The Australian National University (ANU) College of Business and Economics (CBE) has announced its new Master of Business Administration (MBA).
In an era marked by increasing complexity, the one-year MBA program is designed to instil responsible stewardship, evidence-based decision-making and practice, and efficient program implementation. Focusing on developing leaders in public-sector ecosystems, this degree caters to the evolving needs of federal and state governments and adjacent industries.
“We are extremely proud of our research and educational endeavours in collaboration with the Australian Public Service (APS),” says Professor Vinh Lu, Director of the ANU Research School of Management.
“The new MBA offering will add to our record of engagement, particularly in terms of building leadership capacities for the participants, and thus help fulfil the unique national responsibilities of the ANU.”
One of the key considerations in the creation of the MBA is its delivery: through short courses taught intensively around parliamentary sitting weeks, and with both an in-class and out-of-class learning focus.
“Developed from the ground up, our MBA program has undergone rigorous assumption testing and validation along the way. It has been designed to disrupt MBA orthodoxies and traditions no longer fitting leadership in a complexity age,” says Program Director, Associate Professor Alessandra Capezio.
In this interview, Alessandra discusses what sets this MBA apart and highlights the advantages of studying this unique program at Australia’s national university.
What is unique about the new ANU MBA program?
We have identified an important gap in education in leadership, management, and business skills for leaders working in a public-sector ecosystem context. This unique transdisciplinary program combines elements of evidence-based decision-making and practice, strategic management, complexity leadership, and responsible stewardship to enable transformative impacts and integrity of public-sector leadership.
Completely breaking tradition when it comes to MBA offerings, our new program has some distinctive features. The curriculum will provide leaders with the skills and systems approaches to navigate complexity in contemporary business environments. The courses are transdisciplinary, offering participants opportunities to engage with a broad range of approaches to education, research capabilities and expertise.
Participants will develop the expertise needed to effectively make decisions, empower people, and manage resources within dynamic systems and environments characterised by discontinuity, competing demands, misinformation, unpredictability, ambiguity, increased public scrutiny, budgetary pressures, and accelerated technological developments.
By the time our MBA participants finish the program, they will think and process information, make decisions, as well as inspire and empower others in completely different and transformative ways.
The new program is primarily aimed at people in the public-sector ecosystem. What specific skills and tools will it offer, and how will these help managers who are transitioning to leadership roles in the APS and beyond?
Our new MBA develops skills and capabilities that are strategically important to career progression and aligned with the current reform agenda. To this end, there are four key sets of related and mutually reinforcing skills and companion methodologies developed in our MBA.
- Navigating complexity through systems approaches, futures analysis, critical thinking, strategic communication and influence, and evidence-based decision-making and practice.
- Strategy and innovation through strategic thinking and planning, program and dynamic capability.
- Building and maintaining trust-based relationships with a plurality of stakeholders with competing needs, as well as empowering and inspiring others in demanding and complex work environments, where leadership needs to be more shared and distributed.
- Program implementation and management.
What are the value propositions for Senior Executives in the APS to sponsor this new MBA program for their team leaders?
Through processes of co-creation, the ANU MBA has a natural alignment with the APS Secretaries’ Charter of Leadership Behaviours and APS Reform Agenda. Importantly, it addresses some fundamental capability and complexity gaps of public-sector leaders in a modern world.
Prospective sponsors can expect their leaders to be equipped with the knowledge to better manage resources and lead service deliveries, through time-efficient, judicious and defensible decision-making in highly complex and fast-moving environments. Other benefits of the program include:
- delivered by experts in their respective fields
- created with and for the Australian public-sector ecosystem
- teaching delivered around key dates in the APS work year
- engages with Indigenous knowledge systems
- evidence-based, to focus on what really matters.
Which specific roles in the APS will this program appeal to?
The ANU MBA is designed to suit leaders currently at EL1, EL2 or Band 1 levels or equivalent, working in federal or state government, in the areas of program management, service delivery, compliance and regulation, and administration.
It is also suitable for managers, project managers, and professional science and research leaders in both the private and public sectors, who are challenged by the complexity of modern organisations, and seek the edge from using business knowledge within government. Academics and researchers managing in areas of national significance, such as national security and innovation, would also find the program beneficial.
Intakes for the Master of Business Administration program in 2025 are now open. Find out more about studying a Master of Business Administration at ANU.
The ANU College of Business and Economics offers an extensive range of specialised programs. Click here for more details.