Talking about NMIT

NMIT will be launching the all new Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies in 2012 and we’re very proud to have Karen Cullen on board as Head of Program – who comes with a wealth of experience in education all the way from Scotland. Here she talks about the degree and offers advice to future students to prepare for the course. She also takes us behind the scenes and gives us some insight into her homeland and what she likes to do in Melbourne.

1) What will students learn throughout the 2 years of the Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies?

The first year of the Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies is a foundation pathway for students seeking to upskill and gain a qualification that will enable them to proceed into Bachelor degree study. Student learning will focus on the core academic skills necessary for study in any Bachelor program including:

• Critical reading
• Academic writing skills and conventions
• How to construct, identify and evaluate an argument
• Academic research methods
• How to give presentations
• Quantitative reasoning

They will also undertake key inter-disciplinary focused subjects from the social science and liberal arts field and have the opportunity to take an elective from one of NMIT’s many Bachelor degree programs.

Students who successfully complete the first year of the program will be eligible to receive a higher education Diploma of Tertiary Studies.

The second year of the Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies builds on the core skills achieved in the first year to enable students to focus further on social science and liberal arts focused discipline based subjects including:

• History
• Sociology
• Literature
• Philosophy
• Environmental Science

Students will also have the opportunity to take two electives from one or two of NMIT’s many Bachelor degree programs.

Successful completion of both years of the program leads to the award of Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies.

2) What facilities does NMIT offer Higher Ed students?

Students on the Diploma and Associate Degree courses will both benefit from small class sizes in which they will have regular contact with, and support from, their lecturers and tutors.

Online resources will be available for students to undertake further study and continue to develop their skills outside of the classroom. Students have full access to all of NMIT’s libraries and can make use of study facilities in any of the campus libraries as well as borrow a laptop PC.

3) What pathways are available for students of your course?

Upon successful completion of the first year of the course (the higher education Diploma of Tertiary Studies) students can gain entry into:

• NMIT’s Education (Early Years) degree courses - NMIT’s Associate Degree Early Years Study, Bachelor of Early Years Study, or the Bachelor of Education (Early Years), subject to interview, with up to 12 credit points of advanced standing.
• NMIT’s Bachelor of Accounting, with up to 24 credit points of advanced standing.
• NMIT’s Bachelor of Business, with up to 36 credit points of advanced standing.
• NMIT’s Bachelor of Information Technology, with up to 36 credit points of advanced standing.
• La Trobe University’s Bachelor of Arts, with up to 60 credit points of advanced standing.

Upon successful completion of the Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies students can gain entry into:

• La Trobe University’s Bachelor of Arts, with up to 120 credit points of advanced standing.

4) What advice would you give students about getting ready for Tertiary Studies? Top 5 tips?

1. Be sure that you can commit the necessary time to the course. This might mean rearranging certain aspects of your life. If you want to study full-time, you need to be prepared to give a full-time commitment. You will have approximately 4 hours class time for each of your subjects, but you will need to commit up to an additional 8 hours of your time to each subject.
2. Try to start reading a bit more widely than you normally do – read one of the broadsheet newspapers or do some non-fiction reading. Alternatively, contact the Tertiary Studies staff and ask for an early reading list! Critical reading will be an important skill that you will work on during the course, so getting a head start with this will make the first weeks easier.
3. Think about what your academic strengths and weakness are. What do you need to focus on the most in this course – are there any areas that you think you will struggle with? If so, speak to the staff about this to get additional support.
4. Do some research about what you want to do after the Tertiary Studies course. What are the entry requirements, are there any electives that you could take on the course that will either gain you credit into your next course, or prepare you better for your next level of study?
5. If you have any questions or concerns, speak to the staff – we are here to help and advise you. This is the most important tip that I have both for students preparing for the course and those working through the course. If we don’t know what the problem is, we can’t help. Try not to feel shy about asking what you think may be a silly question – chances are some of your fellow students also want an answer to the same question!

5) Where in Scotland are you from? How did you end up in Australia - or NMIT more to the point?

