IPM Fellow Nikki Griffith, our first graduate from the MSc in Place Management and Leadership in Australia, writes about her journey on the course
by Nikki Griffith
My journey with place management began in Pittwater Council when I went from working in the Parks & Recreation team to working with the newly formed Place Management team back in 2014. The place management team was a multidisciplinary team that consisted of urban designers, landscape architects, arts & culture, events, economic development and an enliven project officer.
The team was focussed on opportunities to strengthen both the social, cultural and economic interplay within our commercial centres and was based on an activation project – ‘Enliven Pittwater’. The team delivered on key social, cultural and economic development outcomes across Pittwater aiming to enhance and revitalise the street life across the town and village centres.
Then the suggestion of amalgamation of 3 councils on the Northern Beaches was looming in 2016 and although I had some Diploma’s had no formal qualifications and was then the Manager of the Place management team.
I discovered that there were no formal qualifications in Place Management available in Australia at that time and the only places that delivered qualifications in this discipline were in the US and the UK. I then investigated a Masters in Local Government or an MBA which neither course really interested me at that time.
I reached out to the Institute of Place Management that put me in touch with Professor Cathy Parker from Manchester Metropolitan University, who after a number of conversations around how we could make this work from Australia to the UK and negate the need for me to attend a residency prior to each course session in Manchester, I agreed to take the plunge and enrol for the course.
I did go to the UK twice over the 3 year period and met the other students at the commencement of the course and then again midway through which was great to make that initial connection as we supported each other the whole way through. It was challenging at times to make the 9 hour time difference work for group assignments but we also formed a whatsapp group for discussions as we went along as well.
I was able to apply my work environment to all of the topics that came up for assignments and for my dissertation as council had just been handed back the management of the Manly Visitor Information Centre to come under the Place & Economic Development portfolio – I was able to model my topic for my dissertation on the “Role and Value of Visitor Information Centres”. I had no experience with the management of VIC’s at that time and the research undertaken for the dissertation provided me with invaluable insights into Visitor Information Centres and their value when Council decided to undertake a review of the service.
So at the end of the day even though it was tough to work full-time, manage a team and undertake a Master’s degree that was taught out of a Uni in Manchester and travel over there twice – it was a great experience and invaluable in terms of one of my career highlights.
You can find out more about the Postgraduate opportunities in Place Management and Leadership at MMU here.