Northumbria University Speciality : International Business
programme: Business with International Management

Firstly, the attentiveness and social settings of the university are accommodating, patient and welcoming. I was primarily based on the City Centre Campus in Newcastle in the Business and Law building although on occasion I would train at Coach Lane grounds for football.

Regarding the academics, I had the unfortunate timing of the Covid 19 pandemic that forced the 2nd semester of my first year at the university to resort to an online structure. This limited one on one mentorship and challenged self motivations greatly. My efforts in participation were met with silence from the course mates that could hide behind muted screens or bad wifi service.

My Business with International Management course was chosen to align with a future career path in working globally but that led to a more general grasp using theoretical frameworks rather than real world application of accounting, marketing and more. However, the programme leaders, module and personal tutors that I had the pleasure of meeting between 2019 to 2023 were incredibly helpful from assignments to comprehension.

Notable staff include Ziad Elsahn and Arrian Cornwell. There was one of my module tutors who I cannot remember his name who absolutely humbled me when I thought I had created a fantastic presentation describing the company Amazon as a monopoly by creating an interactive game board similar to the actual game Monopoly but utilizing Amazon’s growth strategies and a SWOT analysis. However, I failed to impress the tutor as he had never heard of the game at all before and marked me as inadequate at presenting the company as a monopoly.

This made me realize how diverse Northumbria University was; not just in its international student population but also the various backgrounds and perspectives it can host. Newcastle upon Tyne, the city itself was rich with history and large enough to be attractive to international students yet small enough to have mutuals easily. You could tuck away into the library, sightsee on the weekends to experience the NorthEast’s raw, natural beauty, and also party hard with Newcastle’s renowned nightlife.

Why is my overall rating a 4 out of 5? I genuinely believe there is always room for improvement. I became a programme rep for a couple years, mostly because of a lack of competition for the role and responsibility. The fact that my course mates felt no desire nor excitement to be an integral part of the classes or uni that we went to felt like there could be more attractive parts to their degrees. It could have felt less theoretical. Less essay writing, more real-world prompts. However, everything else was so lovely, from the diverse community at Northumbria, to the POLY sports culture, to the windy cold city that felt warm to my heart from the start.

Overall good. Fundamentally university’s, to me, are over priced and subscribed. All round the facilities are good. Lack of structure in general especially with the examination or testing methods allowing for coasting and the blame for lack of engagement to be put on the students. Structure the way in which people are tested in a way that forces constant engagement.

Overall the business and law building and facilities are really impressive. The professors are good and it is hard to find faults in all that I have had contact with!

I think overall though my experience at Uni was not what I expected. Although this is down to the students, I was expecting the sharing of ideas and theories etc but seminars are almost always silent. More could be done to prompt informal conversations surrounding the topic with a less forced feel that ultimately puts people off talking.

After finishing my placement year I found that the degree itself has not really helped me. This is because of a few reasons but mainly because now everyone has a degree it has completely diluted the value of what I feel I have paid massively over the odds for.

When talking with employers and others in business I find that experiences I have had within the workplace are valued more than when bringing up concepts and theories learnt.

In terms of experience, I feel that the money I have spent to acquire the degree could have bought other life and learning opportunities that would, on balance, outweigh those I have acquired at University.

As part of my academic degree program, I jetted off to spend a year studying in Hong Kong, where I not only learnt about Asian social and business culture but actually lived it.

The structure and teaching methods, while very similar to those on offer back in the UK, were delivered from a fresh perspective. Rather than learning about business from a lecturer who had faced challenges starting up a business in the UK, I had classes delivered by those who had spent decades travelling Asia as part of an MNC.

Living among those who had travelled to Hong Kong from all over the world was exhilarating. I made friends with people who introduced me to things I would perhaps never have tried back in the UK.

My first few weeks living overseas were a challenge. I’d never travelled out of the UK before, and so if I were to offer any criticism to the University, it would be to offer higher levels of support to those who were venturing overseas for the first time!

Culture shock is definitely a thing!

It was a mixture of academic and practical activities. It was mostly assignments which I think is more beneficial than tests and exams. However, I think I would have benefited from taking some sort of internship or a year abroad working to build up more experience and skills for post-graduation jobs.

Although it is not a Russell Group or a well known prestigious University, Northumbria University exceeded my expectations in actively encouraging every student to make the most out of their time at University, to graduate with more than just a degree. Northumbria University strives to ensure that every student regardless of background receives equal opportunities to support their learning and enhance their employability skills. Most notably their Business Clinic allowed me to develop a multitude of skills and apply what I had learnt in a practical setting. During this time I worked directly with a local SME as a consultant as part of my final year project. This alongside Northumbria’s drive to encourage placement years or to study abroad offers students a competitive advantage. As such, I would highly recommend this University.