Expand your horizons with UQ Business School

7 Aug 2009
Regardless of your background, you can expand your horizons with UQ Business School, as Dean Robertson found when he began his MBA earlier this year. Having trained in medicine, Dr Robertson is used to putting in long hours, allowing him to study full-time for his MBA while still working as a visiting medical officer in rural and remote areas throughout New South Wales and the Northern Territory. "I've been a doctor for 12 years, and I'm used to fairly long hours in medicine," he said. "In medical school you learn to assimilate a lot of information quickly, which helps with the intensive MBA program." His work in Tennant Creek has inspired him to complete his MBA so he can create a charity for Indigenous health, providing services that would otherwise 'fall through the gaps' of various Federal and Territory governments. "There's good funding, but there are a lot of initiatives that fall between the gaps of different government departments, such as milk in schools. Also setting up programs for child health that are not necessarily health-based, or education-based or welfare-based, such as supporting the grandmothers in passing on parenting skills to educate the young mothers," Dr Robertson said. "I've run my own recruitment business for a few years and set that up without any formal qualifications, but I think that the MBA will be very useful for establishing a non-profit organisation." UQ Business School offers a one-year MBA program that Dr Robertson recommends to others wishing to get an insight into the world of business, with the 'broad cross-section' of fellow students making for a valuable learning experience. "The MBA is really for anyone interested in learning more about how businesses work and to get some insights into the broader world as well. Rather than sitting down and doing just an economics or finance course, this gives you a flavour of many subjects, and a broad education," he said. Dr Robertson said the students were also learning from each other, gaining from the wide experience of the class participants. "Some aspects of the MBA help in the day to day practice of medicine," he said. "For example there is a pilot in the class, and there's a field the aviators have called 'crew resource management', which isn't taught widely in medicine, but can help communication between staff in emergency medical situations."

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