NTU’s Nanyang Business School Launches New MBA Curriculum Designed to Produce Leadership for New Global Business Landscape

SINGAPORE - Rapid market change, Asia’s accelerated ascendance, and heightened social conscience are requiring a new generation of leadership that the Nanyang Business School (NBS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) will produce through a new Master of Business Administration (MBA) curriculum launched on Tuesday.

A press release by the University stated that from July next year, incoming Nanyang MBA participants can expect a sharper focus on leadership development, greater emphasis on industry application – especially in the Asian context, and deeper insights into corporate governance and social responsibility. They will also complete the course in 12 months, instead of 16 currently, reducing their time away from work and enabling them to progress more quickly in their careers.

Established in 1991, the Nanyang MBA is the flagship postgraduate management program of Nanyang Business School. It has been ranked among the world’s top 35 MBA programs for the past four years by the Financial Times, and has been rated Singapore’s best MBA program by the Economist since 2004. Nanyang MBA graduates hold the highest salaries among Singapore MBA graduates, with an average pay of US$102,350 a year, three years after graduation. They also enjoy the best career progression opportunities and successful job placements among their local MBA peers.

“The global landscape has changed dramatically in the last five years. Rapid technological advancement has given rise to a fast-changing business environment where the rules of the game are constantly in a flux amid a relentless stream of game-changing innovations. Competitive advantages are hard to sustain and competition is never more than two steps away,” said Professor Gillian Yeo, Interim Dean of Nanyang Business School.

“Organizations that survive – even thrive – in these new realities need visionary and nimble leaders who possess broad strategic and management acumen. This is the reason we have created the new Nanyang MBA: We want to nurture high-performing leaders who are empowered to recognize the opportunities that change brings – and realize them,” she said.


Leadership and Talent Development

Leadership and talent development has become a critical focus for corporations and other organizations. The new Nanyang MBA will feature new modules that inculcate core skills needed to lead and develop people in the workplace. Through workshops and seminars, participants will learn about establishing their leadership style, managing teams across diverse cultures and work functions, and influencing others. They will also develop skills for negotiating with colleagues and clients as well as managing their own energy and emotions.

The modules leverage Nanyang Business School’s pioneering expertise in cultural intelligence. The school is home to the world’s first research centre on cultural intelligence, which has led the introduction of the subject into major international management conferences and teaching programs. The new MBA leadership modules will employ evidence-based principles and techniques drawn from both Eastern and Western perspectives, and will enable Nanyang MBA graduates to lead and develop talent globally.

Industry Application with an Asian Focus

Case studies presenting contemporary management challenges will be adapted into the new curriculum. Through broad exposure to complex, real-life scenarios, participants will develop quick and incisive analytical thinking that produces rapid and innovative solutions needed in today’s business arena. Monthly talks by captains of industry and industry consulting projects will provide added learning opportunities from real-life, practical experience.

There will be an enhanced focus on discussing these issues with a pan-Asian perspective, using region-specific case studies, including those produced by Nanyang Business School’s Asian Business Case Centre. Former business school deans Hong Hai, Neo Boon Siong and Wee Chow Hou will be teaching courses on subjects such as China business strategies, East Asian cultures and management practices, and the application of Sun Tzu’s Art of War and other Chinese classics to business and management strategy.

Entrepreneurship and innovation management, key tenets of today’s hypercompetitive business environment, will be taught more extensively in the new curriculum. A new Strategy and Innovation track has been designed for maximum exposure to courses on starting new businesses and managing technological change. Participants of the new Nanyang MBA can also gain further insights into starting up businesses by getting involved in a research centre for new business ventures that the school is setting up to conduct business analysis and early research on commercializing new innovations.

Corporate Governance and Sustainability

Recent global events have made it clear that sustainable business success demands more than the mere generation of financial profits. Environmental and societal interests need to be considered from the core of a corporation’s business model. This is why all participants of the new Nanyang MBA will be required to take a new 20-hour module on corporate governance and ethics. At the same time, sustainability concepts and issues have been incorporated into core courses, such as those on accounting, operations and marketing.

“The new Nanyang MBA comes at a time of significant transformation of the global business landscape. The new modules and features will be invaluable for nurturing leaders for the global business community,” said Abel Ang, executive vice-president and chief marketing officer of Singbridge International.


Associate Professor Chung Lai Hong, Associate Dean (MBA), Nanyang Business School, said: “The new Nanyang MBA builds on the strengths and distinctiveness that have made it one of the world’s best postgraduate management programs. The changes we are making will help our graduates reach their full potential and become tomorrow’s global leaders.”

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, and Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. In 2013, NTU will enrol the first batch of students at its new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, which is set up jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to four world-class autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centers such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).

A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.


Besides the main Yunnan Garden campus, NTU also has a satellite campus in Singapore’s science and tech hub, one-north, and is setting up a third campus in Novena, Singapore’s medical district.

Consistently ranked among the world’s premier business schools, NBS has been nurturing leaders for business and public service, advancing global management knowledge and practice for over 50 years. Our curriculum melds rigorous academic theory with real-world business practice, while our faculty leads global thought and research in several fields of business and finance. Our 33,000 alumni hold positions of responsibility in business, government and public service in 45 countries. At NBS, we believe that responsible leadership in business and government is crucial to securing a sustainable future for our world. Through teaching and research, we are grooming a new generation of leaders with the knowledge, skills and passion of pursuing lasting success that seeks not only economic profit but also the interests of the community and environment.

For more information, visit www.nbs.ntu.edu.sg