Higher Education: How important a role do diversity and specialisation play when it comes to an MBA?

An interview with Ms Divya Joshi – an EU Business School alumna and an Integrated Marketing specialist – on her role in organisations, the importance of diversity when it comes to obtaining postgraduate education, and the role EU Business School played in the same.

Across countries and levels, education is evolving. As we move towards an era of fast-paced education heralded by newer specialisations, we need to acknowledge that gathering information from credible sources is going to play a more important role than ever. In this column, we interview Ms Divya Joshi. Divya, who is currently an MS student specialising in Integrated Marketing at New York University, completed her MBA in International Business at EU Business School (EU) in Montreux. She specialises in Content Creation and Social Media Management. In this interview, we talk about her role in organisations, how she decided upon specialising in this field, and the role she thinks EU played in developing her as a professional.

Qrius: Hi Divya! You have studied business right from the undergraduate level to the two postgraduate degrees you pursued later. Is this something that you always planned, or did you take it one step at a time?

Divya: I had always been interested in pursuing my higher education around Business Management and its related courses. My initial strategy was to pursue my undergraduate degree in Management Studies (University of Nottingham) and then take a gap year to implement my learnings to the professional industry work. However, things changed when I got accepted to EU Business School for my MBA in International Business. I did not want to break my chain of studying and wanted to complete my MBA in a timely fashion. My MBA degree as well as my current degree of MS in Integrated Marketing (NYU), both were unplanned. I took things one step at a time and embraced all opportunities that came my way. I always believe that one can never be over-educated. Learning is a continuous process, especially in the world of business. Things are constantly changing and improving and we need to keep ourselves up to date to successfully make it in this field. For me, pursuing these degrees has opened up immense opportunities and incredible doors for my professional and personal development.

Qrius: You specialize in content creation and social media management. How would you describe your role?

Divya: In a nutshell, content creation is crafting a whole world around a single element. Content creation is developing deeply embedded stories and layers of information around a singular piece of data/insight for a deeper end-user/audience interaction. For me, content creation comes naturally and gets my thinking wheels churning. We, as marketers, look at information or things around us as open opportunities where content can be created, carved and curated. My role in the field of content creation is to generate layers of information from different sources and self-knowledge and curate it according to the end user demand and need. My role requires me to create content both for SEO generation as well as end-user consumption. As far as social media management is concerned, my role is to create editorial calendars and plan out detailed social media campaigns. This involves creating posts and campaigns pertaining to current needs and trends, managing interaction on and layouts of different social media platforms.

Qrius: Following on from the previous question, how do you think organizations approach social media these days? Has it become more or less aggressive than it was a couple of years ago?

Divya: For many organizations, social media has become the ultimate platform not only for product/service transactions, but also for creating brand awareness, deeper brand-customer relations, maintaining a steady customer feedback mechanism, gathering customer intelligence and showcasing latest brand developments and efforts. Having an online presence has become mandatory for organizations to reach a global target audience. If a brand does not have an active social presence, it is automatically looked upon with sceptical eyes or regarded as a ‘shifty’ business. Social media plays the role of a brand’s face and personality for its current and potential clientele. In my opinion, social media is the biggest and most profitable touchpoint for a business, where an organization can express, showcase and communicate with its audience. The approach towards social media has definitely become more aggressive and focused, adapting to the ongoing changes and advancements in the field.

Qrius: What role does a good MBA play when it comes to social media management?  Do you think it is more about keeping up with the trends? Or does classroom knowledge help?

Divya: Classroom knowledge forms the crucial base for your foundation in any industry. These days, classroom teachings are not limited to imparting theoretical or practical knowledge. Classes have become more like expansive focus groups where professors and students indulge in discussions, deliberations, exchange insights and provide feedback. A good MBA degree forms a sturdy base while imparting a wide range of information and insights in different domains across industries. For social media management, MBA allows students to go beyond their thinking fences to better absorb trends, have an eye for intricate details, adapt to current market developments and utilize classroom learnings by applying them to the need of the industry. It allows students to think differently with a receptive mindset while being creative and aware of one’s surroundings.

Qrius: You have completed an MBA in International Business, and are currently pursuing an MS in Integrated Marketing. What exactly is the difference between an MBA and an MS?

