MBA Week: Students enjoy the benefits of MBA study

IN the second of our week of features in association with Leeds Business School, students who have taken the course reveal how MBAs have offered them new insights and supported their careers.

At 29, Daniel Highton was ready to take a new look at his career and consider how he was going to climb the corporate ladder as well as contributing more to his firm.

A senior quantity surveyor at Emcor Group, Mr Highton had a strong background in the construction industry but realised he would need a broader understanding of business if he was to progress to the highest level.

Mr Highton had previously completed his degree in construction and commercial management at Leeds Metropolitan University and decided to return to Leeds Businss School on the Executive MBA course.

“I felt that I was restricted to my industry and wanted to be able to look across all business types at a corporate level. I think it is about enhancing your perception of how business operates at that top level,” Mr Highton said.

“Obviously it is very demanding and the standards are high but I have found it very interesting and very well-delivered.

“In addition to doing the EMBA itself, one of the great benefits of the course is the pallet of people you get to meet and mix with on the course. We worked out that a quarter of a billion pounds of responsibilities were shared by the 12 people in the room.”

As he approaches the end of the EMBA at Leeds Business School, Mr Highton is already seeing the effect of the course feed through into his daily work.

“Since starting the EMBA I have been promoted to a more senior position and I’ve also had input at a corporate level into our corporate social responsibility activities and in particular ensuring ethical practice in our facilities contracts.”

MBAs are often perceived as something valued particularly by the private sector but changes in the public sector are increasingly making the skills learned on the course relevant to those settings.

For more information on unlocking your future with an MBA download Leeds Met MBA doc

Tim Lund recently became regional director for Skills for Health, the sector skills council for the health sector, a new role after leaving the Department of Health, and believes the MBA helped him make the move.

“At the Department of Health I was leading on a major programme which was very demanding and I think the MBA allowed me to get my head up and offer a new perspective on my career,” said Mr Lund.

“When I started the MBA of course it was about getting the qualification but more than that I think it is good to be able to share experiences with people working in different organisations, discussing how they tackle particular challenges and generally being able to pick their brains and share ideas.

“For example, there was someone else on my course who was a senior figure of a provider of services to the NHS in Hull so it was great for me to be able to see things from his point of view.  There were international students doing projects with health organisations and I have been able to help them understand how the health service works in the UK.”

Mr Lund believes the skills he has learned through MBA study have greatly enhanced his ability to take on different challenges in his new post.

“I think everyone in the public sector is getting more commercially focused. I think organisations like mine will have to move to a position where we become self financing so the skills offered by the MBA are more and more relavent.

“My role is partly about business development, about bringing businesses into the organisation, working in partnership and management consultancy work. The MBA has given me far more confidence to take on that kind of role.”

Find the Leeds Business School prospectus at http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/study/postgraduate.htm.