This post is part of our series about the individual experience of studying with UNE Business School – we’ll be talking to current students, graduates and alumni over the coming months. If you have a story to share, or know someone who does, let us know via email.

Camille Erskine

Bachelor of Arts, Graduated October 2017

At UNE Business School we know that our students come from a wide variety of different backgrounds – we know that some of our students are coming to Management, or Economics, or Accounting for the first time. This is both the challenge and the reward for our teaching staff – to make key concepts understandable, applicable and practical.

We were very pleased to meet Camille, who came to visit the UNE Business School and several of our staff just before her graduation from a Bachelor of Arts last month, on 27 October. Camille has an awesome story that has seen her travelling the world, all the while quietly working away at an undergraduate degree. Our interest was piqued when Camille won a pile of CPA Australia Awards, presented earlier this year, for her outstanding results in AFM101 – Introduction to Financial Accounting and AFM112 – Introduction to Management Accounting. Camille was also awarded the CPA Australia Prize for First Year Students in Accounting Studies for her hard work.

So how did Camille come to Accounting via the Bachelor of Arts? We were happy to sit down to chat with Camille, who shared with us a little bit of the story that finally brought her to Armidale for the first time to graduate.

Like so many UNE students, Camille found us as the best option to start studying externally, part time while she pursued another career. Camille started originally with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Law back in 2007 – she worked through one subject at a time, eventually building a Major in French and continuing on to a second major in Italian. At this point in time, Camille was still submitting her spoken assessment tasks on cassette, via the post. Camille’s study situation held a lot in common with many of UNE’s external student contingent, with a slight difference: Camille was studying from Prague in the Czech Republic, where she was dancing in the Czech National Ballet. With an advantage in the opportunity to make use of the language she was studying, Camille managed a dedicated dance career as she worked through one subject at a time. Camille explains that a dancer’s professional career is relatively short, and she wanted to start working towards her future after her time performing.

A move to the National Theatre Ballet Brno, still in the Czech Republic and further study saw Camille move into studying Italian, which she would eventually build to a double major. Camille also began some of the Law units, working towards her second Bachelor’s degree. She tells us these were rewarding units, and enjoyable, but a challenge to study from so far away. In 2015, Camille made the decision to retire from dancing, and her husband Radim Kafka, also a retired ballet dancer, made the move to return to Australia.

A change in location and focus allowed Camille to make some decisions about her study. It was at this point she decided to complete her Bachelor of Arts in full with UNE, counting her completed Law units as electives and working to meet requirements for her second Major in Italian. This left her with 3 elective units to complete, and here is where UNE Business School was happy to welcome her to our Accounting units.

At school I did Maths, Physics and Chemistry, so I knew I liked that area – I decided ‘ok, I’ll try Accounting’, and I really liked it!

Camille quickly stood out as a star, taking out CPA awards with her outstanding marks. She speaks enthusiastically of her lecturers for these units, Dr Ashfaq Khan, Mr Brent Gregory and Dr Leopold Bayerlein, and in fact Camille was lucky enough to be one of Brent’s students during his ‘Pokemon Go’ phase – “it was amazing to hear an academic say he wanted to be in the shoes of his students, learning something new and out of his comfort zone!”.

Our staff were pleased to meet Camille in person for the first time during her visit to Armidale for graduation –

I have made the most of being in Armidale to meet Brent, Leo and [Course Co-ordinator for Accounting] Omar – to say hello, but also to ask them for their opinions on where I should take my career next.

What is next for Camille? We’re hoping to see her new-found affinity for accounting take her exciting new places – she’s considering a Masters of Professional Accounting, but after keeping in contact with CPA Australia after her awards earlier in the year, is also looking at options for the CPA Program. Of course, Camille is looking for that elusive work-study-family balance so many of our students are constantly striving for, parenting her daughter Kiara (who recently celebrated her first birthday) with her husband Radim and working as a ballet teacher at the Ecole Ballet and Dance Theatre in Sydney. Camille is thankful to her whole family who have been so encouraging and supportive throughout the duration of her studies. Her mother, Julie, her sister Odette and her husband Radim were all able to come to her graduation – she shares, “without them I wouldn’t be here graduating”.

There are some exciting decisions to make! We hope to stay in touch with Camille – and congratulate her on her recent graduation.