Who knows what the year ahead has in store? With gloomy financial news hitting the papers every day and 2009 predicted to be tough across many sectors, this is probably a good time to do more than just hunker down behind your desk. Studying for extra qualifications at Oxford Brookes University could be the way to spend the next few months.

Taking time out to skill up or retrain as the economy experiences a downturn should leave you in a stronger position when green shoots of recovery eventually begin to sprout. The university is staging a special postgraduate fair on Wednesday, February 11, to give people the chance to find out more.

Staff will be on hand to discuss academic programmes and how to apply. Current postgraduate students will also be at the event to talk about their experiences and answer any questions you may have.

Mandira Shastri, 25, is studying for an MSc in International Hotel and Tourism Management at Oxford Brookes University and is on a placement at the Freud Café in Walton Street.

She said: “Brookes is a really good university. People say it’s the best in Europe for this course. Basically I’m looking for experience here so I can eventually set up my own company. The practical side finished really quickly. Then they concentrated on the management side of the studies. We had classes every Wednesday where our director David Bowie made us read the Financial Times.

“It was so different from what I expected. It’s almost like doing a management study, but far more in depth than an MBA.”

Lucy Strickland, 35, took a masters degree in Development and Emergency Practice at Brookes between 2006 and 2008 and has secured her dream job helping out in the world’s trouble spots.

“It was the best decision I ever made to undertake this MA programme,” she said.

She has worked in Afghanistan bringing girls back into the classroom after years of Taliban exclusion and is now with Oxfam in Ethiopia where drought is blighting the countryside.

She chose to study at Brookes after spending seven years as a humanitarian aid worker in Vietnam and Cambodia: “It was a big decision but people had spoken of Brookes to me before. Practitioners had spoken of the programme and spoken very highly of it.”

Like Mandira, she said she was pleased by the content of her course. Because her job impacts directly on people’s lives, Lucy wanted the best teaching.

“I wanted much more training and understanding of what I was doing and it has given me confidence to apply for higher positions. The Oxfam position is a boost and soon I’m going to the Sudan or Gaza.”

Travelling to such crisis-hit areas is not something she considered before studying at Brookes. She spent some of her savings on the course, viewing it as an investment in her future. “Now it’s time to recoup that,” she said. Lucy was also awarded a John Henry Brookes Scholarship.

Billy Parthipan, 37, studied for an MSc in Wireless Communication Systems at Brookes to get back into the subject after a career break.“I graduated from the course with a distinction and immediately got an engineering doctorate place, working as a research engineer in Cambridge.

“I decided to take the MSc to give me an extra qualification and to update my skills. I chose the course because it was closely related to my past experience and covered developments in the industry since I took my break, especially in communications and electronic system design.

“Getting my doctorate place shows I made the right choice. My year at Brookes gave me the knowledge, skills and confidence I needed. He added: “I found it reassuring that Brookes valued students like me with industry experience."

Remember, before considering a postgraduate course, you need to plan your finances carefully.

Dr Dan Ferrett, information coordinator at Brookes, urges prospective students to have solid funding in place.

“There are 500,000 people doing postgraduate courses and most of those organise their own funding through four or five different sources.”

A session on postgraduate funding is being held at the fair where you will be able to find out about the range of scholarships offered by the University, including the new Jon Snow and Vice-Chancellor Scholarships for 2009 entry. Alternatively, public funding can be accessed via course tutors once you have been accepted on to a postgraduate programme. The department decides which applications to put forward to research councils which then offer studentships through open competition.

Or charities, educational trusts and employers are all potential sources of funds.

“You need to talk to academic departments to find out if there’s any funding at all – speak to course leaders and personal tutors. Look at the institution as a whole.

“ There are scholarships and studentships to particular departments or the whole institution,” said Dan.

“You have to be realistic. You really have to say to yourself ‘am I doing this for the right reasons?’ Is it going to enhance a future career?

“With just a little bit of planning, you can put yourself in a good position to ride out the economic rollercoaster and look to the future with confidence.”

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