UNIVERSITY NEWS

MGSM’S Women in MBA program hits 100 sponsorship target

Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Management (MGSM) has reached an impressive goal for its Women in MBA Program (WiMBA), with 100 sponsorships established to help women complete MBAs.

The WiMBA program works with corporate and government organisations to identify their top female talent and support them through an MBA. This includes not just financial support but mentorship and career planning.

“Less than two years ago, MGSM set out to make a real change in MBA gender equality by offering up 100 sponsorships in partnership with corporates to help women undertake an MBA,” says The Hon Kristina Keneally, Director of Gender Inclusion and Adjunct Professor at MGSM. “We are proud to announce we have just reached that target.”

“To date we have raised nearly $4 million in corporate sponsorship, matched by the same amount in fee relief from MGSM. That’s $8 million in total. This has to be the biggest contribution to addressing the gender imbalance in MBAs launched by any business school in the world.”

Making the impossible possible

Current sponsorship recipient, Ashleigh Wright of Defence Housing Australia, says the WiMBA program had allowed her to progress in her career, become involved in not-for-profit organisations and access mentoring opportunities – none of which would have been possible without it.

“It would have been ten years before I’d been able to afford to do an MBA – if then,” she says. “Often, investing in ourselves takes a back seat to the mortgage and everything else. Through WiMBA I’ve gained invaluable professional skills but just as importantly, have had formal mentoring both through MGSM and my employer.”

Ms Wright says the chance to give other women a hand up was another important opportunity WiMBA had given her. “I work with the Future Direction Network now, a role I came by via my MBA,” she explains. “I want the kind of opportunity I’ve had to be the norm – not a one off. That’s the goal.”

Change driver

Ms Keneally says that an MBA is a powerful tool for helping women step up into senior leadership roles, and by meeting this original target, the percentage of female participants in the MGSM MBA domestic program has increased from 29 per cent in 2014 to 35 percent in 2016.

The initiative has secured 50 corporate partners to date – including Canon, Dow Chemical, GE International, Hollard Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, Nanosonics, Qantas, the Royal Australian Navy, Star Entertainment Group, Volvo and Woolworths – with 100 sponsorships in place.

 “We now have 58 women enrolled through WiMBA and nearly all those I’ve spoken with said they would not have applied for an MBA but for the program. This is pleasing feedback as it confirms we are achieving our aim of drawing in women who were previously missing out on an MBA,” says Ms Keneally.