After I landed at Manchester airport from Egypt and was welcomed by my brother, I started my journey in England as an international Egyptian student in the MSc Money, Banking, and Finance programme. It took us about an hour to reach Lancaster University Management School (LUMS). While we were driving inside the campus, we were welcomed by different groups of students. They were so polite, yet funny. In the beginning, I didn't have a clue but, afterwards, I found out that Lancaster University has a collegiate system, which means that every student belongs to a college inside the University. These colleges are individual and diverse communities offering a range of services. Connecting the dots, I understood that there was some sort of competition between colleges in welcoming newcomers.

Starting the welcome week, we had introductory lectures from our programme director, LUMS Careers Teams, and LUMS Learning and Development Team. The programme director was very generous with his time as I actually spent about an hour with him after the lecture because I had a lot of questions regarding the programme. In regards to LUMS Careers, they gave us valuable tips on how to strengthen our CVs and skills to enhance our employability in the UK or abroad. Additionally, there were sessions on how to secure part-time jobs while studying. Also, there was a lot of guidance on applying for internships and securing summer placements. I would always remember that in one session, the instructor told us to start applying immediately and not tomorrow. When it comes to the Learning and Development team, they are an umbrella for a lot of services which are all free and included once you are a Lancaster student. They include Math and Statistics classes, English language enhancing classes, and Academic writing classes. And inside every service, there are different types of support. Personally, I interacted with them all, and I found them very helpful, especially for foreign students who aren't used to the British educational system.

Frankly speaking, the first term flew so quickly. The first weeks were easier for sure than the remaining weeks of the term as there were a lot of deadlines and about two exams at the end of the term. The course was challenging but manageable. What I liked about the course is the testing mixture between book and presentation knowledge, which are crucial in the Banking and Finance fields. The content was inclusive and had many dimensions. One of the modules was about banks. It was eye-opening about the economics, empirical research, and regulation of the industry. Another module content was on macroeconomic research to understand the interactions between key macroeconomic variables which is crucial for candidates who aspire to work in central banks and policy institutions. What I enjoyed the most was a module centred on the comprehension of key publications by central banks and regulators — publications on banking regulation and financial stability — and how they are professionally presented.

Apart from academic studies, LUMS arranged multiple well-respected guest lectures such as Michele Lenza, Head of Section in Monetary Policy Research at the European Central Bank, who explained how AI is intertwined with monetary policy to improve it. Another important lecture was delivered by Alan Manning, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics. He is one of the UK’s top academic labour economists as well. The lecture was titled ‘Why Immigration Policy is Hard But We Don’t Have to Make Such a Mess of it’. I deeply enjoyed both lectures as I got quality perspectives on different topics such as ECB monetary policy and immigration from practitioners and lecturers.

Lastly, if I can summarise the first term in LUMS in two words, I would say ‘excellent exposure’.

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