Increase Your Career Skills

Bruce Huo

A key factor for me in choosing the MBA programme was the industry-experienced lecturers that are both local and international, something that is rarely seen in many MBA programmes.

An academically good education from New Zealand universities and polytechnics was something I knew to expect, but I wanted more. AIS offered me a dynamic learning environment that supported, encouraged and challenged me.

I came to New Zealand from China with a formal qualification and successfully established my own small internet café business. However, I found that my business knowledge and way of critical thinking needed to be expanded to further my career. The industry knowledge, practical skills and behaviour that I learned while studying here all helped me to find employment in New Zealand, and I am using these skills in my role as a counsellor for a leading education and immigration agency. As a result of my journey with AIS I would strongly recommend students studying there as they will get a quality education.

Ramandeep Kaur

Ramandeep Kaur was a successful businesswoman back in India, so Raman already had all the experience needed to be successful, but breaking into the New Zealand workforce was another matter. 

Ramandeep found that the business administration programme at AIS offered her the opportunity for real world success in the form of an internship. With the help of the Student Careers Centre, Raman gained an internship as a consulting assistant for a recruitment agency, and she now values how study in New Zealand helped her cross not only countries, but also cultures when it came to living, working and studying in a new location.

“The PGDBA covers most of the important topics going into the New Zealand market, and the way they teach is also important, because it gives you a perspective of the New Zealand market, operations in New Zealand, strategic management in New Zealand - everything is pertaining to this market. The courses are very descriptive and detailed, covering all aspects that one needs to know if one wants to work here.”

That has certainly worked in Raman’s favour. Following her internship and the conclusion of her one-year programme, she secured a permanent position at the same recruitment agency as her internship. That experience, along with her Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, was seen as a foundation stepping stone to where Raman is now.

Anna Medvedeva

From one extreme to another, Anna certainly travelled a long way to study at AIS. Born in Siberia, in northern Russia, she always knew that she wanted to explore new countries and seek new adventures. It was a copy of the AIS prospectus that she spotted at a Russian agency for international studies that caught her eye and set her on her journey abroad.

Anna considered a few options, including Europe, Canada and Australia, but she had a particular interest in New Zealand having known of friends who had emigrated and made a life for themselves here.

“I was interested in New Zealand because I knew that I’d be allowed to work while studying part-time here. I knew I could get a job here and support myself.”

For Anna, being able to work and study at the same time were her key priorities. She already had a five-year bachelor degree in economics from the St Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance, and she wasn’t just starting out in her career. She knew there were opportunities abroad and was curious about how she could use her existing experience.

“I now work for ANZ Bank as a relationship services manager in commercial banking, helping clients to structure their financing. I started as a commercial services officer – or bank teller, as we used to call them – in 2008. I’ve always worked at the bank while completing my MBA.”

Along with being keen to use her overseas education and experience, Anna knew early on that she would have to gain New Zealand work experience and education in order to move up through the company.

“Work experience is not enough. To be promoted at the bank you need to have a degree in finance or accounting, and education is a big part of how high up you can go.”

Anna believes her AIS MBA has been a key part of where she is now in her career. Her role is in commercial banking, working with clients that have revenue turnover between one and five million dollars, helping to structure their financing. It is a position that enables her to combine all of her experience in marketing and customer service, along with her formal education in economics and business.

 “AIS was the best choice for me. It was affordable and I didn’t have to pay for textbooks. The MBA programme structure is really well designed and it enabled me to work while I studied. And most importantly, the teachers are amazing – their biggest asset if you ask me.”

Ismail Fasi Mohammed

Applying classroom knowledge to real businesses
With a background in the service industry for close to seven years, Fasi has undertaken a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA) at AIS in order to further his knowledge of how the service industry in New Zealand operates. Managing the business, while studying for a PGDBA, has given Fasi the chance to put theory into practice.

“The PGDBA programme at AIS has helped me to understand customer behaviour and gain practical knowledge into the New Zealand service industry.”

AIS PGDBA knowledge is essential
Fasi notes that many of the courses in the PGDBA programme have been relevant to managing the business in Auckland. To name a few, he mentions that he enjoys th Services Marketing course as it serves to provide insight on how best to market the restaurant in Auckland. He is also particularly interested in the Managing Information and Technology course as he agrees with the premise emphasising the importance of utilising social media and Information technology when running a competitive business.

AIS PGDBA programme
So what does Fasi have to say about studying for a PGDBA at AIS?

“AIS PGDBA has helped me to manage Paradise efficiently and effectively and most importantly be able to yield profits.”

We are delighted that Fasi has chosen AIS to further his studies and we wish him all the best with growing the business!

Kenji Murakami

The Internship
After completing his MBA qualification at AIS, Kenji Murakami was the first student to complete the newly introduced AIS MBA Internship Pathway Programme working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), one of the world’s largest auditing firms. During his internship, Kenji worked as part of the Financial Risk management team at PwC. With over 10 years experience in an actuary role back in Japan, Kenji was delighted at the opportunity to work with the PwC Financial Risk management team as this allowed him to gain valuable insights into an actuary role in New Zealand as well as broaden his industry contacts within his field.

