July 29, 2009 - 2:08am
Five Vancouver Island University (VIU) students have an extra $15,000 each, thanks to scholarships from the BC Innovation Council (BCIC). Jim Yen-Chun Cheng, Harikrishnan Jayaraman, Ethan Yi-Fu Lin, Jennifer Schofield and Zoe Xiang Lan Wan, all in the Master of Business Administration Program (MBA), were selected by the council.
“We did pretty well this year,” said Brock Dykeman, Director of VIU’s MBA program. “The fact that five of our students received $75,000 in prestigious provincial scholarships speaks to the quality of our learners.”
Developed by the BC Innovation Foundation and funded by the Government of BC, the scholarship is unique, Dykeman said. The five recipients are part of a group known as Commercialization Scholars. They will each be paired with a graduate student (Innovation Scholars) to assist in commercializing an innovative product or process that the Innovation Scholar has developed.
“We each pair up with a science graduate student who is working hard on a new technology and create a business plan,” said Schofield. “We present the completed plan to a panel, with the possibility of future funding to implement our ideas.”
“In this way they are aiding economic development in BC while using and developing skills that they’ve learned in the MBA program,” said Dykeman. “The real life experience will help them in their future careers.”
Schofield, who started her undergrad at VIU and returned for her masters, is currently working at VIU as the Canadian Community Coordinator for a multinational collaborative project housed on campus. “VIU is a very supportive learning environment that can be harder to find at larger universities,” she said.
Schofield sees the scholarship as an opportunity to apply the management skills she has gained through education and work experience, which she hopes will strengthen her application for PhD studies. With a passion in community development, she wants to explore organizational behaviour in cross-cultural non-profit activities.
She will use the scholarship to assist in the development of the business plan and to assist with living costs while working on the business plan.
Last year was the first year the scholarship was offered. VIU had two MBA recipients, Michael Darshan Manhas and Ryland Wellwood.
Schofield is excited that VIU has five award recipients this year – she feels it’s recognition of their hard work. “And, since the dual MBA/ Master in Science in International Business (MScIB) degree is relatively new, having five recipients is a testament to our program.”
MBA students at Vancouver Island University earn both a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from VIU and a Master in Science in International Business (MScIB) from the University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The dual degree program is one of the most unique in Canada, said internship coordinator Brook Pearce. With credentials from two continents, this intensive 14-month program prepares graduates with the support and skills they need to apply for management positions in North America and around the world.
To find out more about VIU’s MBA program, visit the website at www.viu.ca/mba.
Tags: In the Community
