India is the UK’s second-largest international market, with over 50,000 Indian students residing here, and this figure is expanding. Computer science, engineering, medicine, and law are all popular disciplines in India, but the majority of Indian students study business in the UK, which is my area of expertise.
In general, there are three types of master’s business programmes available in the United Kingdom. There are three types of extension programmes: conversion, extension, and professional extension. Qualifications are required for admission to each type of programme, and the programme you choose depends on your employment goals after graduation.
A path to a career in business
Students with any undergraduate background can use the abilities they’ve learnt in other professions with conversion degrees. Many students have brains the size of planets but are unable to show employers that they are interested in business and possess the necessary business abilities to propel companies ahead. Graduates with a conversion degree can exhibit both. Around 60% of students on our conversion degrees at my university come from non-business backgrounds, with the rest holding a business undergraduate degree. The MBA is the “original” conversion business degree, although just 6% of Indian business students in the UK take it. The most popular topic selections at Dundee are conversion degrees in International Business, Management, International Marketing, and International Banking and Finance. It’s critical that the conversion programme you pick includes a variety of taught skills and comprehension modules, as well as a brief, concentrated project report or dissertation. This is because if you don’t have a business background when you start your conversion degree, you’ll need these taught courses to learn enough business skills to be effective after graduation. The programme should also place a strong emphasis on employability, with an internship option embedded into the curriculum. Even better if the internships are available in a variety of nations throughout the world so you can have a better grasp of how to do business across national borders and in diverse business cultures. All of this will be quite valuable in your professional business life.
Increasing your earning potential
Extension programmes are available to students who have completed a relevant undergraduate degree and are pursuing a master’s degree. Finance and accounting are two popular examples, and these programmes take your previous knowledge to the next level. Typically, these programmes will include four advanced courses, research techniques, a quantitative module, and a longer dissertation. Please be wary of older extension programmes that have had a difficult time recruiting in the past and have merely converted to a conversion programme to help with recruitment without modifying their structure, since this will affect your learning experience. Finally, a professional extension programme necessitates completion of a suitable undergraduate programme, but these programmes are geared at students learning a specific set of abilities in order to get professional body exemptions. Students holding an undergraduate accounting degree, for example, can enrol in Dundee’s MSc Professional Accountancy programme and receive the maximum paper exemptions from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants upon completion (ACCA). If professional qualifications are important to you, these professional extension programmes are good since they allow you to swiftly get exemptions from papers while also earning a master’s degree that is very valuable to employers.
Reasons to pursue a business degree
The reasons you are pursuing a master’s degree in business are underlying all of this. If you desire a high-paying, thrilling, and intriguing job with the possibility of travelling across the world, make sure the programme has a lot to offer in terms of employability. Internships, links to the university’s careers office, distinguished lectures from business practitioners, opportunities to work with a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation, and a curriculum that is not just theory but also focuses on the applied and practical side of business should all be included in the programme.
There are several reasons why so many Indian students chose the United Kingdom for their university education, including language, parallels in educational systems between India and the United Kingdom, and a long history of Indian students pursuing higher education in the United Kingdom. The UK visa process is particularly friendly to international students, who may now stay in the country for two years after graduation, allowing them plenty of time to find work and gain valuable experience. Make certain that your programme matches all of the career goals you’ve set for yourself.