Students of the Sungkyunkwan University SKK Graduate School of Business MBA program listen to a lecture at the campus in Jongno District, central school. The Financial Times ranked the school 66th on its list of 100 top full-time global MBA programs for 2012. Provided by the school

Deciding to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in a foreign country as a mother of two with a full-time job might be a daunting idea, but one 39-year-old executive-level Canadian decided to follow her gut instinct.

“As the world is becoming a smaller place and business in general is becoming more global, I think obtaining an MBA from a program that integrates this into its curriculum is imperative,” said Lisa Marie Cechetto, a biochemist from Ontario, Canada.

As she is currently director of business development and intellectual property at the Institut Pasteur Korea, a drug and disease research institute, her job entails extensive knowledge of intellectual patents, and she is involved in licensing deals and collaboration with partners.

Though she comes from a science background, Cechetto thought it was a logical next move to pursue a business degree to learn more about contracting and also better set her up for her future career in the field.

She is now one of five international students of the class of 38 that started in August at the Sungkyunkwan SKK University Graduate School of Business’ Executive MBA program.

While she chose the program because it is the only completely English executive-level MBA program in Korea, Cechetto said, “The professors from both the U.S. and Korea are top notch” and the students are friendly and welcoming.

“The only difficulty is trying to stay organized and on top of work, family life and school,” she admitted. But her husband, two young children and company were fully supportive of her plan. Because the executive program is a part-time program, she gets Friday afternoons off of work to take classes, and spends Saturday at school. Her husband looks after the kids when she is at school, a lifestyle pattern which will continue for the next 16 months.

The Sungkyunkwan MBA programs are divided into a full-time Global MBA program and part-time Executive MBA program. The majority of the staff are international, and all professors speak English.

The Global MBA program, established in 2004, saw a 61-student class this year, with 36 percent of students being international. Students come from over 30 countries ranging from Latvia to Colombia, and the size of the class doubled over seven years.

The program ranked 66 on the Financial Times’ list of top 100 full-time global MBA programs for 2012. While schools from the United States topped the list, with Stanford coming first, followed by Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, Sungkyunkwan University was the only Korean school in the top 100.

And this recognition has attracted more international students to the MBA programs, said Cho Hwa-yeon, assistant director of admissions at the graduate school of business.

Furthermore, students thus far have a 100-percent employment rate after graduation in areas including finance, consulting, manufacturing and IT.

In the case of the newer Executive MBA program now in its fourth year, it offers a dual-degree with the prestigious Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Half of the lectures are taught by professors from Indiana University.

In August, the Executive MBA students spent two weeks training in Bloomington, Indiana. It also offers partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management.

Cechetto said the two-week program in the United States was a prime chance to get to know the other Executive MBA candidates, who are mostly in their 30s and 40s, in management level positions, many in big companies. She said that she hopes that the program attracts more diversity in the future.

She moved to Korea five years ago with her family because of a job opportunity for her husband, who is a scientist.