This MBA season, international MBA aspirants would be applying to a new b-school everyday wondering about the post recession scenario there. At PaGaLGuY, we talked to alumni, new aspirants, faculty members and Eric Morse, Associate Dean at the Richard Ivey School of Business and deciphered the MBA program there.

Strengths of Richard Ivey Business School

“Don’t come here if you want to become a technical financial analyst”, says Morse. Ivey is a ‘General Management’ business school, with a focus on leadership. It teaches the students to work in real world and real situations. However, a student can specialize in finance or marketing by taking up the many electives that the school has to offer.
The teaching methodology at the school

The school follows a case based teaching methodology. It is different from the other schools is that in Ivey, an instructor does not teach a concept and demonstrate it through a case. The students are given a case before the class for pre class preparation. They then discuss it within their ‘learning teams’ which are groups of four to five students from the class. The class starts with a case and the teaching is thus backwards (from practical to theory). According to Morse, “The faculty member is just a facilitator in the class discussions”. The cases too are discussed keeping in mind all aspects of business, be it marketing, finance, HR, Operations or Strategy. The students are asked to make their own decisions in every scenario and argue them with the class. Therefore, at the end of the program, a student has gone through 400 to 500 such decision making processes and he understands all aspects of business. He also becomes good at making tough decisions which is a mark of a good leader.

Changes in curriculum post recession

Since the school follows a case based teaching, the curriculum, that is, the cases are updated quite frequently. If an instructor takes up 15 to 20 cases in every module, he will have four to five cases which will deal with the current scenario. For example, the cases in the classrooms right now would focus on recession.

The four campuses of Richard Ivey School of Business

The University of Western Ontario, London (Main Campus) is the main campus where all the Undergraduate and Post graduate programs are taken up (This London is a city in Ontario, Canada) . So the candidates who apply to the MBA program for Richard Ivey will study in this campus. In the Spencer Leadership Center, London and ING Leadership Center, Toronto Executive MBA programs are taken up. Also development programs for corporate organizations are also taken up there. Executive MBA is also taken up at Cheng Yu Tung Management Institute, Hong Kong along with executive development programs.

Admissions
An applicant with a GMAT score of 680 and with a work experience of 2 years can apply to Ivey. The admissions authority lays stress on the leadership abilities of the candidate and hence, the entire profile of the candidate, more than a specific area is what is most important for an admission.

For more information check out PaGaLGuY’s interview with Niki Healey, Admission Director of The Richard Ivey School of Business.

Placement in the present scenario
Richard Ivey has a systematic placement center known as the ‘Career Management Center’. A student can specify his choice of companies and profiles to the center for his placement. The MBA students are also counseled to determine their strenghts and weaknesses to determine the jobs that will fit in best. A student is introduced to the Career Management Center in the very next month of joining the institute so that he has the maximum time on his hand for the best placement opportunities. In terms of placements, the economic crisis should be over in Canada by the time the candidate who applies now graduates. The situation right now isn’t that great, proof being that more people have come back to India in the past two years than in all the other years combine.
How much is entrepreneurship encouraged at the school?
More than 25 percent of the students of Ivey go the entrepreneurship way. Some start right away while other wait for a couple of years before setting up their own businesses. There is a dedicated institute of entrepreneurship called the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship on the campus. However, if you are an MBA student and want to be an entrepreneur the schools asks you to present your ideas and create a business plan. A faculty member is assigned as a mentor to the student. In the final stage, he is provided with an opportunity to present the plan to angel investors, after which he can receive funding for his projects. This stage is totally dependent on the student and his abilities to convince the investors about his idea.

The Health care MBA

This is a relatively new area of MBA; Canada has a very strong health care foundation, however it is very expensive. The population is also ageing, thus an MBA in health care is about process innovation. People from all kinds of educational background apply and study this MBA program.

Future plans of Ivey

According to Morse, Ivey wants to get further into areas such as ’emerging markets’, ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘sustainability’. Sustainability which is holistic and combines all three areas namely environment, business and social and answers the question: “How do we create businesses that can sustain themselves?”

Ethics and values. Another trend at the school?

Being ethical was always a way of life at Richard Ivey. Every student is given a ring at graduation time in a ceremony known as ‘Ring Ceremony’ at the school. After this he takes an oath for always following the ethical path in his career. This has been a part of the school for seven to eight years now and is not a new trend.