News

Business school MA puts Rula on the path to homeland success

(14 February 2006)

First Palestine Education Trust Scholarship student at Durham Business School A Palestinian woman is looking forward to playing a role in developing her country’s health service after improving her skills on a Durham Business School course.

Twenty-six-year-old Rula Mohammad Ramez Al-Khayyat is a post-graduate student currently studying for an MA Management at the Business School. She is the first Palestinian scholarship student to take a post-graduate degree at the school – joining after winning a scholarship from the Durham Palestine Education Trust (DPET) in co-operation with Durham University. Rula, who has an Honours Degree in Pharmacy from the An-Najah National University, plans to return home after graduating next summer to continue her work at the General Directorate of Pharmacy at the Ministry of Health. Once back there, she will use her newly acquired skills in her day-to-day work. She also sees the experience gained on the course as vital in helping her play a key role in creating a modern Palestinian health service. “This is the ideal course for me as it mixes management theory with practice. It’ll definitely help me to improve the way I work and cope with specific tasks. “It also gives me the management skills needed to improve my chances of gaining a promotion and moving up the career ladder back home in Palestine.” After completing her MA, Rula hopes to use her new knowledge to push for the introduction of more modern health practices and management in her native Palestine. She opted for Durham Business School because of its worldwide reputation and the excellence of its management courses. “I hope that my future work will involve challenging management roles where my MA experience will be extremely useful in my work at the Health Ministry,” said Rula. “Eventually, I hope to gain a top job at the Health Ministry where I can work on implementing new strategies and policies that best serve my people. “This is my contribution to developing a new, forward looking Palestine, as it emerges from the shadow of occupation.” MA Management students study research methods, management theory and thought, business analysis and strategy. Modules include work, change and society, employee relations and reward, small business and operations and supply chain management among others. Students finish the course equipped with a range of skills including an improved understanding of how organisations work and relate to the outside world, the ability to acquire and analyse data and better oral and written communication abilities. Professor Tony Antoniou, Dean of Durham Business School, welcoming Rula as the first Palestinian scholarship student to take a post-graduate degree at the school, said: "Rula has done fantastically well on getting the scholarship. “The MA programme generates huge levels of achievement and Rula, with her talent and experience, will undoubtedly do very well and use it to take her career to the next level. “She will be able to take her new found skills back to Palestine and use them to make a real difference at the Health Ministry and take on more challenging responsibilities when she returns home.”