Megan Barnes LLM Corp Gov and Law/Grad.ICSA

I originally chose the University of Portsmouth because out of the universities I had looked at, I thought it offered the best course for what I was looking for. It was also quite close to my home at the time in Dorset. I really wanted to do the LLB Law and Business and the law topics covered on the course at Portsmouth were exactly those I wanted to study.

After finishing the LLB I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next, so when I found out about the LLM Corporate Governance and Law Grad/ICSA I was extremely interested. I could really see the course laying the foundations for my career path.

The course gave me a very good insight into a career as a Company Secretary, especially with the corporate governance unit. The background knowledge I gained from the course gave me a better understanding of this area and I feel this helped me in my interview with TMF Corporate Secretarial Services Limited. TMF is an independent provider of accounting, corporate secretarial and HR and payroll administrative services to businesses operating on an international scale - I am now working for them as an Associate Trainee.

The Business School is great and the staff extremely helpful and friendly. Having been brought up in a small town, it was great to move away to a city. There are plenty of sights to see, restaurants to eat out at and shops to visit.

Mosope Ogunjobi, LLM Corp Gov and Law/Grad.ICSA

I chose Portsmouth because of its study environment and the structure of the course taught by high-calibre lecturers, which I believed would create the right work and social balance to achieve the best marks possible.

After working as a Company Secretarial Assistant for almost a year, I decided to pursue the qualification via a Master's course, so I could benefit from obtaining both a Master's degree as well as the Grad ICSA status, broadening my skills and knowledge.

The course provided me with knowledge of corporate governance and company law as a subject area which is crucial as a modern contentious matter. I currently work as a Corporate Assistant within the Corporate Management team at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and knowledge gained from the course has been applied to my role as secretary to a number of boards.

The Business School and staff were very helpful during the Master's programme. I believe the course was delivered to students very well and a comfortable atmosphere was created where students could ask questions when unclear, or attend  further consultation, which was helpful.

Portsmouth is a great city to study and live in. For me it kept me grounded away from all the distractions, but at the same time I had fun.

Heiko-Jan Lameijer, LLM Corporate Governance and Law/Grad. ICSA

I chose this course because it would give me a postgraduate degree in law and the opportunity to join the International Chartered Secretary Association, and as such continue developing my knowledge, legal skills and contacts in English law.

The course itself was very appealing as it covered a wide range of subject areas, both financial and theoretical, and gave a broad base of company law which triggered multiple areas of interest to me.  I achieved the best mark overall for my dissertation on European Insolvency Regulation and was awarded a prize at graduation.

The Portsmouth teaching staff are experts in their field, but still approachable for questions on all sorts of matters relating to the course. And I was also impressed by the value for money Portsmouth offers – it was much more reasonably priced that some of the other English universities I looked at.

I'm currently working as an associate for Baker & McKenzie Amsterdam NV, which is part of the global law firm Baker & McKenzie. The degree definitely helped me secure my current job, providing me with a broad knowledge of English company law and increasing my ability to speak and write legal English.  The people hiring me were also very impressed when I explained what being an International Chartered Secretary was all about and the opportunities it will provide in the future.

My role is especially focused on finance and banking issues.There is a signficant international dimension to my job and most of my clients are internationally listed companies that require (re)financing, restructuring or have questions relating to regulatory, securitization or acquisition questions. My role involves drafting and negotiating security documents and guiding clients through large scale transactions.

Teresa Holmes, LLM Corporate Governance and Law/Grad. ICSA

I chose the LLM Corporate Governance and Law/GRAD ICSA course because it seemed like the perfect way to enter into a professional career.

I had spent the previous three years studying for my BA in Spanish and Italian at the University of Portsmouth.

When I first started university I had no idea what type of career I wanted to pursue. However, during the second year of my languages degree I was introduced to the notion of corporate social responsibility and it was from this that the link to corporate governance and company secretarial work arose.

Making the leap from languages to law was certainly a challenge, however I wouldn’t say that it was necessarily any more challenging than a Masters in languages would have been.

Juggling a Masters with a part time job wasn’t always easy but I was fortunate to be awarded a scholarship which meant that my tuition fees were considerably reduced. As a result, I was able to lower the number of hours I worked during coursework and exam times allowing me to focus on my studies.

I have been very lucky. I got a temporary job as an admin assistant working on a company secretarial project last summer. I was later invited back and offered a job as a trainee company secretarial assistant when I’d finished my dissertation. I have been with the company ever since and am really enjoying it.

Olly Strawbridge, LLM Corporate Governance and Law/Grad. ICSA

'I didn't know what career I wanted to pursue following A levels. I decided it was best to go to university to study something I was good at and enjoyed, so I enrolled at Portsmouth to read History.

Towards the end of my degree it dawned upon me that I was about to enter the real world and didn't really have a plan. All I knew is that I wanted to be successful, both in terms of having a rewarding career and financially.

A friend told me about the Corporate Governance and Law/Grad.ICSA course which I soon viewed as a ‘golden gateway’. It was a way of accessing the corporate world and therefore provided the potential for the rewarding career I was looking for.

Because the course also carries the professionally recognised Chartered Secretary qualification, I managed to secure a job as a Company Secretarial Assistant before graduating, initially working part-time to enable me to complete my dissertation.

I haven't looked back.

Most people in similar jobs are having to study while working full-time to achieve the ICSA qualification.

I know some people at university who struggled to get work, others who got work related to their degree, and others who got unrelated work. The Corporate Governance and Law course was good in this respect as the ICSA accreditation provided a route into a fulfilling and financially rewarding profession. As with any job, it helped that I had relevant work experience which I had undertaken throughout my Master’s year.

I now work in the head office of a FTSE 250 global corporate; something I am pleased to have achieved so early in my career.

Everything I learnt on my Master’s is directly relevant to the work I do now.  In this respect, choosing a career-specific post-grad course really was beneficial.

I have remained in contact with the University; mentoring current post-graduate students.