SCU provides training for RAAF

Eight members of the Australian Defence Force have completed an intensive 15-week management program at Southern Cross University's Lismore campus.

SCU Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Clark presented certificates of completion at a ceremony on Thursday, December 1.

The Public Sector Executive Management Program provides management training in areas including strategic management, financial management, organisational behaviour, research, consulting skills and leadership.

The program provides participants, who come mainly from the Royal Australian Air Force, with half the necessary units for a Master of Business Administration.

Program co-ordinator Associate Professor Stewart Hase said the course had been designed specifically to train consultants working within the Airforce.

"We have been running this program since 1994. In the early 1990s many public sector organisations realised they had to operate on a more business like footing and provide skills for their own personnel," Dr Hase said.

He said the benefits were two-fold. The Defence Force invested in their own people, rather than having to hire in business consultants, and the staff were able to develop skills which could be utilised once they left the forces and entered the private sector.

"The participants cover a wide range of subjects that enable them to provide professional consulting services within the RAAF's Management Services Agency. They do 15 weeks intensive work with us and then undertake a project to complete on a base."

Dr Hase said about half of the participants usually went on to complete their Master of Business Administration.