Undergraduate focus areas
Our focus areas are informal. It won’t be noted on your transcript, and students aren’t required to pursue a focus area.
However, focusing your business education may be an asset, depending on the type of career you wish to pursue. Focusing your studies provides deep knowledge and skills in a specific area of business, giving you a competitive edge in the workplace.
Customize your degree by focusing in one of the following areas:
Develop the skills to adapt and succeed in today’s ever-changing workplace, and learn how to lead others to accomplish common business goals. You’ll develop innovative and industry-relevant skills to prepare you to work in a diverse industry of management careers. Pros: flexibility to take electives from many areas of business and the opportunity to design your own general management focus area.
Accounting isn’t just about crunching numbers – it’s strategizing, communicating and guiding corporate decisions. Accountants keep businesses ahead of the curve by solving problems, building sound financial strategies and ensuring good fiscal health. Pros: many of our courses are recognized by CPA Canada, which allows students to complete prerequisites for the CPA Professional Education Program.
Entrepreneurs are innovators who play an integral role in the growth and development of a healthy economy by infusing new ideas, initiatives and strategies into the business community. Pros: an entrepreneurial mindset can help you embark on a variety of career paths. You’ll gain the knowledge, develop the skills and learn how to approach opportunities and challenges like an entrepreneur.
Corporate finance, international finance, investments: it all comes down to raising, allocating and managing real and financial assets. You’ll develop the knowledge to thrive in a dynamic industry, acquire the investments analysis skills to manage money, and learn to make the right business decisions when it comes to financing and investing. Pros: we offer a designation pathway with the CFA Institute to help you prepare to become a chartered financial analyst.
Empower yourself by learning about leadership, teamwork, communication and strategic planning, and discover how human resources management maximizes the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. Pros: you’ll learn about best practices that prepare you for all aspects of the employment relationship.
Information systems (IS) are the foundation that enables effective and efficient operation of a business and its processes. They also provide strategic value in enabling new and innovative business models and are a critical requirement for supply chain integration and co-ordination. Pros: qualified IS are in high demand, making this field full of opportunity for job seekers.
In today’s globalized business environment, business leaders around the world recognize the need for today’s employees to understand how global markets work, how cross-cultural differences in business behaviour affect everyday business activity, and how different regulatory environments affect business. Pros: you’ll develop the skills to do business in the global marketplace and make ethical decisions in an international context.
Labour relations examines issues involving employer and unionized relationships in the workplace in a variety of social, legal, political and economic contexts. Pursuing courses from this focus area will help you understand the complexities and importance of union-management relationships. Pros: you’ll develop analytical skills to identify and establish successful strategies to promote workplace equality and inclusion in Canada and around the world.
Tap into your creative side as an advertising executive, stay ahead of the trends in technology and communication, and support your passion by helping to raise an organization’s profile in a community. Understand why people buy the things they do, how to do market research and how to use marketing tools to improve customer loyalty, experiences and relationships. Pros: experiential learning opportunities through the Cenovus Centre of Excellence in Sales and Supply Chain Management, and accredited coursework through the Canadian Professional Sales Association.
Supply chain and operations management are critical aspects of business in diverse fields such as technology, oil and gas, healthcare and more. Pursuing courses will empower you to use analytics to derive effective and efficient managerial decisions that are values-based and sustainable. Pros: experiential learning opportunities through the Cenovus Centre of Excellence in Sales and Supply Chain Management, and a designation pathway to becoming a Certified Supply Chain Management Professional (SCMP).