Meet The Team: Lorraine Lucas, Bradford University School of Management

To get tips on making a successful application to the Bradford University School of Management MBA, we’ve interviewed Lorraine Lucas.

 

Lorraine is Business Engagement Manager for careers, alumni and external relations at Bradford. She develops strategies that enhance employability, personal development and career opportunities for students and alumni, so she knows what it takes to be a success at business school and beyond.

 

Lorraine has been in the MBA world for over a decade, having also earned her MBA from Bradford University School of Management in 1983. We learn what’s changed at Bradford since she was a student. She also gives us an insight into what the admissions team want to hear at the interview stage.

 

For starters the buildings are very different. Our international students say that the front of our school looks very Hogwarts (Harry Potter)-like but behind that we have a new building which is one of the most sustainable in the UK so the mix of the old and new is very different.

 

One thing that has stayed the same is the atmosphere. It’s still warm and friendly. We have our own campus 15 minutes from the rest of the university so we are quite self- contained. Everyone gets to know everyone so students coming into the school feel comfortable right away.

 

The MBA curriculum has changed a lot. When I was a student things such as e-business hadn’t been invented and entrepreneurship was not as prominent as it is now. Students didn’t get a chance to go abroad for electives or exchange programmes. Our class wasn’t as diverse as it is now. In general, the MBA has become a lot more international and diverse.

 

The key criteria are to have a good academic background, and at least three years of work experience. We explore the quality of the work experience candidates have: have they

had management experience? Are they used to working in teams? Do they have in-depth experience in the areas they worked in?

 

At the interview, we ask what they will bring to the MBA. We directly ask them how they will contribute to other students' experience. 

 

We also ask questions to reveal their character. We want to know why they want to do the MBA. Are they motivated and ready for hard work? The interview gives people a chance to sell themselves and show how they want to progress their career.

 

We get a wide mix of backgrounds and sectors and that’s what makes it interesting when you’re sat in class.

 

We also want people who realize that an MBA is a starting point and not the end-point. People who realize that to be successful they have to be able to sell themselves in terms of their previous experience and skill set and that they have to leverage the MBA to demonstrate the value they can bring,

 

I think the biggest things are the opportunities to do electives abroad and the chance to engage with UK employers through lectures, seminars and consulting projects.

 

Students still want that UK education and ties to UK companies. We source consultancy projects for our students and for some of them it leads to permanent jobs. We’ve had projects with companies like Jaguar Land Rover and Siemens. The projects on offer are from the charity, public and private sectors. Many of them involve students working on new product development and new market entry strategies.

 

We also have alumni offering projects: we recently helped an alumnus with a consultancy project around setting up a sports clinic.

 

You name it and they do it! Many graduates have used the MBA to progress their careers, say from consultant to partner, others have moved in to new areas, Recent roles include management

consultant, business analyst, solutions architect, sales manager, project manager and digital marketing manager.

 

The important thing the career service likes to stress is that each individual’s path is unique and we do all we can to support them individually with their career planning and research. We’ve had a lawyer on the MBA programme who then set up his own business. Entrepreneurship is another route a lot of graduates are taking.

 

More people are setting up their own businesses and more international students are returning to their home countries and building successful careers there. I think that as MBAs become more valued and recognized globally, they no longer need to stay in countries such as the UK to have successful careers.