Last chance to take advantage of government-funded MBA course
MBA course 'one of most challenging but rewarding things you will ever do'
‘One of the most challenging and rewarding things you will ever do’ - that’s how mature students summed up the MBA course at the University of Bradford.
The government currently funds MBA courses through the apprenticeship levy (95 per cent of course fees for apprentices from non-levy paying organisations, 100 per cent for levy payers), a situation which is due to change at the end of the year. Applying for an October intake would secure funding for the duration of the two-year course.
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We spoke to two mature students about why they chose to do an MBA. Both have been nominated for the BAME Apprenticeship Awards, which are due to take place later this year.
Nana Worae Owusu-Koduah is a production manager for Mirfield-based pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy's Laboratories Eu Ltd, where he has worked for four years.
Born in Ghana, he came to the UK when he was 10 living in London. He moved north when he studied at Liverpool, before settling in Huddersfield. Now 36 and married with two children, he said the MBA at the University of Bradford was ultimately rewarding.
“It has been useful on a number of levels. Course content is good, I have learned lots of things that are applicable to what I’m doing now and will be in the future.
“It’s very challenging but it’s meant to be challenging. It’s taught me a lot about myself. I spoke to people who had done it before and they said it was the hardest thing they had done but also the best thing. I went into it knowing it would be tough. It comes down to how much you want to commit. If you have been to university and have a reasonable level of academic ability, it’s about how much you can put in.”
Bradford-born Shazia Qureshi, who recently turned 49, was part of the last cohort back in 1987 to take O-levels. She carried on with her education and went on to graduate in 1992. Now married with two children, she works as a senior manager for Prospects Services - part of the Shaw Trust Group, managing education services across secondary schools and colleges within the district in supporting careers advice and guidance delivery for children transitioning into post- 16/18 choices and adulthood.
A busy mother-of-two, she said: “It’s all about organisation and planning, if you have the desire to do it, you manage your time. It's hard when you have children, being a wife, a mother and working full time but it's never a case of ‘I can't do it’. If you have the desire, you can do it and it's never too late to learn.”
Professor Vishanth Weerakkody (Dean of Faculty, Management Law and Social Sciences) said: “We are delighted that Nana and Shazia’s hard work and dedication has been recognised by the BAME Apprenticeship Awards. At the University of Bradford, we are constantly innovating in order to ensure that our students obtain cutting-edge managerial knowledge in order to support their professional development.
“Our course was completely transformed in 2018 in order to incorporate new modules which focus on emerging managerial trends, such as the effects of digitalization and AI on business practice, and our delivery in workshop style teaching weekends ensures a stimulating student experience.”
The University of Bradford is celebrating 50 years of partnership with AMBA, the association for MBAs - less than 300 institutions globally have this accreditation.
Andrew Main Wilson, CEO of AMBA & BGA, said: “With the celebration of its 50-year partnership with AMBA in 2020, the University of Bradford School of Management continues to be an important member of the international leading network of Business Schools. It's AMBA accreditation places it in the top two per cent of post-graduate management education institutions in the world.”