Daisy Love

My first university offer was from Abertay, I knew people already studying at Abertay and I asked them about their experience, they all said they loved how personal the classes were and if you were needing assistance, you could get it very quickly due to the class sizes being more intimate compared to other universities. This was appealing to me because it can be daunting starting university, being in a new city or putting your hand up in large classes. Something more intimate was attracting to me and was ultimately the deciding factor in studying at Abertay.  

The Marketing and Business Management course appealed to me due to the opportunity to cover a variety of areas. You study the basics of business including financial areas alongside marketing and management areas. I think this is good for students as they can decide what path they want to go down, and trying these other areas of business allows for you to change your study path if you want to. A lot of the module assessments allow you to work with external organisations, our projects worked with real companies, I had the opportunity to work with Heineken and Enterprise, this was important in making connections and was a highlight of the course. 

The lecturers play a massive part in creating an impactful experience at Abertay, the business and marketing lecturers are a fantastic team. They are all very knowledgeable and passionate about their field, and it makes you feel more passionate about the topics, this made a difference on my studies. They are very helpful and if you had any questions about your coursework or your future and what you wanted to do after university, they were open to having those conversations. There wasn’t a distance between lecturers and students, it makes a difference and you look forward to seeing them and going to class. There is a good connection at Abertay with the lecturers and the students which is beneficial, it brings the classes closer together. 

My current role is a Global Travel Retail Channel Marketing Executive with International Beverage, a global drinks company that specialises in developing distinctive and premium local brands with global appeal. I work within the channel marketing team, my focus is global travel retail, working across the duty-free travel spaces in airports. 

During my second year at university, I decided to apply for summer internships and I ended up getting one within the drinks industry. This experience exposed me to global retail and the drinks industry. The same company invited me back the following year where I worked with the brand team, and it made me realise this was the industry I wanted to work in. For my dissertation I focused on whiskey and the drinks industry, I reached out to different companies and made great connections. Some of them ended up reaching out to me to ask what I was doing after university, one of the companies was International Beverage. When I started with them, I worked in an events role and took on the VIP events with the company before transitioning into my current role. If I hadn’t centred my dissertation around a topic that I was interested in then I probably wouldn’t be in my current role, that’s how important it is. 

My degree was super important for getting my current position with International Beverage, it was mandatory that you had a marketing or business degree. The projects that I did in my modules were also important, especially the work with brands such as Heineken, it was important to get that exposure and make those connections with the brands. Abertay allows you to start your career before you have left university, which is beneficial. What I learnt in my studies is all relevant to my career today. It’s helpful at Abertay that you get the exposure to people all over the world and make connections from your classmates to lecturers. 

View the BA (Hons) Marketing and Business Management course