14 July 2006 Degrees in Commerce – Career Paths for the 'Real Working World'

The career connectedness of Lincoln University's commerce degrees makes all the difference, says Commerce Division Director Dr Patrick Aldwell.

"The areas covered by Lincoln University's 'tagged' commerce degrees and the 'majors' within the commerce and management degree 'connect' with almost every aspect of our working lives."

The specialisations within Lincoln's two principal undergraduate commerce qualifications – the Bachelor of Commerce and Management (BCM) and the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) show just how well connected these degrees are with the "real world" and career paths.

In the BCM, for example, 14 "majors" are offered and they include accounting, agribusiness, e-commerce, economics, international business, marketing, property studies, hospitality management and supply chain management.

In the BCom programme there are six "tagged" degrees, again all connected with "real world" career paths. They are BCom (Agricultural), Food Industry, Forestry, Hotel and Institutional Management, Transport and Logistics and Valuation and Property Management.

Although these might sound like highly specialised degrees, that specialisation is not at the expense of a broad early foundation.

Students' interests change – they come in with one area of focus in mind then discover other options along the way and decide to change. Also employers' requirements can alter over time and today's graduates have to be flexible.

Lincoln University's commerce courses are therefore structured so that the first and second years of study allow students to keep their options open and acquire a broad base on which to progressively build their specialisation, whatever they should choose, and then really concentrate on that in their final year.

Lincoln's two basic undergraduate commerce degrees, the BCM and the tagged BCom, are made up of 24 papers with fulltime students taking eight papers a year.