THREE QUESTIONS WITH
Dr. Janicke Rasmussen
Dean MSc, BI Norwegian Business School
Today’s students will be entering a business environment that looks very different than it did only a year ago. How is BI preparing tomorrow’s professionals?
We prepare our students for the workplace in different ways through a variety of activities. At BI we have a variety of masters programs catering to students from different backgrounds – so we use varying perspectives when we develop activities. Some are degree specific and others are developed for students enrolled in all master’s programs. In Norway, MSc are generally commenced by students that may not have much work experience. We give all students the opportunity for professional skill development as part of extracurricular activities. These activities are delivered throughout the student journey, beginning in their first week, and take on different forms depending on where the students are in their journey.
BI cooperates both with industry and with other schools to ensure students are prepared to meet the expectations of the business community. Other international schools are important to ensure students get to experience and learn from a global learning environment, and we use our alliances to develop relevant activities for students. Some activities can be performed locally, while students go abroad for other activities. The pandemic has made the environment for cooperation between business schools more active. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing; to ensure students succeed. If they succeed – we succeed.
Bl excels in international business school rankings as “triple-accredited” by each of the main international accreditation agencies (AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS). Which initiatives have gained recognition beyond Norway’s borders?
BI is a triple crown business school – only 1 % of the world’s business schools are in this category. This means that BI Norwegian Business School is recognized by international bodies and universities as a high-quality international business school. We are the number-one-ranked business school in Norway.
As a result, BI is now a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) University Affiliate school (the only school in Norway), which means that our MSc in Finance program is catered to meet about 70% of the first level exams at CFA. This partnership is a result of continuous development of our MSc in finance program – and a recognition of this by the CFA body.
In fact, this year a group of students from BI won the annual global case competition – the CFA Research Institute Challenge. This year, more than 5000 students from 950 universities across 82 countries participated, and our team of four students won – which was extremely fun – and shows that clear goals and ambitions pay off.
BI is also a GMAC school, a title received only by invitation. This enables us to partner with a great community of business schools for our continuous program development.
As a triple crown business school, we are a preferred partner for international business schools – and we currently partner with 18 universities in the USA, including Carlson School of Business, Pace University, and Texas A&M.
Putting theory into practice – in what ways does BI collaborate with the business community to provide real-world skills for its diverse student body?
In addition to the above mentioned, BI cooperates with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) by offering our students at our MSc in Business programs a major in accounting.
We also make efforts to cooperate with industry in developing our programs. For example, SAS Institute cooperates with our MSc in Business Analytics. In addition to offering students internships, they offer all business analytics students a free course to obtain a SAS certification.
One last thing to mention is the development of a Master Merit Society at BI – a platform for cooperation and co-creation between students, faculty, alumni and industry. The highest performing students are given the opportunity to become a member of this society for leadership development, ensuring diversity and providing motivation for all students, regardless of their background.
Bonus question! Once leisure travelling becomes more accessible, where is the first place you will travel to?
Difficult question! I really just want to travel! For leisure I generally prefer beaches and/or mountains – in my job I meet a lot of people and often think it is great to get away from the “buzz” of my every day. However, “post-covid” leisure trips will be all about meeting people, going to concerts, and eating out! So, I think I will say London. Because of the “buzz” but also because that is where I did my PhD, and therefore I have close ties with that city.