“We are one of the most innovative business schools on the planet and recognized as such,” said Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management. Martin’s comments come after the Financial Times ranked the school 45th among the top MBA programs in the world, placing it above all the others in Canada.
Martin attributes part of this success to staying ahead of the curve. “At a time when business is changing and the need for innovation in the business sector is high, most business schools are sticking to traditional content and pedagogy,” said Martin. “Instead, we are innovating in both areas.
“We are teaching Integrative Thinking and Business Design so that our students learn a genuinely new and better way of thinking. We are producing creative problem framers and solvers, not simply analysts. It is a very exciting time for business education and we are happy to be a part of inventing the future of the MBA.”
Martin claims that the recession in the U.S. has helped Rotman to attract top talent from American schools. “The U.S. recession has caused a number of American business schools to impose faculty hiring freezes. This has created a more favourable opportunity for hiring young scholars from US PhD programs than might normally be the case.”
“I like that [Rotman] is growing rapidly because such growth creates space for creativity and innovation in how we teach,” said associate professor of strategy Sarah Kaplan. Kaplan joined Rotman from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, one of the top business academies in the world. “I joined the Rotman School because I was attracted to the focus in integrative thinking and the school’s desire to innovate in the MBA curriculum.”
Kaplan adds that the Canadian economy might also attract more competitive students. “The strength of the Canadian economy relative to other economies may be a reason more students from around the world might be interested in coming to Canada and therefore to Rotman.”
Martin is quick to emphasize that being the top business school in Canada is just the beginning for Rotman. “First, I don’t care how we rate in Canada. Our goal is, and the goal of great Canadian organizations should be, to be globally competitive. So our focus is global. Second, the rankings are useful in some senses and not in other ways.
“Every student or faculty member or recruiting corporation faces a different context and has different interests. Having a news organization add up a number of factors and come up with a singular ranking isn’t the most useful thing for such a varied user base.”
Martin goes on to praise the FT rankings, which he claims is “highly transparent” and publishes 20 categories for 100 schools, creating a total of 2000 data points.
Yet Kaplan claimed that the program’s direction is not affected by metrics. “So, while the school pays attention to rankings, it isn’t governed by them. We are always trying to do better, but doing better means executing on our strategy to lead in innovating in the MBA curriculum. There are lots of ways to game the metrics. We don’t do that, and we don’t let our strategy get dragged around by rankings.”
Kaplan notes that rankings of this kind are always problematic. “Rotman is a top Canadian business school but it is important to remember that the market for MBA’s is global not national. Rotman [not only] competes with schools in the U.S. but also with [University of] London Business School in the UK, INSEAD in France, IESE in Spain and Bocconi in Italy, for example.”
Kaplan added that the FT rankings may penalize Rotman because they take into account the salaries of students as they leave the program. “Because many students stay in Canada, and because Canadian salaries tend to be lower than in places like London, Paris or in the U.S., Rotman falls lower than it should in the rankings.”
One of Rotman’s challenges continues to be educating potential students and employers about the MBA program. “Schools have to work extra-hard to help students get jobs outside their home markets. We have focused very intensively over the past five years on raising the profile of the Rotman School and making contact with recruiters in markets that are important to the students — particularly New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Mumbai,” said Martin.
“We are pleased with the progress. One measure of our growing international profile is that [the] Rotman School is mentioned in the international press an average of twice every day, up from about one a month a decade ago.”
Rotman plans to expand the program by 50 per cent when its current expansion project is completed.
