Associate Professor Ford is currently the Director Academic Programs at MGSM and is responsible for the School’s award programs, accreditation and learning outcomes.  As the Deputy Dean, Associate Professor Ford will take responsibility for the Award Programs, Research and Executive Education Programs.  Working very closely with the new Dean, Professor Rob Widing, the Deputy Dean will work on implementing strategic initiatives of the MGSM, whilst the Dean will focus on expanding the external status of the School.

Professor Widing stated “I am delighted by the appointment and excited to be able to work with Associate Professor Ford in his new position.  Associate Professor Ford competed against an outstanding international field of candidates, and emerged as the clear leader to take on this challenging position.”

Associate Professor Ford began his professional career in banking where he worked in the Treasury Management Division of a large commercial bank. He holds a PhD, a Master of Business in Applied Finance and a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics. He has taught at a number of universities in both a full-time capacity and as a visiting fellow.

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I write to inform you about the outcome of a recent review of MGSM by EFMD’s EQUIS, a European association and accrediting body for business schools. The Peer Review Team (PRT), comprised of Deans from business schools outside of Australia, recommended to the EQUIS Awarding Body that MGSM be re-accredited.

The PRT report was very positive about the quality and dedication of MGSM’s faculty and staff, praised the quality of our students and degree programs, was complimentary about our infrastructure, facilities and services, and acknowledged our standing as a leading management school in Australia and worldwide. The PRT also noted that our research contributions met expectations.

The PRT also identified concerns, which included significant turnover of Deans, the contemplated but ultimately rejected merger of MGSM with the Faculty of Business and Economics, and the downsizing of MGSM due to changed market conditions for its executive education and graduate award programs.  

The PRT acknowledged that the University was strongly committed to maintaining the School’s autonomy, the School was financially sound and a new Dean had been recruited to provide leadership.

The EQUIS Awarding Body acknowledged the school’s strengths and challenges, as well as the steps taken to improve it academic and financial prospects, but rejected the PRT’s recommendation to accredit MGSM. A key issue affecting the decision was that EQUIS has a minimum institutional size requirement, as measured by the number of “core faculty,” to be eligible for accreditation. MGSM operates below that number and, therefore, is not eligible for consideration.

MGSM is a small, focused, high quality graduate school of management. Our outstanding core faculty is augmented by exceptional visiting faculty from the management community and other quality academic institutions. Given MGSM’s strong focus on contributions to practice, we have developed an outstanding faculty who fit well with our mission of serving experienced professionals in our award and executive programs.  While additional hiring plans are in process, MGSM will continue to operate with staffing levels consistent with our mission and responsible growth.

We understand and accept EQUIS’s focus on larger institutions, as opposed to a small, highly focused graduate school such as MGSM. We are dedicated to maintaining our standing to be among the best, although certainly not the biggest, graduate schools of management. We greatly appreciate and look forward to your continued support of the School, which enables us to deliver high quality learning outcomes for our students and clients.

Please click here to view the EQUIS Fact sheet.

Robert E. Widing, Ph.D
Dean

This is the 12^th year the Financial Times has produced a ranking of full-time MBA programs. Three main areas are analysed to create the top 100: alumni salaries and career development, the diversity and international reach of the business school and its MBA program, and the research capabilities of each school.

Rankings are based on data collected from two main sources: alumni and business schools. This year a total of 156 business schools met the criteria for participation and completed the survey.

Graduates are surveyed three years after they have completed their degree to assess the effect of the MBA on their subsequent career progression and salary growth. Thus in 2009 it was the 2006 full-time student cohort that was surveyed. To be ranked among the top 100 MBA programs in the world is a significant achievement for MGSM.

The London Business School claimed the coveted number one position followed by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Media Contact: Lyn Danninger
(02) 9850 7257, lyn.danninger@pru.mq.edu.au

Congratulations to MGSM's PhD Graduate (April 2008) Arthur Wolak, whose thesis was just nominated by ACSANZ (the Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and New Zealand) as the Association's candidate for the International Council for Canadian Studies 2010 "ICCS Best Thesis in Canadian Studies Award."

Arthur was very pleased to receive this news, since it shows that ACSANZ felt the thesis was of a very high standard to be nominated for this award.

The results of the competition will be announced by the ICCS by March 1st, 2010.

Congratulations also goes to Arthur's PhD supervisor at MGSM, Professor Robert Spillane.

Arthur Wolak

Congratulations to MGSM's PhD Candidate Canie Lo on being awarded the "Best Paper Early Stage PhD Students" award at the 2009 Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) Doctoral Colloquium for her paper "Shopping in China: the experience of female mid-range fashion chain store shoppers".

Congratulations also goes to Canies's PhD supervisor at MGSM, Associate Professor Suzan Burton.

Canie Lo

A highly engaging and interactive session with Professor David Cooperrider at MGSM. 

John Edwards (Acting Director of Executive Education) with Professor David Cooperrider.

MGSM Speaker Breakfast Presentation with Professor Roy Green from UTS and Kate Hughes from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), discussing the research report findings which relate to the emerging northern Sydney technology corridor.

