Mitacs and Université de Sherbrooke to advance innovation through Doctorate in Business Administration program

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Université de Sherbrooke

Mar 23, 2016, 10:46 ET

Partnership to train highly educated workforce, attract and retain skilled talent, and foster R&D

SHERBROOKE, QC, March 23, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Mitacs, a national non-profit research and training organization, and Université de Sherbrooke's Faculty of Business Administration have partnered to provide research and training opportunities to graduate students through the university's Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) program.

The new initiative connects DBA students with Quebec organizations through Mitacs' Accelerate internship program. Researchers apply their specialized expertise to business challenges, and transfer their skills from theory to real-world application, while companies gain a competitive advantage by accessing high-quality research expertise. 

Currently there are several Mitacs – Université de Sherbrooke DBA internships in progress with Quebec companies where students are applying their insight to specific business challenges, including these examples:

  • Increasing the quality of web-based surveys by identifying and controlling error sources with Element 54, a Canadian market research firm based in Montreal
  • Identifying the key factors in the evolution of a health and safety culture in an organization with Sobeys Quebec
  • Creating an entrepreneurship ecosystem with Développement économique St-Laurent

To hear about the benefits of the Mitacs – Université de Sherbrooke DBA initiative, watch the video below featuring interviews with industry partner Desjardins, DBA student Jocelyne Champagne-Racine and the DBA program director Professor Madeleine Audet.

To view Université de Sherbrooke's DBA program and Mitacs : a winning solution for businesses video 

Eric Bosco, Chief Business Development and Partnerships Officer, Mitacs

"Mitacs is proud to partner with Université de Sherbrooke's DBA program to facilitate academic knowledge transfer and engage students in critical research efforts. Through our internship program, Sherbrooke's DBA students will play a vital role in helping Quebec companies solve R&D challenges that contribute to the province's economic growth."

Michel Lafleur, Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies, Faculty of Business Administration, Université de Sherbrooke

"Jocelyne Champagne-Racine is one of seven DBA students that have benefited from the Mitacs Accelerate program since 2014. We are convinced that this partnership will strongly benefit future collaborations with Quebec-based organizations as well as attract strong DBA candidates in our program."

Serge Laflamme, General Manager, Caisse Desjardins de Granby – Haute-Yamaska

"The work we did with Jocelyne required a lot of scrutiny, but this allowed us to examine each step of the process, not to mention adjust them and take as much as time we needed for the benefit of the organization. Over the four-year transformation period, we were actually able to advance much faster than we would have otherwise. Not only did I have access to a whole community of knowledge, but I had Jocelyne's expertise and the university's at the same time."

Quick facts:

  • Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 15 years.
  • Working with 60 universities, thousands of companies, and both federal and provincial governments, we build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.
  • Mitacs' Accelerate program connects graduate students with industry partners for research internships supervised by faculty. In 2014–15, Mitacs supported almost 3,200 Accelerate internships with 700 companies.
  • Created in 1998, the Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) of Université de Sherbrooke's Faculty of administration is a unique program in Quebec which emphasis in applied research, contributing to new knowledge and solving real organizational problems. Open to all disciplines and all industry sectors, projects can span a wide range of areas, including manufacturing, business processes, IT, social sciences, design, and more.

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SOURCE Université de Sherbrooke

For further information: Isabelle Huard, Media-Relations Officer, Communications Department, Université de Sherbrooke, 819 821-8000, ext. 63395, [email protected]; Heather Young, Director, Communications, Mitacs, 604 818-0020, [email protected]

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Université de Sherbrooke