16 November 1992 New Lincoln Degree Focuses on Transport Management

New Zealand can ill afford a shortfall in top quality managers in the transport sector, says Lincoln University's Reader in Resource Studies, Dr Chris Kissling.

"It is estimated that 30 percent of New Zealand's GNP is transport-related, a figure which emphasizes the importance of the transport industry to the total economy and the need for a highly skilled and technologically advanced workforce.

"The increasing complexity of the transport industry and the demand for graduates who can fill management and leadership roles is likely to increase rapidly," he says.

"And that's part of the rationale behind Lincoln University offering a Bachelor of Commerce degree specialising in Transport Management."

The new Lincoln degree, offered from Term 1 next year, will be Australasia's only specialist undergraduate programme in Transport Management.

Those likely to be drawn to it will be school-leavers looking to careers at management level within the transport industry, and more mature entrants seeking professional qualifications to equip them for a new career directions.

Depending on the selection of subjects, it will be possible to complete the Lincoln B.Com. (Transport) degree to meet the academic requirements for membership of the Chartered Institute of Transport (MCIT) and the NZ Society of Accountants (ACA).

Lincoln University's B.Com. (Transport) degree follows the structure of the other Lincoln specialist commerce degrees. It is a three-year, 24-unit degree involving specialist transport and management papers in addition to the core of papers in finance, economics, computing, statistics and mathematics common to all Lincoln 's commerce degrees.

There is no practical work requirement but candidates will be encouraged to seek practical experience within the industry before graduation.

The programme will be taught with the assistance of relevant experts from within the industry but overall management is in the hands of Dr Kissling.

Well qualified and experienced in the transport area, Dr Kissling has a particularly strong background in aviation related fields.

He has been involved with a South Pacific Forum Transport Survey of the South Pacific which covered aviation and shipping, has worked for the International Civil Aviation Organization, and been associated with a study by the United Nation's Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific which covered aviation as well as other forms of transport.

"In the past managers within the transport industry have tended to be specialists within single modes (air, sea, rail, road) and the skills available to the industry as a whole have tended not to match the increases in complexity of both transport infrastructure and the transport task," says Dr Kissling.

"Those general skills lie in the areas of management, communications, computing and information processing, strategic planning and marketing. In addition, skills in total quality management and effective and efficient management of resources – human, financial and physical – are vital to modern management. All these are most appropriately gained through a well-designed, relevant university education, and that's where the new Lincoln degree will play its role."

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.