MBA applicants can get carried away with rankings. In this series, we profile amazing programs at business schools that are typically ranked outside the top 15.
One of Canada’s top-ranked business schools for finance—the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management—benefits from the leadership of a foremost figure in the nation’s financial sector. After Roger Martin stepped down as the school’s dean, Tiff Macklem, the former senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, assumed the role in 2014 for a five-year term.
Rotman, ranked first among Canadian MBA programs by the Financial Times in 2016, underwent significant growth under Martin’s deanship, in both campus size and endowment. Macklem’s appointment as dean suggests a continued rise in Rotman’s academic profile and its reputation for financial education. “He has vast experience managing large institutions, translating academic research into public policy, and representing Canada on the world stage,” stated the university’s vice president and provost.
In addition to its finance-related strengths, Rotman offers a rather unique approach to core business pedagogy. Relying on what it terms “integrative thinking,” Rotman’s teaching model challenges the compartmentalization of traditional functional areas. Students complete a series of core courses in their first year that emphasize generalized business skills and the ability to think across functional disciplines. In their second year, they are given the option to choose from among 16 different major areas, while supplementing their focus with a broader array of elective courses.