Bachelor of Engineering with Honours in Civil Engineering
Master of Business Management*
Management Consultant, EY
* Now offered as the Master of Business.
Transitioning from engineering studies to UC's Master of Business Management (MBM) was inspired by Nick's passion for strategic management and project governance.
"It's definitely a worthwhile experience, especially if you come from a non-business background," he says. "I wanted to pivot from engineering design or management into the business world, as well as learn a bit more about business before eventually starting one of my own."
Nick had decided to get the full university experience by moving away from home in Auckland, and says UC was his primary choice because it has "one of the best student cultures" out of New Zealand universities.
"My biggest highlight of UC is the awesome people I became friends with and the collaborative approach to learning, which helps to strengthen the friendships you make," he says.
"The Uni clubs I think are also a real point of difference at UC. I met so many great people through the various events these clubs hosted."
The staff and students of the MBM programme were also a big selling point for Nick's studies, and helped develop his professional management skills with case studies and group projects.
"We had some amazing lecturers and got to look at some really interesting parts of business. One of my favourites was analysing a real crowd funding campaign, and creating a report on what went wrong and what they should have done for it to be successful. My other favourite was a strategy for Mojo which is a large coffee retailer throughout New Zealand.
"It was really interesting but difficult solving real business problems – but as I've learnt in my current role, if they were easy, they'd solve the problem themselves."
Starting his business career as a consultant at one of the "Big Four" accounting firms in New Zealand, Nick proves testament to the skills and experience the MBM programme provides for students new to the business industry.
"The MBM provided a good base for consulting as you need to understand a bit of everything to understand the problem, which is what the programme covers," he says.
Find out more about postgraduate study in business at UC
