Fifty-four City University of Hong Kong (CityU) business students took part in the first Advanced Management Programme study tour to the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), from 18 to 22 August. The tour was organised under a collaborative agreement signed in February between the Faculty of Business of CityU and the Haas School of Business of UC Berkeley.

The programme consisted of 18 lectures conducted by professors of the Haas School of Business, in diverse topics such as economic innovation, entrepreneurship and marketing strategy. Besides attending lectures, students visited two international corporations, the Intel Corporation and Google Inc. Participants who joined the tour were from different programmes, including Master in Business Administration, Executive Master in Business Administration, Doctor of Business Administration and Master of Science in Finance.

Professor (Chair) Wei Kwok-kee, Dean of the Faculty of Business, accompanied the students to the US. “The programme was a five-day packed study tour and our students were tired from jetlag. But they showed their enthusiasm towards learning. With such high quality teaching by distinguished professors at UC Berkeley, our students got the best out of the programme,” he said. Some students told Professor Wei they would join the programme again next year if new topics were covered.

Professor Wei said the Faculty of Business would work more closely with the Haas School of Business in the new academic year, including the visit of UC Berkeley professors to CityU to teach MBA courses, who will also collaborate with local faculty members on research projects. To meet the growing demand in business education, the University plans to offer an additional class in the Advanced Management Programme.

Mr Clarence Yeung Yuk-fai, Doctor of Business Administration student and Head of Structured Products, Bank of East Asia, learned much from the US study trip. “All the professors have extensive teaching experience and they shared a lot of practical theories and research findings with us,” he said. “My fellow classmates are from different business backgrounds. We discussed our collective management experience during the five-day study tour.”

The collaboration between CityU’s Faculty of Business and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business offers students a global perspective on world markets and a platform to refresh their management skills. CityU is the first tertiary institution in Hong Kong to work with the newly established Asia Business Centre of the Haas School of Business.