Business students highly rated in North America

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MBA and commerce students from McMaster's DeGroote School of Business continue to score among the highest in North America. Such was the case again in a recent Major Field Test (MFT) conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS)  the largest educational assessment organization in the world.

The exam was administered in December 2004 to graduating students, and DeGroote's commerce students scored in the 95th percentile in North America while the MBAs scored in the 90th percentile. The commerce result was consistent with previous tests but the MBA result was the highest ever. “We are extremely proud of these results as they show strong evidence that our curriculum is among the best. In addition to the students, I want to also thank the faculty who continue to prepare our students and guide them into the future armed with the knowledge they need for success,” said business dean Paul Bates. “We continue to press forward with our innovative approach to learning and these exit exam results provide a fine metric for the high quality of our business school.”

ETS is widely known for the development of its entrance exams such as the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). However, the assessment of university education quality requires the testing of outcomes from graduating students. To address this issue, ETS also administers MFTs for various university programs such as graduating MBAs and undergraduate commerce students.

DeGroote administered the first set of MFTs during December of 2003, and followed this up with subsequent tests in April of 2004 and once again in December of 2004. One test is targeted to commerce undergraduate students and the other to MBAs. The next MFT administration is scheduled for April 2005. During the most recent examination in December 2004, DeGroote's commerce students scored an average of 166.6 out of a possible 200 points placing them in the 95th percentile in North America. The MBAs scored an average of 262.3 out of a possible 300 points placing them in the 90th percentile.

“I am very proud of our most recent institutional scores, and I am confident that we can continue to prove that our program is among the best,” said exam co-ordinator Nick Bontis. “Commerce students Kyle Lane and Russell Goldenberg scored 194 and 190 out of 200 respectively while MBA students Todd Brien and Kyle Walker scored 288 and 287 out of 300, placing all four of them among the highest scoring students in North America.”