Anyway professional qualification is better compared to masters if you want to do post graduate studies (in europe this is the main trend compared to Asia). It is best to seek out those that entitled you a title like England is "Chartered" while US is "Certitifed".

It depends whether you want to specialise more into your are of expertise or diversify into another branch of knowledge.
I don't know much about MFE but i know about the other 2.

MBA graduates hold the highest unemployment rate in MYS (more than hundred thousand are jobless). MBA is not meant for you to study & find a job. Its rather you find a job, the the boss may evaluate whether you are fit for managerial capacity & sent you accordingly. Or you wish to open up your own biz & wish to know the handling of biz more thoroughly. Deemed one of the least important professional qualifcation.

CFA on the contrary is highly rated as the exam is quite difficult & the lowest requirement is that only a degree holder can apply. Its a US course.
Common misconception is that due to financial crisis many are laid off especially in finance line. But that applied to disposable workers without any core skills or qualification. CFA holder are quite strong & quite recession proof. You can read it in internet or international papers about CFA credibility.

I have several relatives & friends who hold finance degree from Australia while some in singapore. It depends whether you want to remain in banking line as CFA can really help you. If you think finance should be more generalised why not coupled it with accounting ?

Other courses like CIMA, ACCA & CPA is quite recommended & also recession proof professions where job entrenchment is quite unheard of for those who hold these. My current classmate in professional qualification class holds a finance degree from australia & his reasoning of post graduate skills is to multi-skilled instead of specialisation.

It depends on what you want & plan to be in future. Anyway with degree alone you will find it quite hard to compete with those whom possessed professional qualification unless you really aced that interview or you knew somebody in the organisation

Some of my uncles who has been engineer claimed they cannot diversify easily from their engineering post as engineering is quite specialised in nature compared to others. One remain to become chief engineer while the other sucessfully manage to enter into consultant capacity.
MBA is not bad but most people pursue it on their own without realising the benefit to their occupation. Normally the employer who will assess their successor then they will pick the staff to undergo MBA. Not the other way around. One of my post graduate studies includes a portion about MBA called business analysis. It all depends on your logical skill compared to learning.

They can ask like what is the key criteria to open up an european restaurant in exam ? If you learn MBA you can quote models & frameworks but without one you can still use your logic & experience to deduce. Thats why fresh graduate with MBA are not highly regarded as they lack experience.

CFA is considered master or some kind but definitely higher than degree. You won't hear much of CFA graduates in MYS since its a US qualification & there is not many centre in MYS teaching it. Many can boast themselves as financier (just have to take up a short stint license) but CFA is the another rung after it. However CFA recognition is higher in US compared to other countries.

But CFA requires heavy application of accounting in level 1 & 2 & financial advisory later on level 3. Although engineering + finance may be a good synergy but learning something new & completely different may be difficult. Professional qualification is not like degree / master they practice "exam-based approach". They only allow you to take exam but you need to find your own tuition provider & study on your own. Thats why these courses has less appeal to asian students compared to the more care-free westerners.

Management is not an "absolute" qualification.
The syllabus itself its pretty much about how you apply your knowledge based on what you learn. In my business paper, my lecturer (also a MBA professor) told me this. You can have zero knowledge about management but you can still get through it with your own reasoning & experience.
Most of it are real life case studies so practical experience can also be used as opposed to academic theory.
Most of the theory also comes from research by professors like Henry Fayol, Mintzberg, Kotler, Johnson & Scholes,.....

I think MBA is very relevant for those :
1) Already working
2) Already have a core / specialised degree (which will create a synergy with MBA)
3) Are being / going to be / have been promoted into managerial position

Fresh grads should never apply for MBA unless they are going to setup their own biz or their parent practically owns the company (family based biz).

If you want to switch career using your MBA to a better corporate life, any MBA that is not listed in FT100 will be very difficult. I don’t like to use this example but if your MBA does not cost up to RM250,000 it’s not a top-tier university. Please check link below:

http://rankings.ft.com/exportranking/globa...anking-2016/pdf

You see Insead there right? It’s in Singapore, their fees now is around EURO75,000. That’s equivalent to RM300,000 to RM400,000. Its already cheap as it’s a year program. If you go US like Harvard and Stanford its easily half a million ringgit. You will ask what for? Bcos unlike degree, only top MBA makes a difference to the employer. Who you think can afford those schools? It must be very rich entrepreneur or top C-level executives. They are there to find network …. and study along the way. These schools has special career fair that only opens to them like Google, Amazon, JP morgan,….
If you want to save your money doing MBA, I think it’s better you save money for your entrepreneurship. You don’t need MBA for that. A lot of people make mistake thinking MBA will change their life. You pay peanuts, you get peanuts.

Last useful tip to choose MBA. If the school does not require you to take GMAT, very highly likely that MBA is not a top-tier one and it won’t dramatically change your career. See link below if you are not sure what is GMAT
http://start.gmat.com/gmatprep_en?&utm_sou...7259022549,gmat

The top MBA school currently in Malaysia is the Asean business school (collaboration between MIT and Bank Negara). Cost should be around RM300k also.

Monash is good but not cheap. Equivalent school will be like Manchester business school (sunway) or strachtlyde

Ya, I fully agree with you and also think it’s BS. It’s basically a rich club formed by rich boys for the rick boys. They have very strong alumni which will ensure the MBA students join the exclusive club. Take Rajat Gupta case for example (ex Mickinsey head who was charged for insider trading).

