View all news

Career and personal development in the frame with an MBA

A man crossing his arms standing in front of an industrial shed

Categories

Published
17 November 2023

Southern Cross University MBA student Jake McArthur likes to frame things well. No surprises there. He began his working life as a construction carpenter, developing his practical knowledge into a business and he is now the Managing Director of Glencoe Group, a manufacturing business producing timber trusses and structural steel for the residential construction industry.

University might employ a different kind of framework but the principles of hard work, investigation and putting theory into practice all apply. Especially in Jake’s chosen course, the Master of Business Administration, which he studies online from his home in Melbourne.

“Personal development was the key reason to undertake an MBA for me. Having done extensive research, I found that Southern Cross University provided the best fit in all of those key areas I wanted to study."

Hi my name is Jake McArthur. I'm the managing director of Glencoe Group which is a manufacturing business producing wall frames and and timber trusses and and structural steel for the residential construction industry. We have three sites in Victoria the way that we do our work is everything's designed in house or detailed in house and we fabricate ourselves. I decided to look into doing a Masters in Business Administration the core reason was for personal development having done extensive research I found that Southern Cross University provided the best fit in all of those key areas for what it was that that I was looking for. The key things that stood out about Southern Cross University other than the initial high level of communication was the way the particular subjects had had been put together the course content was important to me and it had the right mix of the fundamentals and what's happening in the new world of of business admin. I've got five kids and I'm responsible for a fairly large organization but I find the Southern Cross University course fits within my busy schedule. The personal motivator with doing the the MBA at Southern Cross was it takes things to a deeper level I think you can only learn so much out in the field and then I I think going and learning more about how those things come together is is really important and will absolutely impact how I act as a leader in the business. Southern Cross delivers the the content in a number of ways that work really well in that online environment, you've got direct access to the lecturer, one-on-one support if you require it, you've got group study sessions. I don't have an academic background so it's completely new what's been an amazing experience with Southern Cross is they've been able to support me through that I would absolutely recommend that if you are thinking of going down that path to to look very closely at Southern Cross University um it's been a wonderful uh experience for me on on a personal level.

Although he had never been to university before undertaking an MBA, Jake said the opportunity to study later in his career meant he could apply the content to many of his professional experiences.

“Study takes things to a deeper level. I think you can only learn so much out in the field. Learning more about how those things come together and the theory behind them is really important and will absolutely impact how I grow as a leader in the business,” he said.

A father of five children who oversees a company of more than 100 employees, managing study with a busy life is essential for Jake.

“Southern Cross delivers the content in a number of ways that work really well in the online environment. You've got direct access to the lecturer, one-on-one support if you require it, you've got group study sessions. It’s been an amazing experience so far,” he said.

The Master of Business Administration is available on campus and online with six start dates per year.

“Learning more about how things come together and the theory behind them is really important and will absolutely impact how I grow as a leader in the business.”

Media contact

content@scu.edu.au