As a final-year Management and Marketing student, Kate Netscher worked as a Digital Skills Ambassador at Newcastle University Business School. She helped fellow students develop the digital skills they need for their studies and future careers.
Here, she shares her experience of taking the Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) exams and hears from other Business School students about the skills and confidence they gained from completing the certifications.
I first engaged with MOS during my placement year at Primark HQ in Dublin, where I quickly realised how essential advanced Microsoft Office skills are in a real workplace.
The MOS exams are industry-recognised certifications that test your ability to use Microsoft Office applications such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint at both Associate and Expert level. Newcastle University Business School offers these exams to students for free, including for a couple of years after graduation, and you can take as many as you like.
The exams are entirely practical, requiring you to complete real tasks within the software to demonstrate your skills. Achieving Associate or Expert status is something you can add to your CV and LinkedIn profile, giving employers evidence of your ability to use tools they rely on every day.
For me, preparing for and passing the MOS exams strengthened my confidence and made a noticeable difference to my academic and professional work. And I’m not alone. Students across the Business School, from undergraduate and master’s students to those studying at PhD level, have shared how MOS has supported their studies, professional skills and confidence.
“The MOS exams massively improved my confidence in Word and introduced me to shortcuts that now make my day-to-day university work quicker, more efficient, and far more professional.”
Joe Hardman, BSc Accounting and Finance
“The MOS exams provide a structured roadmap to mastering technical skillsets. This proficiency, combined with the tenacity to pursue challenges beyond the core curriculum, helps placement and graduate candidates truly stand out to employers.”
Alfie Letman, BSc Business Management with Placement
“Taking the MOS exams made me realise how much I didn’t know about Microsoft Office, and the skills I gained now help me work faster, more accurately, and with far greater confidence across my assignments.”
Jyoti Sharma, MSc Accounting Finance and Strategic Investment
“The MOS Associate certifications helped me work more efficiently on assignments by teaching me functions and tools in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint that I now use regularly without even thinking.”
Hana Dolečková, BSc International Business Management with German
“The MOS certificate taught me new formatting tools, shortcuts, and ways to make documents look more cohesive, making it a brilliant talking point in interviews and on my CV.”
Lucy Look, BSc Marketing and Management
“Preparing for the MOS Word and Excel certifications revealed features I’d never used before and helped me produce cleaner, more professional academic work in far less time.”
Oeeshi Habib, MSc in Accounting, Finance and Financial Analysis
“MOS training helped me work faster and create stronger group presentations, and the certification itself is a real differentiator in a competitive job market where many students simply claim proficiency.”
Janna Jameel, BSc Accounting and Finance
“The MOS exams had a practical impact on my research by helping me organise data more systematically in Excel and produce well-structured academic documents in Word with far greater speed and confidence.”
Ana Ganesh Kalpana, PhD in Business Digital Marketing
Hearing from students across different degrees and levels makes one thing clear: MOS is a practical and flexible way to strengthen your digital skills and stand out both at university and in the workplace.