87 year old MBA student shows age is no barrier

Alan Pearson has just finished his first assignment and is sweating on his results. The MBA student at the Australian Maritime College has been retired for a while and he's worried he might be a little off the pace.

When the former career mariner says he's been retired for a while he's not exaggerating. When Alan first went to sea on a cargo ship from Liverpool the Spanish Civil War was in full swing, Wallis Simpson was planning her wedding to Edward VIII and Hitler was telling Germany about his grand plans for racial purity and world domination. Down in the antipodes Joseph Lyons was Prime Minister, Donald Bradman's team beat England at the MCG to retain the ashes and bouncing babies Dawn Fraser and Kerry Packer were busy screaming the lead-based paint of the walls.

It's remarkable enough to think of the world that Alan left onshore when he first went to sea in 1937. It's perhaps more remarkable that, at 87, he's is enthusiastically throwing himself into his Maritime and Logistics Management MBA at AMC. At an age when most seniors are doing the crossword to stay sharp, he's reading, researching and writing academic works. But it's not just study for study's sake. He has his reasons.

"It had always been a thing of mine that the Masters Certificate should be degree level so I thought I'd keep in contact with the Australian Maritime College and see if I could get things changed. Then I thought I should show I was sincere about it so I did two graduate diplomas - one in port and terminal management and one in business," Alan said

"I decided to do the MBA because, first of all, I'm retired _ I've been retired for quite a while _ but secondly, I thought if I want to get on the soapbox about degrees I'd better go and get one."

Alan's happy to admit studying at his age is not all plain sailing but he's always been up for a challenge. Since moving to Australia _ "I started with the Dept of shipping and transport on the 2nd of January 1952" _ he's lived in Sydney, Adelaide, Newcastle, Melbourne and Hobart and undertaken various departmental roles. He had originally planned to come to Australia for a couple of years but within those two years he was married and the road eventually led to Melbourne. His age may have taken him away from the water, but he believes his MBA keeps him mentally sharp and in touch with his former career. And in the end, he's no different to any other student.

"I've just completed the first assignment which I hope's all right. I'm waiting with bated breath to see how it has gone," he said.

"With the first assignment I had to do a bit of head scratching for a while but it's interesting, very interesting. First of all you've got to roll your memories back a bit. At my age you've got to keep going or you lose your marbles so it gives me a challenge to look forward to. I wouldn't say it's difficult but it's not easy. You've got to do a lot of concentrated reading and try and absorb it all, so you've got to make a few notes, but it's in between _ it's not easy but it's not hard if you concentrate."

Unlike a lot of students, Alan won't be hitting the job market when he's finished. And while he wouldn't say no to another crack at life in the shipping industry, he's realistic about his chances.

"I'd love to but I can't imagine anybody wanting to employ me," he laughed. "But you know I have interests. After I retired I commanded a sailing vessel for a while so I wouldn't mind the odd trip back to sea. For a few years my wife and I have taken cruises but the thing is I'm a bit like a dinosaur. Ships are so much bigger and so different from when I was at sea. Crews are much smaller. When I was at sea a 12,000 ton ship was a big ship. A 200,000 ton tanker is an average ship these days. So it's nice to try and keep in touch and this course is a very good way to do that."

Even at 87 Alan Pearson's philosophy on life is pretty simple. He comes across as a straight up man with an old school work ethic.

"By all means you should accept the challenge and go for it. You've got to reach the top of your profession, don't you? When you start as a boy that's where you hope you'll end up. When I went to sea the whole peak of your ambition was to be a ship's master. Of course now they don't stay at sea that long. New fields are opening all the time. Commanding a ship is still a great thing but if you want to get into the managerial field you've got to work towards it so my advice to anyone is set your sights high."

Information released by:
Media Office
Australian Maritime College
Phone: 6335 4484
Mobile: 0429 117 000
Email: p.cranny@amc.edu.au