MBA: WHY I CHOSE TO STUDY OVERSEAS

BEFORE HIS MBA at the Instituto de Empresa, Angus Mitchell had been a commodity trader in Paris, managing the European maize desk of Sigma. After his MBA he set up Kingfisher Leisurewear Ltd, which provides monogrammed polo-shirts for company employees.

"I had always wanted to own my own company. That was why I decided I needed an MBA. My girlfriend was Spanish, so I chose to do an executive MBA at the Instituto. Learning was part-time, but for me it was full-time because the whole course was in Spanish, and my Spanish wasn't that great. It was really tough to start with, but I loved it.

"The main reason I did the MBA was to learn about accountancy and finance, and the programme also emphasised that modern companies are about customer service. One reason this company has grown is that we concentrate on that."

ANJALI SINGH, 23, did her MBA at NIMBAS in the Netherlands because the school takes people with less than one year's work experience. She had a BA in managerial science from the University of Indore in India. Her work experience before the MBA consisted of three months every summer while she was a student.

"I had an interview over the telephone and I sat the GMAT test in Delhi. Doing the MBA at NIMBAS was an excellent opportunity. Moving abroad and meeting different people was very rewarding, and I was able to do the Bradford MBA and spend a term there.

"While on the MBA I did my project with a Swedish company called SCA, which specialises in paper, packaging and tissue. I now have a job in Stockholm as a market analyst with SCA. I'm using my MBA all the time. It teaches you to communicate what you think - to present an idea so other people understand it."