“Revolutionary” Wine MBA comes to Hong Kong

A huge surge in demand for wine education in Hong Kong has culminated in the launch of the first Wine MBA from France in the region.

An agreement was signed today between the Bordeaux Management School and the University of Hong Kong, whereby the first fully-fledged business programme in Hong Kong concentrating on wine was revealed.

Immediately before signing the agreement, Philip McLaughlin, dean of the Bordeaux Management School said: “This wine MBA is going to be a revolutionary product.

"The wine industry is the perfect metaphor for most managerial challenges in general. This MBA is destined to empower managers in the wine industry but will also be a good introduction to management.”

The part-time programme is expected to last 22 months, lectures will be taught and assessed in English, covering business topics such as wine marketing, strategic management, wine economics and will also include a dissertation.

Raymond Yip, assistant executive director of the Hong Kong Trade & Development Council said: “This brings together the shared values and vision to enhance the Hong Kong wine trade. We need to expand our management talent in the coming years and that’s why this is so timely, welcome and very important.”

Meanwhile, the Wine & Spirit Education Trust has reported an “explosive” surge in demand for wine education in Hong Kong.

International development director David Wrigley MW said at the Hong Kong fair: “It’s a pretty explosive growth, six years ago there were 100-200 students in Hong Kong but now we now have around 2,500 students.”

This means one in 10 of our global candidates are now in Hong Kong, which has become the fastest growing place for WSET student enrolment in the last year, after the US.

Jane Parkinson reporting from Hong Kong, 05.11.2009