ALUMNI PROFILE: Double student full speed ahead
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For fun and as a supplement to her profession Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen, Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration is taking a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration while working at the same time.
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"I’m not so good at sitting still and I’m always on the move. If you’re a laidback person who would rather lie on the couch with cup of coffee after work then you probably shouldn’t study for a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration."
It was the urge to stay active that drove Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen to study for a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration just a few years after getting her Masters Degree.
Work and school in perfect union.
Even though Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen is only 31 years old she already has a long resume. She finished her Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration in early 2003 and has been busy ever since. After one year as a Consultant for Danish Industry she started working on her Graduate Diploma in Business Administration and shortly thereafter changed jobs to work for Alm. Brand Bank, where she currently works as a Project Manager with Optimized Processing.
"I like the combination of working and going to school at the same time. I have a good education, which I use every day, but I like new challenges and I like to be learning all the time. My Masters of Strategy, Organization and Management made me a generalist at a more strategic level, but I wanted some more tools in my own toolbox and that is why I started the 2. part of the Graduate Diploma in Supply Chain Management."
Driven by joy
Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen is aware of the motivation behind studying for a Graduate Diploma.
"I do it for fun and for myself, because I’m curious. I don’t agree that I shouldn’t keep educating myself now that I have a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration. It is about evolving and about what is the driving force. If your education does not get you where you want to be then you have to keep on searching. A Graduate Diploma is one way of getting the tools you may need to apply for another position", Malene says.
The possibility of new impulses and collaborators were attractive factors in her continuing education, although it does require some planning of your daily life: "I participate actively in classes, but am also picky about what I have studied so that the rest of my life does not grind to a halt."
Career evolves out of school
"A Graduate Diploma is worth considering if you want to move on in your career", Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen says and continues: "You keep acquiring new knowledge at work, but you don’t usually go home and read technical literature in order to improve yourself. But with a Graduate Diploma I have been able to structure my learning." Malene emphasizes that it is not another Masters Degree she is studying for: " The educational level is not as high as for a Masters Degree, but it is also just easier because I have gone to school before and am used to the work pressure, studying for exams and the business school mentality."
Different backgrounds
At the moment Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen is working on her Graduate Thesis, which she is writing with a co-student. One of the challenges of a Graduate Diploma is the varying backgrounds and profiles of the students: "Many people come from a completely different work background. For example, they may have a Bachelor of Commerce, but we supplement each other. Right now I am writing the Thesis with an engineer and being in a school environment and sparring with others is interesting."
Malene Lysbeck Mikkelsen received her Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration in 2002. and she is finishing her Graduate Thesis in a few weeks.
Last updated by Janie Huus Tange 27/05/2006
