Domini Yakubu

Country of origin: Nigeria

I discovered Lancaster University through a family member that also studied his Master’s degree there. After that, I went to the website to look through the available courses and discovered I would love to study there. When reading about MSc Human Resource & Knowledge Management, I decided I would love to study at Lancaster University Management School. Also, the University is in the top ten league tables, which was a great advantage. Knowing that LUMS is also triple accredited and world ranked made me completely sure that Lancaster University was for me.

The part I loved the most about the MSc Human Resource and Knowledge Management programme was the dissertation. To be honest, at the first stage of the dissertation which was the proposal, I was not in love with the idea. However, after beginning the main thesis, I began to fall in love with my work. Knowing I was working on something I was curious about made me love it even more. The topic was something I am really interested in, so I was eager to learn a lot and research about it. I also looked forward to conducting interviews for my qualitative research.

I learnt a whole lot from the process, including patience and how important it is to begin a thesis at the appropriate time and avoiding procrastination in order to finish in good time. The dissertation part of my degree was really advantageous.

I am actually what most people refer to as an introvert, so I spent most of my time indoors or in the library. I was not part of any of the amazing clubs and societies at Lancaster University. Most of what I did during my stay in Lancaster was attended lectures, church services on Sunday and also departmental dinners.

My dissertation was on work-place conflict and employee relations. In order to conduct in-depth research, I used a company as my case study. The company I used is based in Nigeria, so I conducted the interviews through phone calls.

The research process was an eye opener for me in terms of how important it is for people to be able to communicate effectively in order to get results. I learnt that reading massive amounts of relevant literature and asking the right questions was key to getting the best results.

I would summarise my experience at Lancaster as amazing! I met wonderful people; the community is really welcoming, loving and peaceful.

After my study I came back to Nigeria. Since then I have been applying for jobs in various organisations and hopefully will get one soon. I learnt a lot on the MSc Human Resource and Knowledge Management programme. Whilst at University, I was able to apply the knowledge gained in my exams and course work. I believe the skills I have gained in terms of managing knowledge workers will help a lot in my future career and help me grow.