Philosophy majors take note: Job futures for liberal arts graduates can be as bright - or brighter - than their counterparts completing more applied university degrees.

To help accelerate career trajectories, the Sauder School of Business at UBC has developed the Early Career Masters, a one-year master's degree in business management specifically designed for graduates from non-business programs such as arts, science and engineering.

Traditionally, arts graduates face a bumpy road in the early years. Those from liberal arts programs experience twice as many weeks of unemployment immediately following graduation compared to applied graduates, according to a 2001 study, and their starting salaries are 25 percent lower. But the two streams eventually equal out by 35 years of age.

 

More impressively, liberal arts grads take the lead in salary after age 45.

"Many humanities and social science graduates construct their own career ladders," writes Oxford economist Robert Allen, formerly of UBC, in his study, "The Employability of University Graduates in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education."

"The time this requires means that the rewards are delayed, so earnings increase steeply with age and experience," he says.

Sauder's Early Career Masters, the first of its kind in Canada, offers these graduates an opportunity to accelerate their careers and avoid early employment uncertainty. Students will gain fundamental business skills that can be applied to a career in any industry or sector - enabling them to potentially advance into managerial roles more quickly.

Prospective students who should consider the Early Career Masters include: fourth-year students and recent university graduates of non-business programs; candidates with limited work experience seeking to complement their undergraduate concentration with applied business skills; and individuals seeking to advance quickly into entry-level management positions. The program includes an optional internship or international study-abroad experience.

Graduates of the program receive a Master of Management degree from the Sauder School of Business at UBC.

The Masters of Management degree has become well-established in Europe, and is gaining prominence in North America, thanks to the faster-advancement career potential it offers graduates. In its "Masters of Management 2007 Special Report", the London-based Financial Times proclaimed that "the masters in management and specialized masters degrees... are gaining in popularity and international recognition."

The inaugural Sauder Early Career Masters' cohort begins studies this September. The application deadline for the program is May 15.

Beyond their own coursework, participants in the ECM program can tap into other professional and academic opportunities with the Sauder School - and by extension, the school's international alumni network of 28,000 graduates.

The Sauder School is recognized as a leader among business schools in Canada. Its programs are regularly included in prestigious rankings conducted by The Financial Times, The Economist and Forbes Magazine.

For more information on the Sauder Early Career Masters, visit: http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/ecm

-Source: Sauder School of Business at UB