Meet our Students: selfies

This blog serves the purpose of allowing candidates to learn about us; meet our lecturers and students; and follow what's going on term by term. Here's an opportunity to listen to our students talk about their Otago MBA experience and international exchange.

Enjoy,

David 

Candidate Info: using the MBA to your advantage

One of the tricks to receiving the best education in any programme (at any level) is to make the system work for you, such as asking a lot of questions; get to know the lecturers (and staff), so they may share inside info or create opportunities, and so forth. Our programme caters to this kind of informal interaction. One option that our students leverage is using our international exchange and capstone consulting project to create career opportunities in another part of the world. I'll offer three current examples.

• We have a student (no names) who came to us (in NZ) from Europe, did his international exchange at Duke University in the States and found a client for his capstone 540 project in California, through our network. His project focuses on evaluating the market for investment products and designing a hedging strategy in India. How's that for geographic diversity.

• A second student has a background in performance sports and applied for an international exchange in the U.S., where his "dream" employers are located. While he's in the States on a student visa, he will connect with one or more of these companies for his 540 project.

• I third student has expressed an interest in pursuing his career in London and will apply for an international exchange and hopefully attend Aston University in Birmingham. Again, we will make a connection with a potential 540 client while in England on a student visa.

Note: Students are permitted to negotiate compensation for his / her project with the client, but this does require the student to procure a work visa.

Note: Two of our students recently returned from an international exchange at Duke and reported...Duke and London Business School students were envious of our 540 project: not even an option at other schools.

Adventure in Education

Duke University Fuqua School of Business

Most people go through life avoiding emotion-laden experiences; they hope

nothing extraordinary will happen in the course of the day.

Applications for International Exchange are now being accepted. Between now and mid July our students have the opportunity to pay Otago MBA tuition and take three courses from one of our world-class international exchange partners during (in most cases) the first semester, 2015.  For many of our students this may represent a once in a lifetime academic adventure, with access to a phenomenal educational experience.

Exchange Partners:

National University of Singapore
Mahidol University College of Mgmt (Bangkok)

Kenan-Flagler Business School (USA)
Duke Fuqua School of Business (USA)
Kelly School of Business (USA)
Schulich School of Business (Canada)
University of Economics (Prague, Czech Republic)
Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
Cologne Business School (Germany)
Grenoble Ecole de Management (France)
Aston Business School (UK)
Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands)
Universitat St Gallen (Switzerland)
Vienna School of Business (Austria)
More...

I've entitled this post, "Adventure in Education." Why? It's interesting: the memories we carry for a lifetime, those that track our path through life, are those that are emotional-laden.The experiences informing these memories infrequently happen; they take us out of the routine of life; and they come with a cost (e.g., dollars, time or anxiety). They also inform us about who we are as individuals. So, imagine the potential value in life experiences and career opportunities (strength of your resume): an MBA from University of Otago, New Zealand and international exchange from another leading school in the USA, France, Denmark....

Shouldn't an MBA degree come with experiences that excite or scare us, rather than

just sitting in a classroom or earning a piece of paper?

Note: Feedback from our students and exchange students coming to the Otago MBA describe our programme as rigorous (or more) than elsewhere.

University of Economics, Prague

Term Two: week one update

From Olga Meglinskaya (Curriculum Delivery Manager)

9 June – Classes Start

We trust you've had a wonderful break and are well rested and ready to engage with your Term 2 papers. This term will include:

• BMBA507 Accounting: Lecturer (Daniel Hellyer)
• BMBA502 Marketing: Lecturer (Sergio Biggemann)
• BMBA508 Investment and Global Financial Markets: Lecturer (Anindya Sen)

Go Skills courses:

If you want to brush up on your Excel skills for Term 2 papers, please see the following links:

• Excel and Powerpoint (free)
• Project Management (free)
• Excel for Assignments (Subsidized training course) 

International Exchange Briefing
Tuesday 10 June, 11:30am

This session will provide information about the International Exchange Programme – a key feature of Otago MBA. It will introduce a list of exchange partners, application process and deadlines, as well as support/grants available to students going on exchange in 2015. All students are welcome to attend.

