Nishith Parikh has been in Toronto at the Schulich School of Business since Aug. 1 and he knows two things for sure about Canada: He thinks his MBA course at Schulich is absolutely top drawer, and he loves our icewine, wrote the Toronto Star Sept. 9.
Icewine is not something one can easily get in India, but, then again, until this year, neither was an MBA from Schulich. But for 20 talented graduates from Indian universities, a Schulich MBA is now within reach.
In the past, young men and women wanting to attend the prestigious business school had to come to York University and Toronto. Since January, Schulich has met them halfway.
Under its new Schulich MBA in India program, 20 undergrads a year will spend from January until midsummer taking the first part of a 16-month Schulich MBA at the S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research in Mumbai and then fly to Toronto to take the second year of the course on campus at York.
It is all part of Schulich’s goal to become a transnational business school with campuses dotted around the globe, says Ashwin Joshi, executive director of the Schulich MBA in India program.
“It is something our dean Dezsö Horwáth has been working on since 1991,” he says. “He first went to India that year and immediately saw the enormous potential for two-way trade and two-way educational exchange.”
Last fall, Schulich began taking applications and, this January, the first batch of eager undergrads filed into the JP Jain classrooms.
The first-year course is common to all students at Schulich. It is in the second year the young men and four women from India are entering now that they can specialize. “Most are taking specializations you might expect when you come from a land with an emerging and booming economy,” says Joshi. “Finance and marketing are top choices.”
But not the choice of all. Kairvee Malik, 26, says her plan for the coming year is to focus on corporate social responsibility as a specialty, although she will also take two courses in marketing. A graduate computer engineer from the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in Orissa, in eastern India, …she saw the great potential offered by a career in helping corporations, foreign and domestic, live up to their corporate social responsibility.
“I knew I needed more skills. I knew an MBA would be a good way to get them, so I went to Google, and found that Schulich is ranked number one in corporate social responsibility by groups like the Aspen Institute. I heard about the MBA in India program, applied and here I am.”
Schulich is tops for green MBAs
Bryan Husted, the Erivan K. Haub Chair in Business & Sustainability in the Schulich School of Business at York University, says the push for their programs is coming, not just from students, but from business, wrote the Toronto Star Sept. 9 in a story about a trend toward more concern for the environment in business.
“There is a lot of interest, in particular, from employers that need managers who are able to integrate sustainability into the traditional operations that form part of the firm’s value chain,” said Husted.
A major challenge has been working out how to incorporate these issues into the MBA curriculum.
Steffen Kramer and Ana Espinoza, the leaders of the York chapter of Net Impact, an international network of MBA students interested in sustainability, say that they believe their school has done an excellent job, but more should be done.
Some professors in the program incorporate social and environmental elements into their teachings, they say, but this is inconsistent and not yet integrated into the core curriculum.
News of York Facebook study reaches UK & New Zealand
People who constantly update their profile on Facebook are more likely to be narcissists, researchers have claimed, wrote the United Kingdom’s Daily Telegraph Sept. 9.
The social networking site is a haven for narcissistic people because they can establish a large number of hollow "friendships" without having to establish a real relationship, a study found.
Facebook also enables them to control how they are viewed by friends or people they would like to be introduced to, the survey indicated.
- Canadian researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh surveyed students on their Facebook usage and personality traits, wrote New Zealand’s 3News online Sept. 9.
The York University students took the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale test and the Narcissism Personality Inventory test to measure their “need for admiration” and their “sense of self-importance”. Mehdizadeh compared their results with indicators of self-promotion on their Facebook pages.
A rise in narcissism was marked with higher levels of interaction on the popular social networking platform, suggesting a need for admiration.
There were similar trends for those who rated lower for self-esteem.
- York student Soraya Mehdizadeh, who conducted the study for an undergraduate thesis, spoke about it on Global TV and on Breakfast Television in Edmonton, Sept. 7. The study was also featured on numerous radio broadcasts across Canada.
Judge’s sex scandal a tragic situation, says Osgoode prof
Bruce Ryder, a professor in York’s Osgoode Hall Law School, believes there’s a real chance [Manitoba Judge Lori] Douglas will be removed from office but worries it will be for the wrong reasons, wrote the Law Times Sept. 7 in a story about the BC judge who unwittingly became embroiled in a sex scandal.
Ryder says the details so far show no evidence of misconduct on Douglas’ behalf and [he] argues the allegations about her private life have no bearing on her integrity and independence as a judge. “It’s obviously a tragic situation for her. Other judges may find the whole episode embarrassing and may feel it’s appropriate to restore public confidence in the judiciary by having her removed.
“Frankly, I think it’s more important for us to educate the public about why there’s no reason to have any lack of confidence in her ability as a judge.”
York residences have rooms to spare
Not every university is experiencing rising demand for on-campus living, wrote Maclean’s online Sept. 8. York University has seen a steady decline, being unable to even fill existing rooms.
In 2008, there were around 50 vacancies. Last year, there were approximately 150. This fall, Debbie Kee, York’s director of housing services, expects there to be 250 unfilled rooms. The decline is a combination of new housing developments around the campus and the fact that York is a commuter school. Many students, who live in the Greater Toronto Area, who might have previously lived in residence, are choosing to stay home because of financial restraints. “Unfortunately it has left us a little shy,” Kee said.
Smitherman the elder wants to represent York students
So why did you choose Ward 8 (York West)? asked Kelly Grant in a Q-&-A interview in The Globe and Mail Sept. 9 with Arthur Smitherman, brother of mayoral candidate George Smitherman. Smitherman the elder is running for a seat on Toronto city council.
“It’s really quite simple, actually,” said Smitherman. “Two of the major portions of the demographics – one-third being single-parent families and the other being York University students – in my opinion are not getting the resources they are entitled to and deserve.”
Baseball captain became a respected ambassador for education
It turns out the late Angela Armitt (Hon. LLD ’75) was captain of the girls and young women who made up the baseball team [in 1930] at the forerunner of London Central Secondary School, wrote the London Free Press Sept. 9. Armitt was a University of Western Ontario (UWO) student later in the 1930s and was a teacher, leader and administrator at the university for decades starting in 1947.
She received honorary degrees from York University in 1975, naming her “one of education’s best ambassadors”, and from UWO in 1987. Armitt died on Dec. 9, 2002. She was 88.
Argos not ready to panic despite lack of sacks
The Toronto Argonauts are not desperate to bring in former York Lions player Ricky Foley, even though they have generated the fewest quarterback sacks in the Canadian Football League, wrote the National Post Sept. 9.
The New York Jets released Foley, who was tied for the CFL lead in sacks last season with 12, on Tuesday and he is looking to return to Canada either with his old team, the BC Lions, or the Argos. Foley, a York University product from Courtice, has expressed an interest in playing close to home.
Take nothing for granted
No longer one of the Ladies, Steven Page is starting all over at the age of 40, wrote The Windsor Star Sept. 9.
The former lead singer and songwriter of Barenaked Ladies said this week the years are finally catching up. “I grew up but got younger,” said Page. “I often feel I was born 40, so I’ve been waiting for this for some time.”
A couple of years later, a song titled If I Had $1,000,000, on BNL’s debut independent album, Buck Naked, started making the rounds of alternative radio stations. Page, who was studying English and music at York University, dropped out to pursue a pop music career.
On air
- Mike Domitrz, an educator specializing in dating and intimacy who gave his educational presentation “Can I Kiss You?” at York’s Keele campus Wednesday, spoke about it on CBC Radio’s “Metro Morning” Sept. 8.