Visiting professor Paurav Shukla: “I see the BScBA students transform into confident, hardworking and diligent managers.”

What do you teach in Mikkeli?

I teach Introduction to Marketing and Comparative Consumer Behavior for the BScBA students.

When did you come to teach in the BScBA Program for the first time?

Long long time ago when the school was still called Helsinki School of Economics.

What makes you want to come back to Mikkeli?

The most amazing students, the wonderful set up, the change of pace of life from London to Mikkeli, the natural beauty of the place. Hmmm, the whole Mikkeli experience.

How are the students at the BScBA Program?

Excellent, hard working, go getters, driven project managers who know how to study hard but hey they do party hard, too.

How are the courses/studies here different from your home university?

The structure, the environment, the whole set up is different. Instead of a 12-week course with a break in between added with 2-3 weeks gap before the exam is how we are used to things at Southampton. Whereas, Mikkeli students complete each course one at a time in just three weeks.

Your funniest memory from Mikkeli?

Ask Joan (Program Director) and other staff members, they have so many of them – from my cooking mishaps, to having lost the apartment keys, my visit to Pentti, to missing a bus, to a trip to Lapland, and to Tallinn and what not. I have done the whole lot and more… However, I guess I still remain the only professor to be directly quoted in the ‘Bulletin’. I will let you find the issue and the quote. ?

In your opinion, what are the strengths of the BScBA Program?

The transformation it provides. When I see the new students arrive (as I teach in 1st or 2nd module), they are apprehensive, anxious and by the time I come back to Mikkeli in module 10, I see a metamorphosis to the confident, hard working and diligent managers. The credit goes to the director, the admin team, the program structure and most importantly to the student themselves. Without this combination and the close-knit community, this cannot be achieved.