Your final grade will be based on 30% participation and 70% final exam.
The wave of shock washed over us. 70% of our mark will be based on the final exam?! How are we going to survive this class? The Beedie School of Business students gave each other some nervous glances around the room while a few Bocconi University students shifted anxiously in their seats. This is all I could think about as I started the first day of BUS 491 D1, a special program called Bocconi Campus Abroad at SFU where students from Bocconi University in Milan come to SFU to study a special topic with some SFU students like myself. As our first lecture on Social Responsibility in Business, Government, and Non-Profit continued it was clear that the mix of Italian and Canadian students sitting nervously on the edge of their seats, were also ready to learn and make new connections.
Although we started off the day with a bit of shock, it ended with a lovely dinner at Horizons Restaurant, overlooking the beautiful city of Vancouver. The International Project Manager from the Beedie Global Office, guided us along the wooded trail to the restaurant, where the Beedie International Student Life Coordinator welcomed and seated us at our tables. Many of our Italian guests opted for BC’s famous salmon dish while comparing Canadian and Italian wines served at the table. They could not have found a better way for everyone to bond than over a welcome dinner.
The days following our welcome dinner consisted of daily lectures on corporate social responsibility and sustainability taught by instructors from both Bocconi and Simon Fraser University. These lectures prepared us for the long-awaited corporate visits to Hootsuite, Teck Resources, and BC Lottery Corporation (BCLC), as well as an in-house visit from the City of Vancouver. It was truly an eye-opening experience to walk through each of these well-known Canadian offices. Whether we were walking through the open office spaces filled with puppies and nap rooms at Hootsuite, admiring the stunning views from the 32nd floor of the Bentall 5 building on Burrard St. at Teck Resources, feeling like a millionaire at the BCLC headquarters, or listening to a lecture about the City of Vancouver in the Segal Graduate School of Business, we all noticed one thing in common: they all held a passion for building a sustainable future by combining the power of corporations and government. In the final week, we learned about the importance of incorporating sustainable practices into government policies
While we all had thoughts about the final exam in the back of our minds, our weeks were not just filled with studying and corporate visits. Throughout the first week, the staff from the Beedie Global Office arranged a tour of Vancouver’s landmarks and the Italian students organized weekend trips to Whistler and Victoria. In the following week, groups of us took some time to explore the Lower Mainland’s local treasures. A few of the Italian students even invited us over for a “proper Italian dinner,” blending local home-made pastas with imported Italian parmesan cheese.
On the last day of the Bocconi Study Abroad Program, we were placed into two exam groups and all came out with a sigh of relief. As a post-exam celebration and farewell, the staff from the Beedie Global Office arranged a beautiful boat cruise and buffet dinner along False Creek and the surrounding coastline of English Bay. All of the program’s students, professors, and coordinators shared one final sunset over the bay before parting ways.
In the end, I found that the distribution of this program was not just about a 30% participation and 70% final. I think it would be more accurate to say that it was 100% fun.
Ranita is currently a fourth year Beedie student with a concentration in Human Resources and a declared minor in Gerontology, Ranita always looks for opportunities to learn while giving back to the communities that have fostered her growth. Since the beginning of her university life, the Beedie community has become a significant part of Ranita’s learning experience. She began her involvement as a member of Enactus SFU’s Banner Bags program and later grew into a larger role as the program’s Project Manager. These experiences transferred over to her Project Coordinator position with the Human Resources Students’ Association (HRSA). She is now HRSA’s External Relations Manager and hopes to expand her role with this student organization in the near future.Apart from her studies and Beedie involvement, Ranita also teaches a traditional Chinese instrument called the guzheng. In her spare time, she also immerses herself in painting, photography, and design.