This season of UK education exhibition, the cities covered are Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. I highly recommend this exhibition to all the students who wish to pursue abroad education in 2010 or 2011. I had already attended this program in November when British council conducted this exhibition in Mumbai. I loved it. I am going again this time in Chennai. Luckily I’m in chennai now.

Last time I had the opportunity to directly speak to an experienced professor from a coveted university. I had the chance to take first hand advice from him. Also got contacts of Abroad Education agencies. This led to contacting of those agencies for direct interviews with Coventry University, Kingston University and Robert Gordon University. This is great. Looking forward to talk to more professors this time. So go to such exhibitions as many number of times you can. You will learn more about the colleges and get other information which you can’t get by sitting at home. 

Link to the actual news article at Official website of British Council.

Ever wondered how life would be at London School of Business. Here is a sneak peak from the diary of a student of London School of Business(class of 2011).

A Month's schedule at London School of Business

Wow that’s a lot of homework for a month’s time! Hey but wait, before you draw conclusions about tough life at LBS, here’s a video of LBS students’ Christmas tradition – all students wear Santa costumes and hang around the London city centre to share the Christmas spirit, party and have fun.

So what’s your reaction about life at LBS. It rocks there, doesn’t it.

Dream high my friend!

Thanks Alex Tzukerman.

General Questions related to Education in the UK:

Come study in the UK

• Can you tell us about the current situation of racism in the UK?
  The population of the UK is increasingly diverse and a great many religions and ethnic groups are represented in the UK. Britain is a tolerant society that believes in respecting the rights of minority groups. This belief is supported by law too. The Race Relations Act is one of the most comprehensive laws against racial discrimination in the world and works towards the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of equal opportunity between people of different racial groups. If you are subjected to any form of racial discrimination or harassment, report it to your institution. They will have a formal procedure to assist individuals who feel they have been discriminated against. You can also report it to the local branch of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Commission will provide information and advice to anyone who thinks he or she has suffered racial discrimination or harassment.
• Will I have to return back to India immediately after finishing my post graduation in the UK? How long can I stay in the UK after my education?
  Under the new post study work rule, you can stay back and work for 2 years. The regulation states that you if you graduate with a Bachelors or higher degree from a UK institution you get two years to stay and work in the UK.
• How early can I apply for a visa once I secure an unconditional offer?
  Once you have the offer (sponsor visa letter) you can immediately apply for a visa.

Questions on scholarships and part time jobs:

• How do I find out whether or not, a course that I am looking for is available with the UK universities?
  Do a search at http://www.hotcourses.com
• Can you give details about scholarships offered by the UK Universities? Can I get a full scholarship?
  Details about scholarship and fellowship opportunities are available at the scholarships page of The British Council India.
• Can you give details about part time jobs in the UK?
  Every full-time student is allowed to work for 20 hours a week.
• Can you tell us more about Dr. Manmohan Singh scholarship?
  You can find details of Dr. Manmohan Singh scholarship at this link.

Questions on MBA and PhD:

• How much does an MBA course cost in the  UK ?
  Fees for MBA courses ranges from 6000 GBP to over 20000 GBP depending on the institutions and the course opted.
• Is there any entrance exam for pursuing MBA degree in the UK?
  Some institutions may ask for GMAT scores in addition to IELTS scores.
• Is there any reservation for physically disabled in MBA courses ?
  Admissions are usually merit based. However most of the universities/institutions have facilities for the physically disabled.
• What is the procedure for applying a PhD degree in the UK?
  For a PhD, you should ideally send a research proposal to a professor engaged in relevant research area before applying.

The person who was going to take my interview was the Dean of Robert Gordon University. He warmly smiled at me and wished me “Namasthe”. It took me a while to figure out that he was speaking Hindi. He politely gestured towards the chair and said “Baithiye” still wearing a pleasant smile.

He introduced himself, shook hands with me and asked me to introduce myself.

First he looked at my application profile – a set of documents which included copies of 10^th certificate, 10+2 certificate, degree certificate, fully filled copy of robert gordon university’s application form, statement of purpose and resume.

He asked me to help him to discern my 10^th and 12^th certificates. He scanned my documents and noted the percentage of marks scored in 10^th, 12^th and the class awarded in engineering(first/second/third class).

After ensuring that I had scored a score above 70% he went back scanning the 10^th certificate for the percentage of marks I scored in English. He repeated the exercise for 12^th. He was satisfied with any percentage above 68% or anything close to 70% in English. He declared that I did not need to give an IELTS test as he found my English score satisfactory. He was quite happy to know that I had a first class honours degree.

