Canadian B-Schools (like their popular neighbours - American B-Schools) have been traditionally following a well-established two-year model. Richard Ivey School of Business (Ivey) has broken the mould and shifted to a one-year model from the 2006-2007 academic session. Marisa Kanas , Ivey's communications specialist, spoke to Businessworld B-Schools' Atika Jain on the rationale behind the decision and the inherent advantages for students in the new format.
Why have you decided to switch to a one-year programme?
Ivey's decision to embrace a new approach to management education is in response to extensive consultations with business leaders, alumni and stakeholders. This strategy grew from their evolving needs for graduates who have a rigorous grounding in the basic skills, who can think holistically about how their work affects the entire company and who understand the place of their company in the global context.
Part of the rationale behind the 12-month programme was to reduce the opportunity cost that students face from being out of the workforce for an extended period of time. We are able to attract individuals who are focused on their career path and know what they want from an MBA degree, without requiring two years of soul-searching.
A key merit of the 12-month programme is the increased return on investment. Students are not out of the workforce for a long time-this works out to a smaller opportunity cost. Also, they won't have as many living and relocation expenses.
The North American business school model has traditionally been a two-year programme and that is what both students and recruiters have been used to. However, increasingly, new MBA formats have been developed including distance learning, and it is not surprising that the one-year format, common throughout much of Europe, is making inroads in North America. In addition, North American recruiters are finding success in recruiting students from top-notch one-year programmes such as INSEAD and are increasingly comfortable with the one-year model.
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Duration: 12 months
Type: Full-time residential
Application: Ivey has two intakes per year- May 29th 2006 and October 30th 2006.
Admission Criteria: |
- Prefer candidates with a GMAT score of at least 620 or an 80 per cent average over two years of their undergraduate.
- Recommend that applicants have two years of work experience.
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| Fees: $91,150 |
| Ivey Clubs (There's even an Indian Club.) |
Besides the duration, what are the other major differences between the one- and two-year formats?
Ivey has also instituted a revised curriculum, a series of modules focusing on Cross-Enterprise Leadership (CEL).
CEL prepares leaders to look at issues from the perspective of the entire organisation. This approach provides students with the skill and capacity to predict, analyse, strategise and act upon issues that span the entire enterprise, such as globalisation, competition, productivity and innovation. It is a marked departure from the traditional approach to management education, which emphasises the teaching of functional disciplines (for example, finance, accounting, marketing and strategy) and matrix management (project-driven assignments).
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Cross-Enterprise LeadershipTM: A Revolution in Graduate Management Education
The global business environment is changing. The way businesses work and compete is changing. Business schools too must change—that’s what business leaders, top recruiters and our own alumni are telling us.
Ivey is leading the change with a powerful new concept — Cross-Enterprise Leadership™
Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ is an action-oriented approach that prepares high-performing Ivey graduates to look beyond the walls, org charts and silos and approach issues from a perspective that spans the entire organisation. They have an advanced understanding of the ramifications of their decisions and actions across the organisation. They know how to capitalise on the opportunities and synergies that result from seeing the big picture.
Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ creates a bias for action and the skill to negotiate today’s complex business interrelationships. Ivey graduates understand how to lead teams locally and internationally, and get things done.
Cross-Enterprise Leadership™ provides future leaders the skills to:
* Continuously adapt to the societal forces swirling around them, such as globalization, competition and technology
* Act to turn challenges into opportunities
It envisions a generation of executives who, even as they find themselves in functional roles, will have the breadth and capacity to always see the bigger picture and to lead initiatives that enhance the whole enterprise.
Source: www.ivey.uwo.ca |
How will it affect the students in terms of workload?
With the change to the 12-month programme, we were able to restructure in such a way as to maintain over 90 per cent of the contact hours as in the two-year programme. It's more intense but the number of hours spent in the classroom is virtually the same.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of following this one-year model? For instance, the major grouse against one-year programmes is that too much is taught in too little time.
The major benefit of the one-year format is the reduced opportunity cost for students. The one advantage for a two-year programme is the opportunity for a summer internship for those wishing to gain additional work experience in a particular industry, although not all students involved in two-year programmes actually take advantage of the opportunity.
What has been the response to the changed format, in terms of applications received and student profile?
Since we launched the 12-month programme in September 2005 (with the first incoming class in May 2006), the response has been great. We have attracted a full class of high-calibre students with great promise to excel in the intense 12-month programme.
An interesting outcome is that we have been able to increase the proportion of female students in the programme from a traditional 20-25 per cent to nearly 35 per cent.
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