The 150 new MSc students who make up the Class of 2025 – the program’s most diverse class to date – learned how they can leverage that diversity and their global-ready skills to succeed both at Ivey and their future careers.
“This is the most multinational of the programs at Ivey because the demand for the capabilities that we’re educating you to are globally in demand,” said Warren Ritchie, MSc Program Faculty Director, at the program’s welcome event on September 3. “The challenge is going to be: How do you leverage that diversity?”
The students come from two separate streams – Business Analytics (BA) and Digital Management (DM) – and both streams have had a considerable increase in the number of international students in the program. Of the 74 BA students, 71 per cent are international and the cohort is also more gender-diverse than it has been in years. The 76 DM students are 65 per cent international and also gender-diverse. Both streams came together for the event where they heard from Ritchie, MSc Program staff, and student leaders from the MSc Association about what’s in store for them in the program.
Turning data into business insights
Ivey Dean Julian Birkinshaw, MBA ’91, PhD ’95, discussed how the MSc is the School’s fastest-growing program because it addresses the need for a new breed of manager – one who can assess how innovation and insights impact business.
“Firms are disrupting, and this program will prepare you to add value from Day 1 with your future employer. You will develop the skills and capabilities needed to take today’s growing wealth of real-world data and translate it into actionable insights for business decision-making,” he said.
Ritchie stressed how the program’s focus on experiential learning – through internships, labs, field projects, and the Digital Innovation Studio – will prepare the students to immediately tackle the dilemmas that the corporations they hope to join are working with.
The welcome event was the kick-off to various activities throughout the week before the students start classes on September 9. The line-up includes sessions on team development, learning with cases, preparatory accounting and statistics programs, and social events.
Learn more about Ivey’s new MSc students below. 
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