For the last eight years, I worked in international development; working in cross-cultural teams delivering various forms of projects which were donor funded interventions geared towards improving the lives of people in mostly Nigeria. I worked in varied areas of intervention from public health to secure livelihoods. I worked steadily in community liaison and operations management of the various projects and programmes that I was involved in. After six years in the sector, I re-evaluated where I was and what I wanted going forward. I wanted more responsibility, better pay, a more diverse experience and increased project involvement spanning several continents. Having conducted some research and spoken to a few mentors, the answer, to begin with, was a master's degree. I chose to study project management as I felt it was the perfect opportunity to understand the tools and techniques required to respond successfully to any business case, and to validate the experience which I already had. For the last two years, I planned and saved towards this.
The first decision had been taken, but then came the choice of location, universities/facilities and cost. I chose the UK for the language ease and the length of the course as I did not want to spend more than 12 months away from the sector. I also reviewed over 10 UK univerisites and evaluated them based on learning and living support, feedback from alumni, and costs. The University of Bedfordshire came out tops based on my listed criteria and in March 2014, I arrived Luton to begin one of the most exciting journeys of my life so far.
When I arrived Luton and Beds exactly four months ago, I was struck especially by how diverse the university community was, how there was so much going on, and a plethora of offerings to choose from. However, I was initially concerened at how everyone seemed almost five to ten years younger than I was; surely this would impact on my experience? Four months later, I have found that this community is a mix and match of different age groups, ethnicities and life experiences. This is very much a global community in every sense of the word. I am excited to be a part of this. In my PM course units, the teaching method is a mixture of lectures, practical work, and research. The tutors are very helpful and respond to emails very often, I was very surprised by this. The learning resource centres are also open 24 hours, 7 days a week, and for someone like me with a background in English language and literature, this is all very convenient as I have had to put in extra work to make it all worth it. The department has also made provision for Msc PM students, should they opt for this, to be tutored and undertake foundation and practitioner certification work/exams for the very well respected PRINCE2.
There are a few things I would like to change here; I wish the weather wasn't so rainy, I wish I could avoid pulling an all-nighter for several assessments involving case studies and 3000 word reports, I wish I could drink coffee and red bull to stay awake and finish those reports quickly, I wish I could spend as much time as I wanted dancing in the town centre. I wish Geert Hofstede wasn't right and all his 6 dimensions weren't manifesting in the dynamics of the group work which we are required to do. But invariably, it is what it is, and I have thoroughly embraced the delightful journey and crazy freshness that this experience has brought with it. I have made some lifelong friends here and have learnt so much about the practice of PM in such a short time. Within this blog, I shall continue to record and detail the milestones and living which lead up to the achievment of all the goals for which I came here.
Photo credit:
1. Photo of some PM full time students; Sept 2013 & March 2014 entry with some tutors during a field trip
2. Photo of the new Student's Union lounge
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