Dhurata Stenaj 00:05
So today we're going to be focusing on the Master of event, Sport and Not-for-profit management. Katie, are you able to please walk us through these options?
Katie Schlenker 00:13
I sure can. Thank you Dhurata. I think that one of the best things that we have here is that we have this range of program options depending on where you're at in your career and how much time you have available for your study. So, we often see students coming in and starting with a graduate certificate, which is a four-subject program. You can do part time over one year and this is often students that were still working and want to sort of dip their toe in and try some studies in their specialist area. We also have a graduate diploma, which is a one-year full time program, which is eight core subjects. And sort of stepping up to the masters and the extension, Master's programmes which are longer in length, and obviously a greater number of subjects that are in there. So, our master's is one and a half years full time and the extension master s is the two-year programme. I think, importantly, for these two programmes, we have the inclusion of some industry-based subjects. So, the Capstone subjects of the programme, which is really the industry research project or the internship experience. So, once you're in these programmes, you get to sort of work with industry, you get to work on current issues, or current challenges and opportunities that might be facing your particular specialist sector or working with an organisation as an internship. So that's, you know, a feature that we're really proud of, for these particular programmes. You also get some elective options within the masters or the extension programme. And I think importantly, and as you know, Bronwen and Nico know, we have students choosing electives across our programmes. And so that's a really nice feature that you can be taking events but doing some sport or some not for profit subjects as electives. And the other thing I would say, with this, the structures that we have, we often see students who just start with a grad certificate or start with the Graduate Diploma, but actually ended up continuing and go into the full master s even though maybe at the outset, they didn't think they would. So that's a nice structure that you can build, that you can build your way up.
Dhurata Stenaj 02:10
Thank you, Katie. If you could choose a standout subject on events programme, which one of these would that be?
Katie Schlenker 02:16
I would have to choose my own subject that I teach, I guess. I would be silly not to. But we do have sort of the four core event subjects that you've got the event management, we've got the principles of event marketing, which is also about sort of sponsorship, related areas event creation workshop, but I will, I will focus on the events for Impact and legacy. This, for me is a subject that importantly, looks at events as something you know, bigger than a party or bigger than a celebration or bigger than all those things that we see sometimes on the surface. And it actually looks at what events do for individuals, for groups for society for destinations, and all of the different impacts, you know, and outcomes that they can create. So, we look at economic impacts, social impacts, environmental impacts, political impacts, tourism impacts, and importantly, this subject focuses on evaluation. So, it looks at you know, how can we determine what events can do? How can we build them better so that they produce those things? But also, how can we measure the outcomes? And how can we take stock of what our events are creating? And so, you know, that that, for me, is one of the standout ones I would say.
Dhurata Stenaj 03:00
Excellent, thanks so much for that Katie. Sorry, I think I jumped to that question without going through the core subjects that across all the programmes. As we can see, to the left here, you have the business legislate, business social impact, create problem solving, managing staff, legal issues, so that the core they go across all the programmes. Correct. And then you have your electives that are specific to each of the programmes.
Katie Schlenker 03:47
Yeah. And that's right. And that core has been designed and is shared across our programmes. And I think it's been designed really to give students the grounding that we would hope all of our management students get. So yes, we've got business and social impact. We've got skills around creative problem solving. Importantly, for all of our sectors for sport events, and not for profit, we've got a subject and focuses on managing staff and volunteers, and really importantly, a legal issues subject, which is, you know, something that's again, across all of these three specialist fields. And so, they are shared across the programme I mentioned before the industry research project or the internship, which is that sort of Capstone subject, you know, really kind of at the end of your degree where you get to focus in on that specialist area. And I have noted the career and portfolio planning subject there, which is core across all our extension programmes that's that two-year extended Master's. And that's a really great one in terms of, you know, making sure that our students, you know, ready to walk out the door and ready to walk into amazing jobs and have that chance to think about their careers really, while they're still studying. So yes, that's some of the shared call.
Dhurata Stenaj 04:54
Nico, I'm going to go to now. Katie's already gone through what the standout subjects on her perspective. How about I suppose management, which ones do you think are your standout subjects there?
