What are the BSc Business Enterprise graduates doing now?

Stefan Stockinger (Austrian)

Right now I am looking for investment, so that I will be able to start contracting Skydive Centres in Europe. I will start this tour in spring 2010. In January 2010 I organised a "Skydive" event for marketing purposes; I negotiated a 10 minute TV report with the Austrian television channel ORF.

I am currently working on www.halihop.com. This is a solo ticket service for skydivers. In future I will relaunch http://www.skydivedudes.com and will integrate it with an e-commerce shop.

Hubert Stöhr (Austrian)

Here is a brief overview about what happened after finishing my studies in Buckingham:

In January 2008 I joined the Brewery Eggenberg in Austria where I became the head of a newly-built visitor centre. During 2008, we had about 40,000 visitors and I was heading a team of 8 full-time / part-time staff.

In January 2009 I started a six months education in beer brewing to become a "Certified Brew Master" at the VLB in Berlin, Germany.

Since then I have worked again in the Brewery Eggenberg. After I started in the brewing and production department, I now work in Sales & Marketing but also as an assistant to my father (owner).

In January 2010 I started with my Master's degree at the SDA Boccioni in Milan, Italy where I was accepted to do a Master's in Fine Food & Beverage Management. After that year, I plan to gain some further work experience in the food & beverage industry before taking over my father's business in about 2-3 years.

Joseph Finch (British)

I'm teaching English at Beijing Language and Cultures University and improving my Mandarin. I'm also running two bands here. At some point I plan to work as a university French teacher for a period.

For both the musical projects I'm organising I don't think I would be able to do them without having studied business. We are organising a tour of South China and Argentina, so in terms of organising projects and negotiating contracts the business training is invaluable.

Just sorry I'm not running a multi-million dollar start-up that you could mention.

Though admittedly I'm not doing anything business-related, the degree was invaluable as universities don't employ people without one and all the best teaching jobs in China are in universities.

Joanna Major (British)

Having graduated in February 2009, I decided that I wanted to follow a career in accountancy. Despite the difficult financial situation at the time, my first class honours degree, and experience running my own business at Buckingham, enabled me to get a job as a Trainee Accountant, working for Michael J Emery & Co. Ltd in Newport Pagnell.

I am also studying for my ACCA qualifications, which will take about three years. So far I have completed the knowledge-based aspect of the qualification. I am learning all aspects of accounting and have assisted on some company audits.

My experience on the BSc Business Enterprise course has given me valuable insights into business, which have helped greatly in my accountancy training and work. I am able to understand the problems encountered by the owners and managers of companies and can also see where our firm can help our business customers.

Andreas Hampel (Austrian)

Before I attended university I decided to take a gap year in which I travelled around the world. I then studied Business Administration in Vienna for 18 months. However, I was not very happy with the institution and its teaching style, so decided to go to Buckingham to take advantage of the very individual teaching style and the unique Business Enterprise honours degree programme in 2007.

Tom Foddy (British)

I graduated in December 2008, right in the heart of the recession. I made the decision not to jump into any job but accept a role that was right for me, the course at Buckingham gave me the confidence in my abilities. Through a lot of hard work and an innovative way to apply for jobs I got a role that was ideal for me with Wells and Young's Brewing Company in Bedford.

I am the first graduate to go on to this scheme at the brewery. They have given me the opportunity to see every department within the business. Spending time in each area has developed my passion for business that I developed on the Business Enterprise course as well my love and passion for cask beer.

Romel Pacson (British)

I have been working for NARS Cosmetics (external link) in London since August 2009. I was hired because of my flair for the cosmetics business and my plan of how I could turn a failing retail counter into a successful one. It took a lot of persuasion, as I didn't have any experience of working in retail. However the fact that I had run my own business during the BSc Business Enterprise programme at the University of Buckingham helped me to convince NARS management to employ me.

I remember mentioning during the interview that working for them is not all about selling, but about "understanding customer needs and requirements profitably", but of course retail is all about putting money in the till, achieving targets and maximising sales. The definition of marketing was really helpful and they were quite impressed!

After few months, the customer counter's base has expanded by 60%, sales have tripled compared to last year and between August 2009 and July 2010 I exceeded my sales target by more than 20%! As a result, I became the top NARS sales person in the London Region.

My BSc in Business Enterprise honours degree has given me all the skills, confidence and abilities to be successful. I am truly proud that I made the right decision to join this course.