Li's Journey Through EDHEC’s Master in Management Programme and AI Specialisation

Can you briefly talk about why did you choose to join EDHEC and the Master in Management programme?

I chose French as my second foreign language when I was an undergraduate, so I naturally wanted to come to France. I chose EDHEC's Master in Management because of the its one-year internship, which is not always mandatory in other schools. It will be of great help in finding a job in the future.

You chose the MSc in Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence as a specialisation. Why?

In fact, it is the reason why I chose EDHEC Business School. When I was applying, as I was specialised in language as an undergraduate, I was not sure if I could get accepted by the MSc in Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence. So I chose the Master in Management programme to lay a good foundation of business knowledge. After all, data is meant to serve for business purposes.

How is the MSc in Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence programme like?

Courses are intense. From September to now, it seems that I only give myself two days off. But the course content is very practical. When the professor explains a model, he directly gives examples of practical application scenarios, but time is tight, and there are not many theoretical explanations and formulas to overthrow, so sometimes it is difficult to understand the mechanisms behind it, and self-study after class is required to deepen understanding. But for a one-year master's programme, this is already a good teaching method in my opinion.

Have you communicated with faculty and staff?

Yes, the Career Centre has frequently been in contact with us, and they provide a lot of information on internships and full-time positions, as well as job search counselling. This is one of the reasons why I went straight to EDHEC in the first place.

Did you get to know students from different countries through the interaction in and out of class?

Of course. The ratio of French vs international students in the school is about 7:3. In Master 1, our professors would mix the nationalities for group assignments. In Master 2, I intentionally ask to structure groups with classmates from different nationalities to learn from their strengths.

What is your impression of the Lille campus?

EDHEC Lille Campus may be one of the few business schools that still has a campus atmosphere. The large lawn of the school is very healing.

Where did you go for your professional immersion year?

I have worked in a marketing company and an insurance company as an intern, both engaged in digital marketing, which are related to marketing strategy and customer conversion respectively.

Is the EDHEC Master programme helpful in finding these jobs?

Very helpful, both internships were found through alumni.

What have you learned from these internship experiences?

From the first, I have cultivated good working habits: information sharing, highlighting key points, etc. The second trained me in communication and expression. Since the project I worked on in my second job needed to understand and coordinate the needs of 4 to 7 departments, the biggest takeover is that communication skills are important. How to make people in different departments understand through different narrations is a science.

For students who want to apply for your programme, what advice do you have on study and career?

The future employment direction of our programme is data analysts, data scientists, and data engineers. If it is the first two, you need to be able to use SQL proficiently, so it is necessary to lay down a SQL foundation first.