Ghofran Elamam

I Chose the NCC MQF Level 5 Diploma in Computing/ Business because…

Having spent most of my academic years studying life sciences, I lacked a background in business-related subjects such as Finance, Economics and Marketing. At STC this has proven not to be a hindrance to successfully completing my Level 4 Diploma in Business with distinction. I so proudly assert that the experience marked an impressive milestone not merely academically, but also on conditioning my mindset to discover previously unexplored professional avenues, unleash hidden potential and set for myself massively ambitious targets to accomplish.
It is also worth mentioning that the course in its entirety represented a highly sought-after credential that is so arduously relevant and congruent with the 21st century requirements of multinational corporations and would hence grant its recipient a competitive edge and a distinguished position in recruitment circles.

As a matter of fact, forecasts published by the US Bureau of Labour Statistics indicate that the employment market is set to witness a 10% increase in career opportunities for prospective candidates emanating from business and finance-related fields over the years 2016 to 2026.
In 2016, a report published in The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting held in Davos projected that business and finance-related specialisations as well as management professions ranked first and second (amounting to 492,000 and 416,000 new vacancies) respectively in terms of job growth prospects from the year 2015 to 2020.

The Diploma course is helping me…

The course content design, delivery and learning outcomes of the Level 4 and 5 Diploma are set to equip students with sound business acumen for critically analysing business situations and challenges, developing suitable countermeasures, proposing enhancement resolutions and providing comprehensive disclosure on key business functions and disciples namely Finance, Business Economics, Business Mathematics and Statistics, Management, Human resources, Marketing & Consumer Behaviour, eCommerce, Operations Management and Information Systems.

My lecturers…

Apart from being adept in continuously monitoring student progress through numerous summative assessments and providing constructive feedback on preliminary versions of written assignments and attempted past paper questions (enabling students to rectify or adjust erroneous or deficient aspects of their final work whilst continuously upgrading it to the identifiable standards of excellence), lecturers happened to be highly seasoned professionals with extensive business world experience and industry links. Additionally, their considerable background and technical knowledge pertaining to their areas of specialisation as well as a remarkable competence in customising the course articulation strategy to suit the students’ particular needs and requirements rendered them excellently qualified to elucidating advanced business concepts and illustrating their relevant practical applications.

The best part of the course…

Pedagogically, one of the most admirable features of the academic progamme is its strikingly structured nature and its positive impact on performance and motivational levels. The course is very systemised, running five times a week sometimes even less, from nine to three thirty, with easy to grasp, comprehend and assimilate content offerring ample time for substantiating the lecture hours with thorough private study.
From an intellect-acquisition perspective, I was particularly enthralled and fascinated by the insight – broadening and pragmatically-driven attributes that characterised the constituent modules thereby incapacitating and empowering dexterous business masterminding. To cite classical examples across the various subjects:

Finance provided exposure of the stringency in financial budgeting, forecasting, and capital asset evaluation, financial statements analysis and interpretation, as well as wealth management and investment decision-making processes, to sustain the profitability of the sole trader, private corporation or public enterprise.

Economics enabled an appreciation of mastering the art and science of resource allocation and opportunity cost mitigation that instruct global and national policies through evaluating production, distribution and consumption cyclic systems.
Marketing and consumer behaviour studies is designed to segment the customer base demographically and psychographically for subsequent targeting and positioning, deploying customer retention and acquisition measures as well as for market niche development and the implementation of innovation and cost leadership market penetration strategies thereby generating the predicted profit margins.

Human resource management demonstrated the merits garnered from authentic corporate leadership in recruiting, maintaining, training, compensating and continuously nurturing the core competences of a winning workforce.
Operations management unravelled the resourceful dynamism involved in optimising value chains and synergistically coordinating the underlying key functions to conform to the specified requirements and exceed customer anticipation levels in terms of impeccable quality control and assurance, rapidity of response and delivery rates, cost-effectiveness through efficient resource utilisation and logistical executions, and the lean management of supply chains.

The facilities at STC…

Lectures and other aspects of the student’s learning experience are undertaken in fully furnished classrooms and well-equipped on-campus laboratories with access to library facilities and its ancillary learning resources. Students are also offered the opportunity to observe and experience first-hand the practical dimension of the theoretical principles tackled during lecture hours through the organisation of business site visits. Classrooms boast high standards of hygienic and ergonomic properties in terms of layout, design, temperature control and fire safety and are fully equipped with PC/laptop devices, sound systems, projectors. The institution’s establishment and exteriors are well-maintained and periodically refurbished.

