Quick returns
February 13, 2010
Jaspreet Tambar
TORONTO STAR
This article was edited to correct a
previous version that misstated the given name of Roman
Brailovski
It's 9 a.m. and Roman Brailovski is already talking about cost-benefit analysis.
The topic at hand is Ryerson's Master of Business Administration program, which has Brailovski perked even before he's had his coffee.
"It's a much more cost-effective program," he contends, championing the school from which he graduated just two years ago, after which he landed a job at Scotia Bank.
The Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University is seated in the heart of downtown Toronto, cushioned close to Yonge and Dundas Square.
The location was one of the primary factors that drove Brailovski to complete his MBA at Ryerson, but it's the cost-benefit analysis he insists elaborating upon.
"The tuition is comparatively inexpensive to other schools," he says. "The flexible program is of great, great value: a one-year model, for people wanting to jump-start their careers."
A common threat of any program is putting up the money, time and energy to study, and then not being able to find a job immediately after. The problem has become increasingly prominent in this wavering economy. Though there is an increasing number of students enrolling in MBA programs, there are fewer and fewer jobs as firms cut back.
However, Brailovski says the employment rate for Ryerson MBA students is "phenomenal."
Wendy Cukier, associate dean at the school, reiterates this attitude and has the facts to bolster her argument.
"The return on investment is phenomenal compared to other MBA programs which are more than double the cost with comparable employment and salary outcomes. Our graduates recoupe their tuition investment in less than a year after graduation," she says.
A survey conducted by the Ted Rogers School of Management explored for the first time graduate salaries and employment rates. The results showed students who were employed within six months of graduating earned an average annual salary of $85,327.
The program costs approximately $13,000 for Canadian students with an undergraduate degree in business.
The school offers numerous scholarships to aid funding, as well as teaching and research assistant positions available throughout the school year.
Three different streams are available to students: an MBA with a global focus, an MBA in management of technology and innovation, and a Masters of Management Science (MMSc). Each program is tailored to particular interests in the umbrella category of a business degree.
The Ryerson MBA draws in students through its network of specializations, such as marketing, human resources, international business, retail and commercial development, supply chain management, information systems management and media management.
Alumni like Brailovski and Melanie Nunez, who specialized in retail and commercial development, laud the program's unique mixture of theory with practice.
"The MBA program delivers courses that integrate education with practical knowledge and experience," says Jim Tiessen, MBA program director.
Much of this effort is credited to the faculty, which is comprised of both academics and industry leaders, who bring their real world experiences to class.
Marketing integration specialist Kasi Bruno suggested that smaller classroom sizes also have to do with the success of the program.
Recently, political and business journalism icon Peter C. Newman was appointed visiting professor of distinction, who, according to provost and vice-president of Ryerson, Alan Shepard, "epitomizes Ryerson's academic tradition of connecting classroom study and theory to societal need and current issues."
For those craving the adrenaline rush of the stock market, a team of Ryerson MBA students is assembled every year to put their business acumen to the test in the stock market competition for Canadian universities.
Teams receive $100,000 in hypothetical capital to invest during regular trading hours in the Toronto Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq or American Stock Exchange.
The team with the highest returns by mid-January is heralded as victor.
Toronto Star