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When you choose a business school for your postgraduate studies, you need to know what you stand to gain there.
What makes Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) stand out is the first-hand industry engagement in its postgraduate programmes. Learning is hands-on here, using real-life challenges and contacts, rather than hypothetical ones.
LUMS is ranked amongst the UK’s top 10 business schools and 54th in Europe, according to the Financial Times European Business Schools rankings 2022. It is also in the top 15 in three major UK league tables, and highly ranked in international league tables. The university is quadruple accredited by the AACSB, EQUIS, the Association of MBAs and the Small Business Charter, and is first in the UK for research power (REF 2021), Business and Management Studies).
The accolades recognise student satisfaction, research capabilities and career prospects. Much of this is thanks to the strong industry connections, which are experienced by students on many postgraduate programmes.
LUMS is ranked amongst the UK’s top 10 business schools. Source: Lancaster University Management School
The MSc Digital Business, Innovation and Management programme helps students understand how to harness technology and manage its effects to gain competitive advantage, open up new business markets, and streamline core organisational processes. “The parts that were the most enjoyable for me personally were the hands-on workshops,” says graduate Deema Jarrar. “Within the first two terms, we had two hands-on workshops and because I have some work experience, this was really the point where I realised how I can connect everything that I studied with whatever I’m going to work on in the future.”
One of the workshops is the Fujitsu Hackathon, a two-day session with the Japanese multinational, where students are challenged to come up with a business case for an innovative solution to a simulated cyber resilience challenge. “Hopefully it’s an understanding of what the industry is about,” says Graeme Wright, chief digital officer for manufacturing and utilities at Fujitsu. “It’s about the understanding of how organisations like ourselves will work and how we engage with customers and the sorts of information that our customers would actually value. Therefore, we can impart some of that sector knowledge and the skills and the understanding that you need to have to be impactful when you are working with customers and clients.”
MSc Digital Business, Innovation and Management students may also join an internship with LU recruitment services. “During my first internship, I found myself challenged on multiple fronts,” says
2020 graduate, Aparna Sankaran. “Not only was I tasked with developing marketing strategies, but I also had to create content, design marketing materials, manage search engine optimisation (SEO), oversee the company’s WordPress website, and even take photographs for the website and social media channels. This wide array of responsibilities pushed me to acquire new skills and broaden my horizons, which ultimately proved to be a significant asset during my job search.”
As Lancaster University is a pioneer of analytics in the UK and Europe — and was one of the first universities in the UK to establish an Operational Research department, which developed into Business Analytics — their MSc Business Analytics is at the forefront of the industry, in both teaching and research.
Most programmes at LUMS include hands-on workshops. Source: Lancaster University Management School
LUMS emphasises putting theory into practice and students in the MSc Business Analytics will run an analytics project as part of their programme. “One of the highlights of the programme is the three-month summer project,” student Jidan Xiang says. “The projects are selected carefully by supervisors specialising in various fields and are open to students to apply. Considering my interest in taking simulation and optimisation as future focuses, I decided to work on the project of evaluating the operation of the aircraft for an air ambulance charity. This was my first chance to complete a real-company project, and it was completely different from the coursework I have completed before.”
This programme is one of the few to teach the entire Business Analytics life cycle, covering descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics. Partnering with industry business analytics practitioners, the courses are regularly updated to reflect the current landscape.
For LUMS’s MSc Advanced Marketing Management programme, client interaction is integral. For their dissertation, students may choose to solve a problem for a key partner company like Microsoft, a social entrepreneur or a media organisation. “I did a live consultancy project with Broncap and that practical perspective really helped me to understand what I would want from a job,” says graduate Lushanthi Edirisooriya. “It pushed me to apply for the right jobs and succeed in my interviews. I now have a job that I really enjoy today which was one of the achievements that I was hoping to get out of my master’s. That definitely was achieved because of this university and the Advanced Marketing Management programme.”
Students may also work with companies on their dissertations via the company-commissioned dissertation project. “We’ve enjoyed working with the management school over many years,” says Jack Daniel, Molson Coors Strategic Business Planning Director – Western Europe, who is also a LUMS graduate. “Diversity of ideas is an important part of marketing and working with the students on briefs gives us a chance to hear different perspectives and bring a viewpoint from academia into our business.”
Dealing with real businesses gives students the chance to network and get real experience. Source: Lancaster University Management School
The MSc Strategy programme benefits from being endorsed by Ernst & Young (EY), a key relationship which informs the cutting-edge course content. This ensures that the curriculum is relevant to the industry and students will enjoy guest lectures, networking, internships and, for top performers, a mentoring programme. Graduates are set up for success when entering the professional world.
These are just a few of the examples where the postgraduate programmes at LUMS ensure students have first-hand industry engagement, and the results definitely speak for themselves.
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