York will no longer offer the certificate program in business fundamentals.
The certificate, offered by the School of Administrative Studies in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, will no longer be offered to students in the FW 2013-2014 term, a decision that was approved by York’s Senate at its January 24 meeting following a study conducted by LAPS.
The certificate was unpopular, says Rhonda Lenton, vp academic and provost.
“Despite a fairly long history, […] students just weren’t enrolling in the program,” she says.
In a May 8, 2012 memo regarding the cancellation of the program, Kim Michasiw, associate dean, curriculum and enrollment for LAPS, wrote, “Business fundamentals has unfortunately had a long history of limited enrolment. The collective lack of interest on all signs had prompted both Schulich and SAS to discontinue the courses and the program.”
The certificate was advertised primarily to business and society (BUSO) majors.
LAPS found that no new students enrolled in the program as of September 2011. There were only six students still in the program when their report was submitted in November 2012.
The certificate “found very few takers, even among a group that had, by its own choice, indicated its interest in business,” Michasiw wrote in a December 4, 2012 letter to the Senate’s Commitee on Academic Standards, Curriculum and Pedagogy.
Michasiw says if the certificate’s enrollment “ever exceeds 20 [students], it’s a surprise.”
The business minor in administrative studies, LAPS found, is far more popular with students than the certificate. At the certificate’s height, the business minor was still five times more popular than business fundamentals.
In Michasiw’s opinion, “the program was betwixt and between.” There was not enough business for students interested in administrative studies and too much business for BUSO students.
The business fundamentals, Michasiw said in a December 4, 2012 memo, weren’t fundamental enough for students to enrol. The cancellation of the four courses specific to the certificate, including “Management and
Business: An Introduction,” “Accounting & Finance,” “Markets & Marketing,” and “Management Strategy and Implementation,” will not affect other programs, LAPS found.
Geared towards BUSO students, the program was taught by professors in administrative studies, explains Lenton. She speculates there may have been a lack of alignment between what BUSO students wanted and what administrative studies offered.
After a program is cancelled, the school runs a “grandparent program,” which new students can’t enter, but students already in the program can complete for up to eight years.
Ernest Reid, Executive Editor (Online)
With files from Hamid Adem
