UWAs

With the final grades having been released, I can officially say that I survived the inaugural MBA Full Time program at the University of Western Australia. Completing 12 units in 11 months is certainly no mean feat. In fact, it has been the most challenging and exhausting experience of my career to date. Fortunately, it has been equally exciting and transformative. Having just crossed the finish line, I feel I am in a unique position to offer some advice to prospective or current students as to how to make the most of their MBA journey. And with the second full-time cohort having just begun their studies, I hope that this advice is timely. Please note that, while my recommendations stem from my own experience in a full time MBA, I think they are applicable to a flexible MBA schedule.

It was almost a year to the day that I started the MBA Full Time at UWA Business School. On the first day, Mark Barnaba, the Chairman of the UWA Business School Board promised that the experience would be transformational, and he was absolutely right. I came in to the MBA as a 33 year old former athlete with no business experience and unsure of exactly what the future holds and I leave with the opportunity to work for one of the world’s leading companies in management consulting. That’s the power of a UWA MBA.

My motivation for doing an MBA at the University of Western Australia was to hone my managerial, analytical and problem solving skills, broaden my education and thinking, and improve my professional opportunities. I’ve achieved all of this thanks to the diversity of classes, lots of hard work, quality teaching and an amazing cohort; in fact it’s what I’ve learnt from my fellow classmates that have perhaps been most beneficial. The cohort was so diverse and so experienced that there was something to learn from everyone.

Hi, my name is Thanh Ngo. After finishing a PhD in Linguistics and working as a lecturer/researcher in Linguistics for more than 5 years at UWA, I decided to look for a new challenge and do something totally different. The inaugural UWA intensive MBA Full Time appeared to offer everything I was looking for in a course. Truly enough, the MBA Full Time program has been full of excitement and new experiences. We have been exposed to a variety of industries and organisations, meeting amazing people at their workplaces and networking events. But the most exciting experience for me so far has been the Pilbara Study Tour, which took place in late July this year, the one I had excitedly been looking forward to since the start of the MBA in January.

According to EMLYON Business School MBA director Joseph LiPuma, “MBA speciali[s]ations allow you to carve out your own niche.” Specialisations help to distinguish MBA programmes and can give MBA graduates an added advantage.

As you may recently be aware, UWA Business School MBA Flexible students can nominate to graduate with a named specialisation from next year if they complete the necessary optional units. On offer are specialisations in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Finance, Leadership, Natural Resource Management, and Social Impact Specialisation.