by YPU Admin on June 10, 2020,
. Tags:
AMBS, business, Economics, finance, HUM, Humanities, HUMS, international business, and student view
Introduction
Hi, my name is Shamaila and I am a
first-year student at the University of Manchester, currently studying
International Business, Finance and Economics (IBFE). I chose
this degree course after having studied A-level Economics and Business Studies
in college and fell in love with the subjects, so much so that I decided
to study it further at university. Luckily for me, I knew that I always wanted
to go to university but the hard part was deciding which one was the right one
for me. ![]()
Choosing a University
To anyone
that is considering university and being bombarded by information, I highly
recommend attending as many open days and fairs (even if they’re virtual) as
possible. I'm pretty sure I attended at least half a dozen open days before
choosing Manchester. When it comes to picking a university, whether they offer
a degree programme that you are interested in, is very important, but just
as important is whether you can envision yourself there. The environment, the
people, the culture of that campus has got to excite you and make you feel
welcomed. I remember quite vividly my open day for the University of Manchester
because I was running very, very late (if you know me in person, you’d know
that I hate being late) and so by the time I got onto campus, I was wandering
around aimlessly, but I remember thinking how stunning the campus was and I
felt genuinely comfortable. Normally, I would find it quite daunting being in a
new environment especially somewhere like a busy campus but seeing the AMBS
building, the Main Library and the SU building (where I spend 70% of my time
now), on my campus tour I could see myself here.
Why I Chose Business
I chose my degree course as I was
interested in the business sector, but I didn't have a dream job that I could
aspire towards. This led me to choose IBFE, as it enabled me to cover a range
of content. I was able to continue studying business and economics and gain a
whole new set of skills in finance. For a lot of people, including myself at
one point, if you studied a business- based degree, it was because you wanted
to start your own business. But I quickly realised that there is so much more
to the business sector. Often the words, finance, business and economics are
used interchangeably which is understandable as there is some crossover between
the three subjects, but they are also completely separate from each other. In
my economic modules, we assess ever-changing economic contexts and debate
different theories. In my finance modules, we produce and analyse financial
reports, with the mindset of maximising shareholder profits as accountants
whereas in business we aim to view the company with a more board stakeholder
outlook and study various topics, such as corporate social
responsibility.
Another feature of my degree programme
is that it offers an industrial placement year, which basically means I am able
to work in a company that I am interested in, during my 3rd year. This is
something that I am very excited about, as even though the content we have
learnt in class is important, I think being able to apply that knowledge and
see the mechanisms of the real world and how companies operate is more
important. Currently, I am aspiring to go into the accounting sector and work
my way up to becoming a chartered accountant. This is something that I had
never even considered before, with no previous background in accounting but I
realised through some of the modules I have taken this year, such as Financial
Reporting and Financial Decision Making, I really enjoy creating and analysing
business reports. As a result, I am currently applying for internships at firms
such as Deloitte, Grant Thornton, KPMG, and EY.
Going Further...
To anyone right now, that is struggling
to find a career that interests them, my advice would be to not panic. A lot of
people do degrees in subjects that they know they like and are good at, but
that doesn’t necessarily mean they have to go into that field. Especially now
more than ever with the amount of information available on the internet it is
much easier to develop a wide range of skills that are suitable for a variety
of jobs rather than just focusing on one career pathway.
If you are interested
in anything that I have talked about, below are some links for further
information:
Introduction
My name is Dayo and I am a second
year PhD student at the University studying Politics. I am researching how
underrepresented members of the public in policy making (in the case of my
research, Black and Minority Ethnic young adults aged 18 – 25) are included in
the process of policy making. I also work as a teaching assistant for politics
related courses in undergraduate and Master’s level courses.
In Depth…
My route into PhD has been an
interesting journey rather than a direct path. It has been a process of
re-inventing myself and following my passion. My undergraduate degree was in
Economics which I realised quite early on was not for me so I did not
particularly excel in this degree. After a year out working, I figured out what
my next steps would be so I did Master’s degrees in Human Resource Management
and Management Psychology. I did well in these courses. Doing a PhD was
something I had previously considered as it was suggested by my academic
adviser during one of my Master’s degrees but I did not pursue it.
