SBS Blog > Strathclyde MBA: a life-changing experience by Aida El Bouanani

Strathclyde MBA: a life-changing experience

By Aida El Bouanani - Posted on 9 August 2018

Aida El Bouanani studied her MBA in Strathclyde Business School’s Dubai centre. She is now working with BP as UAE Key Accounts manager. Here, she shares her insights into her MBA studies.

I come from an engineering background and graduated in IT Engineering in 2010 in Morocco. However I never worked as an Engineer and joined the sales Team in Procter & Gamble after my graduation. After four years, I had the opportunity to move to Dubai and join the sales Team in General Mills in 2014.

Coming from an engineering background, most of my studies were around mathematics, physics and technical subjects. So when I started working in sales, I realised I was lacking the business acumen needed in order to progress in my career. I joined the MBA in order to get a holistic understanding of the corporate world and equip myself with the right tools to move to a senior leadership position.

During my research for the MBA, I attended various MBA fairs and did extensive research about the various MBA courses available in Dubai. I chose Strathclyde as it is the longest standing MBA in the UAE, and is the only one offering a triple accreditation - AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB. The Strathclyde MBA is also accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research in the UAE, and was the first international MBA in the UAE to have this accreditation. Strathclyde’s MBA remains the only UAE government and triple internationally accredited UK MBA programme available in the UAE.

I also looked at the different rankings provided by the FT and the Economist and it was clear from there that Strathclyde had the best cost vs. ranking ratio and thus provided a better return on investment.

I enjoyed the variety of classes provided by the MBA. I had classes about marketing, operations management, human resources and finance. I also had the chance to be exposed to the strategy module and work on multiple case studies for different industries.

As part of the MBA, I had the opportunity to choose two electives in two different locations and I used this opportunity to travel to the Strathclyde campus in Glasgow to take one of the electives there. It was a great opportunity to meet with students from all over the world and exchange views on our experiences with the MBA and our future career perspectives.

The academic teaching at Strathclyde is very comprehensive as it covers diverse courses. Also, all the professors come from the Glasgow campus and this ensures consistency in the delivery of the courses between the different locations. On top of that, most of the local counsellors are alumni of the Dubai MBA itself which represents an opportunity to discuss with them the outcomes of the MBA and how to make the most out of it.

After graduation, I joined BP Middle East as part of their Future Leaders programme. The Future Leaders Programme (FLP) is an international four-year rotation programme which takes enthusiastic, talented people from a range of professional backgrounds and provides the skills and opportunities necessary to develop them to reach senior leadership positions and accelerate their careers. The programme consists of two 24-month rotations, one of which is an international assignment. The BP Future Leaders Programme has been ranked the 5th Top MBA Development programme in the World in 2018 by MBA-Exchange.com.

The MBA has been a life-changing experience and a great career accelerator for me. Strathclyde Business School curriculum is very challenging and will push you to give the best of yourself and get the maximum learning out of the MBA.