Studying in an emerging market may better equip British MBA students to successfully navigate such markets for their businesses later on that’s the suggestion Asian business schools are putting forth as they recruit candidates for the coming year.

Visiting London recently as part of a world tour to promote MBA courses, representatives of an Asian ’Ivy League’ of business schools told Recruiter that UK interest was growing year-on-year in their academic programmes and the opportunities offered by first-hand exposure to life in exploding Asian consumer economies.

For instance, in spite of news reports about India’s massive consumer market, the world outside India cannot comprehend the vast contradictions that must be understood to effectively conduct business there. “The perception of the size of the market is really warped,” Hima Bindu, associate director for admissions & financial aid at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, told Recruiter. As an example, she pointed out that India has 800m mobile phone users. And while the Reserve Bank of India recently downgraded from 8% its growth projection for the country, the amended forecast of 7.6% is still significant.

“Location is important. People come to China to learn about China,” said Ivy Yang, marketing manager, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai. “You have to be there and experience it.” Many CEIBS MBA students stay there to work for a period after earning the advanced business degree, she said.

With its still evident UK influence, Hong Kong offers a perfect “stepping stone” between the UK and Asia, said Sherring Ng, head, marketing & admissions at the HKUST Business School, Hong Kong. She said that the school is particularly proud of the access it offers MBA students to real live case studies of luminary Asian business success stories such as Samsung and Singapore Airlines. The school also organises study trips to other Asian countries, she said.

English is the primary language spoken at all of the schools, but at CEIBS, Yang said, a Mandarin language course is compulsory for those who do not speak the language. MBA students who do not speak even basic tourist Mandarin must first take a preparatory pre-course in the language before beginning their formal study.

“To grow your career, you can only do so much in Europe,” Bindu said. “Get out of your comfort zone.”