Lily Bucher-Edwards embodies the Tasmanian spirit. Her passion for this beautiful island is palpable. Lily says she always knew that she wanted to stay in Tasmania, so she decided to follow her creativity and study a Bachelor of Business with honours at the University of Tasmania.
Lily says there’s something unique about learning about Marketing and Business in Tasmania. There are unique and creative opportunities like doing a Marketing report for the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife service as your internship project. Or analysing 250 labels for spirit bottles for place of origin. Or both, if you’re Lily.
“I love Tassie,” says Lily.
I knew that I wanted to stay within Tasmania. For me, my end goal was always to work for a Tassie company. I wanted to study at a Tasmanian university. My dad taught at UTAS so it was nice having the family connection there.
“I always knew that I didn’t want
to go to the mainland and study.
“You know, we’ve got this great
university just on our doorstep.
“I really like that uniqueness of UTAS being Tasmania’s only
university.
“I needed to embrace that and study
within Tassie because I knew I didn’t want to leave the state just yet.”
While studying a Bachelor of Business, Lily took advantage of some great opportunities, including an
internship with Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife, one full workday a week
for 10 weeks, producing a Marketing and Communications report.
That was really interesting because you get the hands-on knowledge of how the organisation works
“And being in that real industry,
but then you get to work on your own little project so it kind of feels like
you’re working for them in a way which was really nice.
“It was just a nice change from sitting down in lectures and
tutorials.
For everyone doing business, it’s a really fantastic experience and it really sets you up for what it’s going to be like working full time.
Tasmanians are a humble people, and
Lily is just that, a quiet achiever. Lily received First Class Honours in
Marketing in 2019 and received the University Medal for the College of
Business and Economics. For her honours, Lily received the Nick Cretan Tasmania
University Scholarship in Tourism and/or Marketing. Not that she would ever boast
about any of it.
From looking at over 250 spirit labels
in her honours project, Lily now knows a thing or two about place of origin
marketing. She also knows how the brand Tasmania is used to market high-quality
products.
I was looking at anything that indicated country of origin or place of origin. So that could be ‘made in Australia’ or ‘made in Tasmania’ or if the place or country were in the name of the product. Like Van Diemen’s Gin.
“I think that the most interesting thing that I did find in
the study was that with Tasmanian whisky and gin, they really are selling the
place aspect a lot more than any other state.”
Honours projects aren’t just for the scientifically inclined. There are also fantastic research topics in the creative industries and business just waiting to be explored. Ever wanted to deep dive into something truly fascinating? And produce a bound thesis at the end? And broaden your job prospects? Then at only nine months long, an honours degree might just be for you, says Lily.
I would 100% recommend doing honours. Because what it comes down to is that you get to research what you want to research.
“It’s not your honours supervisor who says, ‘you need to
research this’, it’s you having a conversation with your honours supervisor
about this is what I’ve been thinking or this part of business interests me.
“So, you can actually choose something that you’re really
passionate about or really interested in, and it really gives you the freedom to
study and do what you want to do.
“It’s very creative. I really enjoyed my honours year.
“It was only for nine months and it does go by really
quickly.
“While you’re there I would say continue on for another nine
months and then you can graduate with a Bachelor of Business with Honours.
Find out more about studying Business at the University of Tasmania here.