Toastmasters
Thursday 12 June 12.30pm – 2.00pm

Guest Instructor (Jamie) will be running another Toastmasters workshop on Thursday – this session will concentrate on organising a speech, getting to the point and will involve some impromptu speeches.

Doing Business in India: a synopsis

Doing Business in India: Melissa Barry & Jason Silby (centre back)

Melissa Barry and Jason Silby recently returned from their trip to India and offered the following (condensed and consolidated) synopsis of the Doing Business in India (DBI) programme offered through the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT – in New Delhi, number 6 Business School in India) and funded through scholarships through Education New Zealand.

Melissa described the DBI programme as “a hugely enjoyable and worthwhile experience that was an excellent follow-on from the Otago MBA programme. I fully encourage anyone to apply for similar opportunities that may arise in the future.”

Jason wrote, “Given the opportunity I’d return to India in a heartbeat and highly recommend that anyone considering doing business in India wastes no time in doing the same.”

About the Experience:

Melissa describes her experience as “chaotically wonderful. Nothing you read in books or look at on the internet can prepare you for the smells, heat, crazy traffic, haggling in the markets or diversity and sheer number of people.

Jason adds, “I was delighted to be given the opportunity to spend two weeks experiencing the differences [between NZ and India] first hand as a participant on the DBI programme.

The DBI Programme:

Jason: The programme was designed to make the most of our time in the country combining classroom learning, practical exercises, field work, networking and sightseeing.

 “The topics included Indian manufacturing, services, retail and banking sectors, hedge strategies when operating in int'l markets, mergers & acquisitions, the Indian macro economy, opportunities for int'l trade, trade regulations, WTO trade regulations and the implications of the probable free trade agreement between India and New Zealand."

Melissa: “The IIFT covered a range of subjects that complemented the core classes of the Otago MBA. The programme consisted of general lectures in different areas of business all with a focus on India – Economics, International Business, Marketing, Human Resources and Operations delivered by excellent lecturers who were world class.

Both students commented positively about, “going on site visits to a number of places that included Yakult India and Maruti-Suzuki in New Delhi, a shoe factory in Agra, a 5-Star resort called Chocki Dhani, Mahindra World City and a jewellery manufacturer in Jaipur.”

Comparison with the Otago MBA:

The small size and highly interactive nature of each session made the classroom learning feel… similar to that I have experienced on the Otago MBA. The IIFT faculty were outstanding in their ability to simplify complex material delivering both breadth and depth to what was essentially a very diverse group."

“…the lecturers effectively delivered large amounts of information in an interesting and concise manner. The classes were intense but I found them valuable and …on par with those taught at Otago University.”

Personal Highlights / Key Insights:

Melissa: “For me the stand out lectures were on International Business where we learnt a huge amount about Free Trade Agreements and tariffs,

Jason: “The most obvious lessons learnt during the DBI programme are the importance of face time and personal relationships in Indian business (they don’t rely on email), the level of price sensitivity and the importance of tailoring product offerings to the Indian consumer.

Melissa and Jason’s experience in India was “not all work; we were taken

to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Amber Fort in Jaipur.

Disaster Relief for Tonga

Disaster Relief for Tonga

Cyclone Ian, a category five storm of unprecedented intensity, struck the northern islands of Tongo. Over 2,000 people were displaced - 600 homes completely destroyed and 400 damaged. Access to clean water has been severely disabled as the storm polluted most reservoirs and is the country's current most pressing need. 80-90% of the water supply and storage tanks have been destroyed. Further, 95% of electrical infrastructure has been destroyed. Transportation infrastructure has been severely degraded. Authorities of the Tongan government are still attempting to reach several islands for aid.

Cyclone Ian had a major and immediate impact on the island country's economy. All three production plants for growing & exporting organic virgin coconut oil have been destroyed. All crops on the northern islands were destroyed - major exports for Tonga include banana, vanilla bean, squash, and fish. All northern island fishing equipment was also destroyed.

Pledge Me

A team of MBA students from our international exchange partners, National University of Singapore, Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand), and Duke University, as well as our own Donovan Clarke (Otago MBA) raised more than $2000 through a PledgeMe crowdfunding appeal to help Oxfam buy a desalination plant (total cost $11k) for the Ha’apai islands of Tonga.

Well done!

David