"Call me in April when you graduate."
Those may be the seven best words an intern can possibly hear when they complete a mandatory cooperative work placement as part of their college program requirements.
And those seven words are repeated over and over to students enrolled in the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration - Information Communication Technology (BBA-ICT) degree program at St. Clair College.
Jordan Robinet, Emma Papa and Eva Qoja, students in the Honours Bachelor of Business Administration - Information Communication Technology program, pose for a photo at St. Clair College on Sept. 5, 2024. (Rich Garton/St. Clair College)
It was Jordan Robinet's turn to hear that promising phrase this past summer.
"I know I have some kind of guarantee after school," said Robinet, who decided to enroll in the BBA-ICT program out of high school thanks to some advice from his guidance counsellor.
"I wanted to go to Odette and do business there, and then my guidance counsellor recommended this program here. She said it's a mix of business and IT, and it's really good for getting real-world experience with the mandatory internship as well," recalled Robinet.
Four years later, he's preparing to graduate, after completing a four-month paid internship with Ford Canada. He spent time in the Paris warehouse as a supervisor, creating process and training documentation using software he learned in class.
"They just threw me everywhere, and I learned almost everything about that warehouse, so there were a lot of good experiences," Robinet said. "To transfer my knowledge from the program to an actual workplace felt natural, and to apply it in the work-world was also kind of cool."
Robinet is not alone. Many of his classmates shared similar experiences at their various placements, including Emma Papa, who was placed at Publicis Canada.
"I'm doing what I'm learning, and then I'm sitting in class at night learning about it. It's definitely a very strange experience, but it's cool," said Papa.
Like Robinet, Papa was originally looking at attending university for a business-marketing degree, but when she found out about the experiential learning opportunities and work integrated learning offered as part of the BBA-ICT program, she enrolled at St. Clair.
"My vice president (at Publicis) always says to me, it's just such a cool degree. She's always so fascinated when I'm explaining to her all the things we do in class," said Papa, who noted management "lit up" when she told them she was enrolled in BBA-ICT.
She's still working at Publicis Canada part-time as an account coordinator and has been offered a project management role upon graduation.
The BBA-ICT undergraduate degree program focuses on producing business leaders who can facilitate and integrate information communication technology within a highly innovative business environment, combining mainstream business management areas with a relevant level of technical literacy and skill.
Information Communication Technology is a dynamic and progressive discipline that is the core of many sectors of business, said Nicole Rourke, the BBA-ICT program coordinator, also noting this credential is experiencing exciting growth and has become embedded in the global corporate landscape.
"These students are getting the strategy of business, but then the technical skills of I.T., which is a really fantastic combination," said Rourke, adding these graduates have a competitive advantage in the job market upon graduation. "This is all fully integrated."
Another great thing about the program is that there are two tracks to graduation. The four-year program is a common option, but it also allows advanced diploma graduates from the Zekelman School of Business and Information Technology to transfer into the BBA-ICT degree program through advanced standing, where they can complete their studies in two additional years.
When designing the course, Rourke and her colleagues were adamant that the four-month placements be paid, giving the students not only the experiential learning they crave, but also some money in their pockets and solid industry leads.
"I feel strongly that they deserve to get paid and it's great to see them actually applying what they're learning at school, too," she said. "That's the best thing for a professor to hear, is what we're teaching them they're doing in the real world."
"That's where the College, I think, really is different, in that we give them the skills in class and they're bringing them directly to the workforce," said Rourke.
Eva Qoja, who is graduating this Spring, has finished her placement working in the College's International Department helping with recruitment. Because she speaks five languages, Qoja created language specific social media accounts to help increase international engagement with the College, enhance the user experience and hopefully recruit more students into programs.
"Every experience I had in the International department taught me a lot of stuff about the business world," said Qoja.
These students' experiences as part of a college education are exactly what Rourke and the team at the Zekelman School of Business and IT had in mind when they created the program, with the hope that it will blossom to help even more students achieve their life goals.
"This is a professor's dream to have these great stories," said Rourke.
"This is what we're doing it for, after all."
