Please tell us your name, nationality and where, when and what you studied in Queensland?
Phillip Dowler, Australian, University of Southern Queensland, Business & Commerce (Accounting)
How has your experience in Queensland helped you with your career?
The degree I studied gave me the fundamentals I needed in business and to have self confidence that I could now say I have a level of expertise to go with my previous experience.
Can you share your student journey (why did you decide to study what you studied and why did you decide to study in Queensland)?
I have been fortunate to have a varied career. My working life started in hospitality. After a while, I decided I would like to follow a different career path and returned to study.
I had always wanted to be a chef or an accountant while at high school. I ended up qualifying as both. Being a chef taught me discipline and time management; being an accountant gave me a detailed understanding of business. It is now second nature, but skills I developed through education.
I chose USQ (University of Southern Queensland) as I knew it had a solid reputation in distance education. I was living in in Mackay (a regional city in Queensland) when I returned to study and it offered part-time study arrangements.
Being a Queensland institution gave me a sense of loyalty to the state I was living in at the time.
What are you doing now in your career?
I have now lived in worked in Vietnam for over eight years.
I’m no longer a chef or accountant; I now lead the team at RMIT University Hanoi.
As I have said before, I have had a fortunate life. I would never has imagined 20 years ago I would be living overseas.
So, it’s best to prepare for the unexpected, be willing to take the challenge or that out of the box opportunity.
Can you share any ongoing ties to Queensland?
Even though I now have lived in Vietnam for close on ten years, I still have strong ties back to Queensland.
I have two daughters and two grandsons living in Brisbane.
One of my daughters studied a dual Business/Law degrees at Griffith University, with my eldest daughter completing a property degree at Central Queensland University.