Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management (Co-op)

at Toronto Metropolitan University Canada

The Bachelor of Commerce in Retail Management prepares the next generation of leaders for professional careers in a dynamic and evolving sector of the global economy. A B.Comm in Retail provides a solid foundation in buying, merchandising, strategic planning, retail technologies, operations management, customer experience design through in-store, online, and mobile channels, global issues, brand or category management, and much more. As well, the program will prepare those students interested in postgraduate studies in this, or related areas.

Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is crucial to the innovation and productivity of every industry, including energy, health care, life sciences, media and culture, publishing, advertising, natural resources, financial services, construction, retail or education. It is a critical tool for every level of government. It impacts the daily lives of every Canadian. ICT is an essential contributor to the creativity, innovation, customer satisfaction, productivity, safety, and competitive advantage of Canadian businesses.

For these reasons, demand for ICT-based solutions are projected to continue outpacing overall economic growth. This means a continued above-average demand for workers. However the nature of these jobs is changing. The popular image of an ICT worker as some sort of "nerdy" technologist is outdated and does not reflect today's reality. Canadian ICT industry leaders project that almost half of the future jobs demands in ICT will be for people who combine two sets of competencies such that they are:

• Business professionals who have the knowledge, skills and personal qualities to lead and support the effective, competitive use of information technologies; and
• Specialized technologists - IT-focused and/or multidisciplinary - who operate at the leading edge of innovation in every field.

The Ted Rogers School of Information Technology Management is a leader in providing a degree that meets this need and, in 2010, it began offering Canada's newest and world-leading ICT degree - The Bachelor of Commerce in Business Technology Management. This degree has been developed with the close participation of Canada's leading employers and provides students with the education - the knowledge, skills and experience - that sets them up for success in their careers in this exciting field.

Students build their knowledge and skills on two foundations. They study the core business disciplines, such as marketing, operations, accounting, finance, human resources, and law. They receive a solid grounding in the world of ICT in subjects such as systems analysis and design, ICT architecture and infrastructure, and privacy and security. In their senior years, students integrate the knowledge from these two foundations to learn how ICT can make a difference in every business studying the strategic application of ICT, the role of ICT in activities such as supply chain, sales and customer relations. They learn about project management and the integration of ICT into business.

In addition to providing a broad and deep understanding of both business and ICT, the program also has an emphasis on building personal and interpersonal skills and on providing students with real-life work experience, with case competitions, in-depth consulting projects with real clients and employment opportunities in the field, including internships, part-time work practica and an optional Co-op program. In addition, students have access to a wide range of Minors, including Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Law, and Human Resources.

BTM graduates will learn how to analyze business needs, design appropriate technology-based processes and solutions, and communicate these effectively. They will learn to lead work-based teams, participate effectively in projects and understand best practices of organizational change. They will develop skills in interpersonal communications, collaboration, and leadership. Graduates will be ready for high demand jobs in business analysis, project management, sales, consulting, customer and supplier management, and marketing support.

Through the student International exchange program, opportunities are available for students to spend a semester studying abroad. International experience gained in this way gives undergraduates a significant advantage in the competitive global economy. The school's international partners include universities in England, Holland, Italy, Scotland, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Australia.

The graduate of this program is a hybrid business and ICT specialist who can define business objectives clearly, identify technology options to meet those needs, develop appropriate systems, implement and manage them.

Typical employment areas include both profit and nonprofit organizations, which use information systems as well as large and small information technology, telecommunications, and multimedia product and service providers. Some typical job titles of the graduates of the program include:

• Business Analyst
• Marketing Specialist
• Systems Architect
• ICT Product & Service Sales
• Project Leader/Manager
• eBusiness Analyst
• Information Systems Consultant
• Telecommunications Analyst
• Management Consultant
• Systems Integrator
• Database Analyst/Administrator
• User Support Specialist
• Network Administrator
• Business & ICT Educator/Trainer

The curriculum provides for a general four-year Civil Engineering program. Graduates from the Civil Engineering program would expect to be employed by engineering technology and consulting companies, the construction industry, the mining industry, and municipal and government agencies.

