Every field requires strong leaders, and the QUT MBA offers an excellent opportunity for those looking to unlock their full potential and embark on a transformative leadership journey.
One of the program’s standout features is its ability to attract professionals from diverse backgrounds, offering a rich mix of perspectives and valuable networking opportunities.
The QUT MBA blends specialist expertise with a solid foundation of general business skills—an approach that not only accelerates your career but also opens doors to entirely new opportunities.
At QUT Business School, graduates like Kristin Berry and Nathan Costin are proving that an MBA isn’t just for business professionals; it’s for anyone ready to accelerate their leadership trajectory.
Kristin, a highly trained orchestral musician, is leveraging her MBA to transition industries and buy a new business in the essential services sector. Meanwhile, Nathan is using his MBA to build on more than two decades as a nurse to improve health outcomes for Queenslanders.
From Oboist To Entrepreneur
Kristin’s journey from performing in world-renowned concert halls to attending interactive workshops at QUT’s Gardens Point campus has been driven by the constant need for new skills and new challenges.
As a guest Oboist, Kristin has performed with some of the biggest orchestras around the world, including the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Arcata Chamber Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
However, the life of an orchestra musician, teacher and private tutor is not all about endless practice and glamorous performances.
“As a professional musician, with multiple types of income streams, you need to understand the business side because you have to manage everything yourself—you are not an employee receiving a pay cheque,” she said.
While not yearning for a career change, it was the business side of her professional life that motivated her to further her studies.
“I just wanted a new challenge and to expand my skill set, so I started a Master of International Business,” she explains. “It wasn’t the right fit, and after discussing it with one of my professors, he suggested I look into the MBA program.”
“The structure of the QUT MBA—with its short teaching modules and evening lectures—really suited my work schedule and family life.”
Each QUT MBA unit of six credit points is conveniently delivered on weeknights outside of work hours over a seven-week teaching period (comprising six weeks of teaching with a final assessment in week seven). The degree can be completed in 1.5 years full-time or three years part-time equivalent.
Kristin was able to complete her MBA in 2023 with a Director’s Award for Academic Excellence.
While continuing to pursue her passion for music, Kristin has leveraged her QUT MBA to transition seamlessly into a new industry. Now in the final stages of acquiring an essential services business, she is eager to apply her transferable skills, and the knowledge gained from her MBA to the next phase of her career.
The skills learned during her MBA have been particularly useful in the world of mergers and acquisitions, where seeing all aspects of the business and the opportunities are critical.
“A lot of skills you learn in music—dedication, attention to details, emotional intelligence—all translate to the world of business, however the QUT MBA has given me the terminology, frameworks and models to better articulate my ideas,” she said.
From Bedside Nurse To Nursing Executive
When Nathan Costin was looking to broaden his qualifications after more than two decades in the nursing, he shirked the standard industry path of pursuing a Master of Health Administration, completing an MBA at QUT instead.
After a diverse career, including stints as a registered nurse, nurse educator, and even an aero-medical evacuation specialist with the Royal Australian Air Force, his work in recent years had become less clinical and more project management focussed.
“Queensland Health organisations operate as statutory bodies, running much like businesses with dedicated budgets, strategies and all the same pressures as a private enterprise,” he said.
“As I progressed into managerial leadership roles, I knew I had to learn a new set of skills, so I did a Postgraduate Certificate in Project Management which provided a good introduction and flowed nicely into the full MBA where the subjects are more diverse.”
Nathan chose the QUT MBA for the convenient delivery structure and the strong reputation, which was reinforced by the QUT Business School’s triple crown accreditation from leading global accrediting bodies, AACSB, EQUIS and the Association of MBAs.
“The triple crown accreditation provides a really strong third-party endorsement of the program and gives it a global standing,” he said.
QUT was Australia’s first business school to earn all three symbols of excellence and has held this triple crown since 2005. Less than 1% of business schools worldwide have achieved this distinguished status.
Since graduating in 2019, Nathan has taken on a number of different roles in Queensland Health and is currently Nursing Director at the Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Services (STARS) facility in Herston.
“The MBA has really been invaluable in terms of being able to pull out contacts and strategies and apply them directly to the areas I manage,” he said. “One of the most rewarding aspects of the MBA has been the contacts I have ended up with and that I can reach out to for advice or guidance.”
As the sector grows and the complexity of delivering health outcomes expands, Nathan believes more professionals in the sector will start to consider an MBA.
“There are certainly far more MBAs in the health sector than their used to be,” he said.
“One of my portfolios in my current role is that of Workforce and I am always encouraging others to complete an MBA as way to broaden skills and understand how to add value in the ever-changing complex health environment.”
Applications for QUT’s MBA March intake closes 9am, Monday 3 March 2025, with another intake in August. Find out more and apply now.
