Media Releases >  Media Releases Archive  > New business degree program at SFU Surrey

Document Tools

Contact:
Bill Wedley, 604.291.4528, wedley@sfu.ca

A new bachelor of business administration (BBA) degree program launching at SFU Surrey this fall will increase business student capacity to 500 spaces by 2010. These new spaces are part of the provincial government's commitment to accommodate 25,000 more students at B.C. post-secondary institutions by 2010.

The SFU Surrey program offers the same core courses as at the SFU Burnaby campus but features two new specializations: entrepreneurship, and management and technology, in addition to the regular concentrations which include marketing and finance.

"The entrepreneurship major offers two key courses - project management and new venture planning," says professor Bill Wedley, who heads up the Surrey BBA program. "Those are essential skills for successful entrepreneurs." There are also elective courses in new venture financing, new venture marketing, managing for innovation and managing change.

Wedley says the new courses will train students to be employers, as well as employees. "We hope to appeal to students from the school of interactive arts and technology at SFU Surrey, as well as our own business students," says Wedley. "A lot of them have good technology ideas that they could turn into businesses."

The new major in management and technology focuses on operating within a big business where there is fast change, obsolescence, and new product development. It emphasizes managing the change process and includes an optional course in project management.

The new program is designed so that students may take all of their degree requirements at the Surrey campus.

"The Surrey BBA program has several novel features," notes Wedley. "Our course offerings are designed so that entering students can advance through the program as a unified group (cohort). Students work collaboratively in teams and graduate together in four years.

“As well, we have other distinctive features. We will be blending more technology into our teaching methods and we will be maintaining SFU's reputation for
co-operative education experiences. At Surrey, most co-op jobs will be arranged for the summer semester. In the fall, students will take their work experiences back to their groups. Some students will even take a full year of co-op education and join the next cohort group.”

SFU Business associate dean Maureen Fizzell welcomes the launch of the new BBA progam at SFU's newest campus. “We expect that the additional spaces will help to ease the student competition for entry,” she says, “and also help the faculty expand its connections to the diverse and rapidly growing South Fraser region.”

For information about the new program, visit www.surrey.sfu.ca/academic/fba/ or call 604.291.4528.

-30-