Graduating next week, Lindsey joined the UEA MBA in 2015 as part of our part-time executive cohort, and was the recipient of the annual Norfolk Network scholarship, covering 50% of the course fees. As I read Lindsay’s blog I’m reminded of the impact an MBA has on a student’s career and their personal and professional development. We like to say that an MBA delivers three important things: new knowledge; additional skills and greater self-confidence. It is an experience that challenges you academically, demands that you put theory into practice through the consultancy projects and asks you immediately apply your learning in your own working environment. This mix of features to an MBA explains why it often the catalyst for career advancement (or even career change) as a return on the investment of time and money in choosing to study, whilst continuing to work full-time. Now in its 25th year, our MBA continues to have this positive impact on those who choose to take this challenge.
Julian Campbell – UEA MBA Executive (part-time) Course Leader
The Executive MBA for me was one of the most difficult, interesting, rewarding, agonising and liberating experiences of my life. My Executive MBA started in January 2015 and for the next two and a quarter years, I have had an essay, a project, an exam or all three at the same time to worry about; and this is part of the journey. The work is of course at a Master’s level and this requires a lot of effort, concentration and home study. But the rewards, not only of being able to study under the variety of different academic staff, all experts in their field, but to be able to share this journey with a great bunch of peers and learn so much from them too, were immense.
We covered so much material that I’m staggered when I see the pile of books we have studied and the multiple ring binders I have filled with notes. The whole course was useful and, being so broad spectrum, it inevitably introduces you to new areas and ideas. The most useful new skills are the analytical ones that facilitate the ability to understand a business problem quickly and thoroughly. Also the course exercises one’s critical faculty, which means I’m more likely to ask the right questions and ‘dig’ in the right areas. I particularly enjoyed our economics module as I’d never studied it before and loved the way it was taught. I also found the various marketing modules very useful given my poor understanding of the subject before the course. We also learned where and how to access new information quickly and efficiently, so important in this fast-paced world and a very empowering skill.
As part of the course, we undertook two Management Consultancy projects, for my part one for IBM in Prague and one for KODAKIT, a branch of Kodak and based in Singapore. They were very tough projects for a variety of reasons, but working with real clients and real situations whilst under supervision was a hugely valuable experience and I’ve no doubt we developed considerably as consultants and indeed human beings.
Looking back, my advice would be, if you are thinking of applying for the MBA, commit completely and try to get as much out of it as possible – the old adage ‘The more you put in, the more you get out’ is very true of degree courses. The course was massive and I feel that I have really achieved something, not just because I managed to get through it, but now I am much more confident in my ability to add value to a businesses and/or solve problems with which I am dealing. I’ve also become much more ambitious in the sort of work I want to take on, and am enjoying work more than ever because I find solving problems much less daunting and much more interested than before the course.
So thank you to the academic staff at the Norwich Business School and to my peers on the course for just over two amazing and unforgettable years.
With thanks to Lindsey Mack for contributing to the NBS blog.
For further information about both our full and part time MBA programmes and dates of our next open evening and taster day, please visit us online, email mbateam@uea.ac.uk or call us on +44 (0)1603 591753
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