Nico Schulenkorf 05:03
So, for those of you are interested in looking at sport management. The first subject you'll see there is sport for social impact. And it's a new subject that we've designed to make sure that we look at sport, not just from the elite and high-performance side of things, but also how to use sport to make a positive difference in communities and particularly disadvantaged communities. So, we're looking at sport and how to use it as a vehicle for community development, for disability and inclusion, for peace building and reconciliation, using sport in, in and around war zones and post war reconciliation projects. So, it's something a little out of the box and how to, I guess contribute to society, using sport as one of the key vehicles of interest. Sport, governance and integrity then looks at all the stuff that you see when you turn on your TV at night and watch the news and all the drama that happens around sports. So, corruption betting issues there is doping issues and allegations match fixing that may happen. So, all the current issues around sport and how to from an integrity perspective, manage sport and govern sports so that it is fair and equal, hopefully leading to better outcomes. The Sport business, as it suggests, looks more at the business side of sport, and then the sporting events and globalisation subject takes an international perspective, quite topical at the moment with Australia being awarded the Brisbane Olympics. But also of course, there's other Olympics and World Cups that are happening in between now and then. And so we're looking at how sport is globalised, what that means, what benefit brings, but also the challenges of manufacturing sporting goods overseas and in developing countries, and how sport organisations can and should respond to those challenges internationally.
Dhurata Stenaj 06:51
Brilliant, thanks for that Nico. I'm gonna ask you now Bronwen if you could give us a bit of a rundown on the not-for-profit subjects and standout subjects there.
Bronwen Dalton 07:00
Advocacy and social change, measuring social impact, and fundraising, I'll start with the last one. The only source of revenue that will give autonomy to not for profit or social enterprise is their capacity to raise untied through fundraising. But it extends beyond that this subject. So, it goes through the latest best techniques to raise funds, but also how to apply for grants, and how to campaign to reinforce your fundraising strategy. It's the biggest employing role within the not for profit and social enterprise sector. And we have the export experts locally and globally that participate with guest lectures. Just so when you hit the ground and try and raise funds for your charity, you will have the latest greatest techniques and the best advice. Advocacy and social change take fundraising to the next level, which is actually how to run a campaign for social change. We look at tactics, strategies, different forms of protest different types of social movements, what works, what doesn't, but all with a view to equip you and your organisation to realise your social mission for social change. Finally, an area that I've developed personally in my academic career is how to measure social impact, how to prove that your programmes are actually making a difference. How to prove, for example, if you're funded by government, that they are getting bang for their buck. How do we express that in a social return on investment? I cannot tell you all reporting and all keys to future funding are alive on the evidence that you deliver as a not for profit or social enterprise that your programmes are making a difference. At the moment the sectors are reliant on consultants to evaluation. By the end of this subject, you'll be able to make the case for why what you're doing is actually changing the lives of people every day.
Dhurata Stenaj 09:16
So, it's something that we get asked a lot about and we are fortunate that we have the Mark Lyons not for profit and social enterprise scholarship. Bronwen would you be able to talk us through what it is and how it works please?
Bronwen Dalton 09:27
The not-for-profit degree is the oldest and largest not-for-profit degree in Australia and was started by my mentor, Professor Mark Lyons 30 years ago. He basically was the pioneer of not-for-profit studies in Australia and is known globally as Mr. Australia in this space. And in his memory are partnered with the Centre for volunteering to provide a $5,000 scholarship that is awarded to students in this degree. And I want to emphasise, in keeping with the philosophy of this course, it's very much an equity-based scholarship. So, I've just done the selection round for the last group. And we really focus on helping those in the sector that need it most, you know, whether they're facing various equity issues. So that's a big part of the criteria. The recipients of this scholarship actually part of the leaders of Australia's largest employing sector in Australia, which is the not-for-profit sector. 8 per cent of all working Australians work in the not-for-profit sector, and all of that the leaders have been recipients of this scholarship. So, you will enter as a leader club as a Rhodes scholarship or a Full Bright. This is a fantastic opportunity to really add to your profile.
