Council approves new one-year MBA program

At its Jan. 23 meeting, University Council approved a revised new Master of Business Administration program for the U of S that will offer an increased number of students an intensive 12-month route to an MBA with unique areas of specialization.

The new program has been in development since 1999 and the initiative took on urgency when Systematic Program Review (SPR) evaluation of the former MBA program in 2000 found it weak in a number of areas and gave it a 'C' ranking - meaning it had to change substantially or face possible termination.

College of Commerce Associate Dean for Graduate Program, Lou Hammond Ketilson, says the new one-year, September-August program will start this fall with a planned intake of 50 students, up from the usual 35-40 admitted to the old program. In three or four years, "we hope to increase that possibly to as high as 75," Hammond Ketilson adds.

She says tuition will be $16,000 - compared to about $10,000 that a student in the old program would have paid for a full courseload. A review of Canadian MBA programs a few months ago found an average tuition of $14,000.

The College is already marketing the new program to prospective students at MBA fairs and through employers. Hammond Ketilson says the demographics of students in the new program is expected to be different from the old - with more now coming from mid-career positions.

The College has also put up a website explaining the new program, at: www.commerce.usask.ca/programs/mba

Program materials say "The objective of the MBA program is to transform students from a variety of organizational backgrounds, training and experience, into business leaders and management professionals of outstanding integrity, ability, and leadership."

The 12-month program is made up of three four-month terms. In the first term students take an integrated core of courses teaching the central tasks of management. In the second and third terms they take courses in areas of specialization or, if they choose a generalized program, some courses from each area of specialization.

The U of S has one of the last MBA programs in the country to move to specializations.

But Hammond Ketilson is excited about the transformation, saying the specializations build on U of S strengths and will offer students unique management degrees that will help them in the work world.

The specializations are: Agribusiness Management; Biotechnology Management; Indigenous Management; Health Services Management; and International Business Management (in 2004).

Plans call for four additional faculty to be hired to help teach the program.

The MBA proposal took many months to go through Council's approval process. Council's Academic Programs Committee had concerns about implementation of the new program.

In the end, Council approved the new program, but also decided it must be reviewed by SPR no later than 2006-07 - and Council's Planning Committee has voted to require that the Colleges of Commerce and Graduate Studies & Research provide a progress report on details of the new program, including student and faculty recruitment; finances; and course evaluation.

News Index

Home · About Us · Issue dates · Submissions · AD Information · Back Issues · Headline Index · OCN Policies