Business Finishing School

The overwhelming experience from consultation with businesses both in Adelaide and elsewhere is that a vast majority are dissatisfied with the performance of graduate students.  The comments heard most often are ‘they lack real-world experience’ and ‘they have no business commonsense’.

The theory learned from their University courses does form a sound foundation, however graduates do lack relevant business experience and realistic and up-to-date knowledge – a fact confirmed by students themselves.

These responses lead to the concept of a business finishing school whose course would be approved by a select group of business leaders, thereby providing credibility and real value to the course content.

The course will be provided on a part-time basis, utilising a series of interactive seminars lead by experienced business people.  Current business issues, problems and the formation of plans, strategies and solutions will be covered through student participation and discussion.

Student numbers will be tightly controlled in order to facilitate the seminars and to provide maximum learning value.

Students would be required to complete ‘real world’ studies as a component of the course, where they will be asked to analyse a business’ specific issues (growth, staffing, marketing, planning, strategy and so on) and be required to report their findings and recommendations.

Successful completion of the course will be achieved through grading of active participation in seminar discussions, work experience activity, overall assessment by seminar leaders and oral examinations.

In summary, the school (course) would take the foundation of theory and demonstrated learning in each graduate and refine this, utilising real business work experience and assisted analysis of current day business practices, lead by business leaders and professionals.

The resulting accreditation will provide prospective employers with certainty in their employment choices, as students who have successfully completed this school’s curriculum have already demonstrated an ability to apply the theory and strategies acquired from their degree into real business applications and experiences.

This not only provides these students with a definite advantage when seeking employment, but also provides business with superior performers and the opportunity to become involved in a student’s education and possibly lead to their subsequent employment.