“The whole experience of being at EIT has been enriching and I am really grateful. I have made some wonderful and enthusiastic friends. Hopefully, I can travel to New Zealand in the future.”

EIT’s online Postgraduate Certificates enable students to start their postgraduate study from wherever they are and study at their own pace. These were key benefits for Lester Rodrigues who started with EITGraduate Online in February 2021.

Born and raised in Mumbai, India, Lester graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce in 2009 and has since made his mark in the banking industry as a Junior Officer. He currently oversees a team responsible for handling banking operations.

Having gained a sizeable amount of experience, he knew his educational journey was far from over. While maintaining his current role, Lester is also pursuing a Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Management at EIT.

Studying remotely while managing working hours can be challenging and at first, Lester feared that lectures would clash with his professional schedule. However, EIT lecturers make it a priority to record and upload classes to its online portal.

“The EIT Online dashboard features all the requirements of the course,” he explains. “I can log in and explore the topics with useful links to the data which helps us understand the subject. There is also access to the Library and the My EIT Online page has the timetable for students to refer to their courses. There are very useful links pertaining to APA referencing,” says Lester.

Lester also enjoys the interactive nature of the sessions and that the programme includes project work and case studies. “The Lecturer’s use very sophisticated and precise teaching methods and the classes have been interactive and quite enriching for most of the sessions I have attended.”

Although balancing work and study can be quite stressful at times, especially when assignments are due, Lester finds it to be a good challenge that keeps him busy and engaged with the learning process. It also helps that he can keep in touch with classmates through WhatsApp for all the group activities.

Looking to the future, Lester already envisages that his experience at EIT will support his career. “The programme contains a lot of finance related courses. It will be very helpful when applying for a job that requires financial skills as well as gaining more knowledge about business management,” says Lester.

Lester is enjoying his return to study, making new friends and being part of the EIT community.

“It’s been 11 years since I graduated and it feels great to be studying again. The whole experience of being at EIT has been enriching and I am really grateful. I have made some wonderful and enthusiastic friends. Hopefully, I can travel to New Zealand in the future.”