Jason Chuei
 Jason Chuei
Student
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"I liked MBS because of its reputation, facilities and ranking. The January intake and exchange program also appealed."
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His classmates from vet school are established in compassionate careers as vets throughout the world, however Jason Chuei is looking at the bigger picture.
His long-term vision is to found or manage an international non-profit organisation to promote animal welfare and establish neutering programs worldwide
Achieving this requires an MBA, hence his decision to settle in Australia for the next 16 months to study at Melbourne Business School.
He says, "The MBA will provide the leadership and fundamental business skills necessary to achieve this goal. It will also provide access to the vast MBS alumni network throughout the world, comprising‘people who know how to make things happen'."
Jason entered the workforce after graduating from the University of Bristol in 2004 with a degree in Veterinary Science. He spent the next three years working as a small animal vet, and studying for a Masters degree in Wild Animal Health, and later a Postgraduate Diploma in Forensics.
After his studies and time in practice, he joined a veterinary nutraceutical company that specialised in providing nutritional supplements for animals.
As the UK and international technical manager, and the only vet in the company, his work often involved travelling five days a week, working weekends and regularly working 12-hour days.
"It was getting too much", he says, "so after five months, I handed in my notice on a Monday, obtained a working holiday visa and booked flights on the Thursday, and flew out on Saturday, arriving in Sydney on Sunday."
He spent a few days in Sydney, then travelled up the East coast to Brisbane, then on to Auckland, Rarotonga, Melbourne, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, London, Cape Town, Kuching, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur, before finally returning to Melbourne at the beginning of January 2009.
"I took my GMAT in Jakarta a few days before Christmas, submitted a completed application to MBS later that day, then found out I had been offered a place about ten days before the course was due to start," he says.
While he was in the Cook Islands, Jason was head vet for a voluntary charity clinic for three weeks, where he worked with dogs and cats and the occasional pig, all with horrendous illnesses and injuries, making do with out-of-date drugs, no X-ray facilities' or even a blood machine.
He describes this experience, along with his observations of emaciated and deprived animals in South America, South Africa and Asia, as "inspiring".
"A vet on the ground does a fantastic job, but is only touching the surface. I've always wanted to do an MBA, but seeing these things has inspired me further to get into management and achieve much more."
It was when he was visiting Cape Town Business School that he came across the MBS MBA. "I liked Melbourne Business School because of its reputation, facilities and ranking. The January intake and exchange program also appealed."
"I applied to a few US business schools as well, but they didn't begin until September and I didn't want to wait another nine months before I got started."
He added that full-time MBAs at US business schools, such as Harvard, take two years to complete. "Committing to that amount of time and US$100,000 in fees made the decision easier. I preferred a shorter program so I could get out there and start making a difference."
Jason has only been at MBS for a week, but already he's impressed. "The building is lovely, the facilities immaculate and the diversity of students is impressive with more than 20 countries represented in the classroom."
Access to such a worldwide network will be highly advantageous to his plans in future.
UPDATE Sept 09
Having accelerated his MBA into 12 months, Jason hopes to further his study at MBS by doing the Masters of Marketing after finishing the MBA in January, scholarship/funding dependent. He views the brand equity and marketing strategy of charitable organisations to be an area of weakness, and hopes to focus on these aspects once his foundation has been established.
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