Meet Simba, a recent student on the MSc International Business Management course at the School of Business and Management

Introduce yourself and let us know what you studied here at Royal Holloway? 

My name is Simba and I'm a postgraduate student doing my Masters in Business and Management.

What was the best thing about studying here?

The best thing about studying here is the diverse group of people you meet. I’ve made friends with people from all over the world, people from different cultures, people who are day people, people who are night people, you can meet so many different people. So yeah, the whole diversity part of Royal Holloway is the best in my opinion. 

How did you find the staff and the teaching on your course?

The staff and the teaching on my course is amazing. I have had professors who are so genuinely passionate about what they are teaching, and even when you have concerns, you can always go and have a personal interaction with them and talk to them about your concerns. The teaching here is amazing, the methods that they use to teach here, like lectures and workshops, and then if you want you can go to your personal tutors. That is a really helpful way of learning in my opinion.

How do you feel your degree is preparing you for your future career?

My degree is in business and management, and I particularly chose it because I am more inclined towards business, and I want to get into managerial role. I want to be an entrepreneur in a sense, and to have that you need to have skills in business. You need to know how a business is actually run. You can't just go out there and start something of your own if you don't know the basics. I think having a very strong foundation is very necessary, and Royal Holloway is giving me that in an amazing way, so my course is preparing me better for the future.

How would you describe being part of the department and the community?

I am in various roles in the university. In terms of my course, I'm the course rep for the School of Business and Management, so I am kind of like a chain between the department and the students. I share feedback from the students to the department and then if there's something that the department wants the students to know I'm the chain between them. It’s very nice because after you give your feedback, the department lets you know what they did on that feedback, what was the step taken, how did they implement a certain scheme in that feedback. So, there’s always a two-way feedback channel in a sense, and they are very receptive.  

There’s also a focus group that happens here at Royal Holloway every year, it's called RH100, I'm a part of that. So, it is essentially having students’ feedback before a policy runs out to the school and even the university as a whole. I think that is a very good scheme that they have, and I am very happy to be a part of that.

What was the most interesting thing you studied here?

The most interesting thing that I've learned here was studying the module called operations management. I was very fond of this particular module because I wanted to know how businesses are run from the inside out. My batch has more than 300 people, but the professor who teaches that course made us feel like we were sitting in a class and having one to one engaging conversations. So, the module itself got so engaging. I was so interested to go to those lectures and attend them and learn this course. So that particular module got very interesting for me.

It also gave me a very good insight about how businesses are actually run from the inside. There was a study trip organised in my particular course, we went to Lisbon, Portugal, for a five-day trip. We went to different companies, we got to know how they work from the inside, and I was able to see how they are managing their operations. So, this course of operations management actually came into practice, and I did see it first hand, so I'm really thankful for Royal Holloway for organising that event.

What about outside of your studies, have you joined any student societies and what were they like?

When I first came here in September, I was very curious to find out what are the various societies and clubs that are happening here. There was a fair that was organised by the university itself, where all the different societies had their representatives come and, you know, put out, this is this society, we are organising this and everything. I went to a few taster sessions, and I ultimately decided to join two of them. I'm still currently a part of the Sports Society and the Chess Society. And I'm particularly very fond of the Chess Society because I'm currently the best player they have, so I went to the Varsity and played for them, so it was a really good experience.

Have you got anything you’d like to say to future students, any tips?

First off, I would like to tell the future students, the prospective students, that there’s loads and loads of information available on the Royal Holloway website, there's loads and loads of people there to help you. So even if you have concerns before coming here like - how am I going to do this, where will I live, how will I do everything.  There’s loads and loads of information available, so first of all, you need to relax.

You have a point of contact for everything you need, and the university life is amazing, trust me. It's hardly 40 minutes away from the city of London, and you have travel amenities everywhere. You get to live with a diverse group of people and it's going to be a very very enriching experience for you, whether you come for undergrad or masters, both are welcome and it's going to be an experience you won't forget for your life. Never be shy to take that extra step and just go for it, this university life is once in a lifetime, so, you should enjoy it

So, you’d recommend it?

I do recommend it with all my heart, yes.