Located in Edmonton, the University of Alberta, Alberta School of Business was founded in 1916, when a School of Accountancy was created at the university. In 1928, a School of Commerce was created. This became a faculty in its own right in 1960 and, eight years later, it was accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, the first to be so in Canada. Renamed the Faculty of Business in 1984, operations moved to a new location on campus. Its present name was decided upon in 2010.
Alberta School of Business has a roll of 2,025 undergraduate, 500 full and part-time MBA, and 60 doctoral students over four teaching and research departments - accounting, operations and information systems; finance and statistical analysis; strategic management; and organisation
The school offers an extensive range of qualifications. These qualifications include: a bachelor of commerce (BCom); MBA; executive MBA (for senior level managers); master of accounting (MAcc) for completion of Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) qualification; master of financial management for aspiring CFOs; PhD (the doctor of philosophy in business programme at the University of Alberta offers specialisations in accounting, finance, operations and information systems, marketing, and strategic management and organisation – including macro and micro organisational behaviour); and executive education (management training and leadership development programmes).
Other opportunities at undergraduate level include: leadership certificate; real estate certificate; business career services; cooperative education; exchanges; PRIME: programme for research and investment management excellence and study tours (eg international business trips to China).
At graduate level, there are offerings of a business fundamentals certificate, an innovation and entrepreneurship certificate, a real estate stream and an MBA career management centre.
The school places a strong emphasis on research and runs a number of centres of excellence/applied research centres: The Alberta Business Family Institute; Canadian Corporate Governance Institute; Canadian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility; Centre for Applied Business Research in Energy and the Environment; Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise; Centre for Excellence in Operations; Centre for International Business Studies; School of Retailing and the Technology Commercialization Centre.
