September marks the beginning the school year for many of our Ivey students, but it has a special significance for a select group of MSc students – it’s their first month in Canada.
MSc students have just begun their fall term, the first term where CEMS exchange students from all over the world arrive in London to study at Ivey.
CEMS is a global alliance of schools, companies, and organizations that offers a Master’s in International Management (MIM). It gives students the unique opportunity to study abroad for one or two terms and graduate with a dual degree, a degree from their home institution and a degree from their CEMS designation.
The CEMS MIM Block Seminar, Ivey’s introductory week of hands-on learning events, was themed “Managing Turbulences in a VUCA World.” Everything they did tied back to the theme of navigating a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Students spent time in London, Kitchener, and Toronto, visiting different companies, completing workshops, and learning from industry experts.
Welcoming new friends: a home student’s perspective
Linh Tran grew up in Russia, but moved to Canada six years ago to study commerce at McMaster. She started the Ivey MSc program in January and is doing her first two terms here at Ivey, and in February she’ll leave for Rotterdam in the Netherlands. After meeting her CEMS classmates during the Block Seminar, Tran said the class’s diversity was eye opening.
“On the first day, we all shared our backgrounds and why we chose to study in Canada,” she said. “The main message was that Ivey is unique because it has the Case-Method of Learning.”
The diversity of the program brings a special perspective to the classroom, Tran said. Exchange students and home students have different opinions and experiences, making for unique discussions where everyone can walk away learning something new.
She commended Ivey for the Block Seminar, saying it helped classmates get to know each other and form friendships outside the typical classroom setting. Beyond that, Tran said the week’s VUCA theme was relatable to everyone, regardless of their background and career ambitions.
“We learned we need to adopt a certain managerial or leadership style to navigate in this world,” she said. “It’s important to be flexible and agile because the environment is so unpredictable.”
Starting fresh: a CEMS exchange student’s experience
Sebastian Gietl is no stranger to travel. His home university is the University of Sydney in Australia, but he’s originally from Germany. He’s doing two semesters abroad: the first at Ivey and the second in Rotterdam, like Tran.
Gietl shared his two favourite aspects of the Block Seminar: learning about leadership at the Byron Emergency Centre and being introduced to Ivey’s case method.
“We learned about the influence of leadership in emergency situations,” Gietl said. “You have to be able to organize your team and show them what to do, sometimes very quickly. A leader can’t get nervous – there isn’t time.”
Ivey’s case methodology is different from anything Gietl has done before, which makes his classes at Ivey that much more exciting. On top of that, he echoed Tran’s sentiments – the students’ different perspectives contribute to valuable class discussions.
Now a few weeks into the program, Gietl can look back at the Block Seminar and appreciate what it did for him and his fellow CEMS classmates.
“The overall good thing about the Block Seminar is we were always all together as a group,” he said. “It helped us develop a group feeling rather than thinking of ourselves as just classmates.”