“During my internship with PwC, I was able to acquire a lot of knowledge about the actuarial regulation in New Zealand and my role in the team also allowed me to meet with a lot of other actuaries, including the President of the New Zealand Society of Actuaries (NZSA).”

The NZSA is the professional body for actuaries practising in New Zealand and is currently made up of around 300 members. Membership with the NZSA is very exclusive and can usually only be attained through an existing member’s recommendation. Kenji is currently awaiting confirmation to join as a member of the NZSA with recommendation from the President of the NZSA.

One of the major highlights for Kenji while working at PwC was being able to gain New Zealand working experience, which he feels is an important criteria when looking for a job in New Zealand. He believes the work experience attained during his internship will serve to increase his job opportunities here in New Zealand.

MBA programme
Kenji enjoyed doing the MBA programme at AIS and feels that the programme is able to provide him with the managerial skills and knowledge required to help further his career in his field.

“All the lecturers were so wonderful that my learning process was always highly stimulated. They answered my questions respectfully, they provided effective case studies for learning practically in their lectures, and they provided appropriate feedback of my assignment to me.”

With an impressive CV from working with one of the world’s largest auditing firm and credible references from his internship, there is no doubt we will be catching up with Kenji again soon to chat about his next role here in New Zealand!

Chandan Ohri

Chandan Ohri completed his MBA at AIS in September 2004. Today he is a partner (part owner) and head of IT advisory at KPMG New Zealand, one of the country’s leading providers of audit, tax and advisory services.

As a partner, Chandan is actively involved with KPMG New Zealand in the areas of operational strategy, business process design and re-engineering, supply chain optimisation, project management, and business intelligence. As the head of IT advisory, he is responsible for the growth of the firm's national IT advisory team of 75 specialists.

In addition to his position at KPMG New Zealand, Chandan is also the president at CPA Australia and a member of the MBA academic advisory committee here, at AIS.

 Chandan left New Delhi, India, for New Zealand in late 2002 to give his family a brighter future.

“I looked at Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and I picked New Zealand for the quality of life.”

A short while later, in September, he enrolled at AIS to study MBA, a move that later proved instrumental in his success.

“I picked Auckland Institute of Studies because it offered a permanent course on weekends which allowed me to work Monday to Friday. I couldn't find anyone else who did that in New Zealand.”

His application was backed by a bachelor’s degree with honours in commerce from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (University of Delhi) in addition to 9 years of work experience: progressing step by step from article clerk at S P Chopra & Co. (IGAF Polaris India), to assistant manager at HELLA, later to Consultant/Internal Auditor at Gurind India Private Limited, and finally to partner at Vinay Aggarwal and Associates.

Chandan sought MBA as a means to expand his knowledge across a range of disciplines which would later enable him to grow.

“All the 20 modules combined to give you the overall experience: together they help you with HR, finance, logistics, culture, cross-cultural behaviours, economics, etc. and that’s what you want, an overall experience. When you specialise in IT or accounting, you are restricted, which is good at a bachelor’s level, but when you’re going into postgraduate, masters, you want to bring all the different disciplines in an organisation into one.”

Not long into the course, feeling the need to advance, and to support his family, Chandan sought the help of the AIS student placement service; another key move.

“I was working full-time with New Zealand Trade and Enterprise as an online services consultant. I found that job through the AIS student placement service.”

One year into his duties at NZTE (while studying), and with the help of a recruitment agency, Chandan got the opportunity to join BDO New Zealand, part of BDO International, the fifth largest accountancy network in the world. He started as a senior consultant and worked there full-time while studying.

Chandan completed his MBA in September 2004 with an Enterprise Award for all round excellence.

“I was very happy and excited when I received that award. It was a great sense of achievement.”

All the while he kept his position at BDO New Zealand, moving from senior consultant to director/owner in 2010.

Having successfully carried out his duties at BDO, Chandan was approached by KPMG New Zealand.

“They wanted to grow their consulting practice at the time and I specialise in growing large consulting practices. In my previous role I had grown a consulting practice with BDO, so I was headhunted to come and grow the consulting practice for KPMG.”

We asked Chandan how MBA relates to his work at KPMG:

“It relates to international clients that we have. Then it is all about business led transformation and you get exposure to frameworks and case studies.”

His role as the head of IT advisory calls for certain challenges:

“One of the biggest challenges we have is finding the right people. We have a skills shortage in New Zealand, so I often have to go overseas to hire people.

“The other challenge is people and skills development. It’s a balance between work and further enhancing the skills of employees; they need to keep learning new things.”

Chandan has now built and secured a bright future for his family. His future plans concern his work:

“For me it’s continuing to grow. I’ve done New Zealand and now I’ve started to look at how can I grow the Asia-pacific region.”

Would Chandan recommend AIS?

