Pro Vice-Chancellor's Welcome

At the Waikato Management School (WMS), our purpose is to empower people to grow thriving businesses, a thriving society, and a thriving world.

These are more than words on a page; they inform all that we do from research to teaching to stakeholder engagement.

We genuinely work to empower people to grow – be they students, staff or stakeholders – and it is critical that we measure success in commercial, social and environmental terms. While this kind of holistic value creation has now become popular for many organisations, at WMS it is the way we have always thought.

Key to delivering this purpose, and what sets us apart from other business schools, is our belief in the importance of character – a person’s curiosity, creativity, capability and ability to collaborate – as the strategic advantage for people seeking to make a positive impact. We seek to grow the character of our students through an emphasis on real world experiences that connect world-class scholarship with the world of practice.

This sense of purpose is rooted in a strong sense of identity. The founders of Waikato Management School in 1972 were committed to challenging the model of business and management education in New Zealand, with an approach that went beyond the traditional subjects, and beyond the classroom and into the workplace.

As a community, we are proud to have a highly international staff and student population, truly being a place of global talent and ideas. We’re also proud to be deeply connected to our home in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, to Aotearoa / New Zealand, and to te ao Māori, our indigenous culture, which places strong emphasis on balancing financial social and environmental outcomes.

Our lecturers are sought-after researchers and consultants, with links to leading companies and government agencies around the world. They are constantly responding to complex global issues, meaning our students are learning from experts in the field who are at the forefront of new thinking in business and management.

The drive for excellence is embedded in Waikato Management School's DNA and has led to many great achievements over the last 50 years.

• WMS was the first business school in New Zealand to achieve the prestigious Triple Crown Accreditation, which we still hold today. It places us in the top 1% of business schools globally.
• We were ranked number one in New Zealand for Business and Economics in the 2022 Global Times Higher Education Subject Rankings.
• We were also one of the first business schools to adopt sustainability at the centre of our strategy, and many of our scholars research widely in sustainability related topics ranging from strategy to finance to economics.

We are proud of the Waikato Management School and the positive impact it makes in the world, and we invite and welcome you to join us.

Matt Bolger
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Waikato Management School