Page 35 - Linkline Summer 2018

MSc in Management (Aviation Leadership) at DCU
Dr Marina Efthymiou, Course Director of MSc in Management (Aviation Leadership) at DCU talks to Linkline Journal all about what is involved in the course and gives some internal information about the course and how to be accepted.
What is the full title of this course and what is it about?
The full title of the course is MSc in Management (Aviation Leadership) It is a specialist postgraduate programme designed for aviation professionals Having said that, we do accept a very small number of recent graduates with strong profiles They need to be ambitious, passionate and have a wide understanding of the industry combined with some working experience We currently have one young girl in the course and we know that she will do very well after the M Sc If someone thinks that they have those skills, they should apply and they might be accepted!
The course is a mix of management and aviation Imagine you have three pillars, one is the aviation core modules where you have aviation governance and regulations, aviation leadership management and airport operations management
Then we have the management part where they do leadership and change, delivering performance excellence, strategy organisation and innovation and then the research part is the research methods and the MSc dissertation
In a few words this course is not only about learning about aviation and management It is about career progression, personal fulfilment, developing a strong professional network and of course making friends!
When was the course set up?
It is a very new course It was launched in 2015 Last year we had the first graduation It was a very special day Our first MSc aviation graduates and Willie Walsh received an honorary PhD from DCU The first graduates we have are doing really well They were an amazing group, amazing people, different types of personalities and good professionals We had a number of people from Ryanair, Dublin Airport, Aer Lingus, Air Corp, and various other organisations We even had students with banking backgrounds
Around half of them, either they changed jobs or got a promotion within a year after receiving their masters I am convinced that the course contributed to that They are now very good friends with each other They meet every few months to catch up They’re nice people and they developed a good network I am very proud of them
One of them, he’s going to start his PhD now He didn’t really have substantial aviation industry experience but he had an incredible capacity of understanding the wider aviation industry and he will do very well in his life
So, it is nice to see that our MSc graduates are progressing and they are still in contact with the course Some of them came back to give guest lectures and are supporting DCU with various ways We really appreciate that
Part-time/full-time basis
The course runs on a part-time basis and a full-time basis On a part-time basis the course is run within two years You start around mid-September and then you finish around May Someone who is registered on a part-time basis is coming over for two to three days maximum per month We had a student working as a manager at Larnaca airport, Cyprus and he was
Dr Marina Efthymiou
The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport 35
INTERVIEW