Maggie Liu
A nine-week short course was Maggie Liu’s path to a promotion. The then 40-year-old was working as a Quality Co-ordinator for global outdoor, lifestyle and sports company Kathmandu when she undertook a quality assurance course at Ara Institute of Canterbury.
The course was an obvious choice for Maggie as it related directly to her job, however she was a little anxious initially because the course was listed among laboratory science programmes and she thought it might be science focused.
She was relieved to discover that it was far broader. “It turned out that the quality principle taught in the course can be applied in any business environment and is absolutely useful,” she says.
Maggie was impressed with how practical the course was. “The tutor used a lot of real life and real work examples to demonstrate how quality works. Also, there are many topics to choose from, so you can link the principle to your own work or life.”
Maggie particularly enjoyed participating in the group discussions which she says were inspiring. “Theys really helped me to understand why and how people are thinking in different ways.”
At the completion of her course, Maggie passed with an A+ grade, something she’s very proud of. She’s also thrilled that her expanded skillset led to her being promoted to the role of Supplier Quality Coordinator at Kathmandu.
“My aim now is to promote and influence continuous improvement and reduce quality cost where possible,” she says.
Maggie encourages others to do the Quality Assurance course, which is now delivered online. “I can highly recommend it.”