UNE launches online courses for succession and transition planning

The Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma in Transition and Succession Planning are aimed at upskilling a range of people involved in family businesses, such as farm business consultants, family counsellors, lawyers, and financial advisors.

The courses cover areas such as dispute resolution, communication, and legal issues.

Course coordinator Dr Andrew Lawson said Australia's ageing population needed experts to help manage the transition and pass businesses down the family tree.

"At the moment, there is no dedicated university qualification for transition and succession planners," Dr Lawson said.

"People within the sector with whom we work closely believe a qualification such as the one we've developed will help enhance the professional standing of the field."

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The courses were developed following research by the UNE Business School and the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law into farm succession and gender discrimination.

UNE Business School's Dr Lucie Newsome said daughters were often overlooked when the family property changed hands.

"Despite the wider social norms of women's increasing participation in paid work and formal leadership roles, a key barrier to daughters being nominated as the successor in intergenerational transfers of family farms continues to be the social construct of both the farmer and the entrepreneur as masculine," Dr Newsome said.

"Patterns of property transfer can influence the sustainability and flexibility of family farming, as well as the industry's ability to respond to our changing environment.

Gender norms not only constrain women, but also men."

The courses are being offered online to anyone with a relevant Bachelor qualification. Enrolments for Trimester 3 are open until October 23.

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