One of the most prestigious universities is now a little closer to home.
During the summer STU began offering courses for the Harvard Business School, giving students an opportunity to network with people from around the world.
For student entrepreneurs like Catrina Ren, it was prime time to talk to people working in Wall Street, communications, and other business owners. It gave Ren a chance to solve problems she may face running her own business.
“Harvard gave us real cases and introduced real world problems. What are we gonna face, and what we need to do for real businesses,” said Ren. “So it’s really good for students who are in the business world to try to further their career or develop their business.”
The communications major was grateful to get advice on running her own business. She used the accounting classes to improve her understanding of the subject when she spoke to her financial officer. The other students were grateful for such professional classmates.
“You didn’t have an actual interaction with the professor directly, but you have interactions with other classmates from around the world,” said Jimy Beltran, a second year student. “You get to chat with them. You get to have a discussion with them, and that kind of compensates in a way the inability of me as a student to speak with the professor.”
CORe, credential of readiness, were online course offered worldwide to prepare students for the business world and weren’t necessarily business majors. A variety of students took part ranging from students hoping just to improve their understanding of the business industry to students running their own business. The pilot project offered three courses such as Economics of Managers, Business Analytics, and Financial Accounting.
“We were the first Canadian university, first university outside the United States to become part of the program,” said University Spokesman Jeffery Carleton.
Ren said the course required about 150 hours of studying, but admits she spent over 200 hours preparing for the course. Beltran remembers between work and studying for this course he had limited days off.
While students like Mike Forestell complained about the hours starring at a screen. He said the course emphasized taking practical skills away and not just good grades.
“It’s very possible that I might not pass but I will say I’m happy I did it, because I am, you know if not fluent in finances that I at least understand the basics. Which hopefully will be useful later on,” said the political science and great books major.
The courses will expand from three to four this winter, running from January to spring. Beltran, Ren, and Forestell all recommend it, but warn about the work load. In order for students to complete the course they must be dedicated and able to manage their time. But Beltran thinks the expansion should be limited in scope.
“This course is a very good to teach because there was a right answer to each question asked. But if other universities tried this Harvard online platform, to other classes like philosophy, journalism, communications, the humanities that doesn’t have a right answer, but a variety of perspectives,” said Beltran. “I think it could be difficult, it would be difficult to compensate for the lack of a professor.”
