Living the dream job: The journey from student to the country manager

This has been a great journey being a student to now working as a country manager for the University of Huddersfield. I joined the University of Huddersfield as a Grad LLB student in 2010; post-completion in 2013 I came back to India. I worked under Law firms in India for 1 year and also at IILM as an admission manager for one year. 2016 was a turnaround year when I joined the University of Huddersfield as Regional Manager – India. Currently, I am a Country Manager taking care of all activities for the University of Huddersfield in India. Within three months, I got a list of countries where I was supposed to travel in connection with university work. In the beginning, I used to travel along with a team of university experts to various foreign countries, but gradually they put the entire responsibility on my shoulders.

Our strength lies in the number of courses we have to offer to the students

One of the greatest boons is the number of courses is more than 200 for the students who come to study here. It is an advantage to our University that we have to offer for the aspiring students from all streams. Our plan is to establish our student base through active participation and outreach programs. To make it possible, we worked upon to maximize our visibility and now, we are a renowned name in the sector. There are few states which give us applicants in bulk like Haryana, Punjab, Telangana, and Gujarat. For September intake, we have already received close to 1500 applications. Thus the focus is to filter out the best students for the intakes.

Interactive, modern and well-developed facilities make our university a truly diversified international university 

We bring in the pragmatic style of teaching in education as compared to the trivial style of mugging up and preparing for exams. We put a lot of emphasis on Research based quality education. It takes precisely 3 months for the Indian students to match the level of the students who have a good command over the language, English. Indian education isn’t updating regularly, here we update the curriculum whenever it's needed. Interactive, modern and well-developed facilities make our university a truly diversified international university. A student not only gains theoretical knowledge, but we ensure to provide them with platforms to test that knowledge to develop job-ready skills.

The number of UG students are much higher than the PG students

I am proud to state that in our university UG numbers are high as compared to PG I.e. 70% of Indian students are under UG courses. Normally the acceptance rate is close to 40-50 % if you ask in numbers normally 800 the count of offer letters for the next intake and out of which 25% is the conversion rate from it. 

The support services help students to make an informed decision

The university has an active Students' Union with over 110 clubs and societies. The union clubs are set at the Student Central building which has a sports hall, shop, catering outlets, offices for the student magazine, namely T'Hud, and a radio station called Radio Hud. Also, there are numerous support services including welfare and the careers center, which helps students to make an informed decision. We have students from more than 100 countries, having 100 different cultures on our campus. The diversity unites us, and we celebrate all national festivals of all the nations.

We have portals which provides knowledge that a student is looking for

I connect with the students who are interested in getting admission to the University of Huddersfield. We get a lot of students from agents; we train and guide agents to look out each technical aspect like a visa to get students enrolled. We also help students in various aspects in terms of filling applications. We have an app of the university that provides knowledge that a student needs like a map of the town, courses, restaurants data, etc.

With the ever-evolving placement cell, the jobs process becomes easier day by day

We have a robust placement cell which is evolving every year to support students as per UKBA norms. Also, the availability of Part-time jobs, 20 hours per week makes the path simpler for the students. A student can have a meal for a month in 100-200 pounds and easily have a good life in the town with 500-600 pounds per month. We have also come in terms with companies in the Middle East and India to support Indian students in getting jobs. 

Although there is a lockdown, we are active through our online platforms

Currently, we are into lockdown in the UK for the next 3 weeks but all departments are working from home. Classes have moved to digital platforms, Professors are taking webinars and providing digital notes. Maximum, we expect a delay of a week or two-weeks in upcoming intakes further updates will make all factors lucidly clear. In a worst-case scenario, if it is stretched beyond the deadline, we will refund the whole 100% fees that we have received.