Lumination deployment manager Alfred Carlson is only two semesters into his MBA from Adelaide Business School at the University of Adelaide. However, the course has already impacted his interactions with colleagues and promises to help secondary school students access its educational technology sooner.

Carlson said improvements in his communications and work processes are helping to boost efficiency within the South Australian tech company, so it can, ultimately, reach more secondary schools and other audiences with its immersive learning labs.

Lumination is a rapidly-growing force in immersive technology, applying virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to create immersive, experiential learning environments that enable faster understanding and higher retention of learnings.

“We’re working to implement new technologies [as] teachers’ tools to improve the curriculum and engagement with whoever is doing the learnings,” Carlson said.

The Thebarton-based company is working with more than 2600 schools nationally, and also serves the defence, government and commercial sectors.

“My role [focuses] on the operations side of the business – from my perspective, it’s about reducing operational or deployment times and making sure we’re running as efficiently as possible without diminishing quality.”

Adelaide Business School MBA director Dr Gary Bowman said he has noticed a change in students’ motivations for undertaking the course.

“I think Covid served as a bit of a wake-up call to people to look beyond themselves,” Bowman said.

Lumination deployment manager Alfred Carlson is doing an Adelaide MBA

“I’ve seen a lot more people thinking in more macro terms lately…so less about they can get personally from an MBA and more about what they can do with an MBA.

“It might be a small distinction but it’s an important one. People are starting to realise more and more that they want to enjoy their careers and create a positive impact, and the MBA is something that gives them confidence and clarity around what they ultimately want to achieve in life.”

He said making a positive social impact often came up when he was talking with people interested in advancing their career with an MBA.

“Of course, that covers such a wide area: from leadership roles that focus on mentoring and furthering equality, to operational or data approaches, to reducing emissions and increasing efficiency,” he said.

“We’re also seeing lots of students with a passion for the voluntary sector and using their studies to further endeavours beyond their regular work.”

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices are now a huge part of business in Australia, with the Adelaide MBA preparing students to responsibly create the future.

“ESG has become a cross-cutting theme that features in almost every one of our courses,” Bowman said.

“It is as relevant to courses in leadership and organisational behaviour as it is in marketing and analytics.

“In Strategic Management, for example, we consider strategic implications of pro-social companies, whether that’s about embedding principles of economic circularity or the opportunities and challenges of becoming a B-Corp.”

Only two semesters into his MBA, Carlson, who also has degrees in mechanical engineering and finance and banking, said the MBA has improved his interactions with purpose-led Lumination’s other teams, particularly those in accounting and marketing.

“It’s given me a better perspective […] on their needs and how it helps the business as a whole,” he said.

“It’s changing the way I’m communicating or documenting certain things, so there’s more visibility for other teams, or it’s in a better format for people for efficiency.

“We’re not really siloed [at Lumination] … but it’s about having the understanding of what [other teams] actually need.”

With new MBA learnings in his arsenal, this is something being driven by Carlson as, while he said “there’s no expectation to have that information available”, it has saved his and the other teams significant amounts of time.

Six months before starting his MBA, Carlson had changed roles at Lumination and, keen to progress further, had applied for an executive role.

Without the required skillset, he missed out. However, the company agreed to pay for Carlson to study an MBA to prepare him for an executive role in the future. After extensive research, he chose the Adelaide MBA.

The Adelaide MBA is a Harvard-style, with MBA face-to-face delivery in small classes, with weekly evening classes and monthly weekend intensives. It can be completed in as little as 18 months.

Carlson said it is a very different experience to his undergraduate lectures.

He found the tailored learnings to be particularly advantageous, with the case studies chosen to have direct and immediate application to all of the students’ careers.

“Everyone can get something out of it immediately for their own work, which is great,” he said.

“Having the smaller classes as well, you can have your say and ask questions [as they arise and] you have 100% engagement in the class – everyone really wants to be here and is so keen to learn and get as much out of this as possible.”

The in-person classes have allowed Carlson to build a strong network and friendships with his fellow students – “it sounds silly, but I wasn’t really expecting to get to know everyone quite so well” – and to learn from each other’s experiences.

“There’s additional knowledge to be learned from your peers, as well as the actual teachings of the class – everyone’s perspective on things is slightly different,” he said.

The 2-day offsite experience Fundamentals of Leadership subject had a big impression on Carlson.

“With the tools from the MBA, [I have] a better perspective to be able to make decisions that are beneficial for the company, but also beneficial for the people around me,” he said.

“We don’t want to just focus on profits and just have unhappy employees.”

“Our motto is ‘helping people to teach, learn and work with immersive with immersive technologies’.

“Right now, that’s pretty much virtual reality and augmented reality. But, eventually, we want to be the leaders in the world with what we’re doing.”

The Adelaide MBA is ranked #1 in South Australia for career impact and is one of Australia’s only MBA programs with 100% of staff with current business experience. Applications for Trimester 3 entry close Friday, 4 August 2023.

Find out more about the Adelaide MBA program.

*AFR BOSS Magazine Best Business School rankings 2022, Career Impact.