Report of an MBA Graduate

Monika Hänggi studied medicine and worked as a doctor in a large hospital. When she began to consider enrolling in an MBA, she was in the process of setting up a new department whose role lay on the boundary between medicine and economics. In her report, Monika Hänggi tells us how she chose an MBA course and what kind of experience it was.

“I wanted an MBA course to give me as much knowledge of economics as possible, focused as much as possible on actual business practices. I wanted to be able to work in hospital management. An MBA course also offered the opportunity to step into the upper level of another career again.

What was important for me in choosing a course of study was its quality and feasibility. The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) and the HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich (HWZ) offered a dual-degree MBA programme in which the regulations of the USQ were replaced with a coaching programme at the HWZ. In this way, the cooperation between the two institutions guaranteed me an international course of study in Switzerland, good quality and a wealth of knowledge. In addition, I would receive an academic degree from the USQ in the form of the MBA, as well as a second degree in the form of the Executive Master of Management from the HWZ. The MBA course at the HWZ offered excellent value for money and even the journey there was easy, since the HWZ is only a few minutes’ walking distance from the Zurich main station.

Being in full-time employment, however, I could not count on free days – aside from holidays – for continuing my education. It was therefore a big advantage to me that the lectures in the MBA course at the HWZ took place on Saturdays; only the tests for the USQ were on weekdays.

Learning was made very accessible in this MBA course. A great advantage lay in the practice-oriented teaching; the teachers made sure that the students applied the material to their own business experience. I learned the most from the essays. It was stressful, alongside my regular job, to write essays in English and study for tests in the evenings and at the weekends. But I was aware from the start that the MBA represented a certificate of achievement, so I was motivated. With enthusiasm, conviction and a readiness to get stuck in to my studies, I found the double load fairly easy to master.

The teachers always worked in the field they taught in and were thus able to convey a lot of practical knowledge. They were engaged and I always had the feeling that they were happy to pass their knowledge on to us. The relationship with the teachers was like that with colleagues. We could contact them at any time outside of the teaching hours. Another positive point was the contact with other students, who all brought different kinds of knowledge and experience to the classroom. We were all more or less at the same stage in our careers and so could share ideas without interference, which I really valued.

I not only learned a lot in the course but I also profited enormously from it. MBA study is a school of life which is not just about the knowledge you acquire. I learned to recognise my own boundaries, and discovered how I can work more efficiently and be better focused on goals in order to fulfil greater demands. Likewise, I improved my ability to think analytically. The double load increased my ability to work under pressure, so that after the course I no longer felt so overloaded. I have accepted the presidency of the operating committee that was offered to me, and I would even be happy to take on one or two mandates from the governing board.”