I come from a small town in Angus called Monifieth. This is close to Dundee on the east coast of Scotland, about an hour’s drive north of the capital, Edinburgh. I worked at the University of Dundee after I finished my PhD and subsequently moved to the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI). UHI is a rural based university spread across the north and west of Scotland serving a small and dispersed population. In the six years before I moved to Melbourne, I worked at a small campus in Dornoch, about an hour north of Inverness, but travelled regularly to campuses across the region including Skye, Orkney and Lewis. Dornoch is a very small Highland town – its main claims to fame are a world famous golf course, a lovely beach and one of Madonna’s children was christened at Dornoch Cathedral!

I migrated to Australia last year with my husband who had a job opportunity in Melbourne. I then started working for NMIT in November to coordinate the new Tertiary Studies course.

6) What do you like about Melbourne? How does the weather compare to Scotland?

Melbourne couldn’t be more different from Dornoch, but I really love living here. It is a beautiful city with great public transport networks and a great variety of restaurants, bars and cafes. The Botanical Gardens are my favourite place in the city.

The weather is much, much warmer than in Scotland. Last winter in Scotland I experienced some daytime temperatures of -15 degrees Celsius dipping down to -25 overnight! I am really enjoying the sunny weather and experienced my first day when the temperature got to 40 degrees. However, I thought that the storm on Christmas Day that brought hail the size of ping pong balls was very strange, especially since the temperature was in the 20s!

More Information on the course: Associate Degree of Tertiary Studies

NMIT Bachelor of Writing and Publishing student Jan Robinson received a ‘Highly Commended’ award for her short story ‘Bedtime Stories’ in the inaugural Odyssey House Victoria short story competition that attracted 59 entries.

Jan wrote and workshopped her story as part of her Writing Fiction class in Semester 1 2011.

We were lucky enough to interview Jan for an insider peek into her inspiration and future projects:

1) How did you come to study Writing and Publishing at NMIT?
I was a 59 year old burnt-out psychiatric nurse who had left my profession, my boys had grown into men and I wanted to follow my passion. All my life I had written and wanted to pursue my dreams. I figured it was never too late and I love learning, so I did a Graduate Certificate at CAE in 2010 to get a taste of the writer’s and student’s life and fell in love. I wanted to go onto to higher education, do a Bachelor, then a Masters and one day a PhD. I applied to NMIT, it was local, it sounded interesting and it was new. I got in and was able to do mainly second year subjects in 2011, the best of which was the writing subjects taught by the inspirational Alice Robinson (no relation!).

2) Where do you find your inspiration for your stories?
The inspiration for any story comes from lots of places. Thoughts, observation, conversations, little bits of drama or daily life floating about waiting for a writer to sneak up on them and take them away to their little writing place and form them into something that is waiting to be told…..we are all thieves and titbit collectors, us writers and I have notebooks filled with ideas or thoughts or a word or phrase which might trigger something.

For ‘Bedtime Stories’ my inspiration came from a conversation with a man who is an alcoholic and he talked about reading to his child in bed at night. I wondered what effect his drinking had on the child. Then I added in the fears children have and one I had as a child of ‘the big bad wolf’, mixed it all up then made it much, much darker by adding in the sexual abuse thread towards the end. In my previous work I had seen a lot of people who had suffered from childhood sexual abuse, usually instigated by a male relative, and so I tried to write the story in the voice of the little girl and intimate her powerlessness and confusion when her beloved daddy becomes ‘a big bad wolf’.

3) How long did it take to write your award winning story?
The story went through a number of re-drafts. It was workshopped in our writing class, where the class reads the story and then gives feedback, some of which is very useful and some which you can choose to disregard. Then I re-wrote it and it was handed in to my writing teacher who made her comments and graded it. I then re-wrote it again. Then I went over it with a proofreading eye to make sure all the grammar was correct, got a couple of trusted readers to read it, tweaked it a bit and finally it was ready. You sort of know when a story is as ‘well done’ as you can make it. It probably took, all up, with all my other writing about two months.

