Why People With A Non-Business Background Should Pursue An MBA Program
MBA Class of 2024 being recognised at Distinction and Dean’s Honours List Award Celebration
An MBA at a top business school in Asia is helping students from non-business backgrounds to progress their careers
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By Steven Short
Tue Mar 11 2025
Whatever your professional background and aspirations, an MBA can give you a solid business knowledge base and teach you leadership and management skills while offering career transition and growth.
BusinessBecause spoke to two students about studying a MBA program at a top business school in Asia—and how they feel it is benefiting their future career prospects.
Saurabh Singh’s background is in engineering and IT. He is currently enrolled in a part-time MBA while working as the senior technical manager at The Hong Kong Jockey Club, one of the largest employers in Hong Kong. While he has seen progress in his career—he now manages a team of five—he wants to develop his strategy skills and to gain a better understanding of the world of business.
“My role has been very solutions-focused,” he says, “but if I want to take on a leadership role, to one day become a chief technical officer (CTO), I need to understand how other businesses work, how to develop strategies, how to be a good leader.”
Mi Jung Kim comes to her full-time MBA at the University of Hong Kong with six years’ experience practising law in Sydney, Australia prior to joining the program in Hong Kong. A work placement for her husband meant a move to the city, and enrolling into an MBA was a good option for developing her career in a new market.
What transferable business skills did you bring to the MBA?
An HKU Business School MBA looks at foundational business concepts such as accounting, economics, and marketing, as well as financial analysis, digital innovation, competitive strategy, business ethics, and leadership development. Both Mi Jung and Saurabh feel they come to the program with transferable skills that help them with the curriculum.
Mi Jung says her background as a transactional lawyer helped prepare her: “A lot of my clients were very business-oriented in terms of acquisitions, and I was commercially aware of what was going on in certain situations,” she says. “But I wanted to understand more about how people run businesses, why they make certain decisions.”
Saurabh says that his solution-based approach and the attention to detail required in his current role has helped with his studies. The MBA curriculum also looks at emerging technologies and how to leverage them in business strategy—his tech background means he already has a solid knowledge base of these technologies and AI.
What professional developments have you gained from the MBA so far?
Saurabh has found studying accounting extremely useful, particularly how he can apply what he learns to real-life scenarios. “Now I think about the whole cost of a project, not just the solution it brings, I understand about strategy, integration and ROI.”
Mi Jung believes her ability to think logically and clearly and to set out what needs to be done has been helpful, as have the client-facing skills she developed in her career in law.
Mi Jung, far right, with fellow students
Team-based projects and group work are often interwoven though courses, which both Mi Jung and Saurabh feel have helped them nurture the softer skills of leadership and working well with people from different cultural backgrounds. With the HKU’s MBA cohort coming from various cultural and professional backgrounds, the program gives students a global perspective and opportunities to learn about international business practices and thrive in working across teams and business functions.
What further developments are you hoping for from the program?
HKU offers tracks to London, New York City and Shanghai to the full-time program: for students going to New York, they can spend a semester in the city taking elective courses at Columbia Business School. Mi Jung is about to do a three-month exchange there and is excited to enrol in the Managerial Negotiations course. “I have experience of legal negotiations but I am looking forward to learning about different perspectives.”
For Saurabh, who enrolled in part-time study modes, he hopes to continue to hone his strategy skills and is already using what he has learned so far in his job. “I’m no longer just focused on providing solutions but I now consider different options based on revenue, number of users, what kind of expenses will be incurred.” He hopes that an understanding of planning, costing, resource management will bring him more senior roles, perhaps one day leading to a position as CTO.
Saurabh, far left, chairing an alumni sharing session
How do you feel your studies are broadening your career prospective and options?
Among the students on Saurabh’s program are people from the worlds of banking and shipping, an area he would never have thought about previously. “Talking to a member of my cohort I realise there would be potential for me to go into shipping, because I can solve a lot of technological problems the industry is facing. What I have learned is that companies in every industry need people who can leverage technological advancement—banks, finance, even retail. I’m excited because I can now consider roles within these kinds of industries. I have many more options than I used to have.”
Post-MBA, Mi Jung would possibly like to be working as a in-house lawyer or with an M&A (mergers & acquisitions) advisory firm, with a view to ultimately taking on a C-suite role in the long run.
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) - MBA Programmes HKU Business School
Student
Verified
23/02/2023
On Campus
Academic
Very good academic, caes course amazing, ccs are all amazing, professors are excellent, the architecture and infrastructure is splendid, people here are awesome, made some really nice friends, and teachers support us
Hatim
Verified
6/02/2023
On Campus
Diversified culture
I highly recommend The University of Hong Kong to students all around the world because of their diversified culture, teaching standards, and the people which make the learning experience better every day.
