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JMSB growing rapidly 

Enrolment outpacing revenues

By Karen Herland

Dean Sanjay Sharma has been busy in the year since he last presented the John Molson School of Business achievements to the Board of Governors.

At the March 23 meeting, Sharma provided an update on a Faculty with a 36% leap in raw enrolment during 2007-08. The JMSB is bursting at the seams at its present location and is primed to move into its new home when construction finishes at the end of this term.

During the past year, JMSB has attracted classroom naming donations from almost two dozen corporate and individual supporters, in addition to major gifts for academic and research support, including $500 000 from Manulife and the $2 million David O’Brien Centre and Distinguished Professorship in Sustainable Enterprise. The recent RBC gift was finalized after the period covered in his presentation to the board (see story). This past year, research funding from major granting agencies rose from $250 000 to $2.2 million.

Sharma emphasized the Faculty’s participation in undergraduate and graduate case competitions as key for raising its profile in an increasingly competitive global business school landscape. The annual JMSB MBA International Case Competition continues to attract the world’s top business schools as competitors and was written up in November 2008 in The Times of London. At the undergraduate level, the JMSB competition went international in 2008 and attracted some of the top business schools from around the world (see Journal, March 5, 2009).

Our teams excelled in competitions around the world, earning honours both nationally and internationally, scoring one of the top three positions at University of Arizona, Ohio State University, Coventry, U.K., Rotman (Toronto), Ottawa, Royal Roads, Jeux du Commerce and the Happening Marketing events.

These events allow JMSB students to be global ambassadors while gaining real-life experience. For the second year in a row the École des Mines de Paris named Concordia number one among Canadian universities for having the highest number of alumni who are CEOs of Global Fortune 500 companies.

The Faculty has also earned distinction for its research achievements. Last year, the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada awarded JMSB the award for Research Excellence as a result of a clean sweep of almost all award categories by the faculty and staff members for their papers. Three JMSB professors currently serve as editors of prestigious and reputed international journals.

This fall will see the launch of the Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, offering business training to those with a degree in another field. Sharma mentioned there has been a lot of interest generated by this much-anticipated program.

Despite an impressive reputation and contribution to the academic milieu, the JMSB remains hampered by limited resources. Faculty hiring has not kept pace with student enrolment and student-faculty ratios are amongst the highest in Canada. The JMSB has one of the lowest budgets per faculty member of any business school accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, according to statistics on their web site.

With the global economy in turmoil and an uncertain future, the JMSB wants to “bring back the focus to basic values with courses on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, globalization and ethics,” concluded Sharma.