UNB Saint John’s MBA Program Moves Uptown

Ninety-three MBA students from UNB Saint John are learning in the heart of the city.

The official announcement came in a very full UNB Grand Hall, the former Scotiabank building at the corner of Charlotte Street and King Square North on Thursday morning.

In a partnership with Economic Development Greater Saint John, the MBA program occupies two floors of the building while EDGSJ will have its own floor this spring.

Dr. Shelley Rinehart, director of the MBA program, says it’s a very different experience for these students to participate in a panel discussion than it is to sit down over a coffee at the City market and share ideas.

“Those kinds of informal discussions often lead to more idea generation and problem-solving than more formal scripted interaction,” Rinehart said.

The MBA program is moving uptown. pic.twitter.com/wPc6TSAxPQ

— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) January 23, 2020

Mayor Don Darling hopes the exposure to the uptown, the lifestyle and the employers will result in retention by having meaningful employment for them.

“Talent and employers who are needing talent meeting and finding each other,” Darling said.

He thinks the City of Saint John can play a bigger role in that.

Rinehart says the entrepreneurship and technology management stream of the MBA program is undergoing a curriculum review and one highlight will be access to the entrepreneurial programming that EDGSJ offers.

“So for the students who really are interested in starting their own businesses or in being entrepreneurs in the own businesses they are working with this is great opportunity to share,” Rinehart said.

UNB and EDGSJ are partnering to co-locate their start-up incubator called Block One and entrepreneurship programming under the same roof.

Saint John-Rothesay MP Wayne Long announced $750,000 in ACOA funding for improvements to Grand Hall.