Couple achieve scholarship first

A Wellington couple have recently achieved a rather unusual academic result.

While couples striving for the same academic award is perhaps nothing unusual in itself, Karen McGeough and Grant Piercey may have taken such competition to new levels.

McGeough and Piercey both studied for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at Victoria University this year and both passed with distinction. In addition, McGeough and Piercey, who are engaged to be married, were both awarded the Innovus Postgraduate Scholarship for excellence in Business Studies.

It was the first time the Innovus scholarship worth $3,000 per annum had been jointly awarded, as the scholarship committee had great difficulty separating the couples achievements. While their individual grades were different their marks averaged out exactly the same with both students being awarded joint top grades.

This led the scholarship committee to ask for a final recommendation from course organisers and it was only then that they became aware of the couples relationship.

McGeough, is currently working for the IRD in their technology advancement group while Piercey is working in finance at Tower Managed Funds. Ultimately they plan to use the skills they learned through their MBA studies to run their own business.

As McGeough notes, their studies at Victoria proves they can work comfortably together and successfully compete against each other - which should lead to some interesting business results!

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