Simone Selent - The Family Manager

2020-12-21 Job, child and part-time studies? The engineer used parental leave for her further education and found creative solutions to combine family and further education.

Simone Selent is studying part-time at the Professional School. ©privat
Simone Selent is studying the MBA Digital Production Management part-time at the Professional School.

When Simone Selent was breastfeeding her child, she had distributed learning materials all over the flat. "Whenever my son fell asleep on his arm while drinking, I could cram for university", the young mother recalls. Even before her pregnancy, she had decided to study part-time at the Professional School. The process engineer wanted to improve her management skills and understand modern production processes even better. "The part-time MBA suited me very well. We also live in Hamburg and commuting to Lüneburg seemed feasible." But her little son changed the situation: "He never wanted to drink from the bottle." Participation in the attendance weekends thus became difficult. But a staff member of the Professional School had an idea: "Why don't you bring your son and babysitter with you? While Simone Selent was studying, both of them were waiting in the mother-child room at the university, complete with changing table and play corner. "This way I could study and also breastfeed my son", the 33-year-old recalls. 

Before she started her studies during her parental leave, she checked the legality of her studies: Was she allowed to start further education at all during this phase? She was allowed to - and not only that: her employer also paid the tuition fees and continues to support her with time flexibility to this day. "If I have to leave early because of my family, that's no problem", reports Simone Selent. She is now working full-time again. "I want to become more flexible in my career through my studies and keep my options open for the future", says the engineer. But her studies at the Professional School have already had an impact on her everyday work: Until now, work instructions have been distributed via a notice board. "Now we are actively involving the machine operators in the improvement of the logistical and production processes. We have already received positive feedback for this," explains Simone Selent. Her studies at the Professional School provide her with a wide range of perspectives: "As a process engineer, I have a lot of specialist knowledge. However, I have so far lacked knowledge of the major interrelationships between customers, digital supply chains and markets. I find the programme very contemporary, as it also addresses topics like ethics. The focus is not on one's own profit maximisation, but on satisfaction and good self-management," she explains.

She would like to complete her studies next spring. Thanks to the rapid conversion of face-to-face events to online teaching, Simone Selent never missed a seminar. "I was very impressed how well that worked out at the Professional School", says the student. But despite all the good self-organisation and discipline, it can sometimes be very stressful in a life with a child, job and studies: "I'm just glad that I have my husband and parents behind me. They are an enormous support."

The part-time MBA Digital Production Management in the field of Digital Production and Supply Chain Management teaches the entire spectrum of specialist knowledge that is important for the management of modern industrial companies against the background of global trends such as digitisation. Topics such as Industry 4.0, Smart Factory, Logistics, Digital Factory, Supply Chain Management, Sustainable Production or Lean Production are covered and linked with new business management knowledge.