Roni Shapira knew from a young age that she would be studying at “the” Hebrew University as a proud Jerusalemite. With a passion for philosophy but also needing to do something practical, she decided to embark on the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) program when she first started her tertiary education. At the same time, she was accepted to the BA-MBA track which allows undergraduate students to start taking MBA courses during their second BA year. Needless to say, as Roni commented laughingly, “it feels like an endless MBA.”
Now an MBA student, Roni also embarked on a successful exchange program at Korea University in Seoul last year as part of her studies. “The thought of not doing an exchange never crossed my mind,” she said; and with an option between Korea and Italy, she opted for the former. “Korea felt like a bigger opportunity; it’s interesting to go to a country that you didn’t know much about.”
Not only was it a new country, but it was a foreign language and different culture. Sharing her public transport experience, Roni shared how there is a “silent culture” on buses. “People don’t speak,” she exclaimed in amazement, “I stopped listening to music on the bus after a while because I didn’t need to block any noise out! It became a real time of calmness and peacefulness - a real contrast to home!”
For her classes, Roni was in a half-local and half-international environment. When asked about the educational benefit, Roni shared: “Studying business in this way enables you to see the expectations people have about business depending on where they are from.” This dynamic environment extended from class to home, and Roni also lived in one of the city’s student neighborhoods with an eclectic mix of “cozinesses and activity.”
As she wraps up her MBA, Roni is excited to graduate this year and enter the industry either in nonprofit consulting or civil service.”I don’t see myself managing a big financial corporation,” she remarked, “but this MBA has given me cross-industry skills. I now have foundations in leadership, strategy and entrepreneurship, all which really supplement what I enjoy and want to do.”