He jokingly confirmed whether a first class in our college really meant that it was first class. He was happy with my profile and agreed to give me a conditional offer with a condition that I paid the fees necessary for Visa formalities.

For the next thirty minutes, he patiently explained about a lot of things that I didn’t know about education in UK and about life at Robert Gordon University.

He discussed about the specializations that their college offers. He spoke about the subject of marketing in general for a minute.

He discussed in detail about the fee programme. He claimed that the fees charged by his university was highly competitive with respect to the fees charged by other business schools in UK. They charged around 9,300 pounds for international students. He expressed his keen interest in Indian students.

About Scholarship

He told about the 1000 pound scholarship that their college offered the previous year. And later corrected himself telling that the waiver was not exactly a scholarship as it was offered to all the international students irrespective of score or competence as an attempt to encourage students study in a weak economy. All the universities waived off a 1000 pounds on fees for international students irrespective of their scores.

About Location of the University

He discussed about the climatic conditions and geographic location of that university. Robert Gordon University was located in the north-most part of England in Aberdeen, Scotland. So, it was the coolest place in the UK. The temperatures run down below the zero degrees Celsius. And occasionally it snows for two weeks in the month of January, the heavy rains following the snow, wash off all the snow. And that the temperature is pretty stable and is called temper weather for its steadiness. It’s a kind of winter all round the year. As opposed to that of climate in the city, Chennai which has one only one season all the year – summer.

He spoke of the history of the town. Aberdeen is an important city to the UK in terms of fishing business and other shipping industries. So the city has fair number of part time jobs.

About racism

The town has little number of international migrants. There are some places of UK where the number of migrants from India, Pakisthan, Bangladesh, china are high. Usually racism exists in such places where there are large migrant communities. In the place where this college was situated, only migrants are the international students, so they are treated with respect and no reports of racism.

About night life

He said that the night life in that town starts after 11 PM and goes on till 4 AM. Youngsters hang around in pubs. They leave home at 11 PM and return at 4 AM. He asserted that it was absolutely safe in the night and there was no serious case of local violence in the recent past.

About security

Adding to what he said about security in the night, he quoted his own example of forgetting to lock their door without worrying about theives. Such was the security at that place. He said that he becomes very cautious during his trips to London, and he often checks his wallet and other belongings.

About part time jobs

He quoted an example of a student from chandigarh, Punjab who had completely subsidized his living expenses using the money he earnt from part time jobs. He told that students could earn 300 pounds per month on an average there. And that students were allowed to work for part time jobs officially for 20 hours a week and all the day long during the Easter and Christmas holidays.

About support from Staff

He said that students could approach their friendly and supportive staff anytime to discuss any kind of problem. No matter whether a student is unable to follow instructions of the teaching staff, or student is not able to cope up with the pressure of studies or the student has some financial difficulties or personal problems or wants to go home for an emergency or has any kind of problem there. He also sees students, we could book an appointment with his secretary and block half an hour for seeing him.

About concessions for students for ill health

He said they give reasonable consideration to medical problems. If the student can provide necessary medical evidence of being sick, his/her exam could be postponed or given an extension of time considering it as a special case.

About after college life and jobs

The UK visa permits us to stay there and search for work there. And once we find an job, our employer would take care of the extension of work visa.

About recession and job market

He was frank about recession hitting the UK economy hard. The UK economy was just now recovering from the most dreaded recession of the century. However he hoped that by the time we finished our education by 2012, the economy would revive fast and there would be lot of jobs that would ready. He quoted an example of a job that was necessary in a company but was just being kept in hold to save some extra money during bad economy. Once economy recovers, all such jobs start filling. He also frankly said that few students had trouble finding part time jobs last year owing to the recession.

About difference between MSc and MA

MSc involves statistics and mathematical analyses and equations, more suitable for students with engineering or science background. MA involves less math and more strategy and arts and humanities related stuff in the programme. He thought MSc would suit us better than MA as we had science background. MA suits students with arts and humanities related degree.

About MBA eligibility

He thought that we were not eligible for MBA as our age was just 23 years and that we did not have 4-5 years of experience preferrably managerial experience. And that Msc would let us focus on a single topic.

About semesters and dissertation

He explained about the 3 semester system in the UK MSc course and about the dissertation work in the last semester. I asked him whether we could choose any topic of our choice in dissertation. He replied that we can choose any topic related with the course curriculum. Dissertation was around 25,000 words and that we would get professional help from the professors.

About seeing him in the college

He said that we may not see him in the college as he no longer teaches in the university, he administrates offices. However we may get to see them when we are involved in some misconduct or any disciplinary issues. He playfully said that he didn’t want to see us in his office for misconduct reasons.