“Absolutely. If you want flexibility in your studies, AIS would be the perfect place and the faculty are very good. They are a select group of university lecturers, consultants and industry executives. The classes for MBA are on the weekends, which is beneficial as you can work part-time Monday to Friday.

“I recommend people with five to ten years experience do an MBA, the real world exposure means you'll get a lot more benefit from it.”

His advice to current students and graduates of AIS:

“You must have a desire to grow. Take short steps, achieve the performance, make sure people recognise what you have achieved, and you will reach where you want to go very quickly.

“It’s how you take the learnings and apply them in your real life that matters.”

In addition to his MBA, Chandan is a certified information systems auditor (CISA, ISACA) and fraud examiner (ACFE), and holds FCA, CPA and CA certificates from ICAI, CPA Australia and NZICA respectively.

Emmanuel Ramos Ortile

Emmanuel Ramos Ortile arrived in New Zealand, no stranger to starting afresh in an unfamiliar country. As a born and raised native Filipino, New Zealand is Emmanuel’s fourth country - he’s already worked for 12 years at multinational companies in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

What did New Zealand have to offer him? Well, for Emmanuel, he was hoping to just complete his postgraduate studies. Having accomplished his previous education with no major issues, he assumed that study in New Zealand wouldn’t be too different.

Emmanuel tells us what his first day at AIS was like - upon attending his first course, the professor turned around and blatantly announced that he was not there to hand out diplomas. He went on to explain to the class that, instead, his job was to teach, train and cultivate skills within these students, so they were all prepped for real-life situations in the working industry.

This changed Emmanuel’s mentality about study - he could see the passion and purpose that upheld the foundations of AIS.

“It was already a sign that the school is committed to maximising the potential of its students to the point of excellence.” 

Emmanuel was amazed at the highly-skilled talents of the lecturers who taught him - they were some of the best experts of their respective industries, with doctorates under their belt, and many were also passing on their knowledge to bright-eyed students like Emmanuel across universities in New Zealand.

He recalls them laying out the most complex of lessons in the simplest of terms, just by using real-life examples from their experience in the workforce. Their approach to teaching was more than just reciting a textbook, but rather, focussed on how these students could build these skills and apply the information learnt to life in their respective industries - this made for both interesting and relevant learning.

“They will challenge your views, not to embarrass you, but to teach you to deviate from your linear thinking. And this had been a great source of improvement in the way I perceive my work now, and my life in general.”

He recounts how, even though with many years of prior experience, AIS taught him that he still had plenty to learn. This helped him to start not just a career, but also a life in New Zealand, as well as build up key skills needed to help with the transition from studying into the country’s workplace.

Currently, Emmanuel works as an Accounting Professional for Robert Walters NZ, Grand Winner of HR Asia Recruitment Awards 2015, and one of the largest specialist recruitment consultants in the world with 30 years of operations in 25 countries.

 To date, Emmanuel still considers AIS the “pinnacle of his educational journey” - an investment that he highly recommends to others.

Cristian Sequera

It's a long way from Teusaquillo, Bogota to Auckland, New Zealand but AIS Colombian Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (PGDBA) student Cristian Sequera has made his stay in New Zealand a family affair.

Cristian studied his first degree in International Affairs at the prestigious Universidad del Rosario in Bogota. After completing a graduate diploma in management, Cristian worked for Bancafe and later Davivienda banks in various finance and project management roles.

However, his focus has always been on overseas study. A desire to seek a more international outlook for his young family, along with a top quality education in an English language speaking country, sparked a search for education opportunities abroad.  After narrowing the search down to Norway, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, he finally decided to come to Auckland, due to the good quality of life, low costs by comparison to the other countries and excellent climate.

Cristian discovered that as a postgraduate student in New Zealand his family could accompany him on his studies, and although the process of obtaining visas for himself, his wife and two kids was daunting initially, once complete the applications were approved in only three days. 

On arrival in Auckland the family were impressed by the multicultural nature of Auckland, something not so evident in Colombia. Their first impression of the city was one of tranquility and calm - and a relaxed life style. 

Cristian is enjoying his studies on the AIS PGDBA, and the fact that the courses are studied over the weekend allows him more time to devote to family life during the week. His eldest son Tomas (9) is currently attending Parnell District Primary School, while youngest son Martin (3) is at a local Kindergarten. Wife, Erika is a psychologist, has an open work visa and is currently attending English classes downtown. The family live in a comfortable apartment in the city, close to all transport links.

Despite the huge challenge of organising a major life change for himself and his family, Cristian is very happy with AIS and progress made so far. 

“AIS is a well organised, responsible and multicultural institute. People are extremely kind and disposed to help. The MBA, marketing and administration team are excellent, and the teachers with their mix of practical experience and industry connections have a perfect background for teaching.”

With his excellent background in finance, project management and compliance, including experience working with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), on graduation with an AIS PGDBA Cristian’s employment prospects in Auckland are excellent; and we wish him and his family Real World Success in their new lives in New Zealand.