Nana [00:00:00] At this point, I would like to introduce to you our panel, we have our very own Dr. Angeliki, who is the programme director. For the master's in Engineering Management. Good to have you, Dr.
Angeliki [00:00:16] Thank you. Good to be here.
Nana [00:00:20] Also, we have Keith Young and Nick Thermos, who are both current students on the programme. Keith, would you like to tell us something about your journey? You know, so far on the programme.
Keith [00:00:32] Yeah, so I'm on the fourth module, so I started the MSc course just over a year ago. I found the cost to be really useful. I've learnt some really good skills, a lot of the frameworks are really relevant kind of to my role as an engineering manager. And also the online platform through the course has allowed me to kind of collaborate with other students and learn different things from different industries. So far, it's been a really good experience.
Nana [00:01:08] OK, well, thanks a lot, Keith, on that. Nick, can you maybe add something to let us know about your journey so far and your background as well?
Nick [00:01:19] Yeah. Currently, I am a technical operations manager for a big pharmaceutical company. And what I believe personally is the master's degree embraced myself and embraced my knowledge and helped me progress in my field. And it took me from my level, from A to B, C and an engineer to be a tech calibration manager to [INAUDIBLE] the quality in my organisation. And it helped me to apply all this knowledge and all these different frameworks in a different organisation than me myself and helped my team to progress. Basically, theres a lot we can apply, everyone can apply in their day to day work. The simplest thing I have done with my team is apply lean management and visual management tools, which is the simplest form of management we learn in our masters degree. Probably I learnt in my first course and it helped myself and my team to create more working time, more effective time and create more free time for us so we can get new projects, get new studies for new production lines. So even the simplest tools we get from the master's degree, which we think is not related with our job, we can transform them and adapt them to our situation. This was the simplest thing, and one more thing I took is the elevation pitches, which I use them quite often in my career progression and in my interviews, the internal interviews in the company. So they took me from, as I said before, from the engineering point of my career, up to the senior management. That was the two most useful tools I have used so far.
Keith [00:03:01] And just to echo the comments of Nick, really, I apply the learning throughout the course to my job quite frequently. I see synergies between what I've studied or currently studying, all the time and I'm applying and learning that frequently. So, for example, whilst doing the logistics and supply chain module at that time, I was leading a multimillion pound machine build project, the learning that I would have received on there on the module. It prompted me to evaluate the supply chain. And in doing this, it led to a much improved supply strategy which reduced the risk associated with the project. And I think possibly similar to what Nicks described. I think kind of I've joined a senior team, and I think that the knowledge that the course has given me has helped me to get there. As I reflect back and look, as it was joining the course, I thought that maybe studying online, I would feel a little bit isolated. In actual fact that's really not the case, the online environment provided through the University of Hull through Canvas, it's a really excellent platform. You can engage with the fellow classmates there, as I do often through a kind of daily or weekly forum challenges and activities. And so again, you get a lot of support from both the tutors through the Canvas and through the webinars and also through the classmates that you meet as well. So from my experience, it's been really rewarding. I've met people through the online course, what I consider now friends. We've created WhatsApp groups where we can kind of discuss the coursework and some of the topics that we're in that we're trying to understand, and that's led to additional Teams meetings. And so all in all, it's been really positive and it's been a good online environment.
Nick [00:05:02] Yeah, of course, Canvas is a great environment. It keeps, I think, a better communication rather being in class with the students because at one point your isolated at home. But it gives you more time to think, to consider to go back and revisit all the comments and contact with your fellow students and have a proper chat in that environment. But at the same time, as Keith said, we have WhatsApp groups, we communicate. I know people from all over the world. We have offers to visit different places, which we can't do due to COVID right now. But I think it's quite the same, starting online or being in a class with the rest of the students. So the communication is there. It's down to the individuals. How close or how distant they will be to each other. But so far, two years in the programme almost have no complaints, I have co-starred emails and messages in my mobile, everything, helping each other. And it's a great environment. It's a great place, definitely.
