The Lancaster MBA

Yara Hani Zreikat

Global MBA (Jordan), 2012
Country of origin: Jordan
Employer: Strategic Center for Organizational Performance Improvement (SCOPI)

Having studied engineering and then spent three years working in management consultancy, Yara reached a point in her career where she felt she needed a wider knowledge of management and business.

She started looking around for a suitable MBA programme, and when she discovered the Lancaster Global Executive MBA in Jordan – where she could study locally without leaving her job – she knew it was the right programme for her.

Interviewed on a visit to Lancaster partway through her studies, Yara describes what attracted her to the Global MBA, and the skills she is developing through the programme.

‘I came to the decision that I needed to have exposure to the business arena. The MBA degree from Lancaster was definitely the programme I wanted to join because in the consultancy field, you need to speak the language of the customer. I need to know about the business as a whole: the finance, the HR, the economy, the strategy.'

She sees the value of the MBA as being a combination of knowledge and experience, with the chance to acquire new skills through new methods of teaching and learning.

‘It’s not just about the degree – it’s also about being exposed to the external world and to another way of teaching that we’re not used to. It’s not just about written exams and tests – it’s also about research. It’s somehow different to how we’ve been taught in Jordan. Definitely a new challenge for us, but very interesting.

‘My short-term goals are to advance in my career: to get enough experience, to use the benefits I’m getting from the MBA programme to grow in my career path. This will help me achieve my long-term goals, to have my own consultancy firm.’