Like many top global corporations, EY offers the opportunity to undertake a secondment with other offices across the globe. Frauke leapt at the opportunity to move to the Chinese capital, Beijing.

“I came for two years in January 2016, and today I’ve obviously never returned,” she says.

Taking on a senior management role at EY Hua Ming, the company arm headquartered in China, Frauke continued working as an auditor helping top multinational companies based in Germany who were active in the China market.

The role utilized her substantial accounting and financial expertise. But after rising through the ranks to become a partner, Frauke felt a new perspective would improve the service she could offer to clients.

“I’m always coming from an audit point of view,” she explains. Looking for a more in-depth understanding of broader business topics, she decided an EMBA would help continue her progress at EY and help her better serve her clients.

Now in the early stages of the part-time program, Frauke feels she’s benefitting from the in-depth curriculum, which includes core courses covering business fundamentals ranging from talent management to the Chinese economy.

Lectures involve a mixture of business theories alongside practical business cases and class discussions. “It’s been amazing to have a professor in front of you again, you value how brilliant it is being part of a classroom,” she explains.

“All of the professors have been excellent, they’re very passionate and insightful about what they teach. Materials provided are also very interesting,” she adds.

Learning among a cohort of experienced professionals-the TIEMBA class of 2024 includes 35 participants coming from diverse backgrounds, and with an average of 14 years’ work experience each-has also helped Frauke learn, she says.

“It’s a very different networking platform, with a diverse group of people with different backgrounds, different interests and ways of communicating. It’s very interactive,” she says.

“Since I met my classmates, we have basically been exchanging messages every day. What I’m benefitting from is that people have access to different resources, sources, and ideas.”