Veronika
Herzner

What made you decide to do a Masters degree?
In 2009, during my undergraduate studies of Biotechnology in Germany, I did an internship at the Biology department of the University of Nottingham. Since then, I become in love with the UK. After I finished my undergraduate studies I started to work at a big pharmaceutical company in Germany and had an amazing career there.

As I am always up for a next challenge and like to try and learn new things, the thought of doing a one-year Masters programme sounded quite interesting to me. Doing a one-year Master programme enabled me to combine my desire of coming back to the UK and also improving my knowledge and maybe changing my career.

When picking a University to study a Masters what do you consider it important to have? 
When I started to look for universities in England which offer a Human Resource Management Masters degree, I looked for the 10 best Masters degrees / business schools. Nottingham Trent University, especially Nottingham Business School came up in my search and I was already convinced that this is the degree I wanted to do.

NBS was the only school in my search, which offered a consultancy experience project as a final project instead of a dissertation. I have written a dissertation in my first degree and I wanted to do something different and of course gaining as much practical experience during my studies as possible. So, the decision was made, that I apply for NBS and just NBS.

What do you feel is the best aspect about studying at Nottingham Business School?
Apart from offering students the possibility of doing a consultancy experience project, NBS has a great reputation and an excellent employability rate with students finding employment within 6 months of completing their studies.

The university and NTSU offer a lot of different opportunities to their students, starting with an amazing welcome week (where I got to know great friends) and organising guest speakers, sports and brilliant CPD events, just to mention a few. But also the employability team is great and I took the chance to get good advice on my CV.

Can you explain a little about your course? Is it what you expected? What do you enjoy?
The MSc Human Resource Management degree is an amazing course. It gives students a great insight into the diversity and variety of human resources. Classes are very interactive, with lots of group work and presentation activities which gives students the chance to practice team working and presentation skills. Lecturers usually have worked in human resources in a commercial environment and hence, share their hands-on experience and knowledge with the students. I really enjoyed the course, although I have to say I didn’t enjoy being assessed that much, but it is a necessary part of every degree. My expectations of the course were definitely met.

Do you get involved with any other activities in Nottingham Business School? i.e. Thinkubator Challenge, Business Leader Lectures, CPD events etc.
I did get involved in lots of opportunities at NBS and during my whole year I gained about 80 CPD hours.
I took part in the Thinkubator Challenge, which was an amazing experience, working with people from different courses I didn’t know and delivering and presenting a solution under time pressure.
I made use of the offered Business Leader Lectures, which were inspiring and I attended CIPD events.
I also managed to gain the Acceler8 Gold Award, which I am really proud of.

How does Nottingham Business School provide you with support, advice and guidance?
Every student has an academic mentor and regularly meetings during the year. My academic mentor was brilliant and helped me not just in questions regarding the course but also in my personal and career development.

What do you think about Nottingham as a city for students?
Nottingham is the best place for students to come to study. It is a vibrant city with lots of restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs to go out for every taste and budget.
The market square is the heart of the city centre and through the year there are many different events going on there, like the German Christmas Market in the winter or the Beach during the summer.
But Nottingham also offers great cultural opportunities with for example music events take place at the Albert Hall or plays at the Theatre Royal and arts at Nottingham Contemporary.

How has the Masters degree differed from your undergraduate experience?
For me personally, there are two major differences. First, there is the difference in language, as my first degree was taught in German, my first language.
Second, there is the subject. I did my undergrad degree in Biotechnology, which is natural science where there usually is one right answer. Switching then to a social science subject such as HR was completely different. There is no typical right or wrong, there are different viewpoints and they need to be made clear and justified.

How has the course influenced your future plans or career aspirations?
Doing the MSc in HRM confirmed my plan of changing my career into HR. I completely enjoyed the Masters and would always do it again. I am passionate about HR and I am going to start my career in HR. Additionally, I am staying in England and for now, do not have plans to go back to Germany.

What advice would you give to students considering studying at Nottingham Business School?
DO IT, you won’t regret it!