Student
Verified
6/10/2017
A place where you best understand local and international cultures
With plenty of experiences available, HKU provides a plenty of experience for me to explore our own and other countries culture. She has excellent teaching and research staffs in the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity. Time allocate to students are considered sufficient and staffs are ready to reach anytime.
Besides academic, she has various subsidised programmes that allow students to explore. This credit should be given to GenEd (general education) Office to provide different interesting programmes. These ranged from guest speaker giving talks on China-Hong Kong relationship; Contemporary art in Asia; or holding mini forum on geopolitics. Most, if not all, of which are free of charge!
Student
Verified
1/10/2017
Life at HKU
Pursued the SHS degree at HKU, academic and clinical staff members were very devoted and passionate. The academic program is under constant reviews, staff members are open minded and willing to modify the program with regards to students' opinions. Career prospect is good. Uni life is fruitful, many different activities for students to choose. Great facilities supporting learning.
Student
Verified
29/09/2017
Student Life in HKU
As an Accounting and Finance year3 undergrad student in HKU, the university provides lots of opportunities for me to learn and explore my interests.
You could join a wide variety of activities, like being an committee member of societies and joining hall activities. As for me, I chose to join the winter exchange programme, be a committee member, and did volunteering servic and had latrine construction and volunteer teaching in Ghana, Africa. I also organized lots of activities for societies and had lots of meetings with company representatives. As for school work, it is okay normally but definitely u got a lot busier during November and April. You got a lot more free time compared to CUHK and HKUST. And of course, this is considered as the most ‘international’ uni in HK in a way that I could make friends coming from different countries.
Just wanna add, HKU has a good location for foodie as its near Central, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. For those who love night lifes dont miss this. I didnt speak of anything i dislike coz there isnt anything i dislike much, but if I do have to say, it is the hall life of many local students, such as having cheers at night and never sleeps that may disturb others.
Student
Verified
2/09/2020
Blended
Academics
I think it’s a great university that gives you a lot of opportunities in terms of academics as well as extracurricular activities. The education system is fairly westernized and the professors are good for the most part.
Student
Verified
3/11/2017
International, stratified and political
Adequate resources and very convenient campus with sufficient channels to expand your social and professional circle. Also politically active, and perhaps too biasedly so. Its law school is firmly established, with the longest history in Hong Kong. Practical and professional training, with a constant atmosphere of anxiety and competition that encourages a relatively focused and narrow vision of career outlook. Good range of extra curricular activities available.
Student
Verified
12/10/2017
Life in HKU
HKU provides students with lots of opportunities in multidisciplinary researches and experiences. This encourages students to widen their horizons and prepare for the future. The programme I attended organised both local and oversea field trips that allowed me to have the first hand experiences of relative aspects. It was very useful for my later career.
Student
Verified
6/10/2017
BSocSc
I am a graduate of the BSocSc programme several years ago. I appreciate that the programme provided a flexible choice of majors and minors. Even I was admitted into social sciences programme, I could explore various streams of studies in and out of the social sciences faculty, including global studies, human resources, politics, science and music. I did a double major in psychology and sociology. Among all learning experiences in lectures, tutorials, field trips…, I would say the internship experience was one of the most memorable part of my university life. The faculty offers a credit-bearing internship programme in which students can go to various NGOs to work on social issues, ranging from poverty, education to adjustment of ethnic minorities. Students can be placed locally or overseas, depending on placement quota, their personal preference and past experience. I went to a social service agency that serves adults who are intellectually challenged and have autism spectrum disorder. It was an eye-opening experience in observing how different professionals work together to provide training for those people and reflecting on how psychological knowledge could come into play. I was also able to gain some hands-on experience in leading an activity.
There are more and more internship opportunities for university students. It is just another way to gain practical experience apart from applying for interns in government agencies or business companies, especially in organisations that would not openly recruit interns but only work with tertiary institutions.
It should be noted that for some majors/courses, there are really a lot of people studying. When I was an undergraduate back then, we often expected a lecture with 100+ students and a tutorial with nearly 20 students. If you favour close student-teacher interaction in small classes, you may look into the enrolment of particular courses.
Student
Verified
18/10/2024
On Campus
Great curriculum arrangement for my program
Teachers in HKU are dedicated to education students, for both undergrad and postgrad. The school is over 100 years old and it is one of the most pretty school I have ever seen through my life. But there is one thing that I do not like is that for some program, including mine, we could not receive our diploma right after we finished out program. We have to wait for another couple of months to receive that.
Student
Verified
28/12/2024
On Campus
Upgrade you for regional opportunity
The program enhances your career by providing in-person exposure to industry leaders, 1-1 mentorship with industry experts, series of in-depth future-demand skill set training, & connecting you to the right industry opportunities.
