Connections, Victoria University

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> Industry training
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND EMPLOYERS
Business degree students
are excelling in their various
forms of work intergated
learning, often gaining
full-time work as a result.
Why is the Work Integrated
Learning program, which
features what’s known as
Co-operative Education, so
successful? Connections
spoke to students, their
supervisors and their
lecturers to find out.
Interviews by Jane Levin
DRIVE
CONFIDENCE
Nicole Aquilina
Ayhan Demirovski
TWENTY-three-year-old accounting graduate
Nicole Aquilina completed her Co-op position
(40 weeks of paid full-time work) at NSP Buck,
a large employee benefits consultancy. The
2002 Co-operative Education Student of the
Year is now with PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“I credit everything to the Co-op year – it
gave me a world of opportunities. I’m going
up for a senior position in June, which usually
takes two years for a graduate to get to.
I finished my degree in four and a half years,
but I’m still ahead.
“I was working as a sales assistant when
I started my degree, and if I had just stayed a
sales assistant I wouldn’t have found a job in
an organisation such as PricewaterhouseCoopers for at least three to four years.”
“Nicole was a resounding success story,”
says Sarsha McEntee, a former supervisor at
NSP Buck who now works at Pricewaterhouse
Coopers. “She was exceptionally quick to
grasp things, but she is very thorough – she
won’t put something down unless she has
mastered it. She’s very driven!”
“Nicole deserves everything that has come
her way,” commented Dr Albie Brooks, senior
lecturer in VU’s accounting program. “The Coop year rounded her off and showed her that
she was able to match it in an accounting and
business environment – sometimes it’s just a
matter of recognising that you can.”
IN 2002 Ayhan Demirovski spent valuable
time with the major commercial law firm
Allens Arthur Robinson. He completed his
Bachelor of Business (Commercial Law) at the
end of 2003 and is now working full time in
the firm’s legal support unit.
“I really enjoyed the work placement. This
was my first professional job. It was great to
put the theory into practice. When I first
started, my confidence was pretty low, but
once I started working here and getting to
know everyone my confidence grew and my
responsibility grew.
“And to be honest, during the first two
years of uni my marks were average, but
while I was doing the work placement my
results improved. It just helped me get more
organised.”
“Ayhan has been given responsibility for
running small projects and given more autonomy,” says Ian Anderson, legal support site
manager Melbourne, Allens Arthur Robinson.
“All of our VU people have stayed on with
us. It’s been good for me to find out a bit
more about what is going on in tertiary education.”
PHOTOS BY
Sharon Jones
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The Work Integrated Learning program offers business students invaluable experience
and prospects in the workplace, and demonstrates to industry the value of a VU degree.
“Students are able to blend their theoretical knowledge obtained in the classroom
with ‘real life’ experiences,” says the program’s manager, Barry Broons.
“I suspect that some of our students’ offices could be powered by the light bulbs that
go off throughout their Co-op employment. Employers obtain earnest, enthusiastic and
energetic young business students who infuse a breadth of skills into the workplace.”
MATURITY
KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
Rob Hortle
Jennifer Long
Eva Bono
ROB Hortle, 22, is studying human resource
management. His Co-op placement was with the
Federal Department of Employment and
Workplace Relations, where he is now working
full time in the Office of Workplace Services.
“The Co-op year was definitely beneficial.
You don’t have to worry about study for twelve
months. You learn a bit more about what life is
all about. It’s made me a lot more employable, and
it helps with your own personal development.
“It also gave me a new attitude to study.
I can’t even count the number of times that I’ve
sat in the classroom and thought ‘Why is that
relevant?’, and yet now I know that it is.”
“With Rob, his maturity really stood out, and
he has a really great work ethic,” says Martin
Dwelly, team leader, Office of Workplace Services.
“I was very impressed with him and he wasn’t
scared of speaking up, in a positive way. He also
is willing to work and put himself forward.
“VU students are just better prepared,
certainly at the interview stage. Rob was one
of the more outstanding we’ve had for sure.
His life experiences have stood him in good
stead in dealing with people.”
JENNIFER Long, a multi-award winning
graduate now working in computer systems
support, completed her Co-op year at the end of
2000 at HPA, a national business process outsourcing company of around 1000 people. HPA
recently promoted Jennifer from a full-time
computer programming role to team leader.
Jennifer, 23, also works in co-ordinating
current VU Co-op placements at HPA.
“I had an absolutely fantastic Co-op year.
The program was about turning the theory into
workplace actions, and I learnt so much more
because it’s outside of the textbook. It really
helped me with my studies because I could
actually apply working knowledge. It helped me
understand the theory better.
“Before doing Co-op I was a bit unsure of what
I wanted to get into. It definitely helped me to
define my career path and set me on the way to it.”
“Jennifer was the first Co-op student at HPA,
so she was the person who was going to make or
break the program,” commented Peter Coe, IT
manager of HPA’s Victorian branch.
“It’s great to get the input of the students and
the new skills that they are learning. It’s good
for the University, it’s great for the students
and it’s great for HPA.
“With the IT downturn since 2001 it’s really hard
for students to get jobs, particularly as graduates,”
notes VU’s John Bentley, a senior lecturer in
information systems. “What we are finding is
that students like Jennifer who have finished
the Co-op year have been offered a position.”
EVA Bono, 21, is completing her tourism management studies after travelling to the US for
her Co-op placement with Swain Australia
Tours. She has recently started her own small
business and hopes to eventually work in
tourism overseas.
“Living overseas meant having independence
and being in a different culture where everything is always exciting and new, and you just
are a better person because you see everything
in such a different light.
“I now have my own business and I don’t
think I would have ever been able to do it if I
hadn’t done what I did during the Co-op year.
I can talk to people easily and I have so many
organisational skills. And having been in the
tourism industry I feel that now I can go for
any job.”
Martin Fluker, tourism lecturer: “In last
year’s field research project I got to see Eva
interacting with other students her own age
and saw how mature she was and how her
social skills were honed from her experience.
She knows a lot more about the industry in
which she may work once she has finished
her degree.”
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