7 November 2019
On Wednesday 6 November, at a social and networking gathering at the National Museum of Australia, ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, MLA officially launched the Canberra Business School at the University of Canberra.
The Canberra Business School has been formed by the merging of the School of Accounting and Finance and the School of Management. It offers four main undergraduate degrees; Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Accounting and Bachelor of Events and Tourism Management. The school also has a series of postgraduate degrees including the flagship degree, Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Professor Raechel Johns, Head of the Canberra Business School, highlighted the fast-changing pace of the business environment when talking about the pivotal role of the new initiative.
“It’s impossible to predict what the future may hold, but business graduates must be equipped to handle these challenges. So, we are supporting them to be decision makers to be creative thinkers to be problem solvers and mostly importantly, to be lifelong learners,” said Professor Johns.
“We are a very practically-focused school. We have a lot of industry linkages and we’re all about getting students ready for employment at the end of their degree,” said Professor Johns.
The practicality of the courses is a key feature of the Canberra Business School, with all programs offering work integrated learning in the form of internships, industry projects or research projects.
Dr Michael Schaper, CEO of the Canberra Business Chamber and member of the University of Canberra Council, presented the keynote and spoke about the importance for universities to achieve real engagement with the community.
"If you’re going to be the Canberra Business School, you want to be the business school first for the Canberra business community, but more importantly, we want you to succeed as a business community. We want to work with you, but we would also love you to become a world leading business school. We’d be very happy to share you with the rest of the world when you get there," Dr Schaper said.
While addressing attendees at the launch, Andrew Barr MLA spoke about a recent report from the Institute for the Future that noted as much as 85 per cent of jobs that will exist 10 years from now haven’t been invented yet, and for this we will a highly educated workforce.
“There is little doubt cities that will thrive in this century, and in this economic environment, are the ones that make the most of their knowledge capital – the cities that are ready to adapt to rapid changes,” said Mr Barr.
“The Canberra Business School is an opportunity to ensure the current future workforce have the skills necessary to meet and adapt to the future to keep our city prosperous.”
