A business education is the common denominator in jobs that cut across many sectors and British Columbia students have a growing range of programs to fill that gap on their resumes.

Most in recent times the University of B.C.'s Sauder School of Business has added an early career Master of Management degree to its contributions giving non-business grads an opportunity to gain management training before they head into the workforce.

It's an alternative for students who graduate in such fields as arts, engineering or science yet want to strengthen their chances of succeeding in business by adding another dimension to their studies.

While that program is geared for people just coming out of their undergrad degrees, Master of Business Administration programs, from part time to full time to fusion residency/online programs are appealing to people already in the workforce.

"The MBA programs are doing really well," said Lynne Murchie, manager, business co-op programs and supporter director, Hari B. Varshney Business Career Centre at UBC's Sauder School of Business

"A lot of the MBA programs -- ours included -- have diversified over the past few years."

At UBC, a regular full-time MBA is 15 months with an eight- to 10-week placement in the summer, but there are also programs for people still working full time.

"Other educational institutions are doing the same thing," said Murchie. "They are offering support to people who are functioning who may want to get their MBA.

"I don't think MBAs are falling out of favour at all. There is a focus on education and on on-going education."

It's a focus that has people lining up to enroll in the MBA program at Royal Roads University, a program that combines three-week residencies at the university with distance learning.

"What is different regarding our MBA is that it is designed for the working professional," said Pedro Márquez, dean of the faculty of administration at Royal Roads. "It is neither the traditional MBA nor the executive MBA.

"This is a MBA for functioning professionals; the standard age is 40 years old. Some are already running their own successful firms."

The mixture of a short-term residency where students meet the classmates who will go through the program with them with distance learning makes it possible for people to keep up their work and family life.

"The three-week residency is very intensive and the rest is done online," said Márquez. "People can continue to work, they can keep on to invest times in their businesses and personal lives -- they only have to take a break from their everyday jobs to come here."

Royal Roads (at www.royalroads.ca) has five streams in its MBA program including human resources, leadership, public dealings digital technologies and executive and management.

The University of B.C. offers a number of MBA options, including full time or part time, an international MBA, an decision-making MBA in healthcare, a joint LLB/MBA four-year program of the Sauder School of Business and the Faculty of Law, a joint MBA/MAPPS (for Master of Arts, Asia Pacific Policy Studies) and a reciprocated MBA/CMA (Certified Management Accountant). Information on the programs is at the Sauder School website at www.sauder.ubc.ca.

The University of Victoria has full-time and part-time MBA programs as well as a joint Bachelor of Laws program approximating the one offered at UBC. Check them out online at www.business.uvic.ca/graduate/advantage.

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