The School of Business at Northwestern Polytechnic will be offering a new Bachelor of Business Administration Degree. Dean of the School of Business Dr. Carly McLeod says that one of the things that makes the program unique is that there are several ways to enter the program.
“They can come directly out of high school, or – if they have a diploma in business they can enter their third year,” McLeod says. “We also have a journeypersons skills/trade entrance route. So individuals who have received their apprenticeship training will get academic recognition for that training into the Bachelor of Business Administration.”
The new degree will have two emphases, the first emphasis. The first is an accounting emphasis which will allow students to meet the requirements of CPA’s professional education program to allow them to go directly to get their Chartered Professional Accountant designation. The second is a Human Resources emphasis which has been accredited by Charted Professionals and Human Resources Alberta. This allows students to have their knowledge exam weighed in the process of becoming CPHR members.
“So just getting that industry recognition from those two regulatory bodies is really just showing the calibre of education that students will get through the Northwestern Polytechnic BBA,” McLeod says.
While the BBA is a four-year program, depending on the route a student enters by will depend on how long it will take to finish the program. Those coming straight from High School will take the full four years, and those coming with a diploma will take two years. While students who are coming from a skill/trade background will receive credits for their past schooling but have around two and a half years to complete their degree. McLeod says that there will be multiple delivery options, so there will be in-class and online courses. She explains the current Business Administration certificate and diploma courses are already online, and the plan is to have the third and fourth-year courses online. She says offering BBA courses online will allow the school to meet the needs of students in the region.