UTM’s new business school up for final approval

The University of Toronto Mississauga has one more step to clear before its new industry-specific business program – the Institute for Management and Innovation (IMI) – is officially approved to start July 1.

The proposal for the business school is set to go before the university’s governing council next Thursday.

“It’s going to be kind of an umbrella organization teaching sector-specific management,” UTM’s director of Undergraduate Programs Hugh Ganz told YourMississaugaBiz.com.

The professor of organizational behavior and human resources management said the IMI project is part of a trend at UTM to build, particularly at the graduate level, programs that are directed towards specific industrial sectors.

UTM already has master’s programs in the areas of biotechnology, management of innovation, sustainability and management, management and professional accounting, as well as a BBA and a BComm.

However, Ganz stressed UTM’s interdisciplinary approach to business education sets it apart from other programs. “We teach management not as part of a plain-vanilla MBA,” he said.

Ganz said IMI is going to be a big part of UTM’s future strategy and part of a growth area in management education. “I can see us over the next few years building up more undergraduate programs,” he said, citing recent work on an undergrad program in industrial relations and human resource management. “I think that’s the kind of thing that’s helpful to young people.”

In addition to instructing students on how organizations work and how they can be more effective employees, Ganz said business professors would also explain how a sector works and how the commercial side works with particular sciences.

And while IMI does compete with Rotman and University of Toronto Scarborough’s business programs, Ganz said the institute would have faculty from across U of T. “It’s a nice example of what we’re trying to get going on a much more collaborative basis,” he explained. “Although most of the activities will be focused at UTM.”

The IMI project was led by UTM’s vice-principal of special initiatives Ulli Krull. IMI was also recently featured as part of U of T’s Boundless fundraising campaign.