Quote:
“Two decades earlier, it was Daniel who had hired Gupta straight out of Harvard B-School for McKinsey's New York office--after Gupta had been turned down because he didn't have any work experience. That's when one of Gupta's professors at Harvard, Walter Salmon, wrote to Daniel, then manager of the New York office, asking him to reconsider the decision. He did, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Link: http://www.sree.net/stories/bt-gupta.html

MBA actually does not help a skilled worker become better. It’s a skilled worker using a power brand to certify himself as skilled worker. If he is an outstanding staff, getting a good MBA just makes him looks better.
I think the practical use of MBA is as follow:

Networking: Good MBA really provides the network. The theory is if someone willing to pay tons of money to be in there, that person will really invest his time to know people. And since, good schools filter out pretenders, quality network is aplenty. All depends on the student initiatives. Good schools normally requires at least > 5 years managerial experience with global standard companies, 2 endorsements from former students, good GMAT scores and solid undergraduate degress…. and willingness to pay.

Mobility: MBA is actually quite useful to switch career (not upgrading career). This was popular and now making a comeback especially for specialised positions. Think Oil and gas. After retrenchment of engineers due to global oil slump, some O&G offered MBA courses to their staffs to switch to another line within the company. Quite popular with banking also. For those thinking to switch country, take US. UK or ASIAN MBAs are very hard.

Knowledge: Very subjective as it’s the least professional (non-specialised). I like case studies and experience where I met executives from other companies. I find the knowledge sharing useful but the content you can roughly get it from Harvard business review.

Career progression: …. Ok (strictly my opinion), MYS bosses will felt that staffs taking MBA most likely will leave the organisation for better offers. Most bosses also don’t see the value add of MBA here so they won’t pay the premium. Unless the company wants to sponsor you to take no point you go take yourself. I only heard a genuine case of a known acquaintance where he was asked to take MBA with a top15 as he was geared to become a MD.

Ha ha I feel you. Looking at the list, I think only the top20 will make any difference. Although most felt FT is the most accurate ranking but there are others like QS. QS Ranking understands the regional differences and importance of GMAT score. I think the most useful indicator is the alumni recommendation as Lancaster ranks 81 instead of 35 in FT. As perception / prestige are more important, I wonder why their students don’t recommend it that much.

Another thing about tie-in universities, it will always be inferior as compared to the actual full program. Taking course at Lancaster here and at Lancaster UK is very different especially the network quality. Although one might argue the local network is more relevant if one wants to stay in MYS. UK students are very very different compared to US students mentality. I heard Australia MBAs are very sought after in Australia but not elsewhere but can’t confirm on these.

And non-US MBA always a tougher sell as only US MNCs actually treasures MBAs.

I agree with your view that it’s just a piece of paper. If the user is unable to utilise the MBA, it’s just another piece of paper. That’s why top-tier universities have a very rigid filter test to root out only the best for the programme (if you can pay). In a way, they transformed those already good employees into the next level. My view is most of the students already have outstanding credentials; they just need a stamp of accreditation from these universities.

It’s much easier to say they have a certified Harvard MBA to a potential recruiter than spending 1 hour explaining their background. Most employers trust the university have a very good selection process. Take Insead SG for example, the filter system is as difficult as getting into McKinsey itself.

I think that's why you will hear a lot of people wants to do MBA but will balk at the cost later. I agree it shouldn't cost that much but the university knows well that most can recover that amount. Its not that huge if you are considering from US/UK perspective. The currency does not really work into ASIAN students favor.

The local colleges from each country takes advantage by offering low fees "MBA" that really misled a lot of those that doesn't perform proper due diligence. Most realized mid-way or when they applied for jobs using the MBA.

US university has a policy on the minorities. They have a minimum quota and special privileges for minorities in the class (including MBA). International diversity also feeds into the ranking

Maybe just to add on:

Top universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton takes the MBA ranking very seriously. Those that they accepted have been screened thoroughly to ensure they are proper ambassador to their brand. To preserve the prestige, they take only the best (either established or with connection). Hence Fortune500 companies have no problem hiring them as they most likely qualified in the first place. In fact, these companies will probably conduct their recruitment in these universities first. The university will ensure that the students get into a good place after graduation to continue the alumni cycle.

Work may not be guaranteed there but still stands higher chance than any other country such as UK. UK is even more xenophobic. Although, I agree that US place more importance for automatic extension to those studying in advance engineering fields such as computer science and IT.
Speaking of taxi driver, both the Grab founder are Harvard MBA grad.

All sites have different methodology but FT is normally the go to to for MBA

Some sites such as FT and Economist don't differentiate by region

QS and Bloomberg recognize the the regional differences.

Generally, US MBA have higher recognition grade due to the employer's preference

Many factors but US syllabus tends to be more general than the UK/European counterpart. Normally require 2 years in the campus. Furthermore, US MNCs have more MBA related career program for MBA graduates. It's harder to find job in UK rather than US with the MBA.

Another important reason to study MBA is due to the networking opportunities. This is why London Business School is preferred over Oxford Said for example. I don't think people in London willing to take 1 hour plus train journey to Oxford to study.

For recommendation, follow the ranking.

I think you may confuse the networking term. MBA network is actually the ability & willingness of the student to interact with others to gain a fruitful relationship. Better schools provide you better students to interact with. There is no automatic friendship especially if you do not invest your time in there.

The superior b-school has a very strong alumni program where most of the universities don’t. Google Rajat Gupta, Harvard and Mckinsey. Some of the top unis band together and create a “job network” that students have exclusive access to top companies such as google and amazon.

https://www.ivyexec.com/executive-insights/...-help-find-job/

You can ask whether Monash provide all these first?