Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is gearing up to add a new bachelor’s degree to its roster of recognized undergraduate degrees in the arts, music, and music therapy, along with its graduate degrees in theology and Christian ministry. The new Bachelor of Business Administration Co-op (BBA Co-op) will be accepting students for the fall 2011 semester.
“The BBA Co-op seeks to develop in students the ability to become effective business and organizational leaders,” says Gordon Matties, Dean of Humanities & Sciences. “The program grounds all students in the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the workplace, and provides them with ample opportunity to reflect constructively and critically in the process of shaping worldview and character in preparation for entering the marketplace of business and organizational leadership.”
The four-year BBA features a co-op component option, which will involve six terms of work placement in addition to eight academic terms. Students will be able to complete the degree, including the work terms, in five years.
“Through delivery of a co-op program with six work terms, CMU will be offering a distinctive and unique business program in Manitoba,” says Matties, who assisted with the program’s development and recommendation to CMU Senate.
“What is unique is the amount of co-op experience students will get,” adds Craig Martin, Assistant Professor of Business and Organizational Administration. CMU’s BBA Co-op will offer a higher work experience component than other business programs in the province.
“This gives students more time in an experiential learning context as well as a greater opportunity to gain work experience and to earn money to pay for their education,” says Matties.
The program is designed to help students think critically and communicate effectively as they draw on knowledge from a variety of fields and learn within small classes and with caring and accessible professors. Students will also respond to tough ethical decisions common in the marketplace as they explore ways to make the world a fairer, more just, place. Thus, the BBA Co-op program, offered within a Christian academic community, will provide both solid business training and integrate a focus on character formation, wisdom and conviction as students engage their world. “These commitments are relatively unique to the program,” says Martin, who was responsible for developing the BBA program structure and content. “We will be going beyond traditional courses in business ethics and legal regulation.”
The program will be headed by Martin, who also serves as program advisor to CMU’s existing three-year B.A. in Business and Organizational Administration
The addition of the BBA Co-op will also make it possible for CMU to offer a four-year B.A. in Business and Organization Administration, providing students with a non-co-op option for both the three- and four-year programs.
Matties adds that the three year and four year B.A. programs are especially appropriate for students who wish to do a business degree that includes a significantly higher component of liberal arts courses than the BBA program.
Matties says the seeds of the program go back to before the founding of CMU in 2000. “CMU supporters in the business community have been encouraging us for years to move in this direction,” he says. “We are now in a position to move to the next step in program development.”
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) is a Christian university offering undergraduate degrees in the arts and sciences, business, communications and media, peace and conflict resolution studies, music, music therapy, theology, and church ministries, as well as graduate degrees in Theological Studies and Christian ministry. Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, CMU has over 1,700 students at its Shaftesbury Campus in Southwest Winnipeg, at Menno Simons College in downtown Winnipeg, and enrolled through its Outtatown discipleship program. CMU is a member of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).
For information, contact:
Nadine Kampen, Communications & Marketing Director
nkampen@cmu.ca;
Tel. 204.487.3300 Ext. 621