How do businesses around the world gain competitive advantage in their markets? Increasingly through co-locating and collaborating to create value. Are businesses doing this in the emerging northern Sydney technology corridor? Are they collaborating as well as co-locating to build innovation capability and performance? New research led by Professor Roy Green from UTS and Kate Hughes from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM),  Australian Business Foundation and Industry and Investment NSW, tries to answer these questions. It investigates firms in two key sectors – information and communication technologies and biomedical technologies – and their linkages with research and educational institutions. The findings from the research have important implications both for the firms themselves and for public policy in Australia.

a copy of the presentation.

Left to right: Professor Roy Green, Kate Hughes and John Edwards

MGSM extends its congratulations to Mr Lani Cummins - the 2009 Salmat Contact Centre Manager of the Year.

MGSM was pleased to sponsor the Education component of Salmat’s prestigious Contact Centre Manager of the Year Award for 2009.  
MGSM was also delighted to be part of the judging panel and was impressed with the quality and calibre of the applications.

In 2009 Salmat partnered with MGSM to deliver specific programs aimed at developing their Strategic Managers and People Managers.

L to R: Asal Accardo (MGSM), Ian Meulman (Salmat), Lani Cummins (Salmat), Alison Walsh (MGSM), Wendy Poyser, Jenny Rickard (MGSM)

Dr Widing is currently Provost and Senior Vice President at Thunderbird, where he is responsible for its portfolio of degree programs, school accreditations, learning outcomes, and all faculty and research-related matters.

Professor Sachs said Dr Widing's appointment, which begins March 31, 2010, heralded a new era for the MGSM.

"The MGSM is an extremely successful, profitable and popular business school that is consistently ranked one of the best providers of management education in the Asia-Pacific region," she said.

"There nevertheless exists an opportunity for the MGSM to improve its teaching and research further and to become a hallmark for excellence in executive education. The first recommendation of the expert panel who recently reviewed the School's operations was to appoint a new Dean, and we are very happy that the successful candidate is someone as accomplished as Robert Widing," said Professor Sachs.

In his current role, Dr Widing works closely with all degree leaders, including the full-time, distance learning, and executive MBA programs, the deans of faculty and research, and the leaders of student services. He helps ensure that each of Thunderbird's programs delivers on three key dimensions, including learning outcomes, student satisfaction, and financial soundness, and that Thunderbird's entire portfolio of programs continues to position the school as the world leader in global business education.

Prior to joining Thunderbird in March 2005, Dr Widing - a dual citizen of Australia and the USA - spent more than 10 years at the University of Melbourne, which included terms as chair of marketing and associate dean of graduate studies. His earlier academic appointments included Bond University in Australia and Case Western Reserve University in the US. He received BA (History), MBA, and Ph.D. (Marketing and International Business) degrees from Ohio State University.

About the MGSM

In The Economist's 2009 Full Time MBA rankings, the MGSM moved up to No.55 in the world. It was also ranked No.4 in Asia and Australasia, No.2 in Australia and No.1 in NSW.

In the AFR Boss 2009 rankings, MGSM was ranked No.3 out of 22 business schools in Australia, and No.1 in NSW.

The MGSM was named in a worldwide Top 50 by the London Financial Times Executive Education Rankings in 2007 and 2008.

The School reported an operating surplus of more than $4 million in its last financial year (2008), as well as an increase in student enrolment in 2009.

The latest world Business School rankings results, The Economist 2009 Full Time MBA rankings, were just released and MGSM has moved up the world rankings.

The Economist ranks full-time MBA programs on the following criteria: Career Opportunities, Education experience, Salary, and Networking.

The good news is that Macquarie Graduate School Management (MGSM) moved up in the world rankings to 55.

In the Asian and Australasian market, MGSM ranking remained at No. 4, ranked No. 2 in the Australian market, and No. 1 in NSW.

This news follows the high rankings MGSM received from the recent AFR Boss 2009 rankings, where MGSM was ranked No. 3 out of 22 business schools in Australia, and No.1 in NSW.

The other all important world MBA Business School rankings survey, The London Financial Times, is currently being undertaken; the results of which will be released in late January 2010.

For further information please contact John Edwards on john.edwards@mgsm.edu.au or +61 2 9850 9944.

John Edwards
Acting Director - Executive Education
Director - Marketing and Communications
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
Sydney, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9850 9944
Mobile +61 417 066 068
Email john.edwards@mgsm.edu.au

MGSM - Where successful people go to go further.

The AFR Boss MBA Survey Rankings 2009,  based on 22  business schools in Australia, were released on Friday 11th September 2009.

The key results were:

• MGSM was ranked No. 3 out of 22 in Australia
• MGSM was ranked No. 1 in NSW (out of 6 in NSW)
• MGSM was ranked No. 2  out of 22 - the MGSM Alumni said they would return to the school even if money or  location allowed them to go elsewhere
• MGSM was ranked No. 3  out of 22 - the MGSM Alumni  said their MBA helped them get more money, either with their same employer or by moving to a new job

The full report can be viewed by visiting the AFR Boss website www.afrboss.com.au.

For further information regarding MGSM please contact Mr. John Edwards, Director - Marketing and Communications, on +61 2 9850 9944 or john.edwards@mgsm.edu.au.

MGSM - Where successful people go to go further.

MGSM is Ranked No.1 in Australia for Executive Education Public Programs in 2008 and 2009 (London Financial Times)