Waikato University Management School

It's a bold move when you've got four children to pack up the family and travel ten thousand kilometres to study for a masters degree.But Marisol Gutierrez and Juan Manuel Gonzalez have left their home in Santiago, Chile and enrolled at Waikato University Management School to study for their Masters of Management Studies.

"We started thinking about studying overseas back in 2006," says Juan Manuel. "We were both keen to study again and thought the children would benefit from time in another country."

The couple met at the University of Chile 20 years ago and are both civil industrial engineers and both have MBAs. "In Chile the undergraduate degree takes six years. In the third year you choose your major and Juan Manuel and I both chose business," says Marisol. "Then we got married and then we kept having children." The children aged between 16 and six were looked after by the same nanny for eleven years while Marisol worked in marketing for a state bank and Juan Manuel was CFO for Corona, a Chilean retailer company.

In Hamilton, where nannies aren't quite so commonplace, the children have learned to fend for themselves. "We knew it would be busy, with both of us studying so we've got rosters and timetables to cover household chores and cooking. So far it's working," says Marisol. She is studying international management and for her masters dissertation will probably look at the marketing of Chilean wine. (She thinks Chilean wine underrated and poorly marketed.) Juan Manuel is studying strategic management and is keen to look at innovation processes in a Chilean industry, possibly the retail or salmon industry.

"We looked at several universities in New Zealand and Australia," says Juan Manuel, "but we chose Waikato because we'd met their university and management school recruiting people in Chile and they were really helpful – nothing was a problem." The couple then had to organise applications, sit IELTS (English language) tests and tell the children, who luckily responded positively to the idea of moving far away.

The family arrived in Hamilton in January and had only been New Zealand a few days when they bought a tent and toured the Coromandel. They like the way New Zealanders spend their leisure time doing simple things, like picnicking and walking. "In Chile we're more likely to go to the mall or cinema and spend money," says Marisol. And while they're struggling to get used to eating dinner before 9 o'clock at night, they're happy with the way things are going so far. It's a lot quieter in Hamilton than Santiago and its population of six million.

"We like the trust here," says Juan Manuel. "We couldn't believe it when we wanted to buy plants and had to put the money in an honesty box! And opening a bank account took 15 minutes, not three days."
When they return to Chile, Marisol will initially go back to her marketing job at the bank, but says with her improved English, new business skills and a better global insight she may look for a position in a multinational company.

Juan Manuel says he will look for an executive position in a local or multinational company. "Before we left Chile I had meetings with some head hunters and explained why I was coming to New Zealand to study. I received positive feedback and I think the New Zealand experience and the masters degree will be an advantage when we return."

"The biggest thing," says Marisol, "is that we will return to Chile having learnt a lot about a different culture and different ways of thinking and doing business."