65 days. That’s how long it has been since I landed on the shores of Portugal to continue my MBA at the Catolica-
Lisbon School of Business and Economics. It’s safe to say that every day in Europe has been nothing short of
awesome. Working with people from all over the world, getting to know them, their culture, their priorities interests
was truly exciting, all in the span of one trimester. It has truly justified the phrase of ‘time having flown by’
I had taken four subjects in the first trimester and four in the second one. Catolica Lisbon School of Business and
Economics follows a traditional educational model of having multiple subjects running in parallel in the course of a
trimester, something that a vast majority of the B-schools follow. MYRA School of Business on the other hand
follows an immersion model where a deep dive into one subject is done over the course of 2 weeks. In a span of 6
weeks we had completed 4 subjects which would correspond to 3 subjects at MYRA. It was truly a learning
experience as I had been exposed to both models of learning and was very little to choose between the two as the
benefits from both models were different in their own regard.
The understanding of a subject when you study it continually for 2 weeks is very deep. You just have one subject on
your mind the entire 2 weeks. There is a greater degree of interaction with the faculty and more focus on a
subject. The immersion model runs the risk of students tending to forget the subject once it is done. Relating the
knowledge from one subject to another is often a problem, especially if two or more subjects from the same domain
are spaced apart in the course of a year. If subjects are arranged in a logical order to ensure a link between
subsequent subjects, the immersion model would eliminate its one primary risk.
But in the traditional model when you are studying 4 different subjects, your mind has to manage 4 different
processes running in parallel and unless we find a way to tackle the subject matter based on the toughness of the
subject, the chances of certain subjects being ignored are very high. There are advantages in the traditional model
too, since many subjects are running in parallel all the concepts are fresh and if you have taken subjects that are
linked with each other you can easily apply concepts from one subject to the other.
Every subject in a management program has a project and the weightage for this is almost half of the final exam,
therefore they play a very critical role in determining your final grade for the subject. The advantage in the
immersion model with projects is that you work with only one team till the subject is over. You can take time to get
to know your team and have enough time to uniformly distribute the work. But in the traditional model you have to
parallel work with 4 different teams that is almost 20 different people. While an immersion model offers you the
chance to get to know a team in depth, the traditional model challenges your multi-tasking skills. Team skills being
tested at MYRA and multi-tasking skills at Catolica have given me a more complete experience in handling teams.
As students the most important benefit of the immersion mode is seen with regards to the final exam. One final
exam every two weeks is much better than 4 exams in 4 days. Since the exam is so close to the course starting you
have to plan every day very well. One day of unplanned partying can make or break a course. You are forced to
study whatever is taught on that day on the same day. If you don’t feel like studying, the mere sight of your peers
putting in the effort force you to hit the books. One may feel here that once a subject is done you might forget it
completely but that’s not the case because in an MBA, every subject is linked and you will be looking back to
concepts in other subjects throughout the year.
Ultimately, it depends on the student to decide which model is suitable, based on their strengths and weaknesses.
But with MYRA’s faculty line up and the structure in which subjects are organized, one can be sure of having a
unique and enriching study experience.