Two years after the Faculty of Management introduced a Corporate Residency MBA program, its faculty, students and employer partners are reflecting on how the redesigned curriculum, one that includes classroom time combined with work experience, has echoed the needs of the industry.
Dal's program is the only MBA program in Canada with an eight month paid internship, which begins in the January after students start the program. Residencies can vary between industries and locations depending on the employer-student fit. Organizations that have come on board include Scotiabank, Eastlink, lululemon, Proctor & Gamble, InNOVAcorp, Johnson & Johnson, Aon, Stantec, and Imperial Oil.
Scott Comber, assistant professor in the School of Business and director of the full-time MBA program, says one of the reasons the Dal MBA is unique lies in the fact the curriculum is completely industry-based.
鈥淲e sat down with industries across Canada and asked them, 鈥榃hat are you not getting from your MBAs?鈥� he explains. 鈥淲hat we found was that although they mentioned some technical areas that could be improved, their primary focus was on leadership-type skills.鈥�
Dr. Comber says during the focus groups, industries expressed their desire to have more 'soft' skills in the workplace; conflict resolution, team building, self-awareness, to name a few. From those insights, the curriculum was created to combine the technical skills needed to get the job done with the personal and professional effectiveness needed to succeed.
Employer partners are actively involved in the program: sitting on panels, participating in lectures and providing mentorship to students. Dr. Comber explains that employers help the program stay relevant and practical.
鈥淲e鈥檙e putting the business back into business school,鈥� says Dr. Comber. 鈥淭he two can no longer work separately.鈥�
Leveraging talent
One of those industry leaders who participated in one of the focus groups was Dan MacDonald, vice-president of marketing at Eastlink and former president and CEO at InNOVAcorp. He says that he and his peers brought to Dal the need for MBA grads to come out of school with stronger soft skills that make them more employable.
鈥淚鈥檝e been pretty involved in the program and it鈥檚 been obvious to me that Dal is genuinely trying to do something different here,鈥� he says. 鈥淎s we [employer partners] saw the program be put together, we were blown away by how our ideas were taken into consideration and how they truly listened to our concerns.鈥�
Mr. MacDonald, aside from being an active employer partner and advisor in the program, has had three Dal Corporate Residency students, one at InNOVAcorp and two at Eastlink, and says each student carried different yet similar qualities.
鈥淓very student that comes through our door has something unique about them yet they all hold an appropriate aggressiveness and humbleness,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he students I鈥檝e worked with are good learners and good listeners who aren鈥檛 scared to speak up at a meeting and say, 鈥楬ey wait a minute why don鈥檛 we try it this way?鈥欌��
Mr. MacDonald says that given the extended period students are working, candidates are able to take on 鈥渕eaty鈥� projects that allow himself and other employer partners to gauge the capabilities of the student.
鈥淚n a month or two, it鈥檚 hard to get to know students on a professional level. But in eight months, they鈥檙e really part of the team and become less of a student and more of an employee.鈥�
鈥楪etting it鈥�
Richard Nason, a retired banker who鈥檚 worked in international markets for several years, now works as an associate professor in the School of Business. He says that in addition to the employer partners, the faculty who teach in the program make a big difference as well.
鈥淲e have a dean who gets it and we have a faculty who get it,鈥� says Prof. Nason. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an inordinate amount of energy, attention, and dedication towards the students here. We鈥檙e not just preparing students for tomorrow; we鈥檙e preparing them for five years down the road and ten years down the road.鈥�
Prof. Nason teaches finance 鈥撀燼 course that could be cut-and-dry, but which in his hands is anything but..
鈥淰ery few things in business are carved out like problems in a textbook,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚nstead of doing 鈥榩roblem 3.4鈥� where the variables are laid out and the objectives are clear, I try and engage students in interactive, unstructured simulations where they learn that, sometimes, there鈥檚 no right or wrong answer.鈥�
Those interactive, unstructured simulations involve ten groups of students presented with an ambiguous scenario and asked to 鈥榮olve the problem鈥� in a 48 hour time slot. Students must work together, within their own teams and with other teams, to come up with a viable analysis of the situation presented. And according to Prof. Nason, things are not always what they seem.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about answering questions, it鈥檚 about asking questions,鈥� he explains. 鈥淣o one came and asked Steve Jobs, 鈥榃hat new and innovative things can we create?鈥� He asked, 鈥榃hat kind of things does industry need and how can I create it?鈥� That鈥檚 business.鈥�
That鈥檚 why Prof. Nason works to provide a healthy balance between academic tools and professional tools.
鈥淵ou can read every book there is on tennis and you can watch every video there is on how to play. You鈥檒l be incredibly knowledgeable and probably ace the exam. But when you actually go out and try to hit a ball or your instructor tells you to swing low-to-high, it鈥檚 a whole other story. The same thing applies to business.鈥�
Consumer behaviour
Brenan Isabelle, a current student in the program, says that the work experience was a key to his joining the program.
鈥淎 big part of the decision to do my MBA at Dal was the chance to come out of school with a solid few months of work experience,鈥� explains Mr. Isabelle, a native of Mahone Bay, N.S., who completed his undergrad at St. Francis Xavier University. 鈥淎dd to that the chance to reduce your debt through a paid internship and getting to be in Halifax, and it became a pretty easy choice.鈥�
Based on reports conducted from the first graduating class in 2011, the average starting salary for a Corporate Residency MBA graduate was $67,000 鈥� statistically high for a young adult with limited work experience. It also showed that 80 per cent of students were offered jobs prior to graduation and 75 per cent of those were from employer partners. The average salary for students in their residencies is $29,000 for eight months of work.
Mr. Isabelle is wrapping up his residency at Scotia Capital in Toronto specializing in sales and trading. Looking back, he says that Dal prepared him well for his work term.
鈥淭he preparation for my residency was excellent,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hinking back over the last eight months, I never felt like there was something I couldn鈥檛 handle. I鈥檓 looking forward to getting back to classes and starting my electives with hands-on capital market experience now under my belt.鈥�
Dr. Comber and Dr. Nason agree that the collateral learning and cohorts built during the two year program are just as important as the academic and professional components. Students in the MBA program are a tight-knit group who help each other learn and engage in similar activities outside the classroom.
鈥淭he cohort in the MBA program is very unique,鈥� explains Dr. Comber. 鈥淚鈥檝e had students say to me, 鈥業鈥檇 pay tuition just to study with these people and just to have these people in my network.鈥欌��
Ahead of the game
With students now reconvening back at Dal post-residency, faculty are working away at planning for the next semester and for the new group of students who entered the program in July. Hopefully, many of them are now one step closer to taking their experience back out into the workforce.