Divya: To simply put it, a BA degree is equivalent to the roots of a tree, while an MBA degree is the tree trunk and an MS degree is a branch. In my opinion, you cannot have a branch (or branches) without the tree trunk and deep-seated healthy roots.  My MBA in International Business gave me a holistic view of the international business market and nurtured my further professional progression, while my MS in Integrated Marketing is now giving me a streamlined specialization in a world of mass generalization. An MBA facilitates and paves the way to delve deeper into a particular specialization while having a profound understanding of the industry as a whole. Without having the bigger picture, I believe that we cannot figure out the intricacies or specialize in niches to the best of our abilities. I took the unusual route of first pursuing an MBA degree and then an MS degree for the very same reason. Now I can understand the microscopic details and delve deeper into a defined area with broad surrounding knowledge and awareness only due to my MBA course at EU Business School.

Qrius: You are currently interning at NYU Global Programs as a social media assistant and recently interned as a content marketer with Business Insider this summer. Could you give a brief about your roles there?

Divya: As a social media assistant with NYU, my role is to keep all the different social media platforms up to date, create posts for current events and user engagement, create content for SEO generation and clientele attraction (+retention) and create data analytics reports (insights) for all the platforms. Social media analytics is what paves the way for the coming month’s social behaviour – what posts are doing well in terms of engagement, reach and impressions while figuring out which areas need further attention and development.

As a content marketer with Business Insider, my role was to create content for SEO generation (linking back to archives), lead harvesting and generation, idea generation, handling email marketing campaigns and the editorial calendar for SEO posts, maintaining content databases and doing business (content) research.

Qrius: How did you zero in upon EU Business School? What were the factors that you considered?

Divya: EU had the exact route that I wanted to take for my academic career development. Being an international student and watching my father create his own business from scratch in an international market (Jordan and Montenegro), I wanted to pursue my MBA in International Business, something EU was offering. EU offered a dynamic mix of campuses, courses and students which I was sure would help me shape my personality and help me deepen my international mindset. Choosing the Montreux campus in Switzerland was deliberate given the small class sizes, industrial visits and intriguing nature of a small city in a business neutral country. Switzerland always fascinated me as a country, and EU gave me the opportunity to make that choice.

Offering small class sizes ensured that each one of us got one-on-one attention from the professors and were able to build a personal relationship with the professors and the administration. EU Montreux especially was a close-knit group. We all worked together and facilitated each other to grow. The school’s teachings were not focused on syllabus completion, but rather on our professional growth and deep understanding of the courses. Visits to Baselworld, Nestle headquarters, the UN in Geneva etc. are just some of the examples of visits that EU arranged for us which led us to broaden our knowledge outside the classroom, get an insider view in some of the world’s largest shows and organizations and learn hands-on from industry and world leaders.

Qrius: How was your experience at EU Business School? What – in your opinion – is the biggest thing you learned there? Did studying at EU help you settle better and quicker while pursuing your specialisation?

Divya: EU taught me to think, act and work like a business leader. My course and my professors helped train me thoroughly to understand complex business issues and to think strategically. My growth as a businessperson was structured in a disciplined way, which equipped me with the necessary frameworks and models to analyze real-world business problems and opportunities. I learned immensely from my erudite professors, not only in terms of academics, but also in different areas of life. Their constant motivation in terms of academic performance appraisal, their guidance and their friendly demeanour helped me immeasurably to put my best foot forward. They certainly helped me develop my potentials at an accelerated pace. Teamwork, which was a core part of my course at EU, taught me to work efficiently as part of a group and how we can motivate each other for the betterment of the team in totality. Overall, EU taught me how to learn and a become a responsible worker, who now analyzes situations more intricately and strategically than before, and searches for opportunities in the bleakest of situations. Switzerland was a path of self-discovery for me whereas now, New York is proving to be a path of self-utilization. Here, I am able to deploy my skills and knowledge efficiently, which I developed by living, studying and working in different parts of the world.

Qrius: How important a role do you think diversity plays when it comes to aiding the overall environment at an institute like EU (given that some international students might find it difficult to adjust to the new environment initially), especially for professional courses? Does it extend beyond traditional “networking”?

Divya: EU took upon all the ‘work’ in networking for us students. EU’s valuable connections helped shape and grow our network beyond expectations. The diversity of the student body and staff in terms of backgrounds, cultures and professional and academic journeys was in itself a strong foundation for us to form diverse relationships and foster strong friendships. Diversity in all aspects makes us think with an open mindset, receptive to changes, differences, point of view and thought processes which makes the surrounding environments less rigid and more flexible. The transition into life at EU Business School with other students was made stress-free by the administration – which not for once – made us feel like “international” students. We all felt part of the EU community and network. The staff, administration and students, especially at Montreux, were like one big family who all supported each other, propelling self-growth and confidence in a foreign land. 

This interview has been compiled in collaboration with EU Business School (EU). Established in 1973, EU is a triple-accredited international business school with campuses in Barcelona, Munich, Geneva, Montreux and Online.

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