Dhurata Stenaj 10:51
We're also very fortunate to have an Australian Centre for Olympic studies housed within the business school. Niko, would you be able to please talk about what the centre is and how it benefits our students please?
Nico Schulenkorf 11:03
The Centre for Olympic studies was started around the Sydney Olympics when you know Sydney was worth the Olympics. And they realised well, we better look into this and not just let the games happen, but actually use studies around the Olympics to see how it can work and what we can learn for future delivery of Olympic Games and mega events. And so the Australian Centre for Olympic studies started before the Sydney Olympics, but has continued ever since and is providing research seminars and opportunity for get togethers for scholars but also for students to learn about the latest information and knowledge around Olympic studies. So, the centre exists within UTS. And our students then have the opportunity to benefit from visitors that come from around the world interested in Olympic research to come and present at the lectures or the session seminars, as guest speakers. So that's particularly interesting, I suppose for the sport management and event management students so that they get access to the experts and the academic experts, but also practitioners that come and visit Australia with the Olympic Park here at UTS, which, in terms of a legacy perspective is always interesting. And we find out what is what it's analysed and what's happening and we're bridging practice, and also academia in this centre. And so, it's something that we've enjoyed engaging with it with Brisbane coming up in the future, there'll be a lot of opportunity to use the resources of the Centre for our teaching at UTS.
Dhurata Stenaj 12:33
Well, we will come to that webinar, where we're going to now look at our most frequently asked questions that we received from prospective students. So how are the courses going to be delivered? Is it Online? Face to face? A bit of both? What is it exactly?
Nico Schulenkorf 12:48
It is a bit of both and thanks for asking. So, this is what we've, I guess, learned over the last two, three years that we have to stay flexible in delivering our subjects. And I guess by now, we've been able to use the best of the two worlds, I suppose. Because there is some classes in some elements of seminars that will be delivered online, and live sessions online a bit like what we're doing now to engage with people directly, but in an online setting. But there's also of course, the return to campus where we've got our standard classes, workshops, seminars, where we meet the other students and your fellow colleagues in the classroom, and I guess engaged with the topics more hands on and if you ask me, that is certainly my preferred way of teaching. But overall, I guess we've got a mix, we've got a hybrid mix these days that brings together the best of the two worlds. And I think that's how we're going to continue next semester as well.
Dhurata Stenaj 13:44
Bronwen, as we what we hope that UTS is well known for its focus on innovation and teaching, particularly in our learning technology. Could you explain to ask what students can expect on the course on that technology kind of perspective?
Bronwen Dalton 13:58
We really are focused on value adding in your role in the workplace. So, it's not an assignment. It's actually doing a piece of work for which you will be valued at your place of work. In fundraising, you're doing a fundraising strategy. Yes, it serves the purpose of marking, but time after time, the sector has used these assignments to guide their future direction and actually lead to the promotion as a person designing it. Advocacy campaigns, strategy, all of these sorts of things are very work connected and in terms of technology, we completely across blended learning now. But in particular, if you can't come into the classroom, we always have an online option. We've really beefed up the amount of materials and all our lectures and enriched their whole online experience for students. But we don't want to cut off the face to face too, because networking is critical as well. So, I found this pattern in being involved with this degree over quite a long period of time that there is a lot of movement around graduation time where other students hire other students, because he's such a tight network graduates. The ladies and community, one of our graduates was Telstra Businesswoman of the Year, Violet Roumeliotis. It's so satisfying that way, getting the sector recognised as value adding more so then straight business subjects. So, as I said, you join a very interactive dynamics of learning space that can be fit for purpose to your needs, we will adjust to your needs, but also our community have lots of private minutes. It's big on LinkedIn that actually look after each other for the rest of their career lives and go on to great success.
Dhurata Stenaj 16:08
Katie, how would you describe how academics and teaching staff work with students during the course? I mean, Bronwen of those already touched upon this, but I guess in your kind of perspective?
