Opportunity knocks for business students

Griffith's Fabrizio Carmignani on a bench with iPad in hand.
Professor Fabrizio Carmignani says a market that values a business education is evident and good news for current and future students.

What the future holds for business professionals will be a compelling part of the Open Day agenda at Griffith’s Gold Coast campus on this Sunday (July 26).

Aspiring accountants, economists and finance professionals will be told how advances in IT, intensified international competition and the globalisation of economic linkages have created an exciting employment landscape for future business graduates.

“We are dealing with a market that values a business education, a market that suggests the return on a business education during the next five years will be strong and positive,” Professor Fabrizio Carmignani, Head of the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, said.

Griffith Business School lecturers will deliver a series of presentations on commerce, international business, the Asian landscape, government and policy, and tourism and hotel management during Open Day.

Two presentations on how a Griffith business student can become a modern business success story will take place at 10am and 1pm.

Professor Fabrizio Carmignani says new teaching processes already in place mean university programs are instilling students with flexibility and versatility. “This will enhance and sustain their employability as traditional business roles evolve and new occupations emerge.”

Department of Employment projections forecast a 14% rise in professional occupations in the Business, Finance and Human Resource category during the next four years.

Among the specific occupations with significantly positive forecasts are financial brokers (set to jump by 13%), financial dealers (17%), financial investment advisors (23%), human resource professionals (10%) and accountants where the spike is projected to be 13%.

“The idea of an accountant that only does journal entries is no longer relevant,” Professor Carmignani said. “However, if we look closely at the professional profile, we can identify exciting new opportunities for the modern accountant in areas like tax administration, corporate governance and business development.

“It will call for a flexible, versatile dimension on the part of future graduates in their approach to the employment market. It is important, therefore, that the types of skills we are teaching are skills that will fit in to other professional profiles not necessarily in business.

“Therefore, the processes that the university has in place now are about forming students who will be employable and will have a bag of tools that gives them the flexibility to do jobs in five years that may not even exist now. There will be plenty of jobs in the future for people with that type of knowledge, with that bag of tools.”

The new business building, including a state-of-the-art trading room, is located beside the Griffith University station on the G:Link.

Free travel to Open Day is available on the G:Link light rail. For a special free pass, look for the TransLink customer liaison officers in red Griffith shirts on G:Link platforms between8.30am to 1pm on July 26.