Making marketing dreams a reality

After 10 years spent in various marketing roles, Subhan Iswahyudi was awarded a scholarship from Telkom Indonesia to pursue a doctoral degree. He chose VU for its reputation and research opportunities.

“I always envisaged myself as an authoritative source of marketing management practices in Indonesia, but to realise my dream I needed to go back to uni. After I was awarded my scholarship, and under the guidance of an education consultancy group, I chose to undertake the Doctor of Business Administration at VU due to the unique mix of subjects and research opportunities.

Throughout my studies my supervisors have allowed me to balance academia with practicality. For example, when collecting data for research, I contacted my respondents using LinkedIn because it served my academic requirements as well as my professional networking needs. As such, I feel I’ve been provided with the opportunity and support to grow as an independent researcher in my field.

In 2015, I volunteered to be on the College of Business (CoB) student committee. We conducted a study on supervision and intellectual climate, composed a report and presented it to the CoB and Graduate Research Centre teams. For this, I was won the 2016 Student Leadership Award in the category of VU Spirit Team.

Currently I’m finishing up my studies and am anticipating future assignment as the head of the Leadership Development Centre at Telkom Corporate University. At VU, I have become a skillful researcher and plan to use my knowledge to showcase improved leadership practices in Indonesia.”

Subhan studied

Doctor of Business Administration – no longer offered, see Doctor of Philosophy.