Udaya Adhikari is a London Met MBA alumnus of London Metropolitan University and a senior healthcare leader with more than two decades of experience across strategy, marketing, governance, and enterprise transformation in the US healthcare and financial services sectors. His career has spanned multiple stakeholders and market-facing roles, including board directorship and leadership positions focused on product modernisation, growth and systemic reform. We spoke with Udaya about London, the MBA experience, and how that period continues to shape how he thinks about complexity, institutions, and human-centered systems.
What were your first impressions of London, and what made you choose our MBA programme?
London felt electric. Fast, diverse, a little overwhelming – in the best way. It’s a city that doesn’t wait for you to be ready; it pushes you to adapt and figure things out.
London Met stood out because the MBA wasn’t rigid, a February start helped too. The core courses and electives helped my desire of mixing theory with real-world application. The focus stuck with me on understanding systems across cultures, industries, and institutions. I still use those frameworks today. Receiving an International Merit Scholarship was a huge confidence boost. It felt like the University believed in potential, not just past credentials.
How was the study abroad experience?
It fast-tracked adulthood. You’re suddenly managing everything – classes, work, money, decisions, all far from home. That pressure builds judgment and confidence quickly.
London teaches you through living. Surrounded by people still figuring things out, uncertainty feels less like risk and more like possibility. The in-between moments, conversations after class, long walks to residence halls. Cafés, buses, late-night discussions. Learning didn’t stop when lectures ended. That adaptability has been one of the most valuable skills in my career.
What benefits did you gain from studying the MBA?
Careers aren’t straight lines. They’re built by thinking clearly in messy situations. Faculty pushed us to challenge assumptions and connect theory to lived experience. The cohort mattered just as much as the curriculum. Learning alongside people from different countries and backgrounds sharpened my cross-cultural understanding more than any textbook could.
My dissertation: Building Brands Through Customer Experience helped me explore how great companies create emotional gravity, not just products. Doing original research with customers and businesses taught me how to turn insight into strategy. Those skills still show up in my work today.
I now work in senior strategy and marketing roles in US healthcare, including board positions focused on growth, governance, and modernisation. The MBA gave me a systems-level view: seeing people as humans navigating complexity, not just data points. That mindset is critical in healthcare, where trust and clarity matter as much as numbers.
Do you have any advice for international students hoping to study abroad?
Dream big but respect the process. Studying abroad will stretch you academically, financially, and emotionally. That discomfort is the education.
Don’t chase a “finished” version of yourself. Build adaptability, curiosity, and resilience. Those last longer than any job title.
If you invest in the foundation, London Met included, you won’t just earn a degree. You’ll earn the confidence to shape change.
"The MBA gave me a systems-level view: seeing people as humans navigating complexity, not just data points. That mindset is critical in healthcare, where trust and clarity matter as much as numbers."
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