What Career Trajectories Can A Master’s Graduate Choose?

Usually they choose to work in a company or to go on to study for a doctorate. But Ekaterina Kolpakova, HSE master’s graduate, decided to continue her studies and applied for an international MBA programme. She told us about her decision in an interview.

Ekaterina Kolpakova, 2015 master’s graduate:

When I studied on the undergraduate programme at the Economic Faculty of Moscow State University, I wrote my term and graduate papers on tourism. I analyzed the demand in tourism and risk management with the use of mathematical methods to analyze this. It turned out that I was interested in the hospitality and tourism industry, so I decided to build my career in this field.

After graduation, I applied for the master’s programme ‘Experience Economy: Hospitality and Tourism Management’ at HSE. During my studies, I learned a lot both about management in general and about management and economics in hospitality and tourism. During my first year of study, I had the opportunity to take an internship at Labirint tour operator. But since this master’s programme also focuses on the hotel industry, I decided to use the knowledge I had received and went to work in a hotel as a reception administrator. I had a flexible schedule, so I could combine both my study and work. So, during the two years of study, I was able to try both the tourist and hotel industry.

After defending my master’s thesis on ‘Combining long-term and short-term forecasts in forecasting tourist demand’, I, as well as all the other graduates, faced the question ‘What next?’

I believe that international work and study experience is essential for working in hospitality and tourism today. It’s necessary not only to understand international standards, but also to know and understand different cultures and religions, the behavior of consumers from various countries and the specifics of business administration in various countries. That’s why I decided to continue my education at an international university and to get an MBA. I now live in Lucerne, Switzerland, and study on the Hospitality Management МВА programme at Business and Hotel Management School (BHMS). The main reason why I applied for this university is that BHMS students have the opportunity for a half-a-year funded internship in a different country during both the first and the second year of study. In addition to that, Lucerne is in the German part of Switzerland, and I have the opportunity to learn German here, although the teaching is carried out in English.

My study on the HSE programme ‘Experience Economy: Hospitality and Tourism Management’ helped me to get the necessary knowledge and skills for my current study abroad

Ekaterina Kolpakova
2015 graduate

My study on the HSE programme ‘Experience Economy: Hospitality and Tourism Management’ helped me to get the necessary knowledge and skills for my current study abroad. First, the knowledge and theories in hospitality and management that we were taught at the master’s programme are in line with those taught at international universities, and I speak one professional language with my lecturers and classmates. Second are the presentation skills. Before studying on the master’s programme, it was difficult for me to do any kind of public speak, but the ‘Experience Economy’ and HSE helped me to develop my presentation skills. In addition to that, my master’s programme included English-taught courses in the curriculum, which helped me to expand my professional and business English vocabulary. The opportunity to work with foreign lecturers during my master’s study at HSE was also a very useful experience.

Now I’m planning my internship and thinking about further prospects for development. I hope to get some international experience of work in the hospitality industry, in order to, probably, develop my own business in Russia in the future. And I’ll keep in touch with our master’s programme!