The Duke MBA can unlock a great number of opportunities for Europeans seeking to attend business school. Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is a consistent figure in US MBA Rankings and sees 88 per cent of its graduates in employment within three months of completing the MBA Program. Based in North Carolina, European applicants will get the chance to study in a truly international environment.

A 2003 graduate of Duke’s MBA Program, Michael Bulzan is now Regional Director for Europe at The Fuqua School of Business, responsible for brand-building, student recruitment and alumni engagement in the region.

He is a Romanian national, an entrepreneur and – since September 2013 recruits Europe’s best talent and helps develop corporate links across the region.

As a former Duke MBA, Michael Bulzan knows what it takes to get into a top US business school. He has come from an Eastern European upbringing and made a success of himself on both sides of the Atlantic. Since graduating in 2003, Michael has risen to the level of co-owning several businesses in his Romanian hometown of Arad.

A decade after moving to Fuqua’s Durham base, and Michael is co-owner of a chain of five BMW, Chevrolet and Opel car dealerships, and also both a consulting firm and an advertising agency.

If you are considering studying at a US b-school, Michael is a shining example of what you can achieve. Those that choose to study at Duke can select one of several MBA programs: Daytime, Cross-Continent, Global Executive, and Weekend Executive.

If you want to move abroad and study an MBA in the US, Duke’s internationally-focused programs could be the best option. Fuqua is on a European recruitment drive and last month, Michael scoured London, Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Madrid, Istanbul and Zurich for Europe’s best business talent.

A former MBA student himself, his knowledge of the Fuqua brand and his experience in marketing, communications and sales made a role as the business school’s new Regional Director, Europe, a “perfect” fit.

Michael thinks Duke has a strong brand in the US, but has room to grow in Europe. “We are looking to increase the number of students from Europe for our MBA programs,” he said. “We also want to build the Fuqua brand in Europe, and want to look after our alumni base of seven-hundred who live and work in the region.”

Michael will also help to facilitate links between industry and university, to generate more MBA Jobs for Fuqua graduates. “We are developing relationships with corporations in Europe that want to take on our graduates as employees,” he said. “The career management centre in Durham handles that but certainly my role would be to facilitate that dialogue and make sure that our students have the best opportunities in Europe.”

There are many top b-schools on the East Coast, but Michael chose Fuqua because of its strong reputation among his friends, and its consistently high MBA ranking. What separated the experience at Fuqua was the practical approach to learning. “There is a very different approach to education in the US compared to Eastern Europe,” he said.

“I benefited from a practical approach to problem solving. The collaborative aspect of working within the team to solve cases and work through issues was really great. That, and the critical thinking, were the two best things about being at Fuqua.”

From his hometown in Romania, after an MBA he has 200 people working across his raft of business ventures. There is “absolutely” no question that an MBA helped him seek out these entrepreneurial opportunities.

Michael says that there is no way he would have had stake in so many companies had he not studied at Fuqua. “That’s the real value of the team-work aspect and critical thinking; without that training that the MBA gave me personally, I wouldn’t have been able to do these things,” he said.

“I would have had to rise up the ranks in a corporate structure. But the MBA really accelerated that process and opened up new ways of thinking. It enabled me to seek out these opportunities where I could contribute.”

For Europeans seeking an education across the Atlantic, Fuqua is a great option. You will not only have access to one of the best b-schools on the East Coast of the US, but career links after graduation.

Michael is an example of what a European Duke Fuqua MBA can achieve. From Western Romania to Durham, he acknowledges that Fuqua gave him the key to unlock entrepreneurship opportunities. With several businesses under his belt post-MBA, his job now is to convince you to follow his example and boost your own business career.

To find out more about what Duke Fuqua can do for your career, visit: http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/