University of Toronto: Rotman

Known as either the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management or the Rotman School of Management, it is the University of Toronto's graduate business school. It was formally established in 1950 as the Institute of Business Administration. It was renamed several times after being given faculty status in 1972 before arriving at its current title in 1997, honouring its benefactor.

Rotman has a strong liberal arts and international outlook, with various opportunities to study abroad and a high percentage of international students on its courses (eg 52 per cent in the case of the full-time MBA). The school is in the heart of downtown Toronto, a city with an outward-looking attitude and is home to the third-largest financial, technology, health sciences and film and television sectors in North America.

Rotman has 2,300 undergraduates, 1,050 postgraduates and 71 doctoral students on its roll.

Its undergraduate degree programme, known as Rotman Commerce, is jointly organised with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Arts and Science. Student can specialise in accounting, finance and economics, or management and choose any course from the Faculty of Arts and Science. There is also the facility to study abroad at one of Rotman’s 24 partner universities.

Rotman’s MBA options are flexible and include: full-time two-year MBA; part-time three-year morning MBA; part-time three-year evening MBA, one year executive MBA; the global executive MBA (across six countries); a global executive MBA for healthcare and life sciences and combined MBAs with law, pharmacy and applied science and engineering and a collaborative MBA with Asia-Pacific studies and environmental Studies. Other course options are master's of finance, financial risk management and management analytics and a graduate diploma in professional accounting. Its PhD course is the doctoral programme in management.

Research institutes at Rotman are: Behavioural Economics in Action; Capital Markets Institute; Clarkson Centre for Board Effectiveness; Institute for Gender and the Economy; Sandra Rotman Centre for Health Sector Strategy; India Innovation Institute; Martin Prosperity Institute; Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship and Real Estate and Urban Economics.

As well as having downtown Toronto at their feet, student life at Rotman is enhanced by the activities of the Graduate Business Council. The Council helps new students with a buddy programme and an orientation camp and keeps the student body active with an outreach programme that gives back to the local community and organises sports activities. There are also a number of clubs that have a vocational focus and are useful for networking and socialising.

Notable alumni include: George Gardiner, financier and past president of the Toronto Stock Exchange; Michael H. Wilson, chancellor of the University of Toronto and chairman of Barclays Capital; William A. Downe, CEO of the Bank of Montreal; Victor Dodig, CEO and President of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce; Vasu Chanchlani, serial entrepreneur and philanthropist and Bill Downe, former president and CEO of the Bank of Montreal.