University of Edinburgh Business School

Student experience - Shehani Gomes

Coming from Sri Lanka to Edinburgh was a big decision and I spent a lot of time evaluating my choices to ensure this was the best career move for me. I was doing some very interesting work at home as a Managed Environmental Assistant and yet I felt that I was learning my role on the job and that to really add value in my career I needed some formal instruction.

The programme is not at all predictable. You come with certain ideas that it will be carbon finance heavy but you miss the big picture focus on climate change. The programme allows you to form your own opinions and figure out what would be the best solutions for clean energy. We have a really diverse selection of Professors leading us to different perspectives. We’ve also had some great courses mixing theory with practical application and simulations.

We have 14 nationalities on the programme with an average age of 30. It’s a very eclectic group. This is a global problem and the diversity of the class helps us to understand the regional impacts of climate change. I come from a developing country so my perspectives are different to those of people from other regions.

Potential students need to really like and have an association with global climate change. Have a perspective on the global scale of the issue. If you believe the right kind of financing is a real solution then this is the programme for you.