Rotman School of Management: A Comprehensive Overview of Programs and Initiatives

The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, or simply Rotman, is the graduate business school of the University of Toronto, situated on the St. George campus in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. While the university has offered undergraduate courses in commerce and management since 1901, the business school was formally established in 1950. Named after Joseph L. Rotman, the school offers a wide array of programs spanning undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels.

A History of Growth and Innovation

The Rotman School of Management's journey began in 1901 with a diploma program in commerce within the Faculty of Arts. This evolved into a Bachelor of Arts program in Commerce and Finance in 1909, and subsequently into a Bachelor of Commerce program in 1920. These programs maintained a strong liberal arts emphasis. In 1950, the MCom program was transferred to the newly established Institute of Business Administration. Recognizing the need for research-oriented faculty, a Doctor of Philosophy program was initiated in 1969.

In 1982, the School assumed responsibility for teaching the Commerce courses within the BCom program, and in 1992, the BCom program became a joint program of the Faculty of Arts and Science and of the Rotman School. The School launched a privately financed Executive MBA program in 1983. The institution was renamed the Faculty of Management in 1986. An MBA in professional accounting was added in 1989, also through private funding.

The Joseph L. Rotman Centre for Management was established in 1995, funded in part by a $3 million donation from Joseph Rotman. The Faculty of Management relocated to its current building, later expanded with additions to the upper floors and a new South Building, with the original building becoming the North Building. The school was renamed the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management.

Controversies and Transformations

Joseph L. Rotman's donation was not without controversy. The donor agreement included clauses that could potentially limit the academic freedom of the university and the faculty of management. The agreement stipulated that the "U of T [rank] the faculty of management as one of its 'highest priorities' for the allocation of university funding, ensuring to its 'best efforts' that business education receives continuing focus."

In the year 2000, Marcel Desautels, founder, president and CEO of the Canadian Credit Management Foundation helped in creating Marcel Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking with a $10-million gift, Rotman introduced a new model of business education based on integrative thinking. The Michael Lee-Chin Family Institute for Corporate Citizenship (originally the AIC Institute for Corporate Citizenship) was established in 2004 with a $10-million gift from Michael Lee-Chin, and Rotman completed an expansion of its campus.

In 2011, Rotman's academic expenditures were $71 million for 1,500 students, comparable to that of the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. High faculty salaries contributed to these costs.

Under the leadership of Roger Martin, Rotman experienced significant growth in its programs, faculty, facilities, and international reputation. New programs included the Morning MBA program, Master of Finance program, and a Global Executive MBA program.

Susan Christoffersen began her term as Dean on July 1, 2021. A finance professor at Rotman since 2010, she served as Vice-Dean, Undergraduate and Specialized Programs from 2015-2020 and is known for her curriculum innovation.

Diverse Program Offerings

The Rotman School of Management offers a comprehensive suite of programs designed to cater to a diverse range of students and professionals. These include:

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MBA Programs

The Rotman School delivers the MBA program in six formats:

Full-Time Two-Year MBA: A traditional, comprehensive program. The full-time MBA program annual class expanded in size in recent years, to 278 students in the graduating class of 2023. International students constitute 58% of the Full-Time MBA class and 45% of the class are female. The students of the 2023 class represented 39 countries though the majority of students were from North America and Asia. The first year begins in the second week of September and is divided into four quarters, covering the program's core curriculum and lasting seven weeks each. The first year curriculum consists of a 4-weeks foundation term, followed by two 9-weeks core term, and finishing with a 6-weeks capstone term.
Part-Time Three-Year Morning MBA: Designed for working professionals, allowing them to pursue a graduate degree while maintaining their career momentum.
Part-Time Three-Year Evening MBA: Similar to the Morning MBA, but with classes held in the evening.
One-Year Executive MBA: An intensive program tailored for senior managers. Announced in 2025, the One-Year MBA program is an accelerated degree, designed for those with an existing academic and professional background in business and management. The program allows qualified 70 students each year to complete the Full-Time MBA program over three terms. Students in the option engage in a reduced core curriculum prior to completing a set of electives. Applications will open in August with a Round 1 deadline of September 24 and a Round 2 deadline of February 11. It offers the same access to Rotman’s entrepreneurial and technology resources as the full-time program, including the Creative Destruction Lab, Startup Rotman, Financial Innovation Lab (FinHub), and LEADS Mentorship Program.
Rotman-SDA Bocconi Global Executive MBA: Delivered in eight key centers of international business across six countries. Offered over 18 months, the Rotman-SDA Bocconi Global Executive MBA program immerses mid-to-senior executives in core business disciplines from a global perspective.
Global Executive MBA for Healthcare and the Life Sciences: An 18-month program that brings professionals to three key healthcare clusters around the world: Toronto, the Bay area, and Singapore. Launched in September 2019.

