The first group of students has started classes in a new business degree designed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals.
The group this month [February] became the first students to begin classes in the new, Frank Gehry designed Dr Chau Chak Wing Building.
The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is aimed at Indigenous professionals who have valuable experience but want to add a degree qualification to their CV.
The initial group of 14 students ranges in age from people in their 20s through to their 50s, with backgrounds as diverse as government and the mining industry.
They have come from all points of the compass for the program, which is being taught in flexible "block" or residential mode to give students the flexibility of studying while continuing to work and balance other responsibilities.
Amy Rust (pictured front, left) is travelling from Adelaide for the program. An executive assistant in the government sector for eight years, she says she reached the point where "I knew I could do that forever, or I could a do a degree to advance".
Michael Ingrey (back, right), from La Perouse in Sydney, runs community programs with the local Land Council and says he embarked on the course "to not only skill myself up, but to bring skills to my community", especially to Indigenous start-up businesses.
Kumanjii Hill (back, second from right), from Busselton in the south of Western Australia, has years of experience on major infrastructure projects, and is seeking to step up into a more senior management position. "I have the experience but I don’t have that formal qualification, that piece of paper," he says.
The Bachelor of Business Administration is aimed at people seeking to move into senior or executive positions and builds on students’ existing workforce expertise and community knowledge.
The executive-style program is taught in residential mode, where students attend classes at UTS for three six-day blocks per semester as part of their studies.
"Students learn how a multi-disciplinary perspective can be used to address economic, financial and social issues," says UTS Business School Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor Chris Bajada.
The program – the equivalent of three years full-time study – covers the core functions of management and business administration, giving students the opportunity to explore various divisions and responsibilities and how to operate effectively in a dynamic global business environment.
"This program has been deliberately set up so students take part in collaborative study with other Indigenous people who are business administrators, managers and leaders in their own right," the Director of UTS's Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, Professor Michael McDaniel, adds.
Student Michael Ingrey welcomes this approach. "Once you’re in the classroom you feel really comfortable – after only a few days it feels like you’ve known each other for a while," he says.
He also points to the "tremendous" support that Business School staff and Jumbunna provide in the application process and afterwards.
Kumanjii Hill says he wishes he had had the opportunity to do this sort of program 10 years ago. He has a message for others considering the BBA: "I don’t encourage you to do this program," he says, "I implore you to get in and do this."
For more information on the BBA, visit this page.
- The first students in a business degree designed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals began classes this month in the new Frank Gehry designed Dr Chau Chak Wing Building
- The initial cohort of the Bachelor of Business Administration ranges in age from people in their 20s through to their 50s, with backgrounds as diverse as government and the mining industry