On graduating, I worked for about seven
years in the private and not-for-profit sectors in Learning and Organisational
Development. The knowledge and soft skills I gained at university meant that I
was able to progress in my career by successfully utilising these skills.
Whilst I had no academic knowledge
of policy making, I began to get interested in policy making as one of my jobs
gave me exposure to this field. I then started to notice the lack of diverse
representation in decision making bodies of public policy. There were ‘hidden’
and ‘silent’ groups of people who were not getting involved in decision-making.
I wanted to know why this was the
case and also find solutions that would increase representation in policy
making so that their experiences of issues could be taken into account when
policy is being made.
Transitioning from being a
practitioner to being back in university has been great; it has given me the
opportunity to have the headspace to read and articulate the issues I am
concerned about. I am doing lots of reading! What is also great and a highlight
of my degree is that my fieldwork - working with real people in the real world
- provides the opportunity to design an approach based on academic theories and
study whether it works or not.
Skills gained from the practitioner
work, in particular project management skills (time and resource management as
well as organisational), are helping me progress with my PhD.
Through my journey, I have
hopefully shown that a route to doing a PhD in Politics does not have to be
typical. I have also shown that political parties and elections is just one
component of a Politics degree.
So if you want to be the change, a
degree in Politics could be for you!
Going Further…
If you are interested in finding
out more about politics, here are some links you may find useful.
Politics degrees in Manchester: https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/politics/study/courses/
Career options as a Politics
graduate: https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/politics/study/careers-and-employability/
Information about how Government works: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
Information on the UK Parliament: http://www.parliament.uk/
How research impacts on Policy: http://www.policy.manchester.ac.uk/blogs/
Introduction
My name is Josefina Fabiani and I
am a second year PhD student in Economics. I come from Argentina, South
America, which may sound more familiar to those not that much into geography if
I refer to it as the land of beef – specially asados – tango, Patagonia, football and of course Messi and Kun Agüero
(not to get into politics and economics!). During my undergrad there I did a
semester abroad in Austria, which completely influenced my future decisions.
That experience opened my mind and made me realise I wanted to pursue further
studies abroad. The UK wasn’t a tough decision for me since the quality of its
higher education institutions is well known and I’ve always been very keen on the
English language, the country’s history and culture (and its music!).
So here I am, starting my PhD in
Economics in Manchester, where I will analyse the relationship between
migration and different types of capital flows between countries.
In Depth…
The first year of the PhD was the MSc
Economics, where we covered the main areas of the subject and received training
on the techniques I will apply now on the research. In this second year, we
continue with the coursework but now focused on our research area and at an
advanced level. For example, my area is Macroeconomics, where we look at the
economy as a whole with information on different measures such as GDP,
inflation and unemployment.
A phenomenon that has always
interested me was the migration of people from one country to another, maybe
because I come from a country with a very large population of immigrants. Early
on my undergrad studies I started digging into the topic.
Throughout history, migrations have
taken place at different levels, for different reasons: regional migrations,
overseas migrations, forced (by political persecution or natural disasters) or
voluntary, expecting an economic or life improvement. In the era of
globalization and communication, transportation costs have remarkably dropped,
which fostered not only the flow of goods and knowledge across countries but
also of people. However, whereas there is an apparent consensus to enhance
international trade and capital flows, the economic consequences of immigration
are at the centre of political debate. Migration policy has been characterized
by protection of the domestic labour market and there has been an increasing
negative popular perception of immigration. A better understanding of the
dynamics of migration and its macroeconomic implications are key for policy
design.
Going Further…
If you are curious to know a little
bit more about what economists really do, then you are invited to take part on
the activities organised at the Economics Department for school students. Some
of them are:
Manchester Talk – IFS
"Is it fair to charge £9,250 for university tuition fees?"
13 March 2019, 4-6pm, Uni Place Theatre A
How much will you really pay for university?
Does that depend on where and what you study? Are there any alternative ways to
fund higher education? And how would these affect what the education system
should be trying to achieve?
This IFS Public Talk, jointly organised with the
University of Manchester, will be given by Jack Britton, Senior Research Economist at
the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)
and will give an economist's perspective on the ongoing tuition fee
debate. Nicholas Barr, Professor of
Public Economics, from the London School of Economics and Political Science
(LSE) will also be our Chair and on hand to put your questions to Jack.
