Faculty of Business

AUT Faculty of Business is one of the largest business schools in New Zealand. Our focus is on providing a pragmatic 'real world’ approach, ensuring excellence in learning and teaching and developing outstanding graduates for professional practice in business. That’s why the Faculty has one of the highest graduate employment rates in New Zealand – 95% of our Bachelor of Business graduates are employed within six months.

We offer a range of courses from the Bachelor of Business to the MBA, Master of Business and PhD, with supporting diplomas and certificates.  Our classes are small, usually 20-30 students, providing an interactive learning environment with emphasis on the integration of theory and business practice. Academic staff work closely with students, providing guidance and advice for their study and research and our close links with industry mean that coursework and research is relevant to professional practice.

These links are formed through advisory committees which work with the Faculty to maintain the relevance of our qualifications. We provide opportunities for students to network with successful business professionals through the student organisations The Breakfast Club and Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and through workplace learning. At AUT we believe your success is our success - together!

A Broad Understanding of Business
The business environment is becoming increasingly complex. Businesses are responding to this complexity by the formation of cross-functional teams, which bring together diverse perspectives such as marketing, management, law, economics, finance, accounting, computing, design, engineering and sales to solve specific complex business problems.

Our first year interdisciplinary programme in the Bachelor of Business responds to this complexity, providing a process for students to bring together relevant perspectives, each of which illuminates a different facet of the complex problem, and integrating their insights to understand the problem as a complex whole and thus to move towards a solution.

Linked to Industry

AUT Business actively involves industry in the development and delivery of programmes. Our programmes are structured to give businesses what they want and our graduates what they need to succeed in the workplace. We have a number of Business Advisory Committees comprised of respected business leaders and experts in a range of fields. These committees work to ensure our programmes remain relevant to the real world.

Developing Capable Graduates
Business is the driving force of future wealth and development for New Zealand.  The challenge facing New Zealand business is to build on the innovation and creativity of New Zealanders as it seeks to compete and succeed in a constantly changing global environment.  And for that, New Zealand needs graduates who can understand the realities of business, the disciplines, the dynamics and the opportunities. AUT’s Bachelor of Business develops graduates who have these key skills for success, as well as the ability to think creatively. 

Graduates are confident learners, skilled in oral and written communication, effective team members, and critical and creative thinkers. This focus on the personal and professional development of graduates, as well as their academic development, sets our business programmes apart.

Lecturers with relevant experience
AUT Business lecturers have expertise in teaching and research and have kept on top of current business practices. They also draw on their own experience in business, both in New Zealand and further a field. There’s a world of difference between knowing something in theory and achieving it in practice. AUT lecturers can offer both.

An interactive learning environment
Our emphasis is on your development as a business professional. Smaller more interactive classes help you achieve this. They allow for greater individual participation and they foster teamwork and interpersonal skills. Small classes provide an interactive learning environment with emphasis on the integration of theory and business practice.

Workplace Learning
The AUT Bachelor of Business includes for all students, real work experience in New Zealand or overseas. To date over 2500 AUT Bachelor of Business students have completed Co-operative Education in New Zealand with a significant proportion overseas.  Students apply what they have already learned and continue learning in professional working environments with real challenges and real solutions.  Students also develop working relationships and networks for the future.

Going Global
An understanding of the global business environment and the ability to work effectively with people from different cultures are essential to successful practice in business. We have had an active student exchange programme since 1995, enabling students to spend time studying or completing workplace learning overseas.  AUT Business currently has exchange partnerships with universities and business schools in Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Korea, Norway, Peoples Republic of China, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.

Networking through The Breakfast Club
Learning and networking go hand in hand in our Breakfast Club. Created and run by business students for students, The Breakfast Club is an informal forum for learning, debate and discussion. The Breakfast Club hosts an impressive list of notable guest speakers.

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)
SIFE is a global, not-for-profit education organisation that works in partnership with higher education and business to motivate teams of university students who teach others an understanding of the principles and values of market economics. 

The objective of SIFE AUT is to develop successful Education Outreach projects through engagement with the community and establishment of key business principles to ensure a positive outcome for each project.  

New Business Building
A 10,000m2 new building for the Faculty of Business opened in July 2005.  It is located on the corner of Mayoral Drive and Wakefield Street, close to the AUT library and student facilities. 

It features classrooms to the highest international standard designed to promote student learning and interaction.  Class sizes are typically 25 - 35, involving students working individually and in groups on issues and problems in a structured learning programme.  Case study rooms and innovative class and lecture room designs support dynamic and interactive teaching and learning approaches. 

The building is equipped to support wireless online access and liberally supplied with cable jacks so students can have computer access to web-based resources in any situation and laptops can be used to seamlessly integrate technology with classroom learning. 

The building has its own café, The Counter, and spaces throughout for students to meet.