There is a phrase that appears in the Alberta School of Business’s strategic vision that you don’t often see in a business school’s official documents: kindness. Not excellence, not innovation, not global impact – though all of those are there too. Kindness. It’s described as the benchmark that sets the school’s culture apart, the thing that “emboldens each of us to be confident risk-takers, knowing that we can count on each other”.
For prospective MBA students comparing programs, that word is worth pausing on. Because culture – the everyday reality of how people learn together and what it feels like to be in the room – is often what determines whether an MBA year is merely good or genuinely transformative.
A Humbler Style of Excellence
The Alberta School of Business has been operating since 1916, making it the first and longest continuously accredited business school in Canada. But what distinguishes Alberta is the culture that holds its community together.
The school describes its approach as “a humbler style of excellence”. The idea is that rigor and ambition don’t have to come with arrogance. Students are expected to contribute and held to high standards, but with genuine mutual support. The MBA Association, to which all students belong, exists explicitly to build community inside and outside the classroom, fostering relationships between students, faculty, alumni, and the business world.
With an intake of around 80 students per year, cohorts are small enough that everyone knows each other quickly.
“I couldn’t imagine having gone to any other institution. It’s blown me away – some of the people that I’ve met, the experiences that I’ve had, the professors I’ve learned from.”
That quote, from MBA graduate Jesse Ives featured in Poets & Quants, captures something that comes up again and again in conversations about the Alberta MBA: the people.
Learning that Goes Beyond the Classroom
The University of Alberta: School of Business is clear that business education is, at its core, about relationships. Its strategic vision states that “Business is not only economics, finance, leadership or entrepreneurship. It’s people. It’s the relationships between people.”
Teamwork is built into the program with group projects, case-based learning, and collaborative problem-solving run throughout the 20-month full-time curriculum. Students develop working relationships with peers from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds, and those connections last well beyond graduation.
The faculty bring the same commitment to the classroom. Vern Glaser, winner of the 2025 distinguished teaching award in the MBA program, draws on expertise in entrepreneurship, strategy, and emerging technologies including AI and data analytics to create interactive, real-world learning experiences. His course on trade-offs and essentialism – cited by alumna Kathryn Byron as one of the most lasting lessons of her MBA – is a good example of how the school weaves personal development into business education.
The recently opened Business Analytics Lab adds a physical dimension to this approach, giving students hands-on access to high-performance computing, AI tools, and data visualization resources. It’s part of the school’s push to build AI fluency alongside human skills such as leadership, empathy, and critical thinking.
Inclusion as Everyday Practice
When it comes to diversity at the University of Alberta: School of Business, the MBA Inclusion and Diversity Club organizes events and provides a supportive environment where students can discuss equity and representation. Students from across Canada and internationally make up the cohort, and the program’s structure encourages cross-cultural collaboration.
“The MBA stood out not only for its strong academic reputation but also for its diverse cohort and deep ties to the business community in Western Canada,” said international MBA graduate Pedro Pertusier Duque.
For Kathryn Byron, a chemical engineering graduate who enrolled in the full-time MBA in 2023 after fourteen years in the oil and gas industry, the program offered something she had not expected: space to rediscover herself.
“I’m leaving this program not only more professionally capable, but a happier and healthier human.”
She now leads Dow Chemical’s decarbonization project in a role that aligns directly with the values she spent her MBA year working out.
Edmonton: A City that Grows on You
Edmonton may not be the first city that comes to mind when MBA candidates scan their options. It lacks the name recognition of Toronto or Vancouver, but that, it turns out, is part of its appeal.
Edmonton is known as the “Festival City” for its arts and cultural reputation. It’s home to the largest urban park system in North America – the River Valley Parks – alongside major companies including ATCO, Finning, and EPCOR. For international students especially, Edmonton offers affordability, space, and a sense of community.
“After our first night, my wife told me she’d never go back to Brazil, which showed me how well she adapted to life in a smaller city and how much she appreciated the space and quality of life we could provide for our children here,” said Pedro Pertusier Duque.
The Bigger Picture
Culture is hard to manufacture. You cannot bolt it on to a good curriculum or hire it in from outside. At the University of Alberta: School of Business, it has been built up over more than a century through small cohorts, accessible leadership, and commitment to inclusion.
For MBA candidates who want to be challenged, supported, and changed by the people around them, that culture is worth taking seriously.
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