Obinna Ezeji

What motivated you to study for an online Engineering Management MSc course?

Firstly, it has always been my dream to complete a Masters course and the other is to give myself good prospects to advance my career. Beyond this, I had other emotional motivations – being a father, I was thinking about the legacy I would like to leave for my children. Educating myself, I thought, would be a good inspiration for my children. So, I would say all those things played a part in my uptake of the course.

What has your experience of an online course with Leeds been like so far?

To a large extent, I would say that my expectations have been met, and in some areas exceeded. I have been very impressed throughout my experience. To start with, the staff made me feel comfortable through the admissions and registration process. When I started the course, I was impressed that I had an assigned Student Success Advisor that is contactable via email or phone call to help me through my learning experience. The whole concept of having someone there to guide me and help me to acclimatise to the course has been very helpful to me. Thirdly, the online virtual learning environment and the tools that I experienced are very intuitive and easy to use.

What have you enjoyed most about the course so far?

The course is fast-paced and completing it alongside my work has been challenging, however very enjoyable. The quality of the teaching and module tutors that I have encountered throughout the course: how engaging and experienced they are, and how creative they are with delivering the module content. I have really valued the way in which the course content incorporates interviews with experts in the field of study as this gives me a good perspective of the real world and a balance between academic and practical elements.

Another thing I have really enjoyed in this course is collaborating with the students with diverse experience, skills and nationalities. This richness and diversity of the student body is something I really enjoy about this course.

How has the course helped you in your day-to-day role?

I work as a Design Engineer with involvement across a lot of projects as well as working with various other teams. I was keen to choose a course that would enable me to apply my learning to practical solutions in the real world. Engineering Management connects to my day to day job and gives me a field to elevate my thoughts above design engineering and see the bigger picture of the engineering sector. For example, the people side of things; as engineers, we sometimes forget the importance of this. I really like how the course has balanced the technicalities with the management aspects of engineering, which has enabled me to see how the management function helps to drive the technical productivity.

What advice would you give to someone considering studying an online Masters course with Leeds?

It is a large time investment if you want to be successful and meet the demand of the course. Think about how you will manage your time as it can become challenging to catch-up if you fall behind. Secondly, I would say ask for help. The University of Leeds has very good resources, the Student Success Advisors are always willing to help so take advantage of this.

Engage with other students as you can learn so much from other professionals who are experienced in their discipline and they can learn from you too. Enjoying the learning journey with your co-students also makes you feel like part of a community. I have been able to draw motivation from the fact that other students are in the same position, especially if I am struggling with time. So indirectly, I draw inspiration from other students.

Finally, I would say enjoy the course. Take advantage of the endless resources that you have such as the University of Leeds Library – there is so much information that you can read and learn from.