斯奈德（Scott Snyder）决定去念个工商管理硕士学位（MBA）的时候，他没有考虑美国商学院。这位加州一家国防企业前任项目经理希望改变职业，不过他想在海外发展。
过去五年里，更多学生选择去海外留学攻读MBA，其中多数人申请欧洲顶尖学校，不过近期有一些人避开欧洲，申请亚洲的新课程，这个群体规模不大，但数量不断增长。对许多人来说，这是在寻求国际职位时抢在美国求职者之前占得先机的方式。
斯奈德选择了新加坡南洋理工大学（Nanyang Technological University）的MBA课程，并被录取。
斯奈德说，我只知道我希望[我的下个工作]是国际性的，进入亚洲学校将能更容易在新加坡得到一个实际工作。他已于7月开始学习。
管 理专业研究生入学考试委员会（Graduate Management Admission Council）是监管主要商学院入学考试GMAT的机构，它公布2009年美国应试者中有7,796份成绩被送到美国以外的学校；2005年时仅有 5,032份。2009年中国首次跻身美国GMAT应试者呈送成绩的十大国家之列。
各学校都在努力利用这种兴趣吸引潜在学生。上海的中欧 工商管理学院、香港科技大学、南洋理工大学以及印度商学院（Indian School of Business）近期组成了一个联盟，在美国推广他们的课程。这些学校与西方商业刊物结盟，推销他们的课程，并将一起到多伦多、旧金山、洛杉矶和纽约市 会见感兴趣的申请者。
拥有一家信息处理咨询公司的惠伦（Greg Whalen）决定从中欧工商管理学院获得MBA的时候，此前已从哥伦比亚大学（Columbia University）获得计算机科学硕士学位。惠伦说，他将来要在亚洲运营一家要么是医学技术，要么是营销业的创业型企业，他希望与中国市场有所联系。
惠伦说，中国的机会实在是更吸引人。
他说课程设计是他作出选择的第二考虑因素，主要考虑因素是把自己沉浸在商业环境里，并从精于亚洲市场并购的教授那里获取知识。
中欧工商管理学院是中国政府与欧盟委员会（European Commission）于1994年共同建立的，建立伊始即已开始在国际上享有声誉。
中欧工商管理学院MBA学术主任白诗莉（Lydia Price）表示，过去五年申请该学院的美国学生数量不断上升。2009年近8%的学生是美国学生。许多人是自愿选择在亚洲受教育，在他们申请前，就已在学习普通话课程、钻研中国市场和商业。
欧 洲工商管理学院（INSEAD）是一家声誉卓著的国际商学院，其招生主任爱德华兹（Caroline Diarte Edwards）说，2000年仅在新加坡开设一家分校，就提升了北美申请者的兴趣。今年的美国学生数量从2000年的39人升至89人。她说，申请者表 示，他们通过在新加坡学习而接触到新兴市场并可能获得工作，是吸引他们的原因。
她说，近80%的欧洲工商管理学院学生部分课程是在新加坡学习，5%的人整个学年都在这里学习，毕业后约有22%的研究生在亚太区国家就业。
When Scott Snyder decided to get an M.B.A., he didn't consider U.S. business schools. The former project manager at a defense company in Santa Barbara, Calif., wanted a career change -- and he wanted to build it abroad.
Over the past five years, more prospective students have opted to go abroad to earn their master's in business administration, with most applying to top European schools. Recently, though, a small but growing number are eschewing Europe and are applying to new programs in Asia. For many, it is a way to establish themselves ahead of U.S. candidates for international jobs.
Mr. Snyder eventually decided on and was accepted to Singapore's Nanyang Technological University's M.B.A. program.
'I just know I want [my next job] to be international,' and attending school in Asia will make it 'so much easier to get an actual job in Singapore,' says Mr. Snyder, who started the program in July.
The Graduate Management Admission Council, which administers the GMAT, the main business-school entry exam, reported that 7,796 test scores from U.S. test-takers were sent to schools outside the U.S. in 2009; just 5,032 were sent in 2005. For the first time in 2009, China cracked the list of the top 10 countries that U.S. GMAT test-takers sent their scores to.
The schools are trying to take advantage of interest by reaching out to prospective students. China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Nanyang and the Indian School of Business recently formed a coalition to promote their programs in the U.S. The schools have teamed up with Western business publications to tout their programs and will travel together to Toronto, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City to meet interested applicants.
Greg Whalen, who owns an information processing consulting company, already had a master's degree in computer science from Columbia University when he decided to get an M.B.A. from CEIBS. Mr. Whalen says he wanted to make connections in the Chinese market while hammering out an entrepreneurial enterprise in either the medical technology or marketing industries that he will run in Asia.
'The opportunities in China are simply more appealing,' says Mr. Whalen.
He says the curriculum was a secondary consideration in his choice; his top priority was immersing himself in the business climate and soaking up the knowledge of the professors skilled in mergers and acquisitions in the Asian market.
CEIBS has already begun to build an international reputation since launching in 1994 as a joint venture with the Chinese government and the European Commission.
Over the past five years, CEIBS has seen a jump in American applicants, says Lydia Price, the school's dean. Almost 8% of the class of 2009 was made up of American students. Many are self-selecting for an education in Asia, taking Mandarin language courses and studying up on Chinese markets and business well before applying.
Caroline Diarte Edwards, director of admissions for INSEAD, an international business school whose reputation is well-established, says simply opening a campus in Singapore in 2000 increased interest among North American applicants. This year, there are 89 U.S. citizens in the class; there were 39 in 2000. She says applicants say they are attracted to the exposure to emerging markets and potential jobs they get access to by studying in Singapore.
Nearly 80% of INSEAD students spend part of the program in Singapore, while 5% spend the entire year there. After graduation, about 22% of INSEAD graduates take jobs in Asia-Pacific countries, she says.