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The difference a Masters makes: The student perspective
It’s a tough decision to make. It involves heavy investment, is time consuming and the future is at times questionable. Yet with each passing year, increasing numbers of students around the globe are enrolling in Masters courses to ‘brighten’ their future. Aindrila Mitra gets some answers from the students
At 25, Anindita Ghose was working for The Times of India, the world’s largest selling English broadsheet, in Mumbai. Anindita worked with The Times Group for two years until she realized she needed “to build specialized skills and experience global exposure.” In August 2008, Anindita began studying at Columbia University towards a Masters in Arts and Culture Journalism.
A ticket to the best jobs?
A masters programs from recognized universities worldwide, to land themselves with jobs they have always eyed, but could not attain until now.
An Ivy League institution with a strong reputation in the media world, Anindita is confident her graduate program at Columbia will land her a plush job. Her aims are high, but not impossible – The New York Times or a Condé Nast title like Vogue. “The career services at Columbia are excellent and the school has a very good record of placements and a strong alumni network,” she says, identifying one advantage of a Masters qualification: the increased chance for students like Anindita, who have decided to pursue Masters programs from recognized universities worldwide, to land themselves with jobs they have always eyed, but could not attain until now.
Universities with high employability track records also attract students considering a Masters program. Connie St. Louis, BBC Radio 4 journalist and faculty of the journalism department at City University in London says, “We get regular feedback from employees, many of whom are our alumni indicating that City graduates are equipped for jobs when they complete their Masters programs.”
An opportunity to change careers
High net worth jobs aside, one of the easiest ways to switch careers is with a Masters degree. Vinayak Nalawade will soon graduate from Politecnico di Milano in Italy. He already has a Bachelors degree and a diploma in instrumentation engineering, a combination which gave him enough skills and qualifications to work in the oil and gas sector in Saudi Arabia where his responsibilities included planning and coordinating activities with sub-contractors, working with senior executives to manage relationships with clients in emerging technologies.
Vinayak is now putting the finishing touches to his thesis on International Project & Supply Chain Management and hopes to use his newly acquired skills to work as a human resource manager. “During my time in Saudi Arabia I worked with a number of different nationalities but I wanted to study management abroad. I felt that to become a global manager of an esteemed organization it is important to see different people, their behaviour, and their approach towards difficulties during work. That’s what I got at Politecnico di Milano.”
Climbing the ladder
In some cases, a Masters degree can help one to climb the ladder of success. Akhil Khanna, 29, originally from Mumbai and now based in Singapore, is pursuing a Masters degree from the National University of Singapore. “After completing my undergraduate course, I started working in the banking and financial services industry. I grew from an analyst to a manager and worked in operations and project management roles. However, after five years, I felt that I had hit a virtual glass ceiling.”
Akhil adds; “As I was already a part of the middle management and had managed processes and people, it was essential to get into a classroom with people of different backgrounds, to look at those experiences from a different perspective.” A Masters course, especially if you choose to do one abroad, has the added advantage of providing a new horizon of international exposure.
Teresa Arevalo, a student of the Masters in Graphic Design at the University of Arts London College of Communication says her degree is giving her the confidence she needs to get higher positions within the design field. “New skills in visual methodologies, ethics and values in graphic design, image moving, letter press, research methodologies, design discourse and presentational skills are helping me to become a more capable graphic designer.”
