Having spent four years in Stirling completing my bachelor’s degree, the decision to continue my education with the MLitt in Publishing Studies course seemed like the natural next step. I loved the diversity in subjects that were taught and the range of aspects, of publishing, that were covered. The course gave me the opportunity to not only expand on my publishing knowledge, but provided me with invaluable work experience through internships and the classes themselves. The Stirling course adapted itself to suit the changes occurring in the publishing industry at present, and the insight into digital publishing gave me the knowledge I needed in order to find my current job.

Although it took me nearly four months, I now work as Publishing Assistant for the Library Reference department at Cengage Learning EMEA in Hampshire, England. I have recently passed my probation and am constantly building upon the knowledge and experience from the MLitt course, which provided me with a firm base and the understanding I needed in order to get to where I am now.

I graduated from the Mlitt in Publishing Studies in 2010. I really enjoyed my time in Stirling and found the course to be extremely interesting with a good dose of challenging too! After graduation I moved to New York to complete an Internship with Continuum International Publishers Inc, which I did over 2 months. The addition of practical experience on top of what I had learned on the Mlitt course was invaluable and I enjoyed my time there immensely. When I had completed the internship with Continuum I was offered a job with Pearson Education in New Jersey as an editorial assistant with the music department. A dream job! Unfortunately, due to visa restrictions I was unable to take this position. I am currently living in Bilbao in Northern Spain where I am working part time as an editorial assistant for a leading scientific journal and an international marketing agent for a Spanish business solutions company. The direction my life has taken is full of triumphs and challenges, obstacles and wonderful new experiences. The MLitt. in Publishing Studies gave me direction and a clear sense of career goals but also offered me skills in marketing and design which have proved invaluable in my current position.

Siobhan Greaney and current Stirling students at the London Book Fair

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Stirling International Centre for Publishing Studies. The MLitt was a great opportunity to meet like-minded people all working toward a career in publishing. We gained some of the experience and skills that would help us not just to get jobs but to do well in those jobs and progress in our careers. The course is a great combination of research, practical workshops and projects that explores every aspect of the publishing industry and develops the project management abilities that are an asset to any job in publishing for managing multiple titles, lists and contacts. Whether it was coming up with a marketing proposal, designing a layout or editing a colleague’s dissertation the staff were always full of good advice and tips. Both the group work and the individual research really helped me to get a clear picture of the industry as a whole and the areas I wanted to go into.

Siobhán is currently Production Editor for Technical and Professional Books, Taylor and Francis (Routledge/Spon Press)

I had been working in publishing area over 7 years before I came to University of Stirling.

When I arrived I realized how wise I made my decision to study here. It is such a large campus with wonderful scenery, also with brand-new study facilities and professional and kind tutors. The most obvious difference between Chinese education and British education is I only have 10 classmates in my MSc class while it would be over 100 in Chinese universities. The tutors knew every students’ name and cared about us in each class, they explained everything we didn’t understand with huge patience. It’s my fortune to have learnt the modes of thinking more than the result of answering; the disciplines of market more than the statistics of profit; the methods of development more than the compulsion of management.

The other significant characteristic of the MSc studying which impressed me is its utility. All the case studies all based on real models especially the final dissertation. I researched my own publishing company, discussed all its advantages and weakness and focused on marketing. I gave lots of recommendations to the marketing department and showed all these to my boss. He thought my advice about the budget and marketing research was good and added them to the companies’ strategies. It’s so encouraging that my dissertation could be identified by some of my collegues and really helped the development of my company.

My mum passed away at my summer vacation, I wish she could see me getting a distinction of my dissertation and be proud of me. I so appreciate my tutors who gave me care and encouragement to help me finish my study. They have taught me much, not only of my specialist courses but also of my lifestyle. I hope more and more students could have the luck like me, learn and grow a lot from these great tutors and enjoy their life in the publishing department at the University of Stirling.