Thomas Stephen O'Connell, USA
Programme flexibility meant everything to Thomas O'Connell when circumstances forced him to suspend his involvement with Edinburgh Business School's MBA programme in early 1999. Thomas was running his own consultancy in the US when he signed up with EBS in 1998. A long-standing ambition to join the World Health Organisation (WHO) arose and it meant not only a change in career, but relocation to a foreign country.
Thomas moved to France, close to the Swiss border as the WHO job was based in Switzerland, and for the next three years he focused on his new job and lifestyle.
"Naturally I was concerned about how I would eventually continue with my MBA after I made the move to France. While I had no intention of abandoning my studies, I could not initially set a firm date to resume them. It turned out that the break would be almost three years. My job was exciting and challenging and I wondered if the MBA would have the same relevance to me as it had when I was in my own business in a different field."
Thomas made contact with Edinburgh Business School and shortly after that resumed his studies. "There had been big changes in my life and the break from studies enabled me to focus on other priorities. The fact that I was able to resume the programme after three years, and on terms suitable to my new situation, were huge assets in EBS's programme and demonstrate just how flexible their approach is to fulfilling needs of individuals."
"Many programmes make the claim of being flexible, but often there are limitations. I looked at many options before choosing EBS. Many of these required that at some point I made myself available to attend certain seminars at certain dates. Others were little more than 'degree mills' - the quality of which was highly dubious. Sure, there are lots of MBA options, but what value do they offer? And so-called accreditation is not necessarily a guarantee of quality. The degree mills subscribe to associations which appear to accredit such degree mills. A school's reputation and the quality of their programme is paramount. I decided to talk to some EBS students and do some of my own research. For me and my situation, EBS was the logical choice."
