Managing the future
Neil Chapple, CEO of the Australian Vocational Learning Centre, runs business training courses for local and overseas students. He’s passionate about giving future managers the skills they need to create successful careers. He talked to Invest in Australia about the secrets of successful managers and why Australia is a top destination to skill up.
Q: What's your background in this arena?
Neil: I worked for the past 11 years in the Vocational Education and Training industry, performing duties as a trainer, quality assurance officer, training coordinator, RTO Manager including 4 years as CEO of domestic RTO.
Q: Why do you enjoy training people in business?
Neil: I love seeing people grow in skills, knowledge and character. Money can’t buy this joy. To see someone come to a training course who may lack confidence and to help them to discover the potential within themselves – that’s my motivation. People from overseas are very commited to studying and they make enormous efforts to come to Australia and make some of the best students I have taught.
Q: What does your company offer?
The Australian Vocational Learning Centre is a brand new college which has been renovated with all new: rooms, flooring, tables, chairs, equipment and designated computer lab. There is a maximum of 25 students per class and three shifts to choose from. We have 12 experienced and highly qualified trainers plus relevant and high quality training resources that students will be able to keep.
This year the AVLC will be offering the following qualifications:
- Certificate IV in Business BSB40207
- Certificate IV in Frontline Management BSB40807
- Diploma of Business BSB50207
- Diploma of Management BSB51107
- Advanced Diploma of Business BSB60207
- Advanced Diploma of Management BSB60407
Q: Why should people come to Australia to train?
Neil: Australian Vocational Education & Training systems is the envy of the world and produces high quality results for students. Australian qualifications are modern and students will learn the skills and knowledge from our mature economy that will be required for the emerging growth that the India economy is about to materialize. India will become one of the two biggest economies in the world within 10 years and it will need business men and women who have the ability to drive private business successfully. The future for India is in their youth. They must become leaders who operate to the highest international standards to meet the needs of their emerging economy. Australian qualifications meet these criteria.
Student statistics
There are 467,000 students (June 2009) in Australia studying and these figures have grown on average by 12 per cent each year for the last four years. There are 89,500 Indian students currently studying in Australia.
Q: Training is a big investment. What sort of advantage could it give them?
Neil: Australian training gives students the knowledge, skills and maturity to be the next generation of mangers and business owners where ever they may call home. They will have the advantage of experiencing life and business in a mature economy and will take this with them for a life-long learning experience.
“The future for India is in their youth. They must become leaders who operate to the highest international standards to meet the needs of their emerging economy. Australian qualifications meet these criteria.”
Q: What would you say is the single most important thing a manager or business owner needs to learn?
Neil: To share the vision the owner has for the company with the staff and to employ staff whose personal goals align with the company. The best marketing team is the staff; a business owner must invest in its companies best assets by involving staff in decision making and sharing success with them. Your clients will hear/feel the culture through contact with your staff, more clients will come because they like a creative and high quality companies to deal with. This leads to a very positive continuous improvement cycle, where the company breeds more success from within.
Q: What is the most overlooked part of being a business owner or manager?
Neil: People become stale and burned out because they do not share the work and responsibilities around. You must have a genuine passion for what you are doing, if you don’t this will be evident in your performance as a business owner. Spend your time working on your business not in your business.
Q: What would you say about the negative publicity that has surrounded foreign students in Australia from India?
Neil: Some students were attacked, which is highly regrettable. But the vast majority of 90 thousand students who come here have a positive, life - changing experience. Australian Government Authorities are working together with the Indian government to assure the safety of all people who are in Australia and a recent visit to Australia by External Affairs Minister, SM Krishna from the Indian Government helped to secure safety steps for the student population.
Q. What other opportunities does Australia offer in terms of an overall experience?
Neil: There’s more to life then study, students also have the opportunity to experience the natural beauty of Australia when they travel during term breaks (12 weeks per year). Students will live in a multi-cultural society that welcomes all people and so will experience how many other cultures live and do business with each other successfully. They will be prepared for the growth and changes that will come in the very near future for India and Australia economically and socially.
There is also a well developed network of student community that new students can contact to be around familiar people who could assist them while they become familiar to Australia.
