Andre Andika Nitimihardja (Indonesia)

 6-Week BME Course MA International Political Economy

  “I honestly will miss the whole of the BME from the beginning to the end, because every day was a new experience for me. I learned different things from how to do presentations, how to do quick reading, how to write a proper academic essay...and how to adapt to the English culture as well, because I am not from England; this is the first time I came to the UK, so I had to settle and adjust to the culture; the BME helped me adapt and adjust in this situation.”

Summary  “So many things come up in my mind when I think about the BME course, because of so many experiences...new experiences that I had. The BME, for me, is basically is a step for adjusting and settling into a new environment; it helps you a lot to learn the proper English way...in writing, speaking or reading. So, the BME for me is very important and has been my most unforgettable experience in the UK.”

Nada Rangsikansong (Net) (Thailand)      

6-Week BME Course  MSc International Development

Different   “In the two years before I come to the UK, mostly the courses that I did were like tutorials for the IELTS test, which I think most of us are familiar with. Different to this course, they tended to only to tell you how to get a good score, but did not really focus on academic skills. The BME course prepares us for the Masters course, rather than just helping us to pass a test”.

Aydan Ozdag Gungor (Turkey )   

10-Week BME Course MBA

Challenges  “For me, the challenge is to express everything in English.

Miss Anything? “First of all, if I’m really honest I miss the staff...the BME staff was really helpful and very friendly; everyday, we students felt like we were in our homes, because you are welcoming...so thank you!”

Social Trips   “...time management is really important; sometimes I took some reading or papers to read on the coach when I went on social trips because some trips took a very long time. So if you really want to attend these trips, you can succeed, because trips are arranged on a Saturday so you still have the Sunday to study...It’s definitely manageable.”

Chang Xu (China)      

10-Week BME Course MSc Economic Policy & International Business

Different    “I did some training courses in my country, and I think those courses make you focus on the examination and only provide some skills for the exam...but the BME course is so different from these courses, it provides more transferrable skills or very useful ways and methods to develop as a student...it’s very useful for our  future course.”

Academic Skills   “...you must take seriously the issue of plagiarism; it’s very important to us if we want to finish our studies and our dissertation to get a good mark and it’s very important for us. Also, you must negotiate with your teammates and have team spirit.”

Teaching   “The quality of teaching is definitely good. I’ve met a lot of teachers before, but I think that the tutors in the BME are brilliant because they have a lot of experience and a lot of background knowledge in different fields. If I have problems with different areas, I could my tutor ask for help or advice - and he could give me the best answer.”

Chen-Chi Yang (Taiwan)      

10-Week BME  Course MSc Strategic Marketing

Miss Anything? “I miss my tutor and classmates because the atmosphere in the class was so nice; everyone helped each other – and they didn’t want anything back, they just want to help you, and that’s really nice.”

Advice   “I think future students need to be prepared because this is very challenging and it is different to other schools. Time management is also important; students need to have good control of time because there are lots of assignments – so don’t do them at the last minute!”

Yaser Al-Jammaz (Saudi Arabia)

15-Week BME Course MBA International Business

Expectations   “Before I came here, I didn’t really know a lot of things about the British style of studying and education, so when I turned up for the Presessional course, it really gave me a summarisation of how it looks during the MBA and what kind of things I would have to do...so I really found it useful.”

Different   “There is something I found very interesting from the beginning – case studies...I hadn’t used these before, but when I got into them, I really found them useful and helpful. Even now, during the MBA course, I’m using what I learnt on the BME.  We have around fifteen case studies that need to be studied in one semester – and case study analysis is not straightforward! I have to think and  brainstorm ideas...and use something which is really important: critical thinking, I have to critique the ideas and give some alternatives solutions.”

Teaching   “When I attended the Presessional course, I found we had a lot of teachers for different perspectives...the home tutor, the second tutor and also some managing information tutors and the project coordinators. So to gain the different perspectives was a really great thing. It helped to build a different way of understanding English. The teachers have different experiences...so there is a wide variety of experience and expertise, which is really helpful for all of us.”

Yi-Chien Tsai  (Taiwan)       

10-Week BME Course MSc Strategic Marketing

Challenges    “For me, the most challenging part of the BME is the project. However, I think the teacher always gave us full introductions and clear definitions about each section. I think the best thing is the individual tutorial time given. If I had any questions or queries, I could email my tutor and he advised me individually.”

Different     “I studied a one-month English programme in Australia but most of the time we just had conversations about life – how to talk to strangers and how to introduce ourselves...so when I arrived here to study on the BME course it was more useful for me, because I am here to study for a Masters programme.”

Miss anything?    “I think that on the BME course the teachers are really friendly and always encourage us to speak...Sometimes I speak slowly and I struggle to say something but they are always patient with me, so I miss the teachers on the BME...”

Teaching   “In Taiwan teachers speak and sit down and students just receive knowledge. But here the teachers always encourage us with questions and wait for us to respond. I think it’s good because it’s really stimulating... I think that if you are really here to learn something then you have to respond to the teacher; they will also encourage you to have discussions with colleagues and teachers. I think it’s quite different here to Taiwan – and  I like it here.”

Maria Cristina Baggio  (Brazil)

6-Week BME Course BSc Business Management

Expectations “First of all, I needed to take some English course to check if I could study here. Then I decided to go to London, and I lived there for four months; I didn’t really like the course which I took – it was not too bad, but it was not too good either! So when I arrived here, I didn’t really have good expectations.  But actually, the course was much better than I imagined.”

Academic Skills  “I think I had contact with something new for me at University here, because here we don’t just have to memorise the information, but we can understand and use it, and I think this is really important.”

Maria-Luisa Argiolas (Italy)

15-Week BME Course MSc International Marketing

Social Trips  “I have a social life here, but not as much as compared to Italy, for two main reasons. The BME course offered me a lot of things to improve myself, to study, to know more about business and to improve my presentation skills so I can use these skills in future work. I tried to do my best and study very hard in this course. I also socialised with people from other cultures.”

Summary   “The BME is an amazing, challenging, stressful, communicative course!”

For more information about the BME courses contact:

Miss Gail Horton
(Course Administrator)

EISU, Westmere
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT UK

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 5697
Fax: +44 (0)121 414 3600
Email: p.g.horton@bham.ac.uk