The 2007 Guide to MBAs in B.C.

Image by: Paul Joseph

With our province now boasting at least 10 MBA options for prospective students, ambitious, business-minded British Columbians don’t have to go far to find a program to power their career trajectory.

The trick is nailing down the right one. Which is why BCBusiness has compiled the first-ever overview of MBA schools available in the province. And rather than simply reel off a list of courses on offer, we’ve given you insights into the mood and culture you’ll find in each school, so you can get a feel for how they’ll fit with your personality, goals and lifestyle.

Our writers fanned out across the province for first-hand looks at sites, from Vancouver to Victoria to Prince George. If you want to get a taste of the executive ranks, there’s Simon Fraser University’s flashy new downtown campus, where students in pinstripe suits rub shoulders with visiting dignitaries from the upper echelons of the business community. At the other end of the spectrum, there’s the University of Northern B.C.’s Prince George campus, where students from all over the province hunker down once a month for intense three-day learning weekends, surrounded by lush forests and wandering moose.

If it’s flexibility you’re after, options range from once-a-week evening courses at the University of Phoenix’s Lower Mainland and Victoria sites to flexible combinations of on-campus and online programs at Victoria’s University Canada West.
We’ve rounded out our package with an at-a-glance table summarizing key statistics including tuition, enrollment and program length. And we’ve added tips on how to finance your return to school – and even get your MBA for free.

UBC - Laid-back vibe
Every day is casual day at UBC’s Sauder School of Business If you were to swing by the MBA student lounge in UBC’s Henry Angus Building on a Thursday night, you’d be greeted with a drink, snacks and an invitation to join in a game of foosball. According to Steve Champion, president of the MBA Association, Thursdays are Lounge Lizard night, a chance for students to blow off some steam and take a break from the intense pressure of the 15-month program.

“The course load is heavy,” admits Champion, who, at 40, is about 10 years beyond the average age of his fellow classmates. “I was up till four in the morning last night.”
Champion, former co-president and director of business and product development for DC3 Entertainment in Seattle, is one of 100 students currently enrolled in the school’s 15-month MBA program (another 50 are enrolled in the part-time 28-month program). He is not alone in coming from another country; about 50 per cent of the students hail from abroad, largely from India and China, as well as Europe, Latin America and the U.S.

In a marketing class taught by popular instructor Darren Dahl, the international makeup of the students is evident. During a classroom discussion about the marketing strategy of baldness-prevention product Rogaine, one South Asian young man observes that a famous Bollywood actor shaved his head when he began losing his hair. “Now, he actually looks quite sexy. Really!” the student exclaims. Good-natured laughter ensues, led by the young, charismatic professor in jeans and a casual short-sleeved shirt.

Dahl’s look may not be in sync with the corporate world, but this is, after all, a university. While the MBA program may be preparing students for a life in business, the dress code here is strictly casual, in keeping with the campus vibe. Despite the general informality, the school’s program is a rigid one that has ranked consistently well in the Financial Times annual ranking of the top 100 global MBA programs, averaging a spot of 64 over the past three years. Its “integrated core” element is an intensive 13-week foundation in finance, marketing, accounting, human resources, statistics, managerial economics and information systems. In addition to classroom lectures, students are treated to presentations from such local business luminaries as Chip Wilson, founder of Westbeach Sports Inc. and Lululemon Athletica; Bjorn Moller, president and CEO of Teekay Shipping Corp.; and Jimmy Pattison, president and CEO of The Jim Pattison Group.

“The students call it boot camp,” confesses assistant dean and director of MBA programs Wendy Ma. Spending all their hours together on rigorous projects, students develop a bond that verges on tribal pride. The MBAs have their own sports teams that regularly compete against teams from other university faculties. The only thing missing, say students, is a high-end facility. The building currently housing the program looks more like an old high school, complete with dented metal lockers, than a cutting-edge business school. Thankfully, a $65-million extension and renovation has been given the go-ahead, to be completed over the next three or four years. The upgraded digs will give students a nicer playground and also help boost enrollment. “If we have more classroom space or larger classrooms, it will enable us to take more students into the programs,” says Ma.
(byline)– Jessica Werb

UBC - Try before you buy
The Sauder School of Business has a number of specializations and sub-specializations to choose from, most of which are exactly what you’d expect on offer from a business school: entrepreneurship, finance, marketing and strategic management, for example. But this year, the school is offering a new specialization in sustainability, developed and taught in conjunction with the faculty of forestry.
Dale Griffin, associate dean of academic programs, explains that there’s “a big intellectual push” for programs that examine how to incorporate social values into the business curriculum. He adds that forestry is a leader in that area, with green harvesting techniques now a big issue around the world.

Because the program only began recently, just three students are currently enrolled in the specialization. Rebecca Pearson, 25 (one of the younger students), is one of them. “I became interested particularly in Sauder because I heard that they were starting this specialization this year,” she says. She adds that the school’s reputation for having a strong chapter of Net Impact, an MBA society focused on improving the world through business, was another big draw. Pearson, a University of Southern California grad, took advantage of a mentoring option and has been matched with Vancity CEO Dave Mowat, whom she recently met for the first time.

