ISSUE 5: December 2006

APESMA awards first MBA Graduate from FLT Alliance

APESMA and Chifley Business School recently held its 2007 MBA Graduation Ceremony in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This year, APESMA presented over 400 awards from a Graduate Certificate of Management through to a Master of Business Administration (Technology Management).

The Melbourne ceremony was particularly memorable as it provided APESMA with it's first Graduate from it's alliance with FLT, The Norwegian Engineers and Managers Association.

Mr Boerre Andersen has the distinction of becoming the first graduate of an inaugural class of 18 FLT members who enrolled in the APESMA MBA program in late 2002. FLT is one of largest associations of its kind in Norway, with over 18,000 members and 109 local branches.

After working as an Aircraft Engineer with Scandinavian Airlines, Mr Andersen has recently taken up a role as Senior Consultant with Scandpower Risk Management, an international consultancy firm that provides services within the areas of health & safety, risk analysis, quality, environment and reliability and maintenance. Mr Andersen credits the APESMA MBA as one of the reasons he got the role. "Completing the APESMA MBA placed me in a position to take up my current role with Scandpower". He believes the MBA provided him with the level of management capability that he needed and was attracted by the APESMA MBA because of "the flexibility of distance learning, the program's link to FLT and its technology management focus".

APESMA and Chifley Business School congratulates Mr Andersen, along with his fellow Graduates on their achievement.

The APESMA MBA program has awarded over 8,000 graduates from more than 50 countries and over 500 organisations. For more information on the APESMA MBA program, visit www.mba-distance-learning.com or call 1300 CHIFLEY | 1300 244 353.

Chifley awards graduates of 2006

Recently, Chifley Business School hosted graduation ceremonies nationally in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, awarding 89 graduates the APESMA La Trobe MBA.

Guest speakers included Ian Nethercote, CEO of Loy Yang Power (Melbourne), Bruce Wilson, Director-General, Department of Transport Queensland Government (Brisbane) and Neville Roach, AO (Sydney).

Honorary awards were given for Top Overall Student and Best Graduates nationally. The APESMA prize for Best Graduate went out to Harjit Sandhu who was awarded AU$1,000.

Best Graduates included:

The graduation ceremonies are celebrations of commitment and hard work at this very important time in a professional’s career. For every graduate, the ceremonies were not only a fitting conclusion to their studies, but a reminder that the next step in their careers was now ready to be taken.

They now join a community of more than 2,000 students and 8,000 graduates, who have received more than 11,000 awards over 50 countries.

Chifley Business School and APESMA would like to thank Holden Australia for sponsoring the cash prize of AU$1,000.

Congratulations to all our graduates.

Women's Column

In today's working economy, change is inevitable. We have grown accustomed to change and those who resist are sometimes faced with drastic outcomes. A rise in courses on change management only reaffirms our need to move on or be left behind.

In retrospect, just as the workplace reforms, we wonder if much has changed for workingwomen. One of the increased concerns workingwomen have is their aspiration into leadership roles. While the 'glass ceiling' phenomenon seems to be cracking and the number of women in middle management has risen by 70% over the past decade (David James, BRW Jun/Jul 2006), the underlying issue is how accessible are women to upper management positions. The absence of women in upper management poses a series of problems for women in middle management wishing to progress up the corporate ladder as well as non-managerial women. Numerous women support groups have thus been providing leadership training for women.

Education and training contributes not only to personal and economic well-being, but also to Australia's knowledge base. A study conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Education and Training Experience in Australia (2005), showed that females were the majority in seeking study which included courses not leading to a qualification such as bridging and personal enrichment courses. On the other hand, males recorded the highest in undertaking and completing one or more work-related training courses. Ninety percent of the respondents asserted that the skills gained from work-related training courses were transferable and with some indicating that these courses helped them obtain a pay rise or promotion.

Chifley Business School's 2-day Professional Development programs are relevant and practical, designed to develop management, communication and technical skills. Chifley's leadership courses have proven beneficial in addressing the needs of aspiring leaders.