Michelle’s on the road to success

A car parts designer is driving forward in her career as she graduates from Teesside University with a master’s degree.

Having graduated in 2010 with a First Class BA (Hons) Product Design, Michelle progressed to the MSc Marketing Management.

Michelle, 25 from Hartlepool, works as a project engineer with Nifco UK, which produces plastic injection moulded parts for the automotive market.

She said: 'I decided on product design as a degree and knew about Teesside as my brother had studied computing there. I went to an open day and was extremely impressed by the professionalism of the lecturers and the facilities available to the students.

'During the degree the lecturers were extremely knowledgeable and there were opportunities for working on live project briefs with industry.'

Michelle started work as a product designer for Nifco UK, adding: 'I initially joined them on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) arranged by the University, to help Nifco research potential new markets and develop products for those markets. 'After nine months, Nifco UK employed me as a product designer to look at new markets and products. They continued to support me while I completed the MSc at Teesside University Business School. I thoroughly enjoying my studies and combining it with work.'

Michelle completed the master’s part-time over two years. She said: 'It involved a lot of strategic marketing planning and working with briefs which reflected industry scenarios.

'I completed two live briefs, one for BMW and one for SAPUserGroups, getting great industry feedback and experience. The economics module developed my knowledge of the environment in which businesses operate and was extremely useful.

'During the the master’s I gained promotion and now work in the business development department, managing projects from concept, development, through to manufacture. It’s enabling me to utilise the skills gained both from my product design degree and my master’s qualification in marketing management.

'Nifco UK is a global company and one of the projects I manage is led by the UK but will be manufactured in the USA, India and China.'

Michelle added: 'Progressing to postgraduate study allowed me to develop and adapt my business knowledge skills and I now have more of an awareness of the importance of marketing and strategic planning. Marketing interacts with all functions in a business and the skills developed are transferable in my current role and future roles I hope to take on.'

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