Having completed her first degree in law at Baskent University in Turkey, Ilgin Muftuoglu was keen to broaden her horizons by studying abroad.

Ilgin began to research postgraduate legal qualifications at universities in the UK, as a means of improving her English skills and developing a global business perspective.

She said: “During my research, Bournemouth University stood out to me as having a good reputation in law, particularly in taxation law. I was accepted onto the International Commercial Law LLM programme, which turned out to be a great choice. The classes were practical and expanded my thinking and understanding. I now find that I am more up to date on the latest practices than many of my colleagues. As well as the educational aspects, the university provided good social facilities and its location, on the south coast, made it a beautiful place to be.”

During Ilgin’s dissertation, she made contact with a lawyer working for one of Turkey’s leading law firms. As well as offering advice on her assignment, the contact led to a job opening when Ilgin returned home. She said: “I had the chance to work as an outside counsel and then began to work as a legal consultant for a global bank. I believe the reasons I secured these roles was because of my English skills and international education experience. If someone had told me that I would be working in these sorts of positions before starting my education at BU I would never have believed them.”

Ilgin is continuing to build her career through her own practice while studying for a PhD.