The school offers optional pre-courses in accounting, finance and quantitative methods, and professional skills workshops on topics such as academic writing and presentation skills. The school offers the MBA degree with emphases in brand management, consulting, funds management, global management, health sector management, human resources management, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Investment banking, and risk management and financial engineering. The students can spend an entire term in second year on an international exchange program. Study tours to various parts of the world are also conducted for second year students.

Specialized Master's Programs

Master of Finance: Launched in 2006, the Master of Finance program is designed for working professionals in the finance field. Classes are held one evening per week plus every other Saturday over a 20-month period.
Master of Management: The Master of Management is an 11-month program that will welcome its first cohort of 70 students in May 2026. The program is intended high-achieving students who possess deep learning in a non-business discipline with the skills of business and management. The new Master of Management (MMgt) is an 11-month program designed for new graduates and young professionals with non-business backgrounds and undergraduate academic success in the social sciences, humanities, science, and engineering. MMgt students will learn the fundamentals of strategy, finance, economics, marketing, and leadership, and get hands-on experience with new applications of analytics and AI.
Master of Financial Risk Management: The Master of Financial Risk Management program prepares students with strong analytic and quantitative skills for careers in the finance industry.
Master of Management Analytics
Master of Financial Economics: The Master of Financial Economics program is offered jointly with the Department of Economics.

Other Programs

Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting: A 12-week summer program that deepens the knowledge of accounting while satisfying four modules of the CPA Professional Education Program (CPA PEP). The program prepares students for the Common Final Examination (CFE) and allows them to advance straight to the Capstone 1 module in the CPA PEP.
JD/MBA: A four-year degree offered jointly with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law, combining graduate training in management with a degree in law.
Jeffrey Skoll BASc/MBA: Brings together undergraduate studies in engineering and an MBA.
Collaborative Program in Asia-Pacific Studies: A collaborative master's degree program taken alongside the MBA program.

Doctoral Program

PhD Program: Offers degrees in accounting, economic analysis and policy, finance, marketing, operations management, organizational behaviour & human resource management, and strategic management. Also, a joint degree in management and economics is offered (Master in Financial Economics). Its PhD in management program is operated under the University of Toronto's tri-campus framework, and offered on all three of its campuses: St.

Undergraduate Program

Rotman Commerce: The Rotman Commerce program (formerly Commerce) is an undergraduate program on the St. George campus administered jointly by the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Rotman School of Management. In April 2008, the program was renamed as Rotman Commerce after a $2.5 million gift from Sandra and Joseph Rotman. Although the program name has changed, the B.Com. degree continues to be awarded by the Faculty of Arts and Science. There are three specializations for Rotman Commerce students: Accounting, Finance and Economics, or Management. Students have the freedom to take any course from the Faculty of Arts and Science, allowing them to include with their specialist, any additional major, or minor. Rotman Commerce has many international study opportunities for students. It has 24 partner universities.

Research Institutes and Centers

The Rotman School is home to several leading research institutes and centers:

Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR): Conducts research in behavioral economics to help organizations understand how people act and design better products, services, and programs.
Capital Markets Institute (CMI): Works towards fostering a clear understanding of the challenges facing the Canadian capital markets. The CMI seeks to provide leadership to the Canadian academic and business communities to channel their resources into meaningful policy improvements.
Creative Destruction Lab: An entrepreneurial program and space within the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Its purpose is to work with students, faculty, and alumni from the University of Toronto that have the potential to build massively scalable companies. The program runs for eight months of the year and is built around reporting milestones to a board, called the G7 fellows, of very successful entrepreneurs.
David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation: The locus of corporate governance research and communications at the Rotman School of Management.
Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE): Promotes an understanding of gender inequalities and how they can be remedied in the world of business and the economy.
Sandra Rotman Centre for Health Sector Strategy: A leader in research, education, and policy making in health care and life science strategy. The central focus of the centre is original research, intended to inform the management and organization of the health sector.
Self-Development Lab: An education center available to students from across a range of degree programs at the School.

Facilities and Resources

Rotman is located in the heart of the University of Toronto's downtown St. George campus. The Fleck Atrium is a large area on the main (ground) floor which is often used for special events, receptions, and public lectures. The BMO Financial Group Financial Research and Trading Lab is a state-of-the-art facility providing students with access to financial analysis software and data sets. To accommodate the program's growth, the school expanded into a new building designed by KPMB Architects, which opened in September 2012.

New Initiatives

Rotman recently announced the launch of two new one-year programs: a Master of Management (MMgt) for recent non-business graduates, and a One-Year MBA for candidates with academic and professional backgrounds in business.

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