Amanda Barnett

What did you get out of the MBA?

For me, the MBA was a very interesting learning curve. I thought that when I first came into studying the MBA that I had learnt a great deal previously and this was just ticking a box. I discovered that there were many parts of it that enlightened me. I found that I had strengths I didn’t know I had to begin with. Now, coming into the different workforces that I do, I find that areas like financial management, where I just touched on previously, I found that I now have a strength in.

Would you attribute any of your career success having done the MBA?

Now that I’ve done an MBA, I feel that I’ve had success in being able to be more confident in my approach to different areas of the business. I’m not just staying to one element, I’m now contributing across all parts of the organisation, which I would have previously stood back and not done before.

How did you find the support at AIB throughout your MBA journey?

I found the support from AIB across the MBA was fantastic. There was always someone there and response times were fantastic. You didn’t have to wait for anything. If you had a query, if there was something that you didn’t understand, you had someone there to support you, and it’s not just from AIB itself, but across the network. It was a very good, cohesive structure to get support for your studies.

Did you tap into any online student communities? If so, what did you get out of it?

When I think about networking in this MBA, it was amazing to see how many people from around the world were participating. Myself, I’m based in the Middle East. I was amazed at how many people within the region were also studying this MBA with AIB. This is something that we have connections with, moving forward, particularly with different industries as well. If you’re studying marketing for instance, you’ve got that connection across different industries. You’ve always got that network from doing the MBA here.

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