Graduate case study - learning online with Falmouth Flexible

Onna Rageth, a graduate from Falmouth Flexible's MA Creative Events Management shares her experience of studying online, from what motivated her to do a master's, applying for the course, right through to how her degree has helped her succeed in her career.

What stage in your career were you at before you decided to do a master’s?

After I completed my bachelor’s at University of Zurich (Popular Culture Studies, Modern History, and History of East Asian Art), I decided to move to Hamburg after landing a job as an intern in a PR-agency. After another internship and freelance work as an event designer for a small company, I decided it was time to do a Master’s. I felt a craving to learn more and deepen my knowledge – I’ve always been very inquisitive. Furthermore, I knew I wanted to further educate me in order to strengthen my CV.

What motivated you to study a master’s, and why online?

Still in Hamburg, I enrolled and started a Master’s in Corporate Management because I thought it would be ideal in order to complement my cultural background. However, I couldn’t be more wrong... Therefore, almost overnight, I decided to make a change. Since I wanted to stay in Hamburg due to my interesting job as a Marketing Assistant at Carlsen Publishing House, I started looking at distance learning options.

What made you choose to study with Falmouth Flexible?

After some research online, I realised that universities in the UK, with Falmouth University leading the way, were simply more advanced than tertial education institutions elsewhere.

Watch our short video interview with Onna about how studying with us has helped her career:

Did you have any concerns about studying online? How did Falmouth Flexible address this?

Honestly, I did not even think about possible concerns because I simply didn’t have any. I already had the experience of being a “proper” on-site student during my bachelor’s at University of Zurich, therefore, I didn’t feel the urge to repeat this experience. On the contrary, I looked forward to my future as an online student and all the advantages flexible learning would mean to me.

How would you describe the application process?

Besides studying hard to pass my IELTS test, enrolling on the MA Creative Events Management was an extremely smooth process. Many people from the Falmouth Flexible team have helped me to enroll and were generally very kind and fast responding. Generally speaking, the whole application process was a pleasant experience and marked the start of a fantastic journey.

How would you describe your experience of studying online with Falmouth Flexible?

Canvas, our online learning platform, is designed to use intuitively. The latter helped tremendously, I always liked to explore the content provided online. My overall impression of studying online with Falmouth Flexible is brilliant: I cried when I handed in my very last assignment, not just from exhaustion and pride (happy tears), but also because I knew I would miss my time on the course tremendously.

One major factor why I liked the MA Creative Events Management so much are my course leader, Clare Hearn, and my two online tutors, Alex Lambley and Helen Worthington. Never did I not feel valued, pushed, and appreciated, their constant support was palpable all the way from Cornwall to Hamburg or my home, Switzerland, when I happened to be there for a visit.

Our MA Creative Events Management will give you the skills to design, plan and produce events nationally and internationally:

Something else is rather remarkable: I made life-long friends on the course, with whom I am still in contact, even though one lives in the States and the other one in the UK.  I was lucky enough to meet both of them during one of our Face-to-Face events in Venice, Italy. Meeting someone finally in the flesh with whom you’ve been in close contact for over a year is quite surreal and on the same time an experience I’ll never forget.

How did you balance studying with work/family/social commitments?

At Carlsen Publishing House, I worked 20 hours a week. Thanks to this part-time role, I had enough time to immerse myself fully into the course. Of course, prior to assignment deadlines, I had little to no recreational time for myself and my family. The term “weekend” became something of a loanword at times. However, the passion and love for my study topic made the hard work all worthwhile.

Furthermore, being able to study whenever and wherever worked best for me was really convenient and saved a lot of valuable time which made it possible to still have a social life besides my studies. Self-organisation and diligence is key and I experienced studying online as very rewarding.

What have you been up to since graduation? What impact has your master’s had on your career?

I completed the MA in January 2019 and three months later, I found a job as a project manager in my home area Grisons, to be more precise in St. Moritz. I knew my time in Hamburg was over, why I moved back to Switzerland. Three weeks after I knew I got the job, I started to work where winter tourism was invented, interestingly enough by some British visionaries.

For one year I worked in a real estate development company and looked after wealthy second home owners from all over the world. A rewarding yet challenging job, where I was once again reminded why it was a wise choice to study with Falmouth Flexible - not only was I able to apply my transferable knowledge learned at Uni, I also had to speak English constantly.

Since June 2020, I've been a Research Associate at the Institute of Tourism and Leisure at the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) of the Grisons in Chur. I am delighted to say that my knowledge learned at Falmouth University does complement the approaches at the Institute of Tourism and Leisure ideally.

Thanks to my MA, I deepened my knowledge of cultural, sociological, political and event-related topics, which enriches the practice-oriented tourism and leisure research conducted at UAS of the Grisons. In future, since I love to do research, I aspire to do a PhD in the interlinked areas of cultural heritage, event studies and tourism. 

Would you recommend studying for an online master’s to others?

Absolutely. Doing an online master’s requires grit, determination, passion, and a strong will, all qualities which make one highly interesting to future employers. It is difficult though, since doing it completely online means being sometimes on your own, physically speaking, not emotionally. This might not be something for everyone, however, if one is the type to thrive thanks to this environment, it might turn out to be the best experience ever.

Is there anything else you want to share?

Interestingly enough, I sometimes had difficulties in explaining what an online master’s is in Switzerland, people were simply not used to it and thought of me of some sort of “exotic species”. Now, since the Coronavirus hit humanity, this perception of flexible online learning definitely changed. It puts a smile on my face to know that we Falmouth Flexible alumni are some sort of trail-blazers!

There's no need to relocate or take a career break with Falmouth Flexible's online courses and everything you need to study is available in our easy-to-use online learning platform: