DeGroote School of Business
A group of DeGroote MBA students seated in rows, hands on laps, attentively listening to an off-screen lecturer.

Curriculum

A flexible, innovative approach designed for working professionals to advance their careers while balancing personal and professional commitments

A group of DeGroote MBA students seated in rows, hands on laps, attentively listening to an off-screen lecturer.

Core curriculum

The Blended Learning Part-Time MBA is a response to expectations of working professionals with 4 to 10 years of work experience who wish to accelerate in their careers while completing their studies. This semester-based, blended learning format is unique amongst part-time MBAs in Ontario and provides our students, their families and employers with the flexibility necessary to fit their busy schedules. The blended delivery approach will consist of three intensive face-to-face weekend residencies per semester combined with weekly technology-enabled learning requirements during the off-campus periods.

1st Year

Focuses on building leadership, management skills and introduces you to core concepts in business.

2nd Year

Includes intermediate courses in accounting, finance, marketing, and operations that build on your first-year knowledge, with electives to tailor your experience to your career and interests.

3rd Year

What you’ve learned so far, your professional experience, and the key program features of innovation, integration, and interdisciplinary learning culminate in the strategic innovation project.

Courses


Fall

This course provides participants with an opportunity to engage in learning experiences, case studies, simulations and reflection exercises designed to increase leadership effectiveness in both professional and personal contexts. Students will develop an increased understanding of established leadership literature and models of effectiveness for leading themselves, others, teams and organizations, resolving conflicts and managing change.

Students will learn economic and other analytical techniques to support decision-making. The core economic principles will be covered: supply and demand, pricing in a real-world environment, pricing in auctions, and macroeconomic core principles and institutions. This course will also build on the Data Analytics/Statistics module in Foundations 1 and will discuss confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, ANOVA, and regression analysis using in-class experiments and macro/micro datasets.

Winter

Understanding customers and what they value is critical for organizational success. In this course, students will learn to look at the business from a customer perspective, learn key marketing concepts, and understand how information and communication technologies can create value for customers. The first part of this course will focus on strategies to satisfy customers via a specific choice of product, price, promotion and distribution. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of choosing appropriate target markets, as no business can satisfy all of the people all of the time. The second part of this course will focus on leveraging technologies and vast amounts of online data to better understand and serve one’s customers. Online strategies that add value to customers will be discussed. This course marries key concepts from the worlds of marketing and information systems.

MBA students will gain a cross-functional view of management from a variety of organizational functions to enhance their perspective and set them up for success throughout their MBA journey. Develop a comprehensive management skill set that will propel your thinking, value ROI, and enhance your overall view of business. We will deliver a refreshing perspective on management theories that have stood the test of time, as well as leadership insights on new management concepts, covering both qualitative and quantitative learnings. The course will finish with a class case competition designed to have students integrate and demonstrate the various skill areas covered throughout the semester.

Summer

The objective of the course is to introduce students to both the fundamental concepts and practical issues in business finance and accounting. This course aims to improve students’ skills in interpreting, analyzing, and applying accounting and financial information in order to make superior financial decisions. This course will provide students with an introduction to the financial statement analysis framework, cost management, breakeven and contribution margin analysis, and relevant costing. The course will also emphasize the following key concepts of financial management: capital budgeting, working capital management, and capital structure.

This course will expose students to the strategic and transformative role digital technologies and information systems can play in creating and sustaining a competitive advantage for organizations. Students will also be introduced to the most popular analytic tools to make business decisions both within a firm and across a supply chain in an increasingly digital environment. This course will emphasize the best practices required to unlock the full potential of organizational investments in digital technologies and systems, in addition to the use of state-of-the-art analytic tools to prescribe the best course of action for different business problems.

Fall

This course is focused on the elements that enable organizations to create and sustain a competitive advantage in a global economy. Students will also examine globalization and the steps managers take to establish or expand their operations in international markets. Students explore the influence of forces such as culture, economics, politics and geography on management decision-making. 

Many different types of economic decisions require accounting data. This course is concerned with the analysis of and accounting for costs and the use of relevant accounting information in decision-making. This course also highlights the development and presentation of management accounting information and the use of these special-purpose accounting reports for planning and control.

This course provides an in-depth understanding of the way companies make financial decisions. The material builds on concepts of the time value of money, risk/return analysis and corporate finance first encountered in BL601, and makes extensive use of accounting concepts, especially the organization of the balance sheet and income statement. However, BL652 is more detailed and practical, focusing on applications of theory and the complications encountered in real firms and markets. Course coverage centers on advanced corporate financial management, including project analysis and risk management, firm valuation as stand-alone and for mergers, capital structure and financial distress models and principles of corporate governance.

Winter

This course equips students with an understanding of the domestic and international institutions (e.g., IMF, WTO, NAFTA, etc.) and forces that shape the environments facing business, not-for-profit, and public service organizations. This understanding comprises historical and current contexts, theory and the ability to devise strategic responses to the environment. Major topics include the structure and roles of government, culture and business ethics, international trade and investment, and foreign exchange.

One elective course of your choosing.

Summer

Building on concepts learned in core, this course will help students develop a deeper understanding of marketing and its applications primarily through practical problem-solving exercises. The students will learn how to use marketing principles to make better decisions, from high-level strategic decisions to more granular, tactical ones centered on the effective deployment of the marketing mix elements. The course will be taught through a combination of cases, lectures, and projects.

Business processes take inputs such as materials, services and technology, add value and transform these inputs into outputs such as products and services. Operations managers design, manage and improve individual and supply chains of business processes. Some of the activities comprising operations management that will be covered in this course are process analysis and quality improvement, planning and control, and supply chain design. The course shows how integration of operations management with marketing and accounting creates a competitive advantage.

One elective course of your choosing.

Fall

Strategic management focuses on the concepts of strategy analysis, formulation, and implementation by exploring the functions and nature of general management. The course serves as an opportunity to develop skills in strategic thinking and analysis, leadership, communication, teamwork, and cross-functional integration.

The Strategic Integration Project course serves as the major capstone assignment for the BLPT MBA program. Over the course of one year, teams of students will work together to integrate and apply the wide range of knowledge and skills they have developed throughout the program, using a host company as their basis of analysis. A key objective of this process will be to provide recommendations that will help the company improve its performance based on externally oriented or internally relevant metrics. Executives from the client companies will be invited to class to observe and assess final student presentations and reports. The course will be offered in a multi-term format (A/B/C).

One elective course of your choosing.

Winter

The Strategic Integration Project course serves as the major capstone assignment for the BLPT MBA program. Over the course of one year, teams of students will work together to integrate and apply the wide range of knowledge and skills that they have developed throughout the program, using a host company as their basis for analysis. A key objective of this process will be to provide recommendations that will help the company improve its performance based on externally oriented or internally relevant metrics. Executives from the client companies will be invited to class to observe and assess final student presentations and reports. The course will be offered in a multi-term format (A/B/C).

One elective course of your choosing.

Summer

The Strategic Integration Project course serves as the major capstone assignment for the BLPT MBA program. Over the course of one year, teams of students will work together to integrate and apply the wide range of knowledge and skills that they have developed throughout the program, using a host company as their basis for analysis. A key objective of this process will be to provide recommendations that will help the company improve its performance based on externally oriented or internally relevant metrics. Executives from the client companies will be invited to class to observe and assess final student presentations and reports. The course will be offered in a multi-term format (A/B/C).

This capstone course is intended to capture key learning points and reflections from the courses you have undertaken and your respective program experience to create a roadmap for your life journey beyond this program. The purpose of this course is to allow you to press the pause button and take stock of the breadth of knowledge gained and the ups and downs experienced, so you can comprehend the significant progress you have made. By reflecting on your progress, you have an opportunity to reassess your personal vision, life goals, career aspirations, priorities, and future personal and professional development. Throughout this course, you will gain clarity on your values, aspirations, and strengths, as well as how learned leadership and management practices can be incorporated into your profession and workplace. You will also gain a heightened awareness of who you are and identify professional pitfalls to avoid. You will develop your own structured personalized learning portfolios that you can use with existing or prospective employers, as well as with your own business and volunteer organizations that can help facilitate career progress and, more importantly, the attainment of professional fulfillment and purpose.

One elective course of your choosing.

Headshot of Harman Kaur Batra, smiling.

“This experience reshaped how I approach problem-solving. It wasn’t just about applying frameworks or theories, it was about real people, real challenges and real impact.”

Harman Kaur Batra

MBA Candidate 2026, Superprof

Headshot of Harman Florence Tanor, smiling.

“I learned a great deal from my teammates, and it was inspiring to see everyone contribute their strengths, build trust and support each other throughout this project.”

Florence Tanor

MBA Candidate 2026, Newmont Ghana

Headshot of Monique Nguyen, smiling.

“In addition to the live case, GRIT Week pushed us to tackle high-pressure, time-sensitive challenges that tested our problem-solving, adaptability, and teamwork skills. It was truly a rewarding experience that sharpened my ability to think strategically in complex situations.”

Monique Nguyen

MBA Candidate 2026, RT Medical

Headshot of Amritpal Kallah, smiling.

“This experience was as challenging as it was rewarding… Everyone worked early mornings and late nights while showing unwavering dedication. I’m truly grateful to have collaborated with such a dynamic group and proud of all we achieved together!”

Amritpal Kallah

MBA Candidate 2026, Sun Life (Co-op)

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Take the first step

When you’re ready to start your application, fill out and submit our pre-assessment form. We’ll contact you to discuss your options and send you instructions for beginning your official application.