Nurturing worldwide business leaders

Most management education focuses on ideas and concepts that help businesspeople stay one step ahead of challenges and the competition. The Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia (UBC) believes that a global perspective is an element gaining in importance. The school, in Vancouver, Canada, draws from the city's internationalism which is much reflected in its MBA programme. The school offers 15-month full-time and 28-month part-time MBA programmes. For the full-time mode, among the 120 to 130 students admitted every year, more than half are from outside Canada, representing 25 to 30 countries. Therefore the programme sees one of the highest percentages of international students in North America. Besides being culturally diverse, the students are varied in their industry experience and academic backgrounds because they have been educated in many other disciplines, including engineering, social sciences and law. Despite the differences in duration of study, the heart of the two study modes is the award-winning 'integrated core'. The integrated core is an intensive 13-week foundation in finance, marketing, accounting, human resources, statistics, managerial economics and information systems. The integrated core is team-taught as one comprehensive course to focus on the complexity of the business environment. Subject areas are taught individually and from an integrated perspective, so students can develop an understanding of the multi-dimensions of business. Associate director of admissions and recruitment of the school's MBA programme Arthur Redillas explained why the integrated core was used. 'We emphasise real-world concepts and, as business is rarely conducted in individual silos, we expect our students to be able to examine business from many angles at the same time.' Students are able to customise their MBA degrees by choosing from eight specialisation studies and four optional sub-specialisations. They help students develop in-depth business expertise in areas critical in today's business world. Popular specialisations include finance, strategic management and entrepreneurship. Mr Redillas said that in the course 'new venture technology', which was patterned on the one offered at Stanford, MBA students were paired with PhD students in science and engineering to develop a business plan that focused on new technology. The student groups were coached by professors from business and engineering faculties of UBC and Stanford. At the end of the course the groups presented their business plans to a panel of venture capitalists from Silicon Valley, Seattle and Vancouver, and the winning business plan would be awarded a scholarship to develop the plan. The school is one of the first few to touch on the issues of corporate social responsibility in its MBA programme. Last year a specialisation in sustainability and business was developed to link the modern business reality of balancing profitability with critical sustainability practices. The specialisation was initiated by the school and the UBC Faculty of Forestry. They are now co-teaching the curriculum. In time experts from other academic areas such as environmental science and geography will be included. Dale Griffin, senior associate dean of the school, said the school had an edge in specialisation. 'UBC is an international leader in research and practice in sustainability and Vancouver offers a world-class concentration of research and development centres on sustainable energy. So we think we have some unique advantages,' he said. Students are required to complete an industry project or participate in an eight- to 12-week internship when finishing the specialisation study. Students' industry projects have a global outlook such as comparing corporate sustainable issues in North America and Japan, an d the potential implications of United States-European Union open skies agreements between US and European airlines. The Business Career Centre (BCC) of the school works directly with firms to generate internship postings. Examples of recent companies hiring UBC-MBA interns are Citibank, Crabtree & Evelyn, Ernst & Young and YVR - Vancouver International Airport. Almost half of this year's graduates found successful employment through the BCC. Also this year MBA graduates found employment in various sectors of the business community including finance, business development, general management, business consulting and marketing. Though most graduates pursued a career in Canada, some chose to work in other parts of the world, including Asia. The school also offers outbound opportunities to its full-time students. Under the 'international exchange programme', they can study in Australia, Brazil, France and Singapore. The Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology are among the partner schools. A UBC Asia-Pacific regional office was established in Hong Kong in 2005 to serve the entire region. The school has offered an international MBA in Shanghai since 2002 with modules designed to include comparative studies of North American and Chinese companies and business models.