Paddy Rast

Masters in Business (MBS) in Innovation & Leadership

Donegal – Letterkenny

Paddy Rast used Recognition of Prior Learning in his application to study the MBS in Innovation and Leadership.

Can you talk us through why you choose to do this course? 

My name is Paddy Rast. I work as a Project and Sustainability manager at the Medical Device Manufacturing Company in Switzerland.

The course I studied was the Masters of Business in Innovation and Leadership. My background is non-academic, I started with an apprenticeship in electrical engineering and I heard of Recognition of Prior Learning through my work colleagues who had previously studied the MBS. My main motivation was really to to improve my innovative leadership skills, I wanted to evolve this skills further as I think they are two very important elements of for successful business today.

Can you tell us about your experience using Recognition of Prior Learning?

When I applied for the MBS, I was asked to provide a portfolio for RPL. The portfolio contained my work experience but also my skills and education. I had an interview as well and the portfolio was assessed and that gave me access to the school and to do the Masters of Business course. I have to say, the RPL staff were very helpful with the portfolio preparation, it is something I hadn’t done before. It involved to a certain extent academic writing, which was a steep learning curve, but a very good learning curve as well. I really enjoyed the process.

Would you recommend this course to others?

In a nutshell, doing this course, is a life changer in a way, because finishing the MBS gave me both a qualification and a boost in my confidence. And with that, it opened up new opportunities in my career path. I can recommend it to anyone who is not sure, to absolutely go for it.
We all have different paths in our lives. You don’t have to go into an academic area or into higher education straight away. I think it’s very
useful that you can catch up and do it at a later stage. It was definitely a big change for me.

Now that you’ve completed the MBS, what’s next for you?

I finished the MBS successfully and was very pleased with it, but I also said afterwards that I will never study again… But it didn’t last
very long! A year later I decided to enroll in the DBA, which is the Doctorate of Business Administration. I think it’s absolutely fantastic.

There’s no going back now!