An interesting question in the title: where to start describing Saltire, the Fellowship and all the different experiences of the last 4-5 months? Its safe to say that there has been a sensory and cerebral overload in such a short space of time (Sensory was mainly driven by the sheering cold of Boston followed by the draining heat of Houston!). Anyway, I'm going to comment on the differences I've observed between an MBA programme and what we have experienced on the Fellowship.

Many people will be sitting, as I was, contemplating the next move in their career. Should I do some form of business education? Should I move jobs, location or industry? In weighing up those options one is naturally going compare the Fellowship's offering with that of a regular MBA - these two experiences are competing for where you should apply your time and resources. Firstly, there is the education itself. Its true that an MBA will cover more ground and in a wider variety of subjects than we are able to do in 16 weeks on the Fellowship, however, quantity is not always quality. The learning experience on offer from Babson as part of the Fellowship is unique. Each element is focused and delivered with passion and purpose. There is no chance of taking a subject here just to fill the credits. This leads nicely on to class engagement. Our smaller group forces intellectual engagement, while a large MBA class provides camouflage for tapping away on laptops. I would be lying if I said no one checked emails in class during the Fellowship now and again, but you still had to be ready to spring into action: groups, discussions, questions, answers, poems, stories - it was all there in front of you. This, in turn, leads to value and what value you can elicit in those precious 16 weeks. Deep and meaningful content, focused on specific areas, where all are alive and in the game, equals value every time you cross the threshold of the classroom.

My last comment, which I hinted at earlier, is passion and vision. It is clear how much all people involved with our programme believe in its goal passionately. Each class is delivered with a subtext of trying to achieve a noble goal for Scotland. Everyone wants this vision to be realised and so behaves as such - it’s not a tick-the-box, exam bagging exercise: it's a dream of progress. These were the factors I considered striking, both when weighing up the Fellowship prior to applying, but more so having been able to live the experience and contrast it with the MBA classes. For me there is no choice, and that’s why I'm here today.

Si