Xiaonan Xu

Study hard and make progress every day - that’s the advice MBA graduate Xiaonan Xu gives to those considering a New Zealand education.

He definitely adheres to his own advice. When Xu first started at the Auckland Institute of Studies (AIS) at St Helens, Auckland, in 2000, he was in the lower levels of the AIS English Language Centre. However he advanced quickly, completing the pre-MBA course and starting his MBA in International Business in May 2001.

With the MBA now under his belt, he has left for Boston, USA, where the rest of his family live. “I hope to get to America, get a job there and also continue with some part-time studies,” he says.

Xu has devoted a lot of his life to the classroom. In addition to the qualifications he gained at AIS St Helens, he has Diplomas in Financial Accounting and Industry and Commerce Management. Xu also boasts eight years work experience in three different companies so he’s no stranger to the business world either. In fact, he worked for Avon for four-and-a-half years before coming to New Zealand and used the company for his MBA research topic. Through interviews, questionnaires and other techniques, he looked at “How to Enhance the Performance of Avon (China) Chengdu branch, by the Improvement of Customer Service.”

Xu describes Auckland as “a clean, huge city” and chose to come here because of the nice weather, kind people, high quality education and low tuition and living costs.