Katie Schlenker 16:17
Yeah, I think one of the important things that we could add here is that we haven't really nice size cohort. So, you're able to really get to know your teaching staff, and we're able to get to know the students. I remember Amy in my classroom, and you know, you do you know each other because of the size of the group. So, I think that's one thing that it's quite a nice environment where, you know, you can work with other people. I think, also, now that we are online or blended, or whatever we're doing at that particular moment, there are lots of resources that are put online in advance of class, which gives us time when we meet either face to face or via zoom, which many of our classes are. And that's where we get to have those discussions. So, there's lots of discussions that can take place in class and that's that really interactive learning that we'd like to, you know, provide the students and is engaging for the students and for us. I can think just this last semester, some of the topics that we have been able to discuss, Niko mentioned a couple of the sort of, you know, the Olympics coming in all the world cups, they're the kinds of things that we can really, you know, sink our teeth into when we meet as a group, and actually have those conversations and debates and really get into some of those real life though the current issues and topics of our space. I think the other thing in terms of how staff will interact with students, we can provide you advice, we provide sort of consultations around assignments. It's not just that you get feedback on your assignments, we work with you and you're able to work in a group with others in your class in that sense, as well. So, you're sort of building all of those things with us there, I guess, supporting you is how I see it.
Dhurata Stenaj 16:50
Bronwen. So, we have a mix of students that have applied for these programmes, are these courses designed for career change, or career progression do you think?
Bronwen Dalton 17:59
So half, at absolutely on their way to be leaders of the not-for-profit sector. But what happens in a lot of social enterprises and charities is you're hired as a social worker or a programme manager or with very specific skills. All of a sudden, you find yourself running the joint or the senior management role. That's when a degree comes in. Because we're focused on equipping, how to manage, how to be strategic, how to have an overview of fundraising. So, we're upskilling those that have been in the sector and climbing. nearly every student is in the sector, it's it, they're very connected. For the other heart, I tease them, they're from the dark side and i, I'm sick of working for this bank, I've got this great idea to help people, I'll do this degree so I can find out how to launch my own charity or work with a charity to make a difference. It's wonderful for them because they haven't had that community of practice before. They're warmly embraced. And we've had some original charities start up and make massive differences to everyday Australians. So, both career progressor and career changer.
Dhurata Stenaj 19:28
Excellent answer. I'm gonna go to Amy now who's our alumni. Amy, are you working in the events sector when you started studying, or did you come for a change?
Amy Saleh 19:38
I wasn't working in the events sector. So essentially, I always sort of had a background in like the corporate hospitality space. And I did you know, a four-week internship at ANZ Stadium where you know, I planned a dinner for 700 people and thought that was the biggest thing in the world at the time. But for me, the reason I sort of headed into the master of event management was because my undergrad degree was bachelor of tourism management and I sub majored in event and hospitality. And back then back way back then when I first enrolled into that degree, there was no bachelor of event management available. And so, when I finished that course, I still wanted that sort of fine-tuned events, specific degrees. So, I jumped straight into master of event management. And that's kind of where it took me about my interest in event management, you know, it was always there and it was something that, you know, I was always looking to pursue it was, you know, I tell this story and it's like, you know, when you're at school, and you have the smart one, and the soccer kid, and this guy plays the guitar really well. I was kind of like, okay, in a lot of things, but events was my superpower. And it was when there was fundraisers, or open days or anything like that, you know, it just came super easily to me. And then I got called, you're really good at this. And, to me, it's like, yeah, but isn't everybody and you know, the more time I sort of spent in that space, the more I realised, actually know, some people couldn't put together a room full of 20 humans, if they, you know, spent years on it and that's kind of where my sort of passion started from.
Dhurata Stenaj 21:03
Another question we get commonly asked is, what is the cohort like? Who am I going to be doing the programme with? Amy, can you give us a bit of a bit of background, about what the experience has been like working with other students?
