Just a few months out of an MBA, Vikas Shrivastava is bringing data analytics to healthcare.A pharmacist by trade, he spends most days feverishly analyzing mountains of data to develop business insights for his employer, Alcon, a company under the umbrella of Novartis, the leading Swiss pharma group. Vikas is passionate about using technology to improve patient care. Accenture forecasts digital health solutions could save the healthcare sector $100 billion over four years in the US alone.
The Lancaster University Management School has helped him transition from health practitioner to business manager. Vikas has previously worked across India for Johnson & Johnson and Merck, two global healthcare leaders.
What were you most passionate about in your role at Alcon and in healthcare more generally?
Learning new things every day, which will eventually benefit patients in need.
The healthcare industry keeps me excited and motivated to deliver my best, because I am part of an industry which brings better healthcare technology to doctors, and eventually to patients.
And for me to do my bit in this ever-evolving, fast-moving and vibrant industry, I need to ensure that whichever work I do is of high quality. And this can be done only by upgrading and acquiring new skills. So it’s learning at every level which keeps me passionate in this industry.
Alcon gave me an opportunity to further develop my data analytics and recommendation building skills. This required analyzing and building insights from a lot of complex data from multiple resources.
What makes an MBA a good fit with the healthcare industry?
Three things which drive healthcare industry recruiters to select top b-school MBAs like ones from Lancaster are:
1) MBAs are trained to reach granularity using academic, qualitative and quantitative research.
2) MBAs have excellent presentation skills and can reach out to a large audience with logic and criticality.
3) MBAs aren’t shy to reach out and learn new things. And their ability to do so is quite mature.
How has your MBA benefited your career development?
I am now eligible for a lot of job roles for which I was ineligible earlier, like project manager and regional commercial manager, which require project management skills, and being a part of multilingual and multicultural teams.
What made the Lancaster MBA stand out?
Every MBA student would agree that they joined a globally-recognized MBA to gain career progression. The Lancaster MBA is living up well to that challenge.
It is very well recognized in the corporate world, because of its rank in the Financial Times, Economist and Forbes MBA rankings, which gives employers a sense of surety when hiring from the school. Employers like Novartis, TCS, Microsoft, Grant Thornton, L’Oreal, Alcimed, PwC, and EY are hiring Lancaster MBAs.
The careers team is very supportive and proactive in helping students find placements. They help them them build connections with industry experts and alumni.
What do Lancaster MBAs get up to at the weekend?
Lancaster MBAs are known to integrate work and social life very well (thanks to the master-classes by Kevin Roberts – the CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi). So they generally party hard on weekend nights, spend time with family and friends during the day, participate in volunteering events, or go for an off-campus city exploration. I think it all depends on the mood, weather and pre-planning they have done.
Student Reviews
Lancaster University Management School
An exceptional educational establishment in the North West of England.
This university has been a fantastic life experience as well as a great academic one. I first decided to go to Lancaster University Management School due to its exceptional business education facilities and have not been disappointed. I recommend the university to anybody that wants to put themselves in a strong position for a career upon graduation.
Student Ambassador
Overall, the instruction is decent, however it also depends on your department. The people are friendly, in my opinion. The sporting events are enjoyable, and there is a good sense of community. Although the city is quite remote, it is nonetheless attractive.
Lancaster University honest review
The education system in the university is excellent especially that of the Management School. The campus has great facilities for students to study and live in a relaxed manner. The students can engage in various activities through the socities.
Great opportunities to think beyond
Lancaster University provides a lot of good opportunities to think beyond.There Entrepreneurship in residence program helps students to meet and seek guidance about entrepreneurship and the challenges.Their Work in progress program help to fabricate your startup idea and further to pitch to the potential investors.Apart from that there are lot of programs like Enactus, guest lectures and guidance from seniors to help and shape your career needs.
They provide lot of opportunities to shape up your employability skills.
A top university in the UK for management science!
If you’re interested in management science studies, Lancaster University is one of the top universities in the UK. The faculty is renowned and have a sterling reputation for research in management science. Candidates specifically interested in Forecasting would find the Centre for Marketing Analytics and Forecasting especially relevant to their field. Besides, the ROI is good as the overall cost compared to other universities is less.
Great university for academia – not great for 'entrepreneurs'
Please keep in mind that my review is nuanced by my expectations of an Entrepreneurship degree :) I came to Lancaster University because it was one of the top universities to have a course in Entrepreneurship. After 4 years in this degree, my most valuable experience has been my placement and not the actual course. The course is heavily focused on impractical elements, which is a bit odd for an Entrepreneurship degree. There are some modules that involve hands-on work but the faculty support for such things has not been great. My course also involved a lot of teamwork which has been fantastic and really prepared me when it comes to dealing with the diversity of opinions. In terms of career prospects, the management school does A LOT to host events, workshops and support sessions to help you build up your employability skills. Although, I wish there was more acknowledgement of SMEs/startups as a viable career option. The entrepreneurship team which is meant to support budding businesses is really stepping up their game with tons of guest speakers, workshops and pitching opportunities. The location is a concern if you're not in STEM, Law or Accounting and Finance. Business requires networking with the broader community. However, for Lancaster students, the best bet is a trip down to Manchester or London. On the flip side, living in Lancaster is much cheaper! Overall, if the purpose of your university experience is to receive top academic education and have great facilities at your disposal, Lancaster is a great choice. But if you want to be in business and entrepreneurship, I would look elsewhere.
