Bachelor of Commerce (Digital Marketing) - Postsecondary ...

Introduction
This study was conducted on behalf of the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business (LKSB) to help determine
the feasibility of four new business degree program offerings being proposed by the School. The
proposed degree programs are in Accounting, Business Management, Human Resources Management
and Marketing. Specifically, the research sought to:
Understand the competitive environment in which Fanshawe College is considering the
development of its new business degree programs;
Measure levels of interest in pursuing a business degree program and the preferred type of
institution (i.e., college versus university) among different segments, including Current Students,
Prospective Students and Alumni;
Gauge the level of appeal for each of the four degree programs, Accounting, Business
Management, Human Resources Management and Marketing, and the proposed specializations
falling under each program;
Understand attitudes and perceptions of a college‐granted versus university‐granted degree
among both students and employers; and,
Provide an overview of labour market trends, opportunities, and employment prospects for
graduates of Fanshawe’s proposed business degree programs.
The research program contains six modules that were designed to take into account both the supply and
demand sides of the equation in assessing the feasibility of each of the proposed business degree
programs. Each module is reported within a separate chapter of this report. Descriptions of each of
these modules are provided below. Please see the methodology section under each chapter of the full
report for more details on the research methodology for each module of the study.
1. Internal Executive Interviews: Eighteen interviews were conducted among Key Stakeholders
within Fanshawe College to capture internal opinions and to help inform subsequent stages of
the study.
2. Competitive Analysis: This module consists of two parts: Part I, a competitive analysis of
publicly available information gathered from college and university websites in Ontario; and Part
II, an OCAS data warehouse analysis that provides an overview of business program trends at
the college level.
3. Current Students Survey: A total of n=322 completes. A survey was conducted among upperyear
LKSB students in all four relevant business program areas, in order to assess interest levels
in pursuing a business degree, and specifically in the degrees being proposed by Fanshawe
College.
LKSB Degree Program Feasibility Study • 2011
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