Jowita

MSc International Management, Sustainability Systems Track

Related Graduate Programs :

MSc in International Management

I was born and grew up in Warsaw, Poland, although my early travels gave me a taste for living abroad. I started two degrees in Law and Management in Warsaw, studied at University College London, and then returned to Poland to graduate. I’d initially planned on returning to London for law school but a friend who was doing her BA at AUP recommended the school so passionately that I decided to apply. I was accepted to AUP in the same week that I was accepted to law school and the choice was a no-brainer.

When I first got to Paris, I had planned on following the general International Management track but I soon switched to Sustainability Systems. I had joined Net Impact AUP and three weeks later found myself volunteering at the Triple Bottom Line Investing (TBLI) Conference in Stockholm, where we helped organize the event and interviewed speakers, while attending panels and workshops, and refining our networking skills. This experience, combined with a class taught by Professor Robert Earhart, sparked my interest in sustainable investment and business development.  

Our small classes have helped us develop strong friendships with each other and close ties with our professors. During my first semester, we were put into groups to develop a project that would be presented within the week, on a topic that we knew little about. This was an extremely interesting, if stressful experience, since we had so little time to prepare and we didn’t really know each other. It was wonderful to see the different methods that each team used to meet the challenges of a situation that many of us will encounter in our professional lives, namely, how to work with people you don’t know while effectively dividing labor and meeting strict time constraints. (For the record, my team won and we were rewarded with a bottle of champagne!)  

Everyone who works here is extremely pleasant and helpful. No matter what issue you might face, you’re never left alone and professional help is always available to you. It’s rare that professors simply lecture; instead we discuss our opinions so that we get to learn from as many different perspectives as possible. All of our professors make time to meet with us and since they know us personally, they’re in a good position to provide individualized advice that’s appropriate to our specific contexts.

This city and this program have allowed me to pursue a more entrepreneurial and creative path than what I would have probably encountered in law school. I like living in a place where people take the time to see friends and enjoy all that the city has to offer, and being surrounded by Paris’ beauty makes me feel more alive, even on the greyest of days. And while they say that you are what you eat, I eat croissants every day and I still haven’t become one, so I’ve got that going for me too. 

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