When Donald Jamieson officially receives his Executive Master of Business Administration at a USC Graduation Ceremony tomorrow, Friday 7 April, the former senior banker will be marking both personal and professional achievements.

“I’ve realised a teaching dream and I’m considering launching my own business,” he said. “I’ll be the first of my six siblings to get a Master’s, and it will be exactly 21 years since I gained my undergraduate business degree on the same day as my brother, Mark.”

That brother, Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson, will be in the audience alongside other family members to celebrate with Donald at the USC ceremony at 1pm.

Donald, whose most recent banking roles were with ING Direct and the National Australia Bank, said the experience of studying an EMBA at USC had exceeded expectations.

“I was 46 when I enrolled in 2015, after working my way up in a banking career across Queensland and New South Wales,” he said.

“I wanted to learn for the sake of learning and I wanted to open doors and create more business opportunities, but life had been too busy to start studying again.

“Then I started working closer to home on the Sunshine Coast, which freed up previous drive time to Brisbane, and I decided to do that Master’s I’d always I wanted to do.

“USC’s EMBA was exactly the type of delivery I wanted – intense courses one weekend a month – so I could keep working full-time.

“It also provided great interaction with my cohort. I thrive on questioning and debating topics and I didn’t want to just read things on a computer and write assignments.”

Donald said highlights of his degree were overseas study tours with fellow EMBA students.

“I went to China and Vietnam and learnt an enormous amount first-hand about current business practices and the economies of these countries,” he said.

“I also gained a lot from the quality and diversity of both USC’s teaching staff, who had so much real-life experience, and my fellow students, who were really motivated, senior professionals in a range of industries I hadn’t mixed with before.”

His studies led to consulting work for a Sunshine Coast business and a teaching offer from USC, where he worked as a sessional lecturer in a Business subject focused on interpreting financial statements.

“I’m also in the early stages of a new business concept, so my EMBA has absolutely delivered on my goal of opening opportunities and learning for the love of it.”

— Julie Schomberg