An Australian business school is leading the charge for gender equity in the workplace, achieving parity among students for its MBA program for the second year in a row.
The 2021 cohort of AGSM @ UNSW Business School’s Full-Time MBA program will comprise 50% male and female students from 18 different countries with an average of eight years’ work experience prior to entering the program.
“AGSM is proud to have achieved a student body comprised of 50% women for the second consecutive year. This gender parity milestone has been reached by just a handful of elite schools around the world, and we are thrilled to be one of the very first,” said Dr Michele Roberts, AGSM Academic Director.
AGSM is part of a highly successful global movement to improve gender parity in MBA programs
Forty per cent of available places at 54 of the most highly regarded business schools were filled by women in 2019, according to research by the Forté Foundation, a not-for-profit group lobbying for greater equality in business education. This is up from 37.7 per cent in 2018 and less than a third in 2011.
In 2018, AGSM overhauled its recruitment and scholarship programs with a focus on attracting a more diverse global cohort of high-quality MBA candidates.
“This achievement was reached through intentional efforts over the course of a year, propelling us from the industry standard of 36% female representation to a full 50%,” she said.
“This was achieved by strategic realignment of scholarship funds along with the broadening of criteria for demonstrating excellence to be more fully inclusive of different experiences and talents. What is particularly exciting about this – and comes as no surprise – is that the quality of our cohort increased simultaneously.”
AGSM awarded five Women in Leadership scholarships to domestic and international students and for the second time awarded the prestigious Luminis AGSM Wharton Business Innovation Scholarship, that includes an exchange to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to a woman.
“My MBA journey would not be possible without this generous scholarship,” said Kiara Olrich, the 2020 Luminis AGSM Wharton Business Innovation Scholarship recipient and a Director at Nous Group, Australia.
“Receiving this scholarship means that I can maximise the benefits offered by AGSM over the next 16 months and invest in myself. Both the curriculum and networking opportunities at the AGSM and Wharton will push me out of my comfort zone and the internship in the US will expose me to another business culture outside Australia,” she said.
Kiara will spend the next 16 months mastering these skills as part of the AGSM @ UNSW Business School’s Full-Time MBA 2021 cohort. Thanks to her scholarship, co-founded by AGSM and the Luminis Foundation, Kiara will study at the highly respected AGSM and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania – and will have the opportunity for a work placement in the US.
AGSM continues to create a learning environment that equips the next generation of leaders to respect diversity of thought and will contribute to a progressive society after completing their MBA.
AGSM’s scholarship offerings provide opportunities for eligible candidates from not-for-profits, the military, entrepreneurs, elite athletes, members of the LGBTI community and Indigenous leaders to gain a world-class education at a globally ranked business school.
