Professor Jikyeong Kang

'The main reason that most people choose to study in their home country is financial,' says Professor Kang whose list of academic achievements in longer than most of her students' essays, and culminated in a full professorial chair three years ago.

'If you study at the Manchester Business School in the UK for 18 months you have to consider $57,000 in fees, living costs of $15,000-$23,000 and your loss in terms of salary that you would have been earning.

'On the other hand, by studying at the MBSW in Dubai the course fee is $27,400, the cost-of-living is lower and you may decide to keep your job and study part-time. Visa problems are more an issue in the US than the UK. It is more the cost that puts students off.

'The full cost in the UK might be $200,000 for an MBA and we are talking about exactly the same degree that you would obtain by studying at the MBSW in Dubai. The same academic standards apply, and we are careful to select the same quality of students for our programmes.'

Professor Kang explains that the GMAT test is not a part of the selection process which is rather based on references, interviews and having the right academic ability for an MBA course.

'We have to check that students have the right level of ability for the maths element of the accounting and finance course, for example. And we also want to be sure that the student has the right support from their family as the demands on personal time can be considerable.'

However, Professor Kang is keen to stress the non-academic benefits of an MBA such as business networking and a chance to interact with other students from a wide variety of cultural and business backgrounds.

'I come from Korea and we have a saying that you should always send a child away from the home to learn. And the MBA is the same in offering you exposure to an environment that you would never otherwise get.'

But she concedes that the financial advantages to a career are the main motivation for taking an MBA, and says: 'There is an immediate return-on-investment. The average is a 50% increase in salary on completion of an MBA.

'This is a way to push a career to a higher level and part of the course is designed to raise personal presentation skills so that students' careers are on a steeper upward curve when they leave.

'Our other stress is on how to work in a multicultural environment and share responsibility, delegate, find common ground and manage processes. It is delightful and challenging experience.'

MBSW offers three MBA courses from its Dubai Knowledge Village campus focused respectively on finance, engineering and construction management.