4) What other writing projects are you working on?
I also submitted a piece to ‘Inscribe’ the NMIT and City of Darebin publication which came out in December 2010 and was accepted for publication. It was a non-fiction article called ‘Infectious Feverish Imaginings’ and was about my current meanderings around NMIT Fairfield and the memories of the past when the grounds were ‘Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital’ and both my father and son had been patients there.

I am currently working on a memoir which is about 10,000 words in and describes the time when my elder son was diagnosed with leukaemia at the age of twenty-one. This took place nearly a decade ago and the trauma and repercussions of this time have echoed in our lives for many years. It is also a story that many people and their families can relate to. The memoir will also go on to include some of my memories of working as a psychiatric nurse for thirty one years – the good, the bad and the ugly and funny! I have a long way to go yet!

Other than that I try my hand at short stories and enter competitions when I can. The Odyssey House short story competition was the first one I had ever entered and to be ‘highly commended’ has given me great motivation and joy.

5) What advice would you give to people interested in studying Writing and Publishing?
My advice to people interested in studying Writing and Publishing is to say this: Get some life experience, love writing, love learning, be tech-savvy for the publication subjects (I’m not that good at this!!), talk to other students who are doing the course, work hard, contribute in class and if it is your passion, do it!

See also News - Student wins Highly commended award in Odyssey House Short Story Competition

The Northern Weekly newspaper has reported on the Café Chat animated film made by NMIT Work Education Centre students winning the most original film award at the Oskar Bright Festival.

WHILE it’s been more than a week since Kirsten Woodhouse returned from her whirlwind six-day trip to Brighton, England, she is still buzzing from the excitement.

The Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE staff member went to the Oska Bright Festival in Brighton after a film made by Work Education Centre students was nominated for an award in the most original film section.

The film, Cafe Chat, came about after Woodhouse applied for an innovation grant to fund a claymation film created by students with learning needs and disabilities at the Work Education Centre. To Woodhouse’s surprise, the film won.

Read more at the Northern Weekly… NMIT film lands an Oska nomination

New entrance to NMIT Epping Campus is now open for traffic. The new entrance is positioned adjacent to the new Student Centre (Building M) from Dalton Road. The former entrance has been converted to an Exit only and appropriate signage has been put in place. If your visiting Epping Campus please take note of the changed traffic conditions.

The new conditions commence immediately and may take staff, students and visitors some time to adjust to the changed traffic conditions.

NMIT Work Education Centre staff member, Kirsten Woodhouse, represented NMIT at the Oskar Bright Festival awards presentation in the UK on 25 November and was thrilled to pick up the award for Most Original Film.

“For Café Chat to be awarded Most Original Film was tremendous,” said Ms Woodhouse.

“This recognition sends a great message for all the students and staff who created this work. We received great feedback at the Festival and people commented on the ‘real experiences’ of the students. We’ve even had an invitation to enter Cafe Chat into the Canadian Wide Angle Media Festival.”

See Media Release - NMIT Work Education student film wins international award

Watch the movie below:

The Helping People Enjoy Themselves panel at the recent NMIT Super Thursday Careers Night provided some great advice to attendees about pursuing a career in Hospitality.

The Helping People Enjoy Themselves session featured a panel of 3 industry professionals:

• Jiro Newman: Hospitality Teacher, NMIT. Previous: St Jude’s Cellar, Sofitel
• Sherrann Ross: Events and Marketing Officer, NMIT. Previous: Peter Rowland Catering
• NMIT Alumni: Bryce Berherdt: Head chef, Jorg Restaurant. Previous: Enoteca

Top 10 skills to a fantastic career in Hospitality and Cookery:

