Ari Pandes refers to it as the “language of business.” It’s a fluency that allows you to walk into a room prepared to participate, not just listen.
It’s also where he says much of the MBA’s value begins to take shape.
“What I hear a lot of students saying is how the MBA has given them so much confidence – being able to go into meetings and contribute so much more because they now understand the language of business,” says Pandes, associate dean of professional graduate programs and an associate professor of finance at the Haskayne School of Business within the University of Calgary.
“It’s not just about coursework. There’s a whole apparatus that wraps around the MBA that helps students elevate and develop themselves.”
From entrepreneurial thinking to experiential learning, today’s MBA represents a shift toward skills that offer value well beyond the classroom, say educators.
Justin Knibbe, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at Haskayne, is regularly on the frontline with many students as they embark on their MBA journeys. He teaches an entrepreneurial thinking course that is characterized by themes such as agility, risk-taking and what he calls “re-engaging creativity.”
“We’re focused on what the employers want, which are students who are hungry to learn, comfortable with failure and creative in their problem-solving abilities,” says Knibbe.
“That’s what our economy needs – people who can creatively tackle really ugly problems.”
Knibbe says today’s MBA programs accomplish this by shifting the student’s perspective from a focus on technical hard skills to a more agile “entrepreneurial mindset.” In his class, specifically, this might include challenging assumptions through intensive fieldwork, or normalizing failure and agility through rapid prototyping.
“It’s not necessarily because I want them to become entrepreneurs. I want them to have an entrepreneurial mindset. I want them to be comfortable with uncomfortable things,” he says.
Knibbe cites one graduate who went on to lead an organization in the health care sector through strategic and operational change. Another in supply chain management developed a process to navigate through shipping backlogs for international clients, while a third graduate utilized his MBA experience to buy an ownership stake in the consulting firm where he was already employed.
Oleksiy Osiyevskyy, associate dean of policy and program development at Haskayne, similarly sees entrepreneurial thinking as a cornerstone to the value of today’s MBA. He classifies it as the ability to be able to drive meaningful change in any context, whether it be within a large corporation, a non-profit or government.
Osiyevskyy, who is also a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation, notes that even students intending to stay in traditional fields such as accounting or finance find these transferable skills create a competitive advantage.
“What entrepreneurial thinking is for somebody in the arts versus somebody in a lab will be different, but it is still about being an agent of change – somebody who creates value through innovations through solving the real-world problems,” says Osiyevskyy.
In fact, while engineering remains the largest background for students at Haskayne due to the province’s oil and gas sector, Pandes notes MBA programs across Canada are seeing an increasing number of professionals from others, as well.
Haskayne has reported a jump in students from technology, manufacturing, health care and non-profit. At the University of Alberta, nearly one-quarter of students enrolled in the School of Business MBA program are currently from the health care sector, followed by energy, financial services, retail and education.
“While most are still coming to us with engineering backgrounds, it’s less so than it was 10 years ago. We’re seeing more people coming from all kinds of different backgrounds,” says Pandes, noting the cross-industry relevance of core MBA skills such as strategic thinking, leadership and hands-on problem solving.
Educators also point to the variety of ways today’s MBAs are delivered as a reason behind its growing popularity in non-traditional sectors. Many schools in Canada now offer greater flexibility – from fast-track and part-time to executive and online.
Pandes believes networking represents one of the greatest values to an MBA, regardless of its delivery. For example, he points to a unique in-person experience at the University of Calgary that fosters lifelong connections and an intimate bond with the local business community.
“We’re a stone’s throw away from downtown, and so we get lots of people from the business community coming back and engaging with our students through various different ways,” he says, highlighting the Jarislowsky Fellowship in Business Management that connects MBA students with senior leaders from the business, social and public sectors.
Pandes also emphasizes the value of experiential learning opportunities with today’s MBAs. At Haskayne, students have access to offerings such as paid project-based internships, personalized mentorships and a student-run venture capital fund where students invest real money.
Both Haskayne and the University of Alberta School of Business offer access to the Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Rockies course. The mentorship program connects MBA students with tech-startups, founders and investors to get hands-on experience in real-world activities such as developing financial models, evaluating potential markets and fine-tuning strategies for scaling.
Haskayne also operates a leadership wilderness retreat that’s designed to enhance creativity, problem-solving and well-being through holistic learning and Indigenous perspectives. The retreat has welcomed 900 MBA students since it launched in 2004.
“Basically, you’ve got a group of students who go out to the mountains and learn about their leaderships capabilities – their leadership identity,” he says.
The breadth of today’s MBA programming is reflected in graduate outcomes. Both Haskayne and the University of Alberta School of Business report that, within three months of completing their MBA, graduates reported employment rates upward of 91 per cent.
At Haskayne, graduates noted a 25.9 per cent increase in salary, with an average of $117,000. This reflects a similar trend reported from MBA-granting universities across Canada, with many noting salary differences ranging upward of 45 per cent, depending on experience and industry.
“It’s a more complex world, so there’s more reason to do an MBA than 10 to 15 years ago,” says Pandes. “If you don’t invest in yourself, then you are going to be at a competitive disadvantage.”
Looking forward, Osiyevskyy believes the value of an MBA will continue to evolve, pointing to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in business.
He argues that as generative AI makes general knowledge a commodity, the complements to knowledge – such as real-world experience, entrepreneurial thinking and human connections that are taught through the MBA programs – will become far more valuable.
“The job market is changing. Just having knowledge is not enough because knowledge is getting more freely available,” says Osiyevskyy. “In a world where you have to differentiate yourself, what matters are human skills – innovation skills.”
Pandes agrees with Osiyevskyy on the transformative role AI will have in business moving forward, noting generative AI courses are already part of the MBA curriculum at Haskayne.
He believes it represents just one example of why MBA programs, in general, will need to continue to evolve as quickly as the business environment itself.
“That’s why you’re seeing constant change and evolution in these programs. It’s to make sure students are going to be prepared for not just today, but tomorrow’s world,” says Pandes.