Embarking on a Master's degree can be an intimidating prospect and feel like a huge commitment, especially when juggling work commitments or returning to study after a long time.
If this feels familiar to you, then ‘staircasing’ could be a great option to consider. Staircasing is where you begin with a shorter postgraduate qualification and then have the option to credit those courses towards a full Master’s degree.
Susan Narayan, a Corporate Planner for Upper Hutt City Council, shares how the staircasing approach made returning to study more manageable and enabled her to gradually progress through the Executive MBA programme.
The journey back to study
Like a lot of people fresh out of high school, Susan wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to do next. Her first experience of staircasing came in 1995 when she decided to embark on a business administration certificate, knowing that she’d have the option to credit this towards an undergraduate degree if she decided to continue studying. But one year into her degree she secured full-time employment and never returned to study until just recently.
Susan's dedication and perseverance propelled her through various roles at the Upper Hutt City Council over the course of 16 years, but her motivation to return to study came when her adult children left the nest.
Finding a balance
When deciding to embark on postgraduate study, Susan discovered that the Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration provided an ideal entry point. This approach allowed her to gradually build knowledge without feeling overwhelmed from the outset. “This pathway made it easy and achievable to get a qualification, even if I didn’t continue through to the Master's degree,” she expressed.
Although she encountered challenges in balancing her studies, work, and personal life, particularly during the pandemic, she quickly found her footing and adjusted her study workload. “You get into a rhythm and it becomes part of your life," she notes, adding that it was helpful having the flexibility to pick up more courses when she was ready.
A transformative experience
Completing the Postgraduate Certificate enabled Susan to identify her strengths, weaknesses, and interests, and which areas she would like to develop further, saying, “I realised that I enjoy working with people and helping them to solve problems”.
This gave her the motivation to move into the full Executive MBA programme, a decision that she feels paid off through the diverse range of skills she gained. "My study armed me with a variety of skills and experiences that I could use in my future career," Susan expresses.
She found it easy to apply what she was learning in the classroom to her real-world workplace experiences. “I was able to see how the concepts and frameworks that I was learning could be applied at my organisation, which made the material more relevant to me,” she states.
Ultimately, Susan’s staircasing experience helped her achieve her study goals in a more manageable way, without having to sacrifice her other commitments.
Her advice for anyone considering the staircasing pathway is simple: “Go for it!”.