Amy Saleh 21:17
Yeah, and the really interesting thing about post grad is that you're in a group of people, and everybody's at a different stage in their career. And this is going to apply to sports, not for profit. And for events, you kind of never know who you're going to meet. And Katie made a really good point about the size of, of the cohorts being what they are. You do really get to know the people that you're in these courses with both, you know, staff and students. And I know, you know, my situation is a little bit unique, but I actually, you know, it was put into a group assignment just by chance with the person that ended up hiring me. And she gave me the job that I started, where I'm at right now, in this company five and a half years ago. She gave me my sort of first role in in that space and I'm still here, and I'm loving it and I love the company I work for, and that just so happened to be because we were sitting next to each other and we're like, did you want to do this assignment together? We're like, Yeah, sure. No worries, you just never know who you're going to meet from. From that perspective. It's, it's an, I guess, with all of these three industries. It's all about who you know, and I feel like, I mean, of course, you know, the experience, and the course is such a big part of it. But that networking element is also just such a huge thing.
Dhurata Stenaj 22:22
People like to ask us, you know, there's so many different like, Master's programmes, we have an MBA as well. But then we also have an MBA that we can do the sub majors in events for not for profit. Bronwen, what would be your advice to someone who's not sure of what programme to actually choose?
Bronwen Dalton 22:38
Follow your passion. It's a volatile world, right? And things are gonna go up and down, what's going to sustain you is your own personal mission. We're about missions, not majors that UTS. Missions draw people into your world. I live in a world where you meet people at parties that don't say, what do you do, but what's your mission? Just keep sight of that and think how, what you do, and you re learning that your crew feeds into that overall mission, whether it's ending homelessness, or creating green cities, or whatever that your vision is, follow that. Because any master's degree at UTS is very well respected, regarded in the marketplace, choose what you want to do, and things will come to you trust your heart.
Dhurata Stenaj 23:28
Another question we also get is, if I do the degree, will I get a job out of this? I might ask both Amy and Katie, if you could give me a bit of you know can you talk us through, I guess your own career journey? Amy and Katie?
Amy Saleh 23:43
Yeah. So just going on what I said before, obviously, you know, my situation was, you know, I met somebody who was right place at the right time and my career is sort of progressed, you know, because of that, but it, it's, you know, don't think that just you know, if you don't, in your first week, sit next to the CEO of some company that that's it, it's over for you. I guess the great thing about UTS and Dhurata, you were touching on this earlier is how much effort the school actually puts into making the courses practical. And they're not just reviewed by you know, professionals in the industry, but they're built by them. The learning that you get his practical like, I still refer back to the stuff that I learned at uni in my own job. And I'm still going back to that it's not just this solely academic thing that you just do, and then you forget and then it's just irrelevant. It really is very, very practical. So, I guess in that sense, because you've got you know, guest speakers that are coming in from companies that actually matter in the respective space that you're studying. You've got assignments in that that are built to actually be useful down the track and in the future. And like I said, as well, who you end up in a classroom with not just from a teaching staff point of view, but there's so much there to facilitate your way forward and you do get so much support and so much it's not just like Katie said them reviewing your work and calling it a day. They're there as your mentors, and it really is you're working with people, and you're working, you know, in classrooms with people who have done this, and they've been in the industry, and they're proper professionals in in their own respective areas. So, there's just all the right elements there for you to have that really solid foundation. And that is definitely in some capacity, I can guarantee a platform for your own journey, and it'll definitely take you one way or another up somewhere in in the respective space that that you're looking to study. There's just too much there for it not to, if that makes sense.
Katie Schlenker 24:14
I'll steal your word there Amy, which is platform, because I think that's it, it would be nice to just say there was some magic button at the end where we put everybody out into a job. Obviously, that's not the case. But you know, Amy's right, we do provide as many opportunities as we can to connect students with industry, I can think of many cases where we've had guest speakers in where a student has gone, can I follow up with them and gone up to them and gotten a volunteer position or gotten an internship which has led to a job. So, there's lots of avenues that we can provide students from in terms of how they can connect and find those future jobs. We had graduations last Monday, watching those students walk across the stage and speaking to some of them afterwards about where they've ended up. It's amazing to hear where our students end up. And I know this is the same for sport, not for profit, in terms of the connections that we have, as academics with industry. That's one of those ways that we can make sure that our students, you know, are finding those networks to actually go out and find those jobs,
Dhurata Stenaj 26:27
Whilst they're doing the degree, is the opportunity to work with organisations?