After completing two years in the Civil Engineering program students may continue in the regular Civil Engineering program or choose the Structural Engineering option. There will be a 60% cap for enrolment in either the Civil Engineering program or the Structural Engineering option. Enrolment in the Civil Engineering program or the Structural Engineering option after the second year will be made on a competitive basis, subject to program capacity. (Please visit ryerson.ca/civil/undergraduate for more details.) In addition, students continuing in the Civil Engineering program will have the option of pursuing either the Environmental or Transportation Engineering Streams in the 4th year of the program. An enrolment cap for the Environmental or Transportation Streams will be similar to that mentioned above.

The Civil Engineering program curriculum focuses mainly on four areas: environmental, geomatics, structural/materials and transportation engineering. The subjects include environmental sustainable development, impact of civil engineering, water and wastewater management, soil mechanics , geomatics measurement, remote sensing and digital mapping, satellite navigation, structural analysis and design, concrete and highway materials, highway design, transportation planning, road safety, traffic and transit operation, pavement design and project management.

The curriculum of the Structural Engineering option provides further focus on structural analysis, computer-aided structural analysis, structural building systems, structural design of concrete, steel, timber and masonry, bridge design and construction, and renovation/repair of existing structures.

A student graduating from the Civil Engineering program will earn a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree in Civil Engineering. A student graduating from the Structural Engineering option will earn a BEng in Civil Engineering with a Structural Engineering option.

Combining theoretical, historical, and critical knowledge with opportunities for experiential learning, the BA English curriculum encourages students to engage deeply in the widest possible range of verbal, visual, material, and digital texts, and to showcase their understanding of how to put knowledge into action in meaningful ways.

Curriculum Information
The curriculum builds on a foundational year of interdisciplinary study in the Humanities and Social Sciences, followed by three years of more specialized study in English. Students take a combination of 8 required English courses and 12 English elective courses. A mandatory practicum elective course is taken in the second year. Students must also take two pre-20th century elective courses to ensure disciplinary breadth. The core goals of the program are to graduate students who:

• Have mastered the ability to critically analyze oral, written, and other forms of texts;
• Will appreciate the complexities in various academic interpretations, and will be able to think critically about the normative assumptions governing both particular interpretations and interpretation in general;
• Are capable of developing probing research questions, conducting effective research, and persuasively communicating the results of their inquiry in a variety of oral and written modes;
• Possess a superior set of “career-ready” research, analytical, and oral and written skills, and know how to apply them to professional situations as well as to graduate study opportunities;
• Demonstrate discipline-specific knowledge, including an integrated understanding of the aesthetic, intellectual, and social foundations of literature and culture in a range of genres and media and cultural literacy through a familiarity with the richness and complexity of their literary and cultural heritage; and
• Act as responsible academic and community citizens, both locally and globally.  

Semesters One and Two: The first year is a Common Arts Platform which is shared with the BA programs in Criminology, Environment and Urban Sustainability, Geographic Analysis, History, Philosophy, Politics and Governance, Psychology, Sociology, and Language, Literatures, and Cultures. Students gain a broad, interdisciplinary base of knowledge, skills, and methodologies. They also establish the basis for study in the English discipline in two required courses in fictional and non-fictional narratives. Students also acquire skills and knowledge in two Faculty of Arts foundational courses, Academic Writing and Research, and Critical Thinking, and choose additional electives from a broad range of areas.

Semesters Three through Six: In second year, students take their final foundational Common Arts Platform skills course, Research Design and Qualitative Methods, alongside a more specialized Advanced Research Methods course in English. Students also select an English practicum course. In the third year, students take a course in Literary and Cultural Theory. Students select their pre-20th century English courses and fulfill additional elective requirements, including Liberal Studies electives.

