Balancing Work, Family, and the Lecture Hall

Waltraud Kapeller, Business Management Graduate

Learning is like rowing against the current. If you stop, you drift backward. For me, learning is therefore a lifelong endeavor to maintain mental agility and stay current with the times.

After graduating from BHAK and immediately entering the workforce, she decided at the age of 47 to begin her studies.
“The curriculum of thepart-time Business Management program appealed to me above all because of the specialization courses. Another key factor in choosing this program was the block-style instruction combined with blended learning sessions. This approach to studying was well-suited to my needs, given my family, career, and the geographical distance,” she recalls.
It’s also important to her to mention that her goal wasn’t to climb the career ladder, but rather to enhance her professional role with new knowledge and thereby strengthen her position. Waltraud Kapeller has been employed in the finance and HR department at TUBEX in Wolfsberg for over 30 years. After completing her degree, she was able to expand her area of responsibility to include a focus on financial controlling.

“The program provided me with solid expertise in the field of economics and, through its interdisciplinary curriculum, helped me recognize connections that are essential for modern and contemporary work. Through the combined education in business–including, for example, the basics of information technology, the English language, and communication and conflict management–I was able to acquire skills that are useful not only in the professional world,” says the mother of two adult daughters. However, she also recalls challenging times, such as group projects, where the diversity of the group allowed her to learn a great deal–including about herself–or the demanding period during the pandemic, when new and untested ways of working had to be adopted and the workload and time commitment increased enormously.
“Globalization and digitalization are changing everyday professional life in ever-shorter cycles, and anyone who isn’t willing to keep learning will fall behind,” she is convinced.

To achieve her goal, she has set milestones for herself. The path was often very rocky, and without the support of her family as well as her social circle, this would not have been possible. Things were made easier on the family front by the fact that her husband was also completing a part-time degree program at the same time, and their two daughters were in college as well. “At times, there were days when all four of us had exams. It was really funny to see the mother-daughter conversations that suddenly arose, and we were able to help each other with questions about citation guidelines or sources for academic papers,” she still smiles about it today.

Her absolute highlight was submitting her bachelor’s thesis on her 50th birthday. This gave her two reasons to celebrate, and reaching this milestone filled her with a special sense of pride.

In summary, she would highly recommend her degree program to anyone, as while she invested an incredible amount of time, she also learned so much–and she’s able to apply these experiences both professionally and personally. Through her part-time degree program, she was able to demonstrate skills such as diligence, discipline, perseverance, and strong organizational skills to both her employer and herself, and every hurdle she overcame filled her with new self-confidence.

Waltraud Kapeller relaxes by decorating her home and garden, painting, taking city trips, or simply enjoying life with her positive outlook.