Business faculty and students attract international grants

Two UVic commerce students are among only 20 Canadian students awarded grants this year by the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) to study abroad.

Grant Ackerman will head to the Norwegian School of Management in Oslo, Norway and Erika Lange will study in Puebla, Mexico at the Universidad de las Americas for a term.

The $2,500 grants require applicants to submit an essay, reference letters and transcripts of their marks. Volunteer work and leadership activities are also considered.

Ackerman has participated with Rotary fundraisers in the Comox Valley and was an auto shop assistant teacher while attending Highlands Senior Secondary School in Comox. Lange plans to take business-related courses in English and to study Spanish. She says she honed her leadership skills as an instructor and lifeguard at Oak Bay Recreation Centre.

UVic’s MBA program has been awarded a $10,000 CBIE International Education Innovation Grant — one of only three presented this year — to develop a program addressing the different learning styles international students bring to Canadian classrooms.

Working in partnership with UVic’s Learning and Teaching Centre, the program will develop short videos and workshop materials with a business school focus that will be available to other universities. The MBA program typically attracts between 30 to 40 per cent of its students from outside Canada. The materials will address issues arising from different approaches to class participation and behaviour, team assignments and research practices.