South African immigrant Jacques Carey is looking forward to doing his Graduate Diploma of Business at EIT | Te Pūkenga this year.
South African immigrant, Jacques Carey, who has more than ten years of management experience, as well as many certificates, courses, and an apprenticeship, is is now keen to get back into the books.
He will do this by studying for a Graduate Diploma of Business at EIT | Te Pūkenga this year.
Jacques, 39, who moved over from South African more than five years ago, has worked for Jamestrong Packaging, both here and in Auckland, for all of those years. Jamestrong is a manufacturer and supplier of metal packaging for the food, infant and nutrition markets.
Jacques’ previous role was as a Procurement Manager at an engineering company in Randburg, South Africa before moving out to New Zealand with his wife, Tanya. He started out at Jamestrong in Auckland in January 2019 and was recently promoted to manufacturing manager in Hawke’s Bay in June 2023.
“I started my Bachelor of Applied management at MIT in Manukau in 2022, where I resumed my studies for about 18 months, before we moved to Hawke’s Bay.”
“I moved over to EIT and went to speak to one of the lecturers, Russell Booth, who suggested that I should do a Graduate Diploma in Management.”
In order to qualify for the diploma, Jacques has had to do the Recognition to Prior Learning (RPL) programme. This looks at all qualifications a learner has had in the past, including “life lessons”.
Jacques says he is looking forwarded to getting into his studies at EIT| Te Pūkenga as while he has enjoyed his Open Polytech course, he prefers sitting in a classroom.
“I liked the whole engagement in class.”
Apart from his studies, Jacques and Tanya are taking their time exploring New Zealand as well as enjoying family visiting from South Africa.
“The Graduate Diploma in Business suits Jacques down to the ground,” explains Russell Booth, who is also the co-ordinator for the Graduate Diploma.
“It is at the right level for Jacques and allows us to recognise the extensive depth and breadth of his impressive work history through the RPL process towards a New Zealand based qualification. The RPL process means that Jacques only needs to attend classes in person to develop the knowledge that he feels is missing and required to progress his career.”