Ivey Celebrates 10 years of 1-Year MBA

Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada had launched its one-year MBA program in 2006 as one that would reduce the opportunity cost impact on students but still help them develop the essential skills needed to thrive in global business.

Acting Dean Mark Vandenbosch said, “The type of MBA program that we saw to be valuable in the future was one where you were out of the job market for less time.

“But we also had to pay special attention to the type of person we were bringing into the class. We need people with strong professional experience who have the right attitude and approach to make transitions,” he added.

As part of the revamp, Ivey reduced the class size and admitted only the highest-quality students. John Bayliss, now senior vice president of logistics at Walmart Canada, was then with The Boston Consulting Group.

It took the School a few years to refine what makes the ideal Ivey MBA student, and recruiter feedback played a critical role. Now a score-carding process assesses candidates equally on leadership components, academic record, and work experience and helps the School to identify candidates who have a high probability of success.

With feedback from alumni in many different organizations and industries, he helped Ivey develop a plan for defining a consistently high-quality class that was balanced with strong diversity across multiple dimensions.

It took the School a few years to refine what makes the ideal Ivey MBA student, and recruiter feedback played a critical role. Now a score-carding process assesses candidates equally on leadership components, academic record, and work experience and helps the School to identify candidates who have a high probability of success.

“We still believe that if you bring in great people – and combine that with the Ivey experience – when these people hit the market, our alumni are going to be very proud of them and happy to advocate and sponsor them,” said Sharon Irwin-Foulon, Executive Director, Career Management & Corporate Recruiting.

Identifying the right candidates also contributes to the classroom experience. “If you have the right talent, then the classroom work is more dynamic and that’s where the case-study work shines because people are communicating, bringing their personal experiences, and augmenting the discussion. This is a key ingredient to the transformational experience,” she said.

The streamlined format appeals to those who already have relevant work experience and want to move up in their organization or make a quick switch in role, firm, or industry.

The timeframe is also perfectly aligned with one-year corporate leave policies, said David Wood, the current Ivey MBA Faculty Director.

“The one-year format has opened up the opportunity to create a leave of absence program for our students,” he said. “It’s a great way to build relationships with our corporate partners as firms get back employees whose potential for growth and contribution is even greater than when they left.

“Those taking the leave of absence have specialized support in their career program and are encouraged to maintain connections across their firms and continue their career trajectories,” he added.

Since 2014, more than 90% of Ivey MBA students have made at least one career transition. By reducing breaks, Wood said Ivey offers almost identical content to the two-year program, in a one-year format.

“There’s a lot of unproductive time in a traditional two-year MBA that you can take out of the system. We’ve actually removed very little content, and what’s removed is the more mechanical fundamentals that the students already have,” he pointed out.

Although the summer internship is no longer part of the MBA, Wood said an internship isn’t as valuable for Ivey’s candidates because they already have prior relevant work experience. Ivey’s program isn’t for everyone. And that’s intentional.

The new Ivey MBA had to overcome some hurdles, particularly alignment with the recruiting cycle. The program initially had both a spring and fall intake, but in 2013 switched to a single intake in March.

This allowed students to be better prepared to participate in recruiting opportunities that arrive on campus in the traditional, global fall recruiting cycles.

An exchange program was also re-introduced to the program in 2015 and Ivey now has 14 exchange partners. The exchange program offers dual benefits.

Ivey students participating in it learn firsthand about business in other parts of the world. And incoming exchange students add another dimension to the class diversity.

International study trip options have also expanded to include China, India, or South America. Beginning in 2016, entrepreneurial-minded students were offered more opportunities to launch their own businesses than ever before.

In addition to the suite of entrepreneurship electives, students can apply to transition their New Venture Project into a real business in the final term of the MBA program.

Students who have a viable business plan receive mentorship by faculty and alumni, dedicated space for their business, financing to get started, and course credits that permit them to work full time in their business before graduation.(Image Source:Wikipedia.org)