Back to stories listingA meeting at an education fair in Kolkata, India, not only gave Subhankar Chakraborty a new direction, but an entirely new career. Studying in the UK was always at the top of Subhankar’s list of priorities. A chemical engineer, who was working for an oil refinery, he gained his GMAT & TOEFL qualifications and met the team from the University of Gloucestershire at the education fair.
“Being a little away from the city of London, the University of Gloucestershire was fitting into my scheme of things as I not only wanted to gather knowledge, I also wanted to learn ethics and professionalism from the British culture. And obviously I wanted to avoid the rush of London,” he said.
Subhankar started his Master of Business Administration in January 2010 and loved the new experiences university brought.
“I enjoyed almost everything there, starting from the classroom lectures which were quite interactive and multi-cultural, to the fun at SU bar. It was indeed a great experience to share a classroom with my fellow colleagues from seven different countries across five different continents. Apart from a great learning experience we developed a great comradery within that short span. We were extremely competitive yet ready to share our knowledge with each other and have the joy of learning.”
When he started his MBA, he wanted to specialise in operation management and return to the refinery industry. But his plans began to change shortly after arriving.
“Within a month of joining the university, I got a job in Endsleigh Insurance as a part-time sales consultant in their insurance sales department. This changed my entire approach towards the programme. I ended up specialising in Strategic Management, which I wrote my dissertation on and learnt the business of financial services. Right after finishing my programme, I came back to India to start my own firm in financial services and have been running it successfully for past 10 years.”
Today, Subhankar is a certified financial planner, specialising in wealth management. He provides investment consultancy to individual and corporate clients in India and abroad, as well as training in financial services.
He added: “I would say, it is a great place to learn and evolve into a professional. There are many universities which may hand you in with fancy job offers, but this university will prepare you for life. I didn’t get a fancy job offer after finishing my course and I am glad I didn’t. I was prepared to walk the path of uncertainty and I can only thank this University and my professors for the courage they gave me to do it and the knowledge they equipped me with to make a career out of it.”
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