McGill University Boosting knowledge and reputations at McGill University

McGill University is one of Canada’s best-known universities and is rightly regarded as a world-leader in education, having recently been rated a top-25 global university for the tenth year in a row in the 2013 QS World University Rankings.

People from more than 150 countries from all around the globe are currently represented in its student base, making it one of the most internationally diverse universities of any research-intensive operations in the country. In all, around 20 percent of students are international.

In order to provide students with an international perspective and real-world examples, McGill has made the Financial Times available to all students and faculty at the university.

With almost 600 journalists around the world, the FT is able to offer an unmatched global perspective on business, finance and politics, providing trusted news, analysis and comment 24 hours a day. Bringing business subjects to life, it enables business school students to connect current events with course principles and gives them current, real-world material for their assignments.

Professor Matthieu Kenji Bouvard says he regularly uses FT.com in his corporate finance class to link the classroom studies with current business news.

“For instance, I have a chapter on initial public offerings and I try to keep my students up to date with the major IPOs happening or in preparation during the semester. My principle source of information is FT.com because it covers all business news and I know it is available to all students.”

FT.com plays a vital role in helping students stay up to speed on the world of business, and in their particular discipline, offering stimulating coverage of core business issues and the latest trends in management thinking and practice.

“It provides day-to-day updates on more structural and long-term issues than we cover in class,” said one undergraduate political science and economics student. “For example, in class, we would go over the internal imbalances in the Chinese economy, but it is through FT articles that I see how these fundamental issues play out in the real world, with concrete impacts on business and financial flows.”

84% of students say that they rely on high quality news articles for a case study.

An economics student felt it helped to provide a deeper understanding of their studies. “It adds perspective to coursework, especially that which is related to macroeconomics and finance,” they said. “Additionally reading quality content by industry experts encourages one to develop a weighted yet broad based opinion.”

89% of students say that access to international news is vital when preparing for a job interview.

At McGill, the FT’s global perspective and unrivaled insight into business gives students a real advantage in their class work, coursework and exams. But it also gives them a head start in the real world of global business, providing the experience and insight they need to navigate cross-cultural working environments and to shine in job interviews.

In some cases, the greater contextual understanding that can be gained from regularly reading FT content has even helped to shape individual careers. “I was majoring in computer science but, over time, I realized how much of global affairs, financial markets, public institutions, market developments and opportunities had silently crept into my subconscious liking,” said one undergraduate. “It was on that realization that I decided to more pro-actively pursue studies in international political and economic affairs.”

“The FT gives me an insight into US and other foreign markets,” added one law student. “Given that I am headed into corporate law, the business perspective provided by the FT is important to me. Moreover, such a perspective is not readily available through my program alone.”

“FT is not related to my curriculum, but reading FT has been a valuable learning experience,” said a bioresource engineering post-graduate student. “It provides the latest technology and business news that are relevant to people of all income and backgrounds, plus the FT often has unique insights to offer which are very enlightening and inspiring.”