1. Building relationships: Creating good working relationships with the people around you is critical to the success of being able to deliver a job, as both Hospitality and Cookery roles rely heavily on other stakeholders to succeed.
2. A good smile: If you want to work in the services industry, ensuring that your customers feel welcome is always a critical element of your role.
3. Communication skills: Communicating is important for a meal service to run smoothly. Miscommunication can result in unsatisfied customers and or food/ beverage wastage.
4. Can do attitude: People who have a can do attitude always stand out in a manager’s eye, this could be the key to getting a promotion.
5. Multitasking: This is an industry where you need to be able to juggle multiple tasks
6. Sound Knowledge: When selling an experience or creating a meal having an understanding of the produce is a huge benefit.
7. Technical skills: Having the ability to weld a knife or successfully carry three plates is vital requirements to workings as a waiter or chef.
8. Flexibility: Most jobs within this industry do not have the standard hours of 9 – 5, you must be prepared to put in the hours.
9. Personal presentation: Putting your best foot forward is essential, no one wants to be served by a waiter with dirty finger nails.
10. Lastly the most important attribute is Passion: Loving what you do is always the key to success

NMIT offers a range of diplomas and certificates in Hospitality and Cookery for people interested in a top selling career.

Check out future NMIT Super Thursday events.

Leave a comment below to let us know if this information is useful.

The NMIT Careers Night was held as part of the Super Thursday (NMIT’s Open Days) event on 20 October 2011. Industry professionals attended to share their career journeys in various panel discussions and there was a BBQ and live music to entertain people throughout the event.

This post is one of a series that aims to give readers tips for pursuing specific careers as discussed on the night.

NMIT Advanced Diploma of Tourism student, Jessica Soultani won a judges award at the Melbourne Airport Developing Tourism Leaders (DTL) Awards held on Tuesday 8 November 2011.

Jessica Soultani (left) and Anita Donnelly (right) from Yarra Valley Regional Marketing who was the key note speaker at the awards ceremony.

Read the full story: Student’s belly dancing passion inspires award-winning tour

The Got Something to Sell? panel at the recent NMIT Super Thursday Careers Night provided some great advice to attendees about pursuing a Sales or Marketing career.

The Got Something to Sell? session featured a panel of 3 industry professionals:

• Damien Deckert: Woolworths Key Account Manager, Scalzo Foods. Previous: Red Bull, Fiji Water, Lavazza.
• Danielle Cooper: Senior Brand Manager, Original Juice. Previous: L’Oreal, Serena Tuna

Top 10 skills you need to be a Marketer or Sales professional

1. Building relationships: Creating good working relationships with the people around you is critical to being able to deliver a job, as both sales and marketing roles relay heavily on other people to succeed.
2. Writing skills: If writing is one of your weaknesses overcome this by reading areas of interest. i.e. if you like cars start by reading wheels magazine.
3. Multitasking: On daily basics you can be required to jump in and out of a variety roles, so an ability clear your mind and start the next task is essential.
4. Tertiary education: A tertiary qualification is great on your resume and demonstrates your ability to learn. It can also be the deciding factor in if you get the job or not.
5. Industry: Staying in touch with what is happening in your as industry as markets are always changing. This demonstrates you have a true interest within the area.
6. Communicating: An extremely important part of marketing and sales is being able to generate ideas and organise those ideas in a way that enables you to communicate them effectively to achieve the desired outcomes (generate revenue and/or raise awareness).
7. Data and figures: Both sales and marketing professionals rely heavy on analysing data and figures; it’s this information that is used in creating new plans and objectives.
8. A broad understanding of people’s roles: Both sales and marketing rely heavily on others contributions to achieve the desired outcome of their plans and or objectives.
9. Thinking outside the box: To position your product/service in front of your competitors.
10. Lastly the most important attribute is Passion: Loving what you do is always the key to success.

NMIT offers a range of diplomas and certificates in Sales and Marketing for people interested in a top selling career.

Check out future NMIT Super Thursday events.

Leave a comment below to let us know if this information is useful.

The NMIT Careers Night was held as part of the Super Thursday (NMIT’s Open Days) event on 20 October 2011. Industry professionals attended to share their career journeys in various panel discussions and there was a BBQ and live music to entertain people throughout the event.

This post is one of a series that aims to give readers tips for pursuing specific careers as discussed on the night.