Leszek Jedrych

Name: Leszek Jedrych
Age: 30
Born: Warsaw, Poland
Lived in Scotland: 1 year

For the past year, Leszek Jedrych has been juggling a double life…as a business owner in Poland and a business student in Scotland.

With a successful company to run back in Warsaw, and a degree in finance and banking from the Warsaw School of Economics, why exactly did he decide to study for an MBA at Glasgow University?

Successful

"Yes, I have lots of experience in business already," Leszek explains.

"My company in Poland specialises in advising municipalities in managing projects, investment preparation, business planning and business strategies. We celebrated our fifth anniversary in July this year.

"But I wanted to study for an MBA because it’s very broad, it covers lots of disciplines. And I wanted to improve my English."

Scholarship

Leszek successfully applied for a coveted Chevening Scholarship, these scholarships are funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and are managed by the British Council.

"When I applied for the scholarship through the British Council their adviser suggested the course at the Glasgow University because it’s rated very highly.

"The facilities at the university are excellent – one of the biggest libraries in Europe and very good IT infrastructure."

Good contacts

"The MBA has really extended my knowledge in areas like marketing and management and I am going to apply it in my company. I’ve also made some good contacts, in the consulting business for example.

"My dissertation supervisor is also a consultant working in the same fields as my company. We have plans to work together because his enterprise has international experience and my firm has excellent local expertise.

"The majority of the 50 people on my course are international students, mostly from Asia – China, Hong Kong, India, but there are also students from Britain, the US, Canada, France, Japan and other countries like Palestine, Georgia and Saudi Arabia.

"I have made friendships that will last for the rest of my life."

Awesome

"I’ve travelled a lot and I think the people in Scotland are really friendly and the nature is simply amazing – lochs, green hills and wonderful clouds above them combine into a breathtaking environment.

"I was twice on a three-day trip to the Highlands and other parts of Scotland – to Loch Ness, Oban, Fort William, Inverness, Isle of Skye, Inveraray, Lochgilphead, Perth. It was awesome."

Kilt

So, would Leszek recommend studying in Scotland to other Polish students?

"Yes, definitely. Glasgow is a nice place to study for an MBA and there is a Polish lecturer at the Business School. She’s been in the UK for five or six years, the last year in Glasgow. Like me, she really likes it here."

And just to prove that he’s got well and truly into the spirit of things, Leszek hired a kilt last year for the graduation ceremony of previous MBA students.

"Wearing a kilt was really a remarkable experience!"

Polish community

"There's a big Polish community in the UK and in Glasgow, for historical reasons. With the recent European Union Enlargement, that’s only going to increase. And travel is so much cheaper now with budget flights.

"It can only be good for business!"

Insider Info

Leszek says: "The Polish national drink is vodka but since the beginning of the 90s international markets have opened up and we get a lot more imports, including Scottish whisky. Try it."

If you like the sound of studying in Scotland, why not find out more about it?

June 2005