Student's experiences

Aleksandra Putrih

I have always felt some kind of hesitation about signing up for one of our faculties at the University of Belgrade. I think that it was the uncertainty about the job and the job position after 5-year hard work that had put me off from becoming a regular BU ( Belgrade University’s) student. Instead, I have decided to enroll in ICM studies, provided by the ESB Belgrade, and become an English student registered in UK books.

Namely, my love and admiration for the English language, literature and history (although not the English mentality) were big enough to make me put my name on the contract with the ESB rather than to apply for the Faculty of Philology.

When I first heard about ESB educational services, I was pretty surprised to learn it offered authentic UK studies, here in SCG. I looked the program structure up and my preference for these studies was reinforced, as there were subjects covering various fields- of marketing, economics, finance, law… Thus, I enrolled in the studies and now, after the completion of the forth trimester, I realize this decision was the right one.

With the lectures being held to groups of 10-15 students, coordination and interaction with the professor is enhanced and the work itself becomes more efficient (this is very different from a lecture held in a big amphitheater to 1 or 2 thousand students at our faculties).

With a year and a half long experience, I may say the subjects provide a good foundation for practical work and are, by all means, coherent. Some of them are interesting, some are already partially familiar from everyday life and publicized business activities, some however require practical work ( conduct of own research, preparation and submission of the report).

Although I never applied for a job in this profession during my studies, my theoretical knowledge ( marketing, customer service, management) has helped the firm my parents work for to improve, which I am very proud of.

The only downside of the studies I may mention is the fact that few companies in Serbia conduct their businesses with the principles these books promote and which are operationalized abroad. Therefore, the knowledge gained will serve to those employed in private, rarely public, companies and in foreign rep offices ( if we limit ourselves to Serbian companies).