Potchefstroom Business School
Message from the Director
What are your goals for 2012?
When a person decides to enrol for further studies, it normally starts with the end goal in mind, for example: a better job or a higher income. Soon the student will discover, however, that studying is not easy and it takes a lot of hard work, dedication and commitment. Any qualification asks aspiration, desperation, perspiration and inspiration from students. It tests students’ courage by asking them to answer tough questions, for example: is it worth the “suffering”, the stress and the hardship? It is make or break time!
When students decide to not give up and push themselves beyond “their created limit in their minds”, something extraordinary happens. They find a new sense of inner strength, motivation and inspiration and a journey of self-discovery starts. They learn to suffer and thrive at the same time, and wisdom is gained from every experience and interaction/networking with other students, lecturers and tutors.
It is a stated objective of the PBS to change the way its students think. We want our students to become manager-leaders in their own right. While some managers struggle with change and fail to be great leaders, other exceptional leaders might fail to create a sense of stability in the organisation or do not measure up as managers.
All our programmes strive to promote practical business solutions in the workplace and we encourage our students to “practice what we preach”
However, we also strive to offer our students the best of the best. We are in the process of preparing to apply for the international accreditation of our MBA at the Association for MBAs (AMBA). This has been a two-year journey and we are nearing the final stages.
Our Post-Graduate Diploma is entering its third year and is growing in stature. During 2012, we will look at revamping the format so that this qualification could be deemed acceptable as entry qualification for the MBA.
We are fortunate that large corporate businesses are increasingly making use of our executive training programmes. New clients include the likes of Astral Foods and Transnet, for whom we will present company-specific training programmes at certain levels in their respective organisations.
Our research output also reached new heights during 2011 and we expect this performance to be repeated during 2012. The PBS has also made its mark as far as community development is concerned, and we already have plans to give back to society what we were so blessed to receive.
Just like students who set themselves attainable goals in the beginning of a new year, the PBS has something to look forward to in 2012. We know that nothing in life that is worth anything comes easy. We will have to apply our hearts and minds to the end result and do our very best. However, we will reach our goals – we wish that all your dreams may also come true!
“If you can dream it you can do it” – JF Kennedy (1961) on Apollo moon mission that happened in 1969.
Prof Tommy du Plessis