Zaheed Nizar

It was really interesting because it was very different from college. There were lots of international students – including lots of Greeks, mainly on the shipping courses. It was a completely different ball game. We had a lot of work to do, and quickly, with lots of lectures and tutorials. There were lots of intense characters in my lectures, but some of them turned out to be my best friends!

We had lecturers that were actually more like your friends, because the age gap was not that large. We had to become more mature and more responsible, because we had to take ownership of our work. We were not told what to do when, we just had to get on and do it. That’s not a good thing to land on an 18-year-old! I found the first year was easier than A-Levels, then the second year, which comes very quickly, was way harder, especially the complex maths. I took it more seriously then.

The best part was being given the option between my second and third years to take a year out and work, which I did. It was brilliant, as I was not ready for my third year! In industry it was really good, I found my placement and had a really good time. Personally it was great too, a handful of guys on the course also took a year in industry and we made really good friends – now at the age of 40 I’ve been to some of their weddings. I’ve no specific fun memories of the course, it was more about the time we shared together staying up late doing presentations; it taught me a lot.

When I left banking in 2003 to join the family business, which is in hotels and real estate, the value of my degree became apparent, especially around presenting and pitching, balance sheets, profit and loss and general business acumen. I graduated in 1999 and left banking five years later, and then realised how important my degree was! My studies were centred on banking but delivered elsewhere.