Graduating Master of Management student steps into new role in the classroom
When Batbold Tumurbat arrived in Canada, he brought with him nearly two decades of academic achievement. He held a PhD in Education Management, had published close to 100 scholarly publications, and his career had taken him from professor to dean to visiting lecturer in China. What he didn’t yet have was a Canadian credential. That single realization set him on a path that would lead him back to something he had always believed in – learning.
“I strongly believe in lifelong learning, and that philosophy inspired me to become a student again,” he said.
Batbold chose the Master of Management program at University of Niagara Falls Canada for practical reasons; it aligned with his professional goals and offered a shorter path than a second PhD. Reflecting on his time here, he said what he ended up finding at UNF exceeded his expectations. As one of the program’s very first students, he stepped into uncharted territory alongside a cohort of learners from around the world.
“Being among the first cohort was both exciting and rewarding,” he recalls. “I have always enjoyed being part of new initiatives and pioneering experiences.”
For someone who had spent years designing curricula and leading graduate programs, sitting on the other side of the desk offered a genuinely fresh vantage point. The Canadian classroom, with its emphasis on collaborative learning, flipped classroom models, and technology-driven instruction, was a different world from the theory-heavy, thesis-based academic culture he had known in Mongolia. Adapting to that shift, while simultaneously settling into a new country, made his first term the most demanding of the experience.
Yet it was also, he said, one of the richest. Studying alongside students from dozens of countries gave him a multicultural learning environment unlike anything in his previous academic life, one where he found himself both sharing his extensive experience and genuinely learning from others.
Batbold threw himself fully into life at UNF. He earned a place on the President’s Academic Distinction List and the Academic Merit List, received the UNF Spirit Award, and took on roles as a course representative, student spotlight participant, and volunteered for New Student Orientation. For his Capstone Project, he collaborated with a local business to develop a real-world growth marketing plan, a type of hands-on, applied work that stood in stark contrast to the research projects of his earlier academic life.
He chose the Entrepreneurship concentration in his third term, drawn by a desire to understand innovation and venture financing from the inside. It was, like so much of this program, a deliberate investment in building something new.
That investment has already paid off in a way Batbold could hardly have anticipated. Just months after completing the program, he was invited to join UNF’s faculty.
“Only a few months ago, I was a student here, and today I am proud to serve as a professor,” he says. “Returning to the classroom as a faculty member gives me a unique perspective. I understand the student experience firsthand, and that helps me connect more effectively with learners.”
In his own courses, he aims to do what he feels the program did for him: bridge theory and practice in a way that leaves students with something durable.
“I want student to leave each course with at least one meaningful skill, insight, or professional competency that will contribute to their future careers,” he said.
As he prepares to cross the stage at Spring Convocation, Batbold sees the moment as more than milestone for himself.
“Convocation is more than a graduation ceremony,” he said. “It is a celebration of dedication, perseverance, and personal growth.”
For a scholar who has already earned one doctorate and built a distinguished career across two continents, that perspective carries particular weight. This degree, he said, is not an ending but rather, it’s a beginning.
Making Their Mark is a series of graduating student profiles celebrating the Class of 2026. Batbold will be one of the more than 900 graduands crossing the stage at UNF’s inaugural Convocation on May 21.
