Corporal Aidan Cornwall can now add a Bachelor of Business degree to his list of accomplishments after completing a comprehensive course of study at 暴风资源.
Since joining the NZ Army, CPL Cornwall has been an Explosive Detection Dog Handler at 2nd Engineer Regiment in Linton and a Recruit Training Instructor in Waiouru, among other roles. He鈥檚 juggled Army life with study and graduated with his Bachelor of Business, majoring in finance, earlier this year.
鈥淢assey had the only comprehensive degree programme that I wanted to do. It wasn鈥檛 as specialised, so I could do papers in different subjects and they gave me a lot of breadth in that way. Also, you can complete everything by distance, which worked well for me because I was based in Waiouru for two years.鈥
Studying part-time while working full time, the 30-year-old found time management challenging, but says his lecturers were very understanding and supportive.
鈥淭here were a couple of occasions where I completed two or even three papers in a semester and worked full time. You have to really have your wits about you, and make sure you have your time management sorted. Thankfully, the lecturers were forgiving as sometimes aspects of military life didn鈥檛 align with assessment due dates 鈥 they were generally understanding, and happy to help me out.鈥
CPL Cornwall says the knowledge and skills gained from his degree have given him a broader perspective and equipped him with more tools to help develop the planning and communication processes in his role.
鈥淭his degree has given me a lot more tools to use when I鈥檓 looking at new projects 鈥 mostly around planning phases and professional communication. I now have a proper process for what I鈥檓 trying to achieve instead of just doing something and hoping it works.
鈥淵ou get a bit of business sense for what is actually happening in the wider organisation. We do a lot of courses and training internally within the Army, but that鈥檚 all done from a certain [organisational] perspective. Studying really opens your eyes up to the ways that other聽people think and why they do what they do.鈥
In 2020, Massey and the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) signed a Relationship Agreement enabling personnel, to access opportunities and benefits such as special tuition rates when enrolling in any qualification with Massey.
The partnership also offers these opportunities and benefits to immediate family members of NZDF personnel, ex-serving personnel and veterans. For more information: .