Picked up by an employer three weeks before his graduation ceremony, Evan Lucas quickly discovered the incredible value of his Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Flinders University.
Evan Lucas (MBA(IntBus) ’10) is now the Head of Strategy at InvestSMART, an online financial advisory that helps ordinary people access affordable investment opportunities – but before this, his MBA took him to organisations around the world.
Completing his MBA in 2010, Evan was immediately snatched up as an intern by Dutch bank ABN AMRO, working from their global head office in Amsterdam. The bank was impressed by Evan’s results – he consistently achieved top grades throughout the course – but it was ultimately the networking and interview skills developed through the Flinders MBA that got him in front of the right employer.
Evan calls this the “opportunity of a lifetime,” and a pivotal experience that led to the enviable career he has today.
“I wanted to be a doctor as a kid, but realised early in my undergrad that this was not the career for me. I finally woke up to myself… I loved economics, behavioural finance and global markets, which is what led me to Flinders to do my MBA.”
Evan says a key benefit of choosing Flinders University for his MBA was that he found the right teachers to help him learn. He says he just “clicked” with them and found the way they presented information was “second to none”.
The Flinders MBA program is run by experts in their profession and well-connected to members of their industry.
But, no matter how great the lecturers are, Evan points out that you’ll still need to put the work in if you want to see results. “It’s a very intimate learning experience and if you hadn’t done the required reading, you were soon found out!”
Evan says, “Classes were held in a boardroom- style setting where we debated issues, raised questions and shared ideas. The learning environment was much more aligned with what you experience in a workplace.”
Partnering with over 350 organisations to provide practice-based experiences on top of teaching, Flinders University is determined to give students a hands-on experience and valuable contacts before they graduate.
With the options of studying online or in-person, the Flinders University MBA is flexible to any working style or commitment. Evan chose to attend face to face classes in the Adelaide CBD, highlighting the immediacy in contact and opportunity to “pick the teachers’ brains” whenever he needed advice.
“If you had told my 16 year old self I would be working in global and domestic markets with economics and media components, I wouldn’t believe I was talking to my older self,” says Evan.
Learn more about studying a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Flinders University.
Flinders University is the number one university in Australia for postgraduate employment*, and Adelaide is Australia’s most liveable city according to The Global Liveability Index 2021*(QILT 2021 Graduate Outcomes Survey – longitudinal). According to The Good Universities Guide 2021, Flinders University is number one in Australia for overall experience in business and management.