Testimonials
Lotte Bruns
Lotte Bruns, 35, is taking the International Management specialization. Because of her Master's degree in Political Science and professional background she might not be the typical MBA student. On the other hand she is a true international professional: she is from Finland, has worked as a health issues lobbyist in the UK, lives in Norway and takes an MBA at Hanken in Helsinki, Finland.
Why did you choose the Hanken MBA?
Partly because it's in Finland, I'm a Finn, and because of its reputation. It's the only university with these kinds of contacts in Finland. It's also one of the few MBA programmes that are organized part time so that you can actually live in another country or city and just travel here a few days a month.
The lobbying was directed to the British MPs?
Yes, with the MPs when they had their party conferences. They normally have them every year in September. You travel there and they are massive events, you set up your things and try to you find out about what issues they have in the parliament.
What do you hope to achieve with the MBA?
Getting new tools most of all, learning new things, learning how to learn. Of course in my case I have to make a side move from the traditional political science job area. Business has been a kind of gray and new area for me. But it has political science knowledge tools behind so that will help me and I'm hoping to combine them.
Most of the students have their MBA paid by their employer, is that the case with you?
I'm probably the only one paying it myself. It's an investment and it's a big one. Especially since I'm not working at the moment. (Lotte is taking care of her twins.) I'm investing in my future and I truly believe it will pay back, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it.
Sebastian Wikström
Sebastian Wikström is a Hanken graduate. Since graduating in 1998 he has been working in the financial industry. He recently switched jobs from being CEO at eQ Capital Markets to become Capital Markets Director at Atine Group.
Why did you choose the Hanken MBA?
Because of the programme, mostly because of the way it is structured both in terms of contents and also actual practicalities in schedule and location. And also since my field is finance and Hanken is strong in that field of research.
What do you hope to achieve with the MBA?
New ways of thinking, new ways of looking at things. I don't really expect to learn a whole lot of new things but instead new ways of looking at things and get the big picture of business management. And also for me working in finance, I will surely learn new things when it comes to marketing and those sorts of things.
So how do you think that the Hanken MBA will help you?
It's difficult to put my finger on the actual concrete help. I realize the classical case is maybe an engineer who needs to get also the business part of the story and then he can move forward in his career. But I think that the new ways of looking at things, taking a step back and seeing things from a new perspective will help me in a general way. The real value comes afterwards when you go back to your job, or of course it's a two year programme, so that happens all the time. The interaction between what you learn here and what you do in your job, or hopefully do in a slightly new way, that's where the real benefit is!
Abdel El ouatki
Another international professional is
Abdel El ouatki, 36, from Marocco. He was working as an electrical engineer in his home country when he ten years ago decided to take up Master's studies in telecommunications at the Tampere University of Technology. After graduating and working at the university as a research assistant he worked briefly for Flextronics International before joining Nokia Networks as a Design Engineer. Currently he works there as a Project Manager.
Why did you choose the Hanken MBA?
I think first of all the timing was quite good. To me there is a good balance between work, job, studies and family. Another thing was the Equis accreditation, which gives it a certain kind of credibility. You know, it's not just some kind of MBA you find everywhere in the world. Nowadays everyone is using the term MBA. The other thing is that it's truly on the marketing side. I think Hanken has for long been very good in relationship marketing. For me that's a good reason to take this programme
What do you hope to achieve by taking the MBA?
First of all, I consider it as a general management training that gives you the tools and background for work in upper management. Then it's up to the person to change career or switch the career to a new field or to advance in your own career. My plan is to move on with my career to go much more on the customer side. I'm coming from Africa and I have knowledge about most African countries and the Middle East. That's a very good basis for my change to the customer side and if I have the basic tools and some kind of experience then it's easy to switch the career towards my long-term objectives.
Most of the students have their MBA paid by their employer, is that the case with you?
No. I had to choose between buying a car and taking the MBA and I thought that buying a car could wait. The MBA is a better investment; in the long term you will get the payback.
And buy a better car?
Ha ha ha, yes in the future.
The Hanken MBA offers three specialization alternatives: Service and relationship marketing, Finance, and International Management.
Testimonials
Hanken MBA asked Monica Aro and Michael Hoven, graduated Hanken MBA's, to comment the MBA programme.
What was the most valuable aspect (or some highly/valuable aspects) of the MBA programme?
I found it valuable to listen to good lecturers who offered new thinking models. Maybe most valuable for me were the assignments because they forced you to test whether the theory was applicable to reality or not, or whether you had understood the theory. (Monica)
My decision to study for an MBA was based on the desire to restart organised learning, to learn some new things, to get fresh ideas, to meet people with different professional backgrounds. All these things on my personal check list could be "ticked-off" in a positive way during my studies. (Monica)
Certainly, these softer values - even though they were important to me - were not the only things I could take with me from the MBA-course.
The concerned Hanken-staff compiled an interesting, well balanced programme, which enabled me to gain some insight especially in the fields of marketing and finance. (Monica)
Another point was the gain of self confidence which developed during the course when it became apparent that I would actually manage to complete the course in parallel (or better: in addition) to my workload of my professional life, that I could hand in the assignments and MBA thesis in time (more or less anyway). (Michael)
What in your opinion was the hardest part in the MBA programme?
The hardest part was to study for the tests. I found that the assignments were much more useful for learning. (Monica)
The clear answer to this question is: Time management!! It can be really tough to squeeze all such things as family life, job, travelling, MBA-courses, MBA-assignments into a calendar which is already tight.
Why isn't there a module on time management, at least a session? (Michael)
Can you think of anything at which you were surprised during the programme?
I was surprised that I managed to do my project work well in such a short time. (Monica)
Nothing in particular, except for the fact, that Hanken managed to keep the pace up without over-stretching the students.
Modules were generally well-timed and interesting. (Michael)
Do you have any advice to someone starting an MBA programme?
Enjoy and let yourself learn. Try to link the different parts of the programme and catch a holistic view of strategic business development. (Monica)
As mentioned earlier, as time management was the hardest part for me (and for some other students as well), I would certainly recommend to have close look at this particular challenge before starting into the MBA-adventure. Try to make the necessary arrangements in due time to get the time you need for proper studies. It could leave a sour taste if these otherwise enjoyable two years would be over-shadowed by too much stress. (Michael)