STC is great because….

Meticulous guidance and instruction for personal and professional development by the institution’s administration acts as a substantiating scaffolding of mentorship and enlightenment throughout the students’ academic journey. The ‘Learn, Achieve & Inspire’ slogan championed by STC Higher Education is not merely preached but evidently practiced and proves to successfully yield visible outcomes. The administration is also highly commendable for adopting an open door policy and for efficiently handling student concerns and processing their requests in a satisfactory manner.

After I complete my course…

The Level 4 and the successive Level 5 diploma qualifications rendered me eligible to complete and graduate with a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business Administration (Honours) through the Top Up entry pathway offered by Middlesex University Malta. I am currently in the process of complementing the undergraduate qualification with its postgraduate counterpart by enrolling in the Master of Arts in International Business Management programme (with numerous other post-graduate qualifications under consideration). The top-up year is designed to complement the plethora of theoretical foundations tackled in the preceding years with numerous transferable skills for its candidates by promoting quality academic research, developing critical appraisal proficiencies, supporting the objective analysis, assimilation and synthesisation of conclusions from scholarly literature and the fostering of teamwork leadership skills through collaborative projects This will serve to ultimately prime students’ strategic management and innovation-incorporation abilities as future business leaders.

I would recommend this course…

to prospective candidates gravitating towards business domains concerned with the globalisation of world economies, the strategic management of the multinational firm and the coordination of international commercial trade activities. The academic programme is to yield relatively immediate and significant return on investment as a number of STC graduates have successfully landed corporate roles with reputable commercial enterprises and a number of others students have readily launched their entrepreneurial endeavours on completion of a broad selection of business modules.

My recommendation to someone who feels stuck with their education….

Upon embarking on an academic course that escalates to a higher level and may be more challenging and demanding than previous editions, consider the fact that an acclimitisation process is initially required for you to more clearly resolve the most suitable approach to comprehending, assimilating and effectively deploying the learning objectives of the course and successfully grasp its learning outcomes. Once the most workable and optimally results-generating strategy is determined, it becomes a matter of investing the necessary time and diligent effort to incorporate the study material. The golden rule is to decipher the underlying pattern and practise repetitively until knowledge of the subject is ultimately perfectly mastered.
One of the most advantageous attributes of the NCC- endorsed courses, is that students are not thrust into obscurity with regards to the performance standards and evaluation criteria as moderators’ expectations in terms of learning objectives and learning outcomes are clearly communicated to prospective students in the NCC authored study guides. Furthermore, recommendations for the relevant textbooks, a complete set of the constituent units comprising each module and the accompanying marking schemes for each assessment task be it an examination or an assignment are compiled in electronic format and are readily accessible through the student online portal.

Never hesitate to seek professional assistance and support from your esteemed lecturers who can diagnose the source of weakness dissuading you from reaching the required standard or accomplishing what you aspire for and consequently advice you on the remedial action to be pursued. Take it as an opportunity to fuel your motivation further and relentlessly hustle and grind through to accomplish what you have set your mind for you.

Failure on first attempt is not necessarily an assertion that you are incapable of achieving your objectives. It is highly essential not to surrender to your disappointment and to not consider it as a setback or disheartenment as at some instances failure may be imperative for achieving success. On certain occasions it may be triggered by external factors such as turbulent/discomforting current personal life (extenuating) circumstances or more significantly a major incompatibility of the course with your core proficiencies as in essence ‘“Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.’’ If you emerge as invincible and transform the power of your experience to bolster you up rather than pull you down, conquer your fears and persist in your journe , you will eventually surmount challenges, realise your potential and harness the rewards of your sheer success. through the student online portal together with and the accompanying marking scheme for each assessment task be it an examination or an assignment. Students will definitely not b thrust in obscurity.

The unique learning experience at STC Higher Education serves to ignite a lifelong passion and inspiration to thrive into a lifelong independent learner, inquirer and innovator, three distinct idiosyncrasies that are so indispensable for success in today’s rapidly progressing and digitally powered dynamic business landscape.