[求助]: 那所MBA更好些?

HARRY

hi, 我收到加拿大CONCORDIA和HEC montreal的MBA acceptance letter.

请问那所MBA更好些?

HEC montreal is ranked 2 tire in 2002 according to biznessweek. concordia is not listed either in the 1 tire or in the 2 tire.

hec program is 1 year. concordia is 2 years.

chipmunk

HEC is ranked top 10 according to Canadian magazine. I believe that is more accurate.

kevinw2002

From ranking point of view, HEC is better.

非洲小美猪

how about U of Alberta?

HARRY

MBA in Alberta should be listed in top 100 according to the FT2002.

非洲小美猪

how about its ranking in Canadian BS?

Thank you in advance.

chipmunk

I'm sure there are more than 10 schools ranked better than U of A. But, it's not too bad.

HARRY

For Carolina Ramirez, the decision to complete an MBA was an uprooting experience, not only for her, but also for her husband and three children. Ramirez, 37, had been working as the academic relations officer for the Canadian embassy in her native Caracas, Venezuela, when she decided to take the advice she had been giving others and explore a Canadian education herself. "I wanted to come to Canada to study English and French," she says. "But I also had a growing interest in post-graduate work." Given that she frequently visited Canadian cities through her work at the embassy, Ramirez had the advantage of being able to examine many of Canada's best MBA programs in person. She applied to three schools, including McGill and Concordia's John Molson School of Business, but found those programs placed too much emphasis on her GMAT score, and not enough on her 13 years of international work experience and her multiple language skills. That led her to HEC Montréal.

Ironically, while HEC's MBA program has been drawing a record number of international students like Ramirez, its reputation outside of Quebec has been relatively low-profile--until recently. That's changing, however--as Canadian Business discovered in its poll of Canadian business executives, who ranked HEC Montréal as having the fourth-best MBA program in the country (see page 90).

Founded in 1907, the École des Hautes Études Commerciales is Canada's oldest business school, and has offered an MBA since 1968. (The school acts as the management faculty of the Université de Montréal, a neighboring school HEC has shared facilities with since 1915.) Since 2000, it has had the only fully bilingual MBA in North America, offering its complete program in English and French, as well as a number of courses in Spanish--an obvious advantage, as more employers demand employees able to work on international projects. (The school boasts one of the best bilingual business libraries in the world.) HEC has been using case studies in its classes since 1932, alongside debates, discussions, seminars and lectures by experienced alumni and guests. It has also been in the international game for more than 30 years through its Centre for International Business Studies, its exchange program, which allows students to partially study abroad, and its newly opened branch office in Paris, which will act as a liaison between European firms and HEC professors and graduates.

In 1996, HEC moved into a new, state-of-the-art wired building. The space was badly needed; since starting its bilingual MBA, HEC has seen its status and popularity in the business world rise, and its enrollment soar along with it. (Currently, more than 10,000 students attend the school; the MBA program has seen its enrollment shoot to 175 full-time students from 106 in 1999.) But HEC is somewhat reluctant to cash in on its success. While many of its MBA competitors tend to cram in as many students as possible, its administrators feel it's important not to grow too fast or too large. "We don't want to have too many students," says Ruth Dupré, director of HEC's MBA. "We want to keep the spirit of the program."

That spirit includes a faculty that knows the names of most of its students, and an emphasis on quality teaching, not just the publication of research papers. "What I really like about it is it's not an ivory-tower mentality," says Karen Henrion, a former tech consultant currently completing HEC's MBA, an intensive one-year program. A philosophy grad from Concordia who got into the tech market during its initial boom, Henrion, 33, wanted to pursue an MBA to fill in some gaps in her education. "It's very practical, and they're willing to give people a chance--I don't have a commerce degree or an engineering degree. They have a really grounded perspective."

Students like Henrion and Ramirez are exactly the type HEC is looking to attract. The average student in its MBA program is 31 and has seven years of work experience. "We aren't looking for students who are right out of their undergraduate program and want to do an MBA to get a high-paying job," says Jean-Marie Toulouse, director of HEC Montréal. "We don't think that's what an MBA is for. We want students who have been in the workforce and want to further their knowledge. Our emphasis is on education."

julie durocher

HARRY

2002-11-11 pubilshed in canadian business magzine; a good article

HARRY

(Girlfriend/boyfriend location is another, but it's devilishly hard to rank.)

You wouldn't exactly call this guy I know a master at managing his academic career. Back in the '80s, while an undergrad at a southwestern Ontario university, he thought it would be cool to study for a year in Toronto--that's where his girlfriend lived, and, you know, he was young. So he convinced the University of Toronto to accept him as a guest for a year, but with the stipulation that he attend a satellite campus way out in the sticks. At the time, the downtown campus at U of T was highly regarded; the suburban campuses were, umm, less so. But he accepted his exile anyway. And the thing is, if you ask him about it now, he'll tell you it was his most rewarding undergrad year: small classes, great professors, stimulating courses. The good memories have stayed with him to this day. (The girlfriend, however, is another story.)

The point is, there's more involved in choosing a school than simply picking the best one; circumstances, not to mention romantic pursuits, have always played a part, too. But what has changed in recent years is the sheer bulk of information available to people trying to making a rational choice among schools of higher learning. And that's especially true for business schools. Prospective MBAs don't only face an onslaught of marketing materials from the programs themselves; they also have to navigate a raft of rankings from the media. The Economist, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times all rank B-schools and, while they are international publications, the larger Canadian business schools regularly appear on their lists.

So who needs another B-school issue? Well, if you're one of the hundreds of Canadians deciding on an MBA program--or deciding whether to pursue an MBA in the first place--you do. Canadian Business has ranked MBA schools for the past decade, and it remains the only all-Canadian ranking. We think keeping score of schools' performance matters, not just to students, but to the alumni and donors who help keep these institutions alive and thriving.

This year's ranking--our 11th--is unlike any other, both in scope and in the resources we've devoted to it. In previous years, we've relied on schools and alumni to provide data on such criteria as GMAT scores, return on investment and student satisfaction. This year, our ranking is independent of the schools. Overseen by executive editor Scott Steele and conducted by polling firm the Strategic Counsel, this year's ranking comes straight from the people who can make or break an MBA grad's career: the senior execs and HR pros who do the hiring at Canada's largest companies. On top of that, the poll provides a snapshot of how decision-makers in business view the worth of the degree. (On that front, despite some bad press about MBAs in recent months, the news is good--both for students and for schools.)

No ranking tells the whole story. But in making important choices, smart consumers--and that's what MBA students are--gather all the information they can find, then make their own decisions. Consider this MBA issue a part of that process. And remember: as that guy I know will attest, reputation is only one--albeit important--factor in deciding where to pursue a degree.