Final advice to me

The dean suggested me to get my things ready and get the necessary formalities cleared before I joined the college. He insisted that I went through their website about the course, get some books on marketing and read. Arrange other things such as visa letter, bank loan etc.

What is the eligibility criterion for MBA and MSc program? Which program suits me better?

These are two of the most common questions that pop up in the minds of people aspiring for a Post Graduate degree related to business in the United Kingdom.

I had these questions unanswered in my mind until I had visited Education UK Exhibition in Mumbai in the month of October in 2009. Education UK exhibition was an event conducted by the British Council, India.

At the venue of the event, I anxiously waited for the seminar session on “MBA in the UK” to start. I had great anticipation that the speaker of this session would clear all my doubts related to the MSc and MBA programmes in the UK.

The session started as per the scheduled time at sharp 3:30 PM. A senior lecturer who teaches Marketing in Worcester University, started speaking about MBA programme offered in the UK universities. He included a separate slide in his slide show for explaining the differences between MSc and MBA.

Generalist vs Specialist degree

MBA degree in comparison to MSc degree is a generalist degree. That means, curriculum of  a typical MBA programme covers all the fields related to business such as Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, General Management, etc. Whereas MSc degree is a more specialist degree, it focuses on a specialised field of study.

Take the case of a course named International Marketing Management MSc in the University of Worcester. The International Marketing Management MSc develops your general management skills and explores the many complex issues associated with marketing in MSc in an international context. But it would not include any other business related subjects such as finance or HR. The curriculum would purely deal with specifics of International Marketing and Management.

Take a look at the MBA programme curriculum in the University of Worcestor. The course includes all the general subjects related to management and business.

So, if you are seeking basic knowledge in all the subjects related to business, an MBA degree is more suited to you. Whereas, if you are seeking specific and in-depth knowledge of a particular subject related to business, an MSc degree suits you better.

Age and experience

Typically, age of a student pursuing MBA degree in the UK is 28 years with 4 years of work experience. Which clearly means that universities expect the applicants to have at least 4-5 years of work experience. And some institutions insist that the applicants have managerial work experience. Some institutions are okay with technical work experience.

Whereas freshers who have just passed out of their college can apply for an MSc degree course. They are not expected to have any work history. There is no age criterion for admission of students in the MSc course.

Nature of the course

The speaker of the seminar quoted an example “If I had to take a lesson on a particular subject common to MBA and MSc students, the style of teaching would differ in an MBA class and an MSc class. In an MBA class, I’d show the lesson slides to the class, take a seat in the classroom and let the students discuss. As MBA students would have had prior professional experience, they would share their view on the topic of discussion. They would share their opinions on how this lesson relates to their past work, how they had applied those concepts in their companies, how their companies worked, etc. The classes are more discussion oriented. It is assumed that the class has knowledge of the topics that are being taught.

Whereas if I had to take the same topic in an MSc classroom, I teach the lesson in detail and give them a case study for their practice. I would not assume that they have any prior knowledge of the topic being taught.”

Administrator vs Scientist

Lastly the speaker joked, “When the recruiting companies ask me whether to choose an MBA graduate or an MSc graduate, I ask them back, Do you want an Administrator(MBA) or a Scientist(MSC)?”

What the speaker meant was that an MBA course teaches more about the administration part of business. Whereas a MSc course includes science related things involved in that business. Such as statistics or complex math or engineering related to business.

I hope that this article demystified the mystery of differences between MBA and MSc.

Comment below if you have any specific question related to MBA vs MSc in the UK.

UK flag painting

British Council India is conducting Education UK exhibition in selected cities of India in the month of November in 2009. More details here.

1. You can speak to representatives from different UK institutions travelling across seven different cities in India.
2. You can obtain information about studying for an undergraduate, postgraduate or research degree.
3. You can find out about alternative study options if your exam results aren’t as good as you had hoped. For example have you thought about access or foundation courses or vocationally focused courses such as Higher National Diplomas (HND).
4. You can attend seminars delivered by UK academics on different topics such as the student visas, studying for undergraduate, postgraduate course or reading for an engineering or business degree.
5. You can research which UK courses are offered in India either by distance learning, online learning.
6. You can find out what scholarships are being offered.
7. You can find out more about the British Council’s English courses and IELTS (International English Language Testing System) examination.
8. You can collect a copy of Club UK, the official British Council magazine for Indian students.
9. You can win attractive prizes by participating in a contest, if you have already registered on-line to attend the exhibition.
10. You can know more about student life and culture in the UK

Also read 5 things to do before you visit the Education UK Exhibition.