“One of the things mentors offer that is incredibly valuable is their network,” notes Steve Champion, president of UBC’s MBA Association. He regretfully adds that with a two-year-old and three-month-old at home, he didn’t find time to apply. Mentors may also help students set up their internships, which have taken place at companies locally and around the globe. One student recently travelled the world on a freighter for Teekay Shipping Corp. Others have had placements with HSBC, Harmony Airways Inc. and Vancouver Coastal Health. About 20 per cent of interns receive offers of permanent employment from their internship employer. “It’s nice for the companies,” Griffin observes. “It’s like they get a chance to try before they buy.” – JW

Royal Roads - Ivy league
Royal Roads offers flexible schedule and multiple specialties
B.C.’s richest man used to hang his hat in this ivy-covered castle – not a bad celebrity endorsement for a place where MBAs are educated. (No, it wasn’t that Jimmy, but another one: coal baron James Dunsmuir.) Thousands of officers started careers in uniform here when it was a military academy – Alex Trebek was a first-year cadet dropout years before Jeopardy fame – and it has served Hollywood in a couple of X-men comic book movies.

These days, Hatley Castle is the signature building for 12-year-old Royal Roads University (RRU), which claims to be the only university in Canada that is also a national historic site. But the plain, one-storey Arbutus Building just inside the university gates, where most MBA classes are held, is a lot less imposing. The university’s marquee program attracts 90 students a year – Royal Roads uses the term learners – in spring and fall intakes. It targets “mid-career learners,” to use RRU’s term for successful people in business and government who want to move up the career ladder. They tend to be older than students in other university MBA programs, with their careers already in motion.

“It’s really terrific. I’m crazy about it,” says Pat Corrigan, director of marketing and development for Pacific Opera Victoria, whose employer is covering his tuition.
Chemical engineer Sudhir Lamba’s day job is at the Catalyst Paper mill in Campbell River, and he’s in the management consulting stream at RRU. “It’s very competitive. It’s not a piece of cake. They make us work very hard,” he says.

Bob Davidson, sales director for a maker of scientific instruments, lives in White Rock and considered MBA programs at SFU and UBC. “Believe it or not, it’s actually easier to attend Royal Roads,” he oberves. Like most of the MBA candidates, he lives on campus for three weeks at a time. “The opportunity to hang out with a number of really smart people was really great,” he says “They really taught us how to find information, how to ask questions and think critically.”

Stephen Long, acting dean for the Faculty of Management, is one of the six faculty who have been with the school since its inception. He calls himself a “late-stage academic” with varied work experience including stints at Xerox, as a federal government trainer, at a major accounting firm and as a consultant in Victoria. “We recognize that learning about business is not an academic experience,” Long says, adding that it’s more about the theory and practice of leadership: “We base admission on work experience more than academic experience.” Only 25 per cent of the course work relates to a student’s choice of specialization, and Royal Roads aims to turn out more generalists.

It also claims to have a cutting edge among MBA programs with its focus on sustainability issues. “I don’t understand how anyone can be prepared for the current business world without an understanding of sustainability issues,” says Will Low, instructor for the BUSA 535 sustainability course. The health of the ecosystem and the growth of the economy don’t have to be mutually exclusive, he tells his class during a lecture.

Ex-banker Mike Thompson, now an associate prof at RRU, talks of the “OCP” that is required to complete the program. Short for “organizational consulting project,” it’s equivalent to a 360-hour assignment by a consultant in the business world. “This is where the learners say, ‘Everything comes together for me now,’” notes Thompson.
The MBA experience has opened up new business directions for Davidson, who has spent half his life in sales and marketing and figures on 15 more years in his career. His OCP investigated the potential of tidal power at a pilot project recently installed on Race Rocks, about 10 kilometres from the university.

With an MBA, he says, “I should be able to compete for some pretty sweet jobs. It looks like there are going to be some opportunities. I wanted to do something that was a little different... to step out and grow a little bit.”
(byline)– Norman Gidney

RRU - The rigours of online learning
Students in the RRU MBA program spend three periods at the university, totaling nine weeks of classes, with personal assignments and team projects that fill the days and crowd the evenings during their residencies. When they’re back at their regular jobs, email, phone calls and a website let them keep up with a steady flow of assignments. They say it averages 25 hours a week. MBA candidates also work out their own face time together.

Residencies might appear to be a quiet time on campus, but forget the image of a calm retreat in the castle, tucked away in the square mile of surrounding forest and gardens. “It’s three weeks of hard work. It’s very challenging to keep up with the workload,” says White Rock resident Bob Davidson, who is in the management consulting stream. His employer has agreed to a four-day work week to help him balance job, family and school.

“It’s certainly a lot more work than I thought it would be,” admits Pat McCormick, but “even in a short time, I find so much that’s useful in my job.” Off campus, she’s COO at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in the Kootenays. The breadth of experience on her project teams is exceptional, she adds.

Glen Doiron earned an RRU Bachelor of Commerce Degree and joined Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd., the engineered wood products firm headquartered in Vancouver. He talks of leaving his MBA classes to work evenings with his team on projects, then spending the last hours before bed on course readings and his own assignments. – NG

• Tags
  • MBA, 
  • Career Advice, 
  • Education