SBS Blog > Elective abroad provides stepping stone to development by Aidan Muir

Elective abroad provides stepping stone to development

By Aidan Muir - Posted on 30 June 2022

Aidan Muir is doing the MSc in Business Management programme and got the chance to do an elective in the south of France – here, he tells us of the opportunities it opened up.

As part of the Masters in Business Management programme, over the course of the year we were supplied with various amounts of information regarding spring and summer electives which would give us the essential credits to fulfil our Masters requirements.

The list of subjects we could take was released, and one grabbed my attention more than others - this was the ‘Managing in Europe & Beyond’ module which was to be hosted at Toulouse Business School (TBS). I promptly applied and was fortunate enough to be selected to go.

Upon arriving in Toulouse after a long day of travelling the warm weather was much appreciated in comparison to the coolness of our beloved Glasgow (32 degrees is tough to compete with!).

The first morning we were greeted by members of Toulouse Business School and presented with our student cards along with a welcome tote bag packed full of information about the city, pens, notepads, and our syllabus for the period of our stay. The classes ran from the early morning until about 5/6pm with a very French 1.5/2-hour lunch in-between the morning and afternoon session, which allowed for ample time to peruse the local restaurants and taste the local cuisine.

The course was an amazing opportunity to learn about the way in which cross-cultural interactions and management within Europe and beyond exist and develop. This combination of disciplines in the masters programmes gave us the chance to engage with people outside our courses and have the chance to work alongside likeminded talented individuals.

The lecturers and guest speakers, however, made this trip worth its weight in gold; we covered various topics such as leadership in uncertain times, European unity and touched heavily on the value of diversity and human resource management.

To add to these amazing classes, we were also afforded the chance to engage with Séverine Kaci Desbois who has extensive knowledge of working as a Communication & Change Director at ‘STELIA Aerospace’ as well as having previously consulted at ‘Airbus’.

Reflecting on this experience, it gave me an opportunity to completely immerse myself in European culture, meet people I would have otherwise never met, visit a beautiful bustling city and experience some of the best food I have ever eaten.

Overall, the MSc has been an incredible experience and a step up from my undergraduate LLB in Scots Law which I completed in Dundee in 2021.

The MSc has been a great stepping stone in my personal, academic, and professional development in understanding how businesses operate and how they can grow. It has greatly increased my analytical skills in terms of financial management environments as well as giving the cohort hands on experience in developing products/services with real life customers giving us the edge going into the workplace. The MSc has been something which will be invaluable to my future and has laid the foundation for a successful career.

For the next part of my career I am looking towards engaging in promoting sustainability and joining a business with similar views and ideals of supporting and upholding the sustainable development goals of the circular economy.

Throughout the MSc I joined a Gaelic football team the ‘Glasgow Gaels’ who are the local team and it was a sport I had never tried before. If I can give anyone advice, it would be to join a club, society, or group - put yourself out there - it might be daunting at first, but you never know who you’ll meet and where it will take you.