Dalhousie: The First to Offer a Graduate Degree in Financial Services
“At the time, the only mention of banking in university curriculum was in macro economic course on Money and Banking. It focused primarily on monetary policy.” Rosaire Couturier
The MBA (FS) is the culmination of efforts to improve the professionalism in the banking profession which was the mandate of the Institute of Canadian Bankers. I came to the ICB from Academia (Associate Dean at Laval’s Faculty of Administrative Sciences). At the time, the only mention of banking in university curriculum was in macro economic course on Money and Banking. It focused primarily on monetary policy.
The absence of a university level domain of studies focusing on one of the key service sector of the Canadian economy needed to be addressed.
It took more than fifteen years to achieve what may reasonably be termed a breakthrough, and Dalhousie was the very first Canadian University to establish a graduate level degree program as part of the Faculty of Business curriculum. Professor Ray Klapstein championed the initiative through the university’s program approval process.
“Without the foresightedness of Prof Klapstein, the program would have been launched in partnership with the Manchester University’s Business school.”
At the time the ICB had invested in the development of industry specific course content with the help of university professors. The courses were part of the Professional Banking Management Program at the ICB comprising five courses and leading to the industry designation of Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers (FICB).
It took more then ten years before a university agreed to credit the Institute’s program towards a degree. The MBA (FS) was structured around core courses which the University offered in its regular MBA program and a specialisation which in this case could be credited for those who completed the FICB.
If I recall he had a semester (three months) to get it done and I would hold off signing with Manchester.
Without the foresightedness of Prof Klapstein, the program would have been launched in partnership with the Manchester University’s Business school. I was about to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to that effect when Professor Klapstein (who was aware of my on-going efforts to get ICB program credited by a (any) Canadian University without success) asked to see me and to delay signing up with Manchester because he felt he had a good chance of getting an MBA(FS) approved by the University. If I recall he had a semester (three months) to get it done and I would hold off signing with Manchester.
The rest is history and to my knowledge Dalhousie was the first University to offer a graduate degree in financial services in the world. Since then other have followed suite, for example, the MBA- FSI in Europe, a joint undertaking by the Vlerick Business School (Belgium and University of St Gallen (Switzerland) is in its 10th edition.
“The rest is history and to my knowledge Dalhousie was the first University to offer a graduate degree in financial services in the world.” Rosaire Couturier