Online Exclusive: Haskayne receives accolades for MBA program

By Kris Schmidt

The University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business Exective MBA Program was recently ranked as one of the world’s top 50 business schools by the Financial Times.


Each year the Financial Times publishes a ranking of executive MBA programs. Surveys are sent to both alumni who graduated three years ago and to the business school. For the 2006 rankings, there were 104 participating business schools with 90 schools having a sufficient response rate. Of the 90 schools, Haskayne was ranked 46th.


“It provides recognition for the school and for the students that are taking the program,” said Haskayne interim dean Dr. Vern Jones.


The EMBA program at Haskayne is a joint program between the Universities of Alberta and Calgary. The two-year degree program is taught in a combination of weekend classes and intensive week-long courses. EMBA students are usually older and more experienced than their MBA counterparts and often have full-time jobs.


“These are people that have already demonstrated future potential,” said EMBA managing director Joanne Ramsay. “They are looking for skills they don’t already have.”


In the rankings, Alberta/Haskayne ranked in the top 10 for career progress and for students’ aims being achieved.


“Most have been managers for at least 10 years,” said EMBA financial accounting professor Dr. Hussein Warsame. “They know what business is. We try to formalize their knowledge.”


Warsame noted that although the ranking reflects well on the program, it must not be taken too seriously.


“In general I don’t put too much emphasis on these rankings,” said Warsame. “It just confirms what we’ve always been doing.”