FEATURE
Partnership creates stronger workplaces Andrew Jefferson Editor
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$15 million Building Leadership Simulation Centre has helped Swinburne University of Technology to be ranked top of the class as the best university in Australia to study an Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) by CEO Magazine. Through a ground-breaking partnership with Master Builders Victoria, Swinburne University students
10 | Master Builders Victoria
have access to a purpose-built leadership facility specialising in immersive learning experiences. As part of the Leadership, Innovation and Creativity unit in the Master of Business Administration (Executive), students are given a unique opportunity to practice and apply their skills in a simulated, but realistic, worksite. Master Builders Victoria welcomes partnerships with institutions like Swinburne University that recognise the benefits and value of immersive learning experiences to give a competitive edge in the workplace. The MBA (Executive) is delivered through Swinburne’s Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE). As with all AGSE courses, substantial industry collaboration in course development and delivery is a key component of the postgraduate program. Swinburne placed first in Australia, and 17th in the world in the Global Executive MBA Rankings 2021 and maintained its tier one ranking for its MBA and MBA online. Swinburne’s MBA (Executive) focuses on building and
teaching the key skills business leaders and managers need to enter the ‘next phase’ of their budding careers. Meaningful industry experiences are embedded into the program, including guest lectures from experts in their fields, first-hand insights into a variety of workplaces, and authentic assessments and problemsolving for industry. Director of the MBA (Executive), Professor Peter Holland, said the Building Leadership Simulation Centre provided students with real-life experience of managing workplace issues and critical incidents. “Simulators are the future of work,” he said. “We just did it as an experiment (with Master Builders Victoria) to start with and I brought my Masters of HR students through it, and I was absolutely shocked by how poor they were at dealing with situations. “If you gave it to them on a piece of paper or asked them to draft an essay, they were fantastic. “But if you asked them to deal with a bullying or aggressive person – they just didn’t know what to do.
Volume 76 Issue 03
