Oct. 29, 2019
Why do High School Students come to Haskayne?
As you may recall, I survey our first year students each year to assess how they are feeling, what their views are on the energy industry and why they choose to come to the Haskayne School of Business. Entering my eighth year of doing the survey, I have seen a few trends that I thought you might find interesting.
Let me start by confirming that the number one reason why students say they came to business school is because they want to make a lot of money. HOWEVER, having said that, the very close second reason (and first for two classes) is that they want to make a difference in the world. It is possible to want both in the survey, and in fact about 80 per cent of students do choose either (or both) making money and making a difference. I play with these results, challenging the students by saying “you must be confused – can’t you decide between making a difference and making money? Which one do you really want?â€
Year after year they consistently come back by saying, that they do want both, and in fact that they feel you can’t make a difference if you don’t understand how business and management function. Smart people.
Another option I place on the survey is starting a business. From when I started the survey, the percentage of students entering business school so they can eventually start their own business has grown from 49 per cent to 64 per cent. I can’t say for sure, but I am guessing this is a reflection of word getting out that Haskayne’s programming includes entrepreneurial thinking as a core subject, which is still very rare if not unique.
Another big change over the years is that the number of students feeling that they would find work in the oil & gas industry has dropped from 45 per cent in 2013 to 24 per cent today. Eighty-four per cent of students still feel the oil & gas industry is important to ÀóÖ¦ÊÓƵ and Canada’s future, which is down from 94% in 2013.
If you have specific questions about my survey findings, please let me know. This is a very informal anonymous survey, which is intended primarily to engage the students in conversation and thinking about their time at Haskayne, and their future as business graduates.