NMMU BUSINESS SCHOOL WELCOMES 2014 MBA STUDENTS

PORT ELIZABETH – This week Nelson Mandela Bay will transform to a vibrant business and management education hub for professionals from Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape who selected NMMU for their 2014 MBA studies.



The 2014 intake of first-year students were welcomed by NMMU Business School during university registration in Summerstrand on Saturday. Currently under way at the school’s Bird Street campus is an intense programme of study orientation, teambuilding, and lectures introducing the students to the first trimester of study.

Later this week, an international visiting professor, Mike Hoffmeister of Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Wolfsburg, Germany, will arrive in the Port Elizabeth to teach the MBA programme’s international management modules.

For Professor Kobus Jonker, Director of the Graduate School, the 2014 study year is a special milestone.

“This year we welcome for first time students from Cape Town, the latest city where NMMU Business School’s MBA can be accessed as block release study option,” he said.

Lauren Alberts and Paulo de Matos are two of the first Cape Town students to join the NMMU Business School Programme. Alberts, who studied at NMMU, but relocated to Cape Town following her graduation, was excited to return to Port Elizabeth to pursue her MBA. “I am looking forward to the exciting challenge ahead, and am eager to begin my MBA journey,” Alberts said.

Fellow Capetonian, Paulo de Matos, was attracted to the unique study format offered by the NMMU. It was a deciding factor when choosing where he was going to undertake his MBA journey.  

Prof Jonker added: “We now have a good and well-spread geographic representation of South African professionals, businesses and industries.  We are confident that our Cape Town students will enhance the class room experience as much as they will benefit from the knowledge exchange, dialogue, and debate with students from the other regions.”

Later this year NMMU Business School will relocate to a new world-class campus and education facility based in Summerstrand.  Johannesburg student, Unathi Kildase, commented on the new building:  “I drove past it as soon as I arrived in PE. It’s beautiful, and a South African first,” Kildase said.

“I do a lot of business with China and it is good to see that South Africa is keeping up with the rest of the world,” she added.

East London student Vukile Hlobongwana commented that NMMU Business School was “one of the best” in the country. “I am very eager to begin my MBA,” Hlobongwana said.

Amongst the excitement, there were several apprehensions amongst the new students. “To be honest, I am quite intimidated,” one student said. “However, I realise the rewards of putting my head down and pushing through.”

The ambitions and excitement of the new students has breathed life into the campus. The faculty and staff look forward to a prosperous year ahead for the 2014 MBA student body.