Katie Schlenker 26:31
Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the things that all of our programmes, that's a central feature. I did talk earlier about those Capstone subjects, which is the, either the internship or the industry project, and there, you know, absolutely designed to have kind of connection with industry. But I would say that there are many, if not, most of our subjects, where there is some level of engagement with industry, whether it's through real life case studies, whether it's through life projects, I can think about the subject that I'm teaching next semester, where students will be pitching an event concept to a real client a real event so providing them with ideas for event concepts. So, we do have those connections and there's plenty of examples throughout our subjects to make sure that students are and as Bronwen said, we'd be assessments that are linked to kind of real industry outputs and deliverables as well. So yeah, that's something that's really important.
Dhurata Stenaj 27:24
Now Amy, students are really keen to know about assessments and in particular group work. How was your experience with group work and assessment, I genuinely feel a programme?
Amy Saleh 27:33
Group work like it, like I said, I mean, I got super lucky in one particular group assignment. But no, I mean, there's always going to be an element of group work. And I know that's kind of the bane of a lot of people's existence. But truly, I feel like you get as much out of those sorts of situations as you put in, and you know what, like, I mean, you wouldn't be receiving the same sort of experience and the same sort of challenge and the same sort of, you know, opportunity for growth, if every assessment was gone, write an essay by yourself, because some of the assessments that I remember the most, and some of the assessments I still leverage to this day are the ones that I didn't agree with other people, because that's, that's the real world, you're not going to be in your own little bubble. If you can't play nicely with other children and come up with a really solid solution being an academic setting, then, you know, it's something that you need to it's a muscle that you need to actually train. And it is something that you're going to be using for the rest of your life, really, your professional life, at least. But assessments in general, I know, there's always this fear around, you know, it's just, it's just a whole bunch of exams, and essays and reports, and it's just all too much. And it's kind of a lot of the same, and it's just really not gonna and one thing I think UTS does a really fantastic job at doing in in all three of these courses, at the very least is, like we've said leveraging those practical sort of elements and actually making the assessments, real life things that you will actually go back to and touch on and keep using and they leverage that sort of each one of these industries has a very creative sort of brain. And it there's a lot of creativity there. And it'd be silly to make every single assessment in spaces like these are a report or an essay. And of course, there are some of those, it's still a degree, but there is so many examples that I can remember of doing assessments that you know, you actually had to turn on parts of your brain that you'll use in your space. And it's not just getting things written down and then calling it a day. But there's definitely that practical element, which is fantastic. So yeah, look, there's a variety of different assessment, you know, types, but I do think like I said, UTS has done a really, really good job at making them sort of fit for purpose, and not just a one size fits all approach, and every degree is exactly the same. It's certainly not like that at all.
Dhurata Stenaj 29:41
Thanks so much, Amy. I think Katie also touched upon that when she said about assessments being really practical.
Amy Saleh 29:46
Yeah, for sure.
Dhurata Stenaj 29:46
Yeah, I guess that s where the UTS difference is that they really work on industry. What s going on right now.
Amy Saleh 29:53
Yeah, for sure, and some of those assessments that Katie was actually referring to about you know, doing case studies on it. For an organization's I've, since in my own career worked with some of the organisations that I'd studied at UTS. So, you know, one of my assignments was to come up with a fundraising sort of charity type event for an association called Orange Sky Laundry, which is one of the most sort of fantastic, you know, charitable organisations in Australia. I've since leveraged them as part of the events that I run as our official charity partner and actually done work with them and been like, I planned like a mini Olympic Games to raise money for you back at university and it was all you know, fictional, but it's just so wild to actually touch or be, you know, in touch with those companies that you'd spent so much time researching back at uni. And that's just one example.
Dhurata Stenaj 30:41
Excellent. So, thank you again, all of you for participating and thank you for joining us and have a wonderful evening.