Semesters Seven and Eight: In their final year of study, students satisfy any remaining elective requirements and take the required capstone seminar. Electives may include an independent research paper or an advanced practicum course. These capstone courses are designed to develop depth in the disciplines and sharpen students’ professional competencies.

Ryerson’s BA in Professional Communication (ProCom) provides students with solid grounding in research, analysis and practice so that they can pursue careers as savvy improvisers and reflective communication practitioners. Students in the ProCom BA develop critical and analytical skills for understanding the role of communication on personal, interpersonal and global levels. Through instruction on theory, methods of inquiry and critical thinking, students are exposed to a variety of topics, including communication technologies, social identities, professional practices and intercultural communication. Additionally, to prepare students to communicate creatively and thoughtfully in the digital and global age, experiential learning is a fundamental aspect of the ProCom BA.

The School of Professional Communication has connections to local organizations and industries, and these connections are integrated into classroom learning. Combining those experiences with theories and applications related to language, image, sound and media, students graduate prepared to assume responsibility for communication in areas such as public relations, internal communications and digital media development.

In the first year students receive a foundation in communication theory and practice, which will act as an underpinning for the entire program. The second and third years focus on further integration of theory and practice in oral, written and digital modes. Students also learn how to apply their learning to areas such as governance, health care, new media, and profit and nonprofit organizations. The fourth year provides a capstone experience with students researching and conducting their own projects within organizations.

Courses cover a range of topics, with students having the flexibility to focus their studies in the following streams:

• Organizational/corporate/nonprofit charitable stream
• New media/technical communication stream
• Governance/public policy/international communication stream
• Science/health communication stream

Commensurate with the technological challenge it faces within an ever-evolving field, the program uses a variety of innovative teaching approaches to move students through an immersive, hands-on course of study.

Emphasizing creativity, New Media expands the idea of computing. It encourages risk taking and experimentation within a supportive, collaborative environment designed to address the emerging challenges of the communication age. To this end, students engage new technologies not only as a means of art production but as instruments of social, cultural, and artistic change.

The curriculum is unique both in its substance and in its structure, which emphasizes depth as well as breadth and flexibility. The remarkable learning environment offered by the Faculty of Communication and Design, combined with Ryerson's proximity to Toronto's art community, as well as the media production, telecommunications, and cultural industries, provide unparalleled opportunities for developing not only the tools, but an understanding of the medium in a field that is continually in the process of self-invention.

The New Media BFA prepares fine art students to become creators of digital art, mobile media, interactive storytelling and virtual worlds.

The graphic communications industry is one of the most important and the largest employers in Canada, producing visual communications in the form packaging, marketing materials, eBooks, online graphics, direct mail, point of purchase displays, books and magazines. This program prepares students for a dynamic and exciting career in graphic communications through three main pillars: Creativity and design, technology and innovation, and business and entrepreneurship. Between third and fourth year, students gain real-world experience through paid internship.

Psychology is of fundamental relevance to our society. The discipline addresses important questions about the nature of human thought, emotion and behaviour, such as: How do we perceive, remember and process information? How do these processes change over our lifespan? How are addictions and brain chemistry related? How are psychological disorders and traumatic brain injury diagnosed and treated? How do we cope with stress in a changing world? The core goals of the Ryerson's Psychology program are to:

• Educate students in the science of psychology and its application to real-life situations;
• Prepare students for careers in which they will confront, elucidate, and solve problems that have psychological components;
• Provide the foundation for students who wish to pursue post-graduate studies in a variety of areas including Psychology.

Curriculum Information
Semesters one and two: The first year of the Psychology program is shared with the Criminology, English, Environment and Urban Sustainability, Politics and Governance, Geographic Analysis, History, Language and Intercultural Relations, Philosophy and Sociology programs. Students choose courses from these related programs, to gain exposure to different perspectives, in addition to their required Introduction to Psychology I and II courses, which reveal and explore the wide range of areas within their chosen field.

