All students attend a virtual 14-day orientation before starting classes. This GDBA orientation prepares you to learn in an online, graduate-level business program. It ensures that everyone has the same foundational learning skills and program expectations. You'll learn by doing and completing activities that challenge you intellectually while developing your facility with online tools and methods. During the orientation, you will also:

• Meet instructors and classmates
• Learn to use the online learning tools and access university resources
• Complete learning activities using the online Learning Management System
• Develop a personal study plan that aligns with your career goals and MBA aspirations

Start the GDBA program in January, May or September.

We schedule lectures, exams, and assignments to accommodate individuals working Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PT. You may need to make occasional adjustments if you fall outside this time zone or schedule.

We move through the modules at the same rate, meeting the same dates for individual and team assignments. That keeps you on track and engaged with the coursework. Instructors deliver each course online in weekly or bi-weekly modules. During that time, you are free to study whenever it suits you. Expect to spend 8 to 10 hours per week on each course.

Most GDBA students complete the program in two years. However, you can study at your own pace, adjusting your academic plan to accommodate your changing life and career.

MBA-level courses and instruction

All GDBA courses are equivalent to courses taught in our MBA programs, and our MBA professors teach most GDBA courses. That makes the GDBA a valuable program and qualification in its own right.

• Attend GDBA orientation, a 14-day online orientation, before classes begin.
• Complete the GDBA in 24 months (six semesters) while working full-time—or take more or less time.
• Each course is delivered online in weekly or bi-weekly modules.
• Each course typically involves 8-10 hours per week.

To level up your leadership skills, participate in a carefully curated set of courses to introduce you to leadership and teamwork fundamentals and the case analysis process.

Managing People & Organizations

Understand how individuals and teams function effectively in work situations. Learn how organizational behaviour themes, such as emotions, motivation, and group dynamics, relate to functional issues such as job design, salary structures, and recruitment.

Financial & Managerial Accounting

Move beyond accounting fundamentals and processes. Learn to make business decisions based on sound financial information analysis to support broader organizational objectives.

Managerial Finance (Prerequisite: Financial/Managerial Accounting)

Gain a practical understanding of managerial finance and the role of the financial manager. Learn to apply financial statement analysis, valuation techniques, capital budgeting, project analysis, and other financial tools. Explore a wide variety of subjects, including:

• Maximizing shareholder wealth
• Agency conflicts
• Ethical corporate behaviour

Business Analytics

Explore the fundamental concepts of probability and statistics that provide the essential tools to approach statistics critically. Focus on using quantitative or statistical techniques in managerial decision-making and learn to apply them in business settings.

Marketing Management

Get an overview of the marketing process, including learning to analyze data and make decisions on pricing, product design, promotion and distribution as part of developing a comprehensive marketing plan. The course concludes with a collaborative online marketing simulation.

Content for these courses changes each semester. Currently offered topic:

Business & Indigenous Peoples

This course helps students understand the issues involved when companies operate or intend to operate in the traditional territories of First Nations and other Indigenous peoples. It examines the role that Indigenous people play in Canada's economy, including entrepreneurship and community-owned businesses.