Maria Amenitskaya

Nationality:Russian
Degree:MSc International Marketing

I wanted to find a Masters in marketing that would cater for the needs of marketing managers working in international companies. I searched for International Marketing Management" on educationuk.ru web-site... and I found it! One of the two programmes I found was in Surrey, close to London, top-ranking University in management (it was number 1 in Guardian), offering a free laptop for all postgraduates enrolled on the School of Management Programmes. I came to see the campus in March while on a business trip in the UK, and I loved it, with its fountains and flowers, and a lake and the state-of-the-art School of Management building.

Once the studies have begun what amazed me most was the wealth of business world experience of our professors, as back in Russia many of my teachers were pure academics. The opportunity to take up to 5 free courses at the Language Centre came as a positive surprise as well. I could only manage four: Academic Essay Writing, Thesis Writing, Advanced French and Beginner Italian, and was more than happy with the results. What appeared also to be extremely helpful is The Career Service advisor who helped me to get one job and then an even better one before I graduated. I am just about to become the Marketing Manager of a UK medium-size professional services firm, which will then transform into a Marketing Director role - something that I described as my dreams when applying for the course in Surrey.