Odette is committed to a hands-on and learn by-doing approach to education that is woven into all programs, extracurricular activities, and state-of-the-art facilities.
“We are proud of our school and have a great story to tell,” says Dean Dr. Mitchell Fields.
“We have a world-class faculty of 61 full-time professors and an incredible variety of programs. Odette pathways offer something for everyone and a customizable education through double majors and specializations.”
The school offers valuable co-op opportunities, vibrant student clubs, global exchanges and is one of the very few business schools with a thesis option for undergraduate students, says Fields.
Key advantages of Odette are a 17 to one student to faculty ratio and an average class size of 35.
“Professors know your name at Odette,” says Jordan Neposlan, who graduated from Odette with a Bachelor of Commerce (Co-op) degree in 2018 and then completed the 16-month MBA program. She now works as a Student Success Coordinator in the Odette Student Success Centre (SSC).
“Odette feels like home. Students appreciate the community feel of the school. You truly get to know your classmates through team project work and extracurricular activities. There are also numerous opportunities for students to get involved in Odette club teams and build real connections with faculty.”
There are a range of student success initiatives at Odette, which boasted a 93 per cent graduate employment rate in 2021.
The school’s Helping Odette Undergraduate Students Excel (HOUSE) program matches incoming students with upper-year mentors who act as guides, advisors, and coaches throughout a new student’s first year.
In addition to its flagship Bachelor of Commerce degree with and without co-op education, Odette offers six unique combined major programs that blend Business Administration with Psychology, Economics, Computer Science, Math, Women and Gender Studies and Political Science.
“These combined degrees make students job ready because they layer the practicality of a business education on to another academic discipline, including several STEM subjects. They open doors,” says Fields.
After completing two years in Business Administration, Odette students can choose a specialization in Accounting, Finance, Human Resources, International Business, Marketing, Supply Chain & Business Analytics, or Strategy & Entrepreneurship.
OSB has just opened a new Data Analytics facility with 50 state-ofthe-art workstations and its Odette Financial Markets (OX) Lab utilizes real-world market simulations and live data feeds through 12 Bloomberg terminals for research and simulated trading. It is among the largest such lab in Canada.
OSB also has an investment fund worth more than $220,000 that is entirely managed by students.
Students in the co-op stream alternate between academic terms and full-time paid employment beginning in second year. At graduation, they have had 12 months of work experience.
There are other differentiators. The OSB has earned accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Less than five per cent of the world’s 13,000 business schools have earned this prestigious international designation.
“That is a real testament to what we are doing here,” says Fields.
As well, Odette is accredited by the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) of Ontario.
Students can obtain a CPA-accredited MBA-Professional Accounting Specialization after completing the Accounting Specialization within their undergraduate BComm degree. This will enable them to complete all the professional education program requirements, and to be eligible to write the national Common Final Examination (CFE).
OSB is the only business school in Ontario with a combined undergraduate degree/MBA pathway to the CPA designation.
