Hi er.pritam,
While I haven't heard much about the UNB's MBA program, I can share with you my experiences as an MBA student from UVIC.
What I can tell you is that the international experience I received from UVIC's MBA was outstanding. In my last year, I became very close with classmates from Japan, Turkey, China, Mongolia, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, India, Brazil, and the Philippines. Learning their perspectives on business (and life) was an education that I wasn't really expecting but has proven to be invaluable to my overall development. On top of that, I travelled with my class to India and Hong Kong to conduct a consultation for a local company that was facing a real issue and required a high level of analysis from our team. Finally, I will be travelling to France in September to complete my degree on an optional international exchange program that has allowed me to seek a specialization in marketing from a prestigious business school in Europe (EDHEC).
I would also tell you that since our classroom was so diverse (in terms of nationality and professional background), I learned a ton from my classmates. What I've heard is that most MBA programs tend to consist of individuals from similar educational backgrounds. While I can't speak to that experience, I can say that by mixing students with backgrounds in music, languages, politics, and sociology with those with backgrounds in finance, engineering, economics, and business, the atmoshpere of the classroom was considerably enriched. Working in such diverse teams, we were able to balance creative minds with detail-oriented ones to produce a deliverable that was far better than anything I could have done on my own.
Top it off with an outstanding team of professors that are engaging and always seem to have the time to chat, I would definitly have to recommend the UVIC MBA.
In terms of your interest in finance, the program does not provide specializations in terms of subject areas as it tries to avoid producign MBAs with silo mentalities. Instead it offers specializations in entrepreneurship, international business, and service management. However, you can do what I am doing and go on an international exchange to a university that does offer a specialization in your respective field of interest. This year, one of my classmates who is interested in finance opted to do an exchange to Hong Kong so to take more upper level courses in finance. As a member of the National Post Stock Challenge team and a member of the CFA's Western Canadian Investment research challenge, I can attest to the fact that most of our competing teams (many from universities specializing in finance) didn't really seem to know much more about finance than we did. I would attribute this to the fact that most of the topics in finance can be easily read up on, we just had to put the time and effort in to do our own research. What you can't get from a book is all the other experiences that the UVIC MBA provides in terms of developing a stronger global mindset.
Well I hope that helps,
Good luck with your decision!
