Taiwanese host Matilda Tao enrols in NUS EMBA after chance encounter on flight from Singapore

The Taiwanese host signed up because she wanted to learn about AI – only to find herself tackling accounting, business and interest rates.

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08 Oct 2026 10:26AM

Taiwanese host Matilda Tao has joined her son in studying in Singapore.

The 56-year-old, whose son Li Wu, 17, attends an international school here, recently enrolled in the Chinese Executive MBA (EMBA) programme at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

After completing her first course, accounting, Tao returned to Taiwan and shared her experience on her podcast.

She said her professor crammed what would normally take two years of accounting into just four days.

After three days of lessons, students had to give a group presentation analysing a company's financial report on the morning of day four, followed by a written exam that afternoon.

Tao, who doesn't have a business background, admitted she barely understood anything on the first day and felt close to breaking down.

“For the first time, I felt like half my brain had been emptied out. I was really putting it to work!” she said.

The syllabus covered 10 chapters, including accrual accounting, revenue recognition, inventory, fixed and intangible assets, and more.

There was no hiding at the back of class either.

Each student had a huge name tag on their desk, which meant the professor could call on anyone to answer questions at any time.

“So you can't even doze off,” joked Tao.

Somehow, though, things started making sense by day four.

“During the revision, I suddenly realised, ‘Hey, I actually understand it!’” she recalled, adding that she eventually found accounting “fun”.

Lessons started promptly at 9am, with each class lasting 90 minutes. Students attended around four or five classes a day, with lessons ending at 5.30pm.

She would then return to her hotel to revise, often falling asleep while watching lesson videos on her phone.

And this is just the beginning: She'll be returning to NUS every month for more classes.

Interestingly, Tao hadn't set out to study accounting – or even business.

She was inspired to enrol after meeting a young woman on a flight home from visiting her son in Singapore.

The woman told Tao she was taking an NUS programme that included AI-related classes and overseas exchanges, which piqued her interest.

“I made a mistake because I didn't know there would be so much about business, accounting and interest rates,” she joked.

Luckily, AI has also become her “secret weapon” for studying. She feeds her professor's lecture notes into AI and gets it to quiz her on accounting.

Going back to school has also put Tao in some pretty impressive company.

Many of her classmates are bosses and senior executives, including those from the electronics industry and someone who runs a stem cell clinic.

As someone outside the business world, she admitted she initially felt a little lost among them.

But being surrounded by business folk has had its unexpected perks.

She said she learnt about a stock from her classmates and decided to buy it – only for it to rise for five days straight.