Chloe Ellis is studying at the University of Northern B.C. while staying in Vancouver.
She is enrolled in UNBC’s Master of Business Administration program at Langara College.
Ellis recently graduated from Langara’s strategic marketing management program. When the 22-year-old, who works in operations at Starbucks and as a multimedia marketer on the side, saw an ad for the new offering, she applied. “It thought it would be an excellent opportunity to maintain the network I have and bring business back to Langara,” Ellis said.
Nineteen students started the MBA program at Langara Aug. 19. They started with a five-day session and then switch to studying on three- and four-day-long weekends once a month, with another five-day session in May so students can work full-time while completing their studies.
“We pump them with beverages, coffee, food, to keep them awake, because it’s a long weekend,” said Raymond Cox, MBA director for UNBC’s school of business. “Long as in three days, but very long.”
UNBC students at Langara won’t have to visit the university’s main campus in Prince George during their studies, which last 21 months. The 10-year-old program in Prince George typically served three students who flew up from Vancouver and others who flew through Vancouver, so spreading the program south made sense, according to Cox.
The students enrolled at Langara all reside in the Lower Mainland, he said. They hail from various sectors and average a dozen to 14 years of work experience.
Cox believes the students were attracted to the program’s schedule, its face-to-face experience with the same group of students, and its relatively low cost. At $36,500, he said it’s comparable to MBA programs at Simon Fraser University and considerably less than those at the University of B.C.
Cox chose to offer the program at Langara because of its attractive campus and central location on the Canada Line.
A new group will be enrolled at Langara each year and the program will be reviewed after five years. Despite technological problems between the servers at UNBC and Langara, Ellis said the program is “fantastic” so far.
She hopes to work her way up through a company to become a marketing manager, vice president of marketing and eventually have her own company.