Semesters three through eight: In the final three years of the program, psychology students delve into experimental and clinical research methods and explore the programs core areas - cognition and neuroscience, development and social psychology, clinical and health psychology and the advanced research specializations. Students complete a combination of required and elective psychology courses that encompass topics from the many areas within the discipline.

In addition, students choose courses from a wide variety of other disciplines (including business, community services, the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences) that complement their psychology courses and broaden their career preparation. And, through a range of courses in all four years, students also develop core competencies necessary to succeed at the university level and in the modern workforce.

Students develop skills in basic quantitative and qualitative research methodologies, critical and analytical thinking, effective communication and strategies for life-long learning. Students interested in pursuing graduate studies in Psychology will have the option of taking advanced courses from the Advanced Methods and Independent Study Group and will conduct supervised research with a faculty member.

Workplaces in Canada are safer than ever before, thanks in large part to occupational health and safety professionals. Ryerson graduates working in this progressive field help prevent injury and illness by anticipating, evaluating and controlling physical, biological, chemical and other hazards in workplaces. Drawing on their specialized knowledge, these professionals help develop and implement initiatives that improve health, safety and well-being in work environments across every sector.

Why Occupational Health and Safety at Ryerson?

• Occupational Health and Safety at Ryerson is the only degree-level program of its kind in Canada.
• Our curriculum integrates a strong foundation in occupational health and safety with relevant courses in the sciences, law, epidemiology, and a range of specialist areas (e.g. occupational hygiene, ergonomics, physical agents, control measures, safety management systems, toxicology and risk assessment). A balanced education prepares you to become the well-rounded and highly skilled professional that industry demands.
• You’ll have access to outstanding learning opportunities in the classroom and in the workplace. Qualified students can apply to gain important real-world experience through paid co-operative education opportunities.
• Plus, we support your success with:
  • Workplace visits
  • Opportunities for laboratory testing and analysis
  • Presentations and seminars
  • Independent research project

Co-op
The School of Occupational and Public Health offers Co-operative options in both Occupational Health and Safety and Public Health and Safety, which provides graduating students with 20 months of work experience integrated into their academic studies.

Students in either Occupational Health and Safety or Public Health and Safety who have successfully completed the first year of their option and who wish to enrol in the co-op program must apply through this School for admission to the co-operative program during their third semester (Fall of second year). Enrolment in the co-operative program is strictly limited. Admission will be based on a student's grade point average (minimum GPA 2.50).

The School cannot guarantee work term employment, but Ryerson's Office of Co-operative Education has experienced placement officers who will work with the School's Co-op Co-ordinator to prospect for employers and make every effort to identify suitable positions, as well as assisting students with their own search for program-related jobs. The co-op program enables students to earn prevailing wages for the level of responsibility and contribution of the jobs they perform and thus finance at least part of their university education, as well as gaining marketable experience and contacts for career employment.

The School of Nutrition offers a four-year Bachelor of Applied Sciences (BASc) program that focuses on nutrition, food and health from an integrative and multidisciplinary perspective. The program is designed to ensure that graduates are flexible and responsive to changing trends in health and community settings, foodservice and food industries, education, private practice and entrepreneurial endeavours. Graduates of the program are able to apply a social determinants of health perspective to assess, plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate nutrition and food issues, interventions, and innovations for individuals and communities.

The Nutrition and Food program is an accredited program recognized by the Partnership for Dietetic Education and Practice (PDEP). There are three educational steps to becoming a registered dietitian - you must meet both academic and practical experience requirements before qualifying to write the Canadian Dietetics Registry Exam (CDRE). Academic requirements can be obtained by completing specific courses within an accredited program such as the one at Ryerson University. The second step is to complete a supervised practical training (accredited dietetic internship or an accredited master’s program). The final step is to pass the CDRE. As access to internships is competitive, students with cumulative GPA less than 3.00 should also consider other career options.

Our program is also recognized by the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, the Canadian Association of Food Service Professionals, Ontario Home Economists in Business and the Ontario Family Studies/Home Economics Educators Association. The program offers academic and career planning to support students in their next steps post-graduation.