Angeliki [00:06:03] I'm very proud to be working together with a great team of academics, acknowledged academics, both in the field of management and engineering, supporting our students. So we have a tutor for 20-25 students maximum, supporting the learning journey throughout the way. And of course, we have a great academic skills team that was recently added to help our students who are not coming from an academic environment and support them in their learning journey on how to write in an academic way, how to use citing, referencing, paraphrasing, etc.. And of course, we have a great team of student advisors as well who help the students with their daily enquiries. So there is a very strong network supporting our online students, and we are very proud to say that, since I was talking about tutors, that one of our very own graduates who got his degree with distinction has now become a tutor, so has joined the team of the tutors.
Nick [00:07:14] The subject of the course. It's not country-dedicated. It's a worldwide subject [inaudible] there's a worldwide element. It's not specific for UK or for any country and all the elements in the courses. They can apply all over the world, all over the industries. That's why it's suitable for everyone around the world, around the globe, but UK only based.
Angeliki [00:07:33] Because I've seen that we have questions about the different time zones as well. So I wanted to say that since we have tutors, as I said, we have two or three tutors supporting the weekly content. We only have one hour per week of face to face contact, sort of live contact with the tutors on a weekly webinar. So we ensure that these webinars take place at various times during the week, so we might have a tutor offering a webinar on Saturday morning to accommodate students who who work during the day and during the week. We have evening webinars, we have morning webinars, and this way we try to accommodate as many time zones as possible. And of course, the online environment accommodates because everything mostly is being done asynchronously. So at our own time and at our own pace, we can visit and engage with the forums and with our peers at a day and a time or days and times during the week that are actually accommodating us. And this helps a lot with international students. And of course, for our UK students, we hold webinars after 6pm, 7pm, UK time after they come home from work and they can they can engage with the webinar.
Nick [00:08:53] It's a it's a quick course. It gives you a lot of knowledge and because of the degree or every aspect of your working life or personal life, it needs dedication. It's not going to drain you, it's not going to need like eight hours of studying, six hours of studying every day. You have to be flexible with your programme, but the dedication is the key and willingness and the course will bring all the rest. Definitely, you don't need to to overdo something or you don't need to overthink something. You just need to enrol yourself, dedicate your two hours every day or five hours every week, and everything will come naturally with all the help around you.
Keith [00:09:31] Definitely. So my advice would be biting the bullet and on enrol on the course. And I think as Nick said, you need to have a good level of dedication, so be prepared to to work hard. But you will feel a great sense of achievement. And after all, you're going to develop yourself and learn some great skills, meet some interesting people as well and advance your career. That would be my advice.
Nana [00:10:03] I would like to address this question to Dr Angeliki. So are there career variants within the sector that students should be aware of and should consider as a career opportunity?
Angeliki [00:10:22] So, because of the I would say, it's a multidisciplinary MSc because engineering is not just one thing. So in our master's degree, we have engineers from pharmaceuticals, like Nick, we have from manufacturing, oil and gas, you name it, construction, we have architects. So there are so many different things that one could do after acquiring this master's degree. We have electrical, mechanical, chemical engineers, electronic engineers. So there are so many different careers and so many different sectors that our graduates can actually move into after acquiring our engineering and management degree. So definitely, there is a lot that can be done. We consider this and this is why we have the modules that we have. So for example, if you learn how to manage people and organisations, if you start thinking about organisational behaviour, human resource management, if you know how to deal with logistics and supply chain. So from cradle to grave, a product or a service, from before even it's produced to reaching the final consumer. These are managerial skills that we are all offering and our graduates are firing so they can apply this these skills in any type of way.
Nick [00:11:57] It's a worldwide, dedicated course. And you come in contact with so many people around the globe, so many different industries which it opens your doors, it opens your network and it gives you different opportunities. It doesn't give you only knowledge, it gives you friendships. And it gives you a network for a future purpose, to use it as you will, there is no limit because of the the online factor of the course. There's no limit. It's down to the individuals how they will use the course. But alongside all the connexions with the other students.
Nana [00:12:33] I guess we have come to the end of the session and I really would say, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for taking our time from your busy schedule to attend this webinar and we hope to hear from you. Until then, I would say, have a very good evening and thank you, everyone.
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