Oxford's SAID Business School Holds First Free Session in Tbilisi

On Thursday from 18.30, The prestigious Oxford University's SAID Business School invites any interested parties to enroll and attend the first free Oxford information session. This event aims to provide attendees with the perfect opportunity to find out more about executive degree programs, including the Oxford Executive MBA, Diplomas in Strategic Management and MSc in Major Program Management.

“This is SAID Business School's first visit to Georgia. It was arranged by the School's own initiative, due to the strong interest we have seen in our programs from Georgia and the high academic level of recent students. In my previous work for Macmillan Education, I visited Georgia many times and met many gifted Georgian students,” Mr. Andy Poole, Associate Director of the school’s  Business Development for Executive Degree Programs, mentioned in an interview with GEORGIA TODAY.

This gives us an ideal opportunity, via educational exchange, to further establish an academic link betwen the two countries. “All of our programs are very much international in terms of the students who study with us. We are lucky to have had some excellent Georgian students at Oxford and we are keen to attract more. We feel that studying at Oxford widens students' perspectives and prepares them for responsible leadership positions around the world. While in Oxford, our Georgian students have been ambassadors for their country, encouraging their classmates to visit, to sample the food and culture, and expanding business links between many countries. When they return to Georgia, they then have the ability to become ambassadors of Oxford and the UK, helping to bring the two countries closer,” added Mr. Andy Poole.  

As for the inevitable question: how much do the programs cost, the Associate Director replied: “Some of the programs are full time and others allow students to keep working in Georgia. They vary in cost from £23,500 for our Postgraduate Diplomas to £52,000 for the full time MBA and around £75,000 for the Executive MBA. There are loans available for Georgian residents and some scholarships are also available.”

The statistics are always interesting. “These are relatively small programs where we like to have voices from as many different parts of the world as possible. We have typically seen 2-3 students from Georgia per year across our executive degree programs at SAID Business School. For the size of the local population that is a fair number, although we would like to see a further increase in numbers in the near future,” Mr. Poole replies.   

Finally, GEORGIA TODAY enquired about the expectations of the school out of this session: “We hope the event will help to ensure that bright and successful Georgians know about the opportunities that are on offer. Although Oxford is currently ranked as the top university in the world, we encourage people who might be interested to reach out to us and discuss their options. We know that applying to study business at Oxford may seem intimidating or unrealistic but we are keen to demystify the process. You never know what the future might bring!” Mr. Poole concludes. 

This free event will include: Introduction to the programs; Q&A session with alumni and recruitment staff; Networking reception with refreshments.

The places are limited. Here is the link for online registration: http://dmtrk.net/t/2MI1-12FW8-AA33FI447D/cr.aspx