One of the things we pride ourselves on at the McGill Desautels Faculty of Management is offering a well-rounded learning experience, emphasizing not only what is taught in the classroom but also what can be gained through real-world experience. Through partnerships with corporate enterprises and public entities, our Master of Management in Analytics students have the opportunity to get hands on and solve real and pressing issues using data analytics.
These partnerships are extremely valuable and benefit not only our students, but the companies we work with each year. Take Euler Hermes, an Allianz brand—a global trade credit insurance leader, for example.
“It’s been a wonderful experience to be honest,” says Euler Hermes Regional Head of Transformation and Digital Partnerships – Americas Region, Aaron Lindstrom. “it’s been amazing to work with students of such high caliber, that really not only seem to understand the business that we’re in but also the applications and ramifications of the work that they’re doing for us.”
In an age where many companies are strapped for resources, partnerships like this one foster strong working relationships between our students and our partners. Through this, students are able to leverage their unique skillsets and innovative perspectives to make an impact. Not only do the students gain, but partners gain access to a network of talented students with diverse backgrounds academically and culturally. These fresh perspectives can be highly beneficial in helping companies innovate and move forward in an ever-changing industry and cultural climate.
“One of the cornerstones of our organization is inclusive meritocracy,” Lindstrom explains. “We want people from as many different perspectives to be included in the organization and working with such a diverse group of students that have a different schema--they’ve been raised in different cultures even just between Canada and the US, the ability to look at that data slightly different is definitely something that is very welcome in the organization.”
“The program really gives us the ability to test and try in areas where we may not be willing to do so due to a lack of human resource, technical expertise or even funds,” adds David Dienesch, CEO and Chief Agent, Canada of Euler Hermes. “I find what the program has given us is the ability to experiment so that at the end of the day, in the long run, we become more competitive.”
Not only do students reap the benefits of these partnerships during the year-long project, but many of them find themselves placed in internships and full-time roles upon completion of the program—and even while they work towards graduating.
“We’ve already hired a student from the program, and that was in our first year of involvement with the program. She’s been nothing but a great hire for the organization,” Dienesch notes. “Hiring a proven resource is an advantage to any company, I don’t care what industry you’re in. On a go-forward basis I’d like to see us do more hiring and [specifically] for our international operations.”
Both Dienesch and Lindstrom have mentioned that our students are increasingly prepared to enter the industry as their time with the program comes to a close, attributing their readiness to the quality of instruction offered in the MMA.
“The students across the board have been top notch, very high caliber; a lot of them we’re seeing are already getting internships or positions before they’re even done with our project,” says Lindstrom. “It’s been really amazing to work with that caliber of folks. The MMA program is enhancing their characteristics, their talents, their skillsets, and it just seems like it’d be invaluable in the marketplace right now.”
Dienesch hopes that the partnership between Euler Hermes and the MMA program will continue and expand into the future, maybe even on an international scale.
“I see this partnership as continuously evolving and that really depends on the needs of each partner. McGill has really filled the needs at Euler Hermes over the past couple of years, allowing us to determine how we would really fit the partnership into our greater corporate needs; we see this partnership evolving--we’ve already bounced around some ideas around with our global parent on where we want to go next with the partnership.”
To learn more about our corporate experiential project or to request a partnership, please visit our website.
