Ksenia Lebedeva

Country of origin: Russia

MSc Management, Lancaster University

LUMS is a highly ranked and internationally recognised Management School, which is famous for its quality of teaching and attention given to students. The flexibility of its programmes gives a great opportunity for the students to build up their own ideal academic profiles, which will match their interests and strengths the most. LUMS has connections with the biggest employers in the country, which motivated me to be the best version of myself every day. These connections inevitably impacted my work for the better. Moreover, LUMS offers numerous opportunities for part-time jobs or volunteering, which boosts your social skills and helps you to network.

BSc Business Studies provides its students with an opportunity to specialise in two academic areas simultaneously. In my case, I specialised in Management Science and Finance. I believe this double major scheme will be very helpful when applying for jobs or further study. Moreover, I had to take at least one module from every Management School department throughout my three years of study, which helped me to understand how interesting and challenging other areas of study are, as well as how businesses run overall.

Group work (projects, presentations, reports), as well as self-study, is distributed evenly throughout the course, and each component of this study routine has constantly enhanced my academic and social profiles. Moreover, I gained a lot of practical knowledge in addition to the theoretical base, and it certainly makes my educational process more exciting.

Being an activist, I endeavoured to be constantly involved in various activities and projects. I was a Vice President of two university societies, which involved a lot of administrative work, but also gave me a chance to meet a lot of amazing people from all over the world and get acquainted with various cultures. My part-time job as LUMS Student Ambassador was truly one of the best experiences in my university life. This position provided me with amazing opportunities to get involved in different projects, organise and help to run several big events in the Management School, work with the Undergraduate, International and Careers Offices, as well as establish new contacts across the whole University. In the end I even received the LUMS Student Ambassador of the Year 2015 Award for my contribution to the academic and social life of LUMS community. I believe this job helped me to develop as a person, student and future employee.

Every member of LUMS is passionate about what they do, and this energy really passes on to the new incoming students. Lancaster University Management School is an ideal place to receive a high-quality education, meet a lot of people with various backgrounds, have fun, and get ready for your future professional life. I would say that life at LUMS reveals and boosts your strengths, helps you work on your weaknesses, and provides you with all possible opportunities for self-development.

LUMS Careers team provided me with numerous opportunities to get ready for interviews and assessment centres, help writing my CV and cover letters, proofreading, and moral support from the professional side of the university community. Every member of the Careers team is highly concerned about their students’ success, thus, there are always many events to take part in. There is also the possibility to have one-to-one appointments, which I found to be extremely useful as there was always a more personal approach at such meetings.

I plan to continue my studies on the MSc Management degree at LUMS. I am very excited about my next academic year, as I believe it will be very challenging but rewarding. The overall environment in LUMS is so welcoming and academically motivating, that you are more than happy to stay here for further education.