work towards building a common ground as a prerequisite for team performance. I consider all of this very valuable now that I am taking the entrepreneurial path.”

Edwin Khew, Class of 2001, chairs the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore. “I strongly recommend the programme to C-suite and managers who are keen to improve their management capabilities, corporate planning and strategies for growth and expansion, as well as their confidence in taking on key roles in trade associations, chambers, and community related organisations for voluntary work outside of their corporations. The EMBA also taught me the importance of ethics and corporate governance, and from my various responsibilities, I also learnt to apply social goals to satisfy corporate shareholders in terms of Environment, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG). All this prepares a person to be a well-rounded corporate professional executive in today’s world where pandemics, economic sustainability and climate challenges have become a norm. One therefore needs to know how to manage a corporation under these difficult and challenging circumstances, when to close it down or pivot and keep to it alive and viable.”

“We are incredibly proud of what this programme has achieved, how many lives it has touched. This programme changes you as a person, and I think that that will still hold true another 25 years from now,” says Vice Dean of MBA Programmes, Professor Jochen Wirtz.