Academic Calendar 2024-2025

Program Curriculum and Grading

Jurisdiction

Students of Smith School of Business at Queen’s University are governed by the regulations, policies and practices of this institution.

It is the responsibility of every student in the Program to read and understand these policies, regulations, and requirements as well as those of their home, exchange and double degree universities.

Program Format 

The Senate and Board of Trustees of the University, and by the Ontario Council approve the Queen’s Executive MBA Program for Graduate Studies. Upon graduation, students receive an MBA Degree.

The Queen’s EMBA Program provides students with the opportunity to gain the educational and professional advantages of a Queen’s EMBA Program without interrupting a successful career. The curriculum was designed with the understanding that students have management experience. Therefore, while management fundamentals in all functional areas will be reviewed and incorporated into our courses, the Program will focus on developing the skills and advanced knowledge required to lead today’s organizations. The Program is designed around five themes: strategic leadership and team building, foundations of management, creativity and innovation, creating successful enterprises, and integration leadership.

Program Delivery

Queen’s EMBA Program is a National Videoconference Program which holds classes two days of every other week at Boardroom Learning Centres across Canada and virtual team locations, supplemented by three on campus residency periods.

The courses require individual and team preparation and are delivered primarily through fully interactive, multi-point videoconferencing.

During the first residential period, students are introduced to their Team Coach, network support staff, instructors, and program staff.

Timeframe

Once registered in the Program, the student is expected to complete all degree requirements without interruption. The Program is normally completed in 16 consecutive months, beginning in August and ending in November of the following year.

Degree Requirements and Courses

The Queen’s Program is a 16-month program in which students complete 23 courses (60 units), including 22 required courses and an elective course. To be eligible for graduation, students must complete all courses in the Program in the year in which they are registered, and uphold and/or meet each of the Academic Regulations (Section 4 of this document).

Required and Elective Courses

All required and elective courses for the Program must be completed at Queen’s in the year that the student is registered in the Program.

Required Courses

All students must complete the following required courses in accordance with the Academic Regulations set out in Section 4 of this document.

Required
MBUS 800Role Of The General Manager3.00
MBUS 957Executive Leadership3.00
MBUS 811Financial Acct. And Analysis2.25
MBUS 881Managerial Econ./Indus. Analy.3.00
MBUS 862Management Analtyics3.00
MBUS 851Managing Human Capital2.25
MBUS 981Entrepreneurship Essentials3.00
MBUS 988Law and Business1.50
MBUS 984Leading Innovation & Creativity1.50
MBUS 954Managing Change1.50
MBUS 812Mgmt. Accounting & Control2.25
MBUS 821Financial Management3.00
MBUS 932Marketing Strategy3.00
MBUS 941Operations Management3.00
MBUS 902Global Business Strategy3.00
MBUS 952Negotiations & Conflict Mgmt.1.50
MBUS 867Strategic Sales Management1.50
MBUS 985Digital Strategy & Execution3.00
MBUS 865Big Data and AI2.25
MBUS 890Global Virtual Teams1.50
Electives
Select one course from the following:3.00
Financial Strategy
Project Leadership
Projects
MBUS 907Global Business Project4.50
MBUS 808Individual Project4.50
Total Units60.00

Course Substitutions

Students must complete all required and elective courses at Queen’s within the required timeframe to graduate from the Program.

Learning Teams 

Learning Teams are a foundation of Queen’s Program. The Learning Team is critical to a student’s success in the Program as well as being a means of managing the demanding workload of the Program. It also provides an opportunity to draw on the varied backgrounds and expertise of other team members and enriches the student’s learning experience as a whole. Most courses allocate approximately 50% of the course weight to teamwork.

Students are assigned to a Learning Team at the beginning of the Program. It is a Program requirement that students function effectively and supportively within their Learning Teams and make effective and ethical use of team resources in satisfying course requirements. Learning Teams remain intact for the duration of the Program; however, additional “working groups” are formed for some courses in the Program.

Performance in the Learning Team

Performance in the Learning Team is an academic requirement for successful completion of the Program (see Section 4). Students must perform effectively and supportively on the Team according to the standards and norms of the Team. Failure to do so can result in a requirement to withdraw from the Program.

Team Coaches

In order to get the best experience on the Learning Team, each team is assigned a professionally trained Team Coach. The Team Coach works regularly with the team and its individual members throughout the Program delivering best practices, instruction, advice, and coaching on team processes, development, and performance. Team coaches may also work with a team on interpersonal issues or concerns with regard to the performance (effectiveness) or behaviour (supportiveness) of individual team members.

Relocation

The only circumstance under which a student may request to change Learning Teams is the student’s permanent relocation to a new region. The student must be in Good Academic Standing (that is, both academically and on their team) in the Program. A student on Academic Probation or operating under a Performance Improvement Plan is not eligible to change to a different team.

Students in Good Academic Standing are responsible for advising the Program Director as early as possible about a pending move and to make a formal request for assignment to a new Learning Team. The Program Director and the Director of Team Coaching jointly consider requests to change and determine a course of action with the student. If the request to relocate is granted, the student must be available for a team building/integration session with the new Learning Team.

Grading

Queen’s University Grading

The grading system for courses in the Queen’s Program is:

Letter Grade Grade Point Percentage
A+ 4.3 90-100
A 4.0 85-89.9
A- 3.7 80-84.9
B+ 3.3 77-79.9
B 3.0 73-76.9
B- 2.7 70-72.9
C+ 2.3 67-69.9
C 2.0 63-66.9
C- 1.7 60-62.9
D+ 1.3 57-59.9
D 1.0 53-56.9
D- 0.7 50-52.9
F 0.0 0-49.9

Other academic entries which may be assigned are:

Letter Grade Description
P Pass; no grade assigned
FR Failure with review, grade will be revised
CR Credit
IN Incomplete
GD Grade deferred
AG Aegrotat1
RTW Required to withdraw
NG Not graded; first term course of a multi- term course
AU Audit
TR Transfer credit, no grade assigned
DR Course dropped
NEP Not eligible to proceed
IP In progress
1

Aegrotat: An academic entry which provides an estimated final grade or, if that is not possible, credit for a course without a grade because of extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control that prevented the student from completing all work of the course, particularly the final examination. Normally at least 60 per cent of the work to be evaluated in the course (assignments, midterms, final examination, as specified in the course).

Requests for AG or CR standing should be made to the Program Director.

Grading Specifications

All final marks, including those assigned after special examinations, may be based on the results of formal examinations and on grades obtained from other work throughout the course, which may include essays, exercises, reports, presentations, class tests/quizzes, and class participation or other work.

At the beginning of each course, the professor will provide a clear statement of the basis on which the final mark will be assessed. All work assigned and the weight that it will contribute to the final mark will be specified. Normally there is both individual and team work included in course assessments.

Class Participation

Class participation grades are allocated in some courses. Professors will specify the specific form and opportunities for participation marks at the start of the course. Some examples include contributions to class discussions or discussion boards, attendance, timely completion of assigned work, or other relevant behaviours determined by the professor.