Mohammed Hisham

Why Surrey?

I chose to study Strategic Marketing at Surrey Business School because of the wide range of modules the course offers. I did a lot of research before selecting the University of Surrey and the digital focus the university has helped in my decision-making process. Marketing has also always been a passion of mine as from a young age I was involved in my family business back home.

My course

Having the opportunity to do my course at Surrey brings me joy, I have had the opportunity to work alongside students from a wide range of ethnicities and backgrounds. It’s great to collaborate with people from different backgrounds on group assignments and has been one of the things I’ve enjoyed most as an international student.

The staff at Surrey have been fantastic and one of my lecturers helped me to settle when I arrived in the UK. The academics always make sure they share practical experience, and we focus on business case studies that are happening in the world so the skills we’re learning are always relevant.

Postgraduate placement

I chose to do a placement as part of my postgraduate study as I really wanted to experience the work culture and wanted to know the demands an organisation expects. The implications of Covid-19 made it harder to secure a placement but I was lucky to be supported by the Employability and Careers team, Dr Robert Kreuzbauer and Deji Sotunde. Deji was helpful and guided me and the other students in our placement search, while the Employability and Careers team were there to help us polish our skills and set standards for us.

I have really enjoyed my placement, I had originally secured my role pre-covid but with the number of cases increasing I had to work from home and stay in India. At the end of summer, I was given the opportunity to join the UK team. With covid affecting a lot of businesses, it was initially very tough, but my supervisor supported me throughout the difficult period. Working under these challenging times has given me the confidence to believe in myself, I feel this placement has increased my skills and will help me in my future professional career.

Hybrid learning

My time at Surrey has been fantastic, it has been a little disappointing to miss the last few months due to the Covid-19 outbreak, but I have been impressed with how the university has adapted to setup hybrid learning and online lectures in such a short space of time. The welfare of students was taken into consideration during these tough times. I hope that in the future we will have a chance to say a final goodbye to our friends and hope that we can all meet in person at our future graduation. I will always have fond memories of Guildford and Manor Park.

Discover more about the business, marketing and management courses.