Among the first graduates of the Global MBA course at the Graduate School of Business of Seoul National University (SNU GSB), one in two got jobs in the financial sector, including banks, securities, and insurance companies.

Before starting the Global MBA course, the annual salary of the graduates was 38 million won on average; it has gone up by 25 million won to over 60 million after graduating from the school.

According to the SNU GSB on July 30, except for those who have been dispatched to companies, all of the 28 graduates of the Global MBA course who were looking for jobs have been employed: 58% (16) in the financial sector, 25% (7) in large domestic conglomerates, 7% (2) in consulting companies, 7% (2) in foreign companies, and 3% (1) in other.

Before starting the course, most of the students worked for IT companies (30%), followed by large domestic companies (20%), foreign companies (16.5%), consulting companies (13.5%), and financial organizations (6.5%).

In particular, six out of nine graduates, who used to work in the IT field, got jobs in the financial sector including banks, securities, insurances, asset management companies, and strategy department of consulting and large companies. Only one got a job in the IT sector again after graduation.

Gwak Su-geun, Dean of the SNU Business School, said, “Most of the graduates have been employed in the financial sector, partly because they preferred the field. But it’s proved that financial organizations also want to recruit MBA graduates with working experiences in the manufacturing and consulting fields.” He went on to say “A course to become a professional in the financial sector will be starting to work in the manufacturing sector then going through an MBA course.”

Overseas employment, however, was below expectations. Though the school has made every effort to become internationalized by providing English-only classes and inviting renowned overseas MBA professionals, only two graduates succeeded in getting jobs abroad: one at the headquarters of Standard Chartered Bank and one at a Singapore branch of GE Energy. No graduate got a job in the overseas offices of domestic companies. Mr. Gwak said, “We will continue to recruit professors who are experts in international environments after having worked in foreign organizations and universities for many years.”

Meanwhile, the graduates had job interviews with six companies on average and finally got into three companies. The Global MBA, established in August last year, is a one-year MBA course at the Seoul National University. Applicants are required to have a minimum of two years’ working experience, and all the classes are instructed in English.

August 1, 2007