Elie fitted right into the class, forming excellent working relationships with the current MBA students and staff. As well as benefitting from the electives on Corporate Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions and Managing Strategic Change, he also managed to pack in several major tourist attractions in his three weeks at Lancaster.

Elie said: “My experience at Lancaster was fantastic! One major factor of the great experience was the great weather we had during my stay, especially since back in France my classmates were getting rained on.

“My first impressions of Lancaster University is that is not simply a school but it is a small community or village. There are restaurants, a grocery store, social areas, a small lake for BBQs, pretty much everything you need to feel comfortable during your stay.

“Upon my arrival, the MBA students and staff greeted me with open arms! As an outsider, I quickly became part of the team! Like my school, the MBA class is very diverse and relatively small to comparable programmes in other schools, which makes for a very interesting dynamic. You really get to see things through a different cultural and professional perspective, enriching the value of the courses.

“The professors were similar to the ones I had in France with the following exception, they love to challenge you! This means you can't say anything, you really have to be ready to back up the point you want to make. I personally thought that it made the classes more lively and dynamic.

“Lancaster is a beautiful town that provides students with easy access to beautiful weekend escapes to the Lake District, Edinburgh and Dublin. I could proudly say I made it up to Orrest Head to see the beautiful view of Lake Windermere, I got a picture of the mysterious Loch Ness Monster, and that I have been to the UNESCO Heritage site of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

“When I am not exploring or hanging out with my new classmates, nothing made me happier than going into Lancaster and having a coffee at Atkinson's Coffee Roaster. I had the luxury of meeting and interviewing the owner of this coffee shop that has been in business since 1837!

“In summary, I loved my experience at Lancaster University! I will definitely recommend to future students that this is a school they should consider doing an exchange with!”

Current Lancaster MBA student Shaswati Panda from India said: “Having Elie join us was a real pleasure and he instantly fitted right in with the rest of the cohort. It was interesting to learn from him about life at EMLYON and for us to share the Lancaster MBA experience with him.”

You can keep up to date with what the current students are doing on the Lancaster MBA Facebook and Twitter.