Get an insight on Higher Education resources from the
IFS here.
Details and free tickets can be booked here: https://manchester-talk-ifs.eventbrite.co.uk
There is a pre-session aimed at
Year 12/13 students that fulfil the Widening Participation criteria
(criteria: https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/connect/schools-and-colleges/courses/
). Please email economics-events@manchester.ac.uk
for more information and registration.
Discover Economics Day
9 July 2019, 9.30am-3.30pm, Simon 1.34
The Discover Economics Day is a
free event for Year 12 students to discover more about what economics is really
about.
The day will consist of a series of
interactive, educational sessions to help you find out what economists do as
you start to learn the tools that they use to ask real world questions. You
will discover how economics provides a clear way of thinking on how people make
choices.
You will meet University staff and
students dealing with the current issues in economics and will find out more about
the economics courses here at Manchester and the career opportunities available
for Economics graduates.
Join us and discover how studying
economics will give you the toolkit to investigate the questions that you are
passionate about!
Please email us at economics-events@manchester.ac.uk
for further info and registrations.
Relevant links:
Blogs:
• http://freakonomics.com (also radio!)
• http://timharford.com
• http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/blog
YouTube Channels and Videos:
• Jacob Clifford
• One Minute Economics
• Ted Ed
You can find more of Economics at UoM here https://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/economics/
and keep updated with the activities organized via twitter https://twitter.com/ManUniEconomics
INTRODUCTION
![]()
My name is Julius Ohrnberger and I am a first
year PhD researcher in Health and Development Economics. My A-levels were in
English, German, Mathematics and History. After graduating from high school in
Germany, I studied Economics for my first degree at Heidelberg University in
Germany. I then did a Masters in Economics and Development Economics in 2014 at
the Free University in Amsterdam. Prior to my PhD, I worked for a year as
researcher in Health Economics for the University of Manchester.
In winter 2015, I started my PhD
in Health Economics and Development Economics at the Centre for Health
Economics at the University of Manchester. In my research, I aim to analyse the
effect of cash transfers on health outcomes of poor families living in
developing countries. I furthermore want to understand how the effect on health
has potential in reducing poverty in the long-run.
IN DEPTH
Imagine that you have to live on
less than £1 a day: £1 for food, clothing, the bus ticket, your mobile phone
bills, etc. Imagine that public services like the GP, hospitals or your school
are of very poor quality and there is far too few for all people, and you have
to pay for it out of your pocket with the £1 a day. These are the challenges
the global poor living in the developing world every day.
I want to understand in my
research how regular cash transfers to this group of people affect their mental
health and physical health outcomes. Furthermore, how the effect on mental and
physical health relates to long term poverty alleviation. Mental health is a
state of emotional well-being. A mental health outcome can be how often you
were sad or felt restless the past week. Physical health is defined as a state
of physical well-being. A physical health outcome can be your blood pressure or
the number of health days in the past month. It is very likely that more income
through the cash transfer has an effect on both the mental health and the
physical health. Improving either is essential in helping the poor to improve
their lives and especially to help them to leave a state of poverty.
I look in my research at three
different countries namely Indonesia a South-East Asian country, South Africa a
sub-Saharan African country, and Mexico a Latin American country. I use large
datasets for each of these countries. The data entails information about the
mental health outcomes of the poor people such as depression or anxiety,
physical health outcomes such chronic diseases or blood pressure, and if the
person received a cash transfer. The same poor people are observed and
interviewed over several years and thus it is possible to identify changes in
health and poverty due to the cash transfers.
My
research is important as it is a unique project which sets poverty into the
light of both mental and physical health outcomes. Mental health is a strongly
neglected topic in international development policies, but mental health
problems are one of the leading causes of illnesses worldwide and especially in
the developing world. My research seeks to immediately address this gap, and to
provide an analysis which could be important for future development policies
centred on mental health.
GOING FURTHER
For updates on my research
activities, follow me on Twitter: @JWEO_O
To get more information about
mental health in developing countries, visit: http://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/en/
And http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/10/mental-illness-developing-world
For information what we are up to
in the Manchester Centre for Health Economics, visit our website: http://www.population-health.manchester.ac.uk/healtheconomics/
or follow us on twitter: @HealthEcon_MCR