Cash Business
McGill Gets OK to Up Tuition for MBA Program
After a summer of controversy, McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management got the okay from the Quebec Ministry of Education, Recreation and Sports to hike up the price of their MBA program on Aug. 19.
McGill had recently changed their program, discarding any provincial funding, but had to undergo changes because regular MBAs cannot be privately funded.
In March, the Ministry of Education fined McGill $2 million for charging MBA students $29,500, over eight times the price students paid in previous years, which was just $3,400. Now recognized as a “specialized” program, McGill’s MBA will have an international focus.
The statement issued by the school on Aug. 19 said that this international focus consists of “a mandatory study trip abroad and other measures to ensure all students have an international educational experience during the program.”
Peter Todd, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management, said on the same statement that the program changed in order to “enhance its unique character, [and] to meet the highest international standards in business education.”
The specialization of McGill’s program will in structure and price more closely resemble Concordia’s EMBA program, which costs a total of $68,000, and was not designed for the regular student, but for professionals with a minimum of 5 years work experience.
These students attend class only one day per week, and their tuition includes three meals on their class day and an international study trip abroad.
However, Concordia’s MBA program costs Quebec students a total of $6,821.16, and is one of the most affordable MBA programs in Canada.
The impact that McGill’s new price tag will have on admissions is still unknown to the administration.
“We are in no position to evaluate the potential impact [on Concordia’s program],” said Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota.
“We’ll monitor and look at enrolment over the next few semesters, and then we may be able to evaluate.”
