The Integrated Business and Humanities (IBH) program is designed to produce Canada’s next generation of business leaders. IBH students are exposed to a variety of learning opportunities via coursework and co-curricular activities. The focus of the program revolves around its four pillars of leadership, community engagement, global mindedness, and social enterprise. IBH students develop responsible leadership and management tactics for changing the global economy. With the skills you gain from McMaster’s Faculties of Business and Humanities, you will be equipped to create sustainable value and drive lasting economic, societal, and environmental change, both locally and internationally. Hear what our current students and alumni are up to!
The Integrated Business and Humanities (IBH) program is designed to produce Canada’s next generation of business leaders.
IBH students are exposed to a variety of learning opportunities via coursework and co-curricular activities. The focus of the program revolves around its four pillars of leadership, community engagement, global mindedness, and social enterprise. IBH students develop responsible leadership and management tactics for a changing global economy.
With skills you gain from McMaster’s Faculties of Business and Humanities, you will be equipped to create sustainable value and drive lasting economic, societal, and environmental change, both locally and internationally.
Our innovative approach to business education and training begins in the classroom, where you learn the fundamentals. You can choose to enhance your education by applying for the internship program, that is available to both domestic and international students, after the second year of your degree. Once you are admitted, DeGroote’s Career and Professional Development team will support your search for an internship.
An internship gives you the unique opportunity to develop hands-on experience with an employer for a paid work term that lasts between 12 and 16 months. Internships begin anytime between May and September following your third year of studies.
The Honours IBH with Internship pathway extends your degree program by one year and provides real-world experience, critical thinking skills, enhanced leadership qualities, and business acumen, setting you up for success upon graduation.
Alongside fostering the strong business expertise demanded by organizations today, the IBH program develops critical thinking skills that enhance your personal and ethical values. You also become more aware and understanding of various emotions and cultures, which aids you in transforming communities at home and abroad.
The Integrated Business and Humanities program equips you with the knowledge and tools to deliver societal impact across for-profit, social enterprise, and non-profit organizations.
For more information about the IBH program, please visit the Future McMaster Website.
The IBH program creates an environment through which you will develop nuanced and interdisciplinary perspectives on important issues. Through courses and extra-curriculars, this enables you to integrate and apply skills developed in both Commerce and Humanities courses into your future endeavors.
Many courses follow a “live” format, where you will explore current issues faced by various organizations, industries, and governments.
By completing class field studies in partnership with local businesses, non-profit organizations, and social enterprises, you gain an understanding of real-world issues while also making a difference by giving back to the community.
Collaboration driven through small class sizes and one-on-one coaching will drive you to success.
Students collaborate to solve problems facing social enterprises in foreign countries. By learning in a setting far outside your comfort zone, you view challenges in a new way and prepare for success in today’s global economy.
In the Winter term of 3rd year, you will have the option to initiate an exchange. Studying abroad offers an unparalleled opportunity to immerse yourself in another culture and strengthen your learning from a global perspective.
IBH Leadership is anchored on continuous personal growth and reflective practice. Students develop resilience by embracing discomfort and ambiguity in a safe learning environment. They cultivate a deep understanding of their values, ethics, and authenticity and practice role modeling their leadership and moral courage. Within the IBH program, leadership is a collaborative process and students recognize when to lead or cede leadership to others.
Community engagement involves recognizing dynamics of power and privilege within and across community, government, and for-profit sectors. It requires exercising humility and curiosity in understanding one’s positionality in the pursuit of social justice. Effective engagement is based on McMaster’s six principles: relationships, reciprocity, equity, continuity, openness to learning, and commitment to action.
Global mindedness involves fostering curiosity about diverse cultures and histories through active listening and a self-reflective practice of understanding one’s own positionality. It involves nurturing empathy, compassion, and humility to suspend stereotypes and make better decisions with the aim of creating a more equitable, just and sustainable world.
Social entrepreneurship involves a purpose-driven integration of critical business analysis with an openness to new ideas and approaches that drive solutions to local and global economic, social, and environmental issues. This involves understanding the history of capitalism including its limitations to better hold markets accountable to non-purchasing stakeholders.
IBH students are automatically considered for specific awards, such as the Kevin A. Lockhart Family Scholarship, which range from $1,500 to $10,000. These awards are evaluated based on the supplemental application already submitted as part of the IBH application process. Additionally, IBH students qualify for automatic grades-based awards and central McMaster awards through AwardSpring.
More About Entrance Awards
With AwardSpring, you can complete one common app that matches you with all the aid and award opportunities you’re eligible for. It also tracks the completion of any additional requirements on a user-friendly dashboard. You can even share the same requirements (i.e., a reference letter or statement of interest) across all applications with the same criteria to save yourself time. There are three new International Entrance Awards available at the DeGroote School of Business.
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Bursaries are funding provided by McMaster based solely on financial need. In most cases, information from your OSAP application is used to determine your financial need, but some students who don’t receive OSAP may still apply for a bursary. Both are non-repayable funding, which means you don’t need to pay it back.
Financial aid funding is based on financial need and not academics/extracurriculars. This includes OSAP and other government loan/grants programs, bursaries, and work programs.
The Office of the Registrar can provide information about other McMaster scholarships, bursaries, and financial aid.
Learn MoreRequirements for Canadian and international high school students can be found on McMaster’s admission requirements page. It provides lists of required courses, anticipated grade cutoffs, and more.
Integrated Business and Humanities (IBH) applicants will receive an email invitation to start their supplementary application through the Kira Talent platform within a few weeks of applying to the program. The supplementary application for the IBH program consists of two mandatory parts.
Supp App FAQ’s1. Video Interview
2. Resume
Applicants who encounter any questions or concerns during the supplementary application process are encouraged to email the program.
If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact our team, or chat with current students.
