Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (MBSI) program

Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (MBSI)

Partner Information

Overview

Haskayne School of Business has partnered with Mitacs to offer the Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (MBSI) program. The program will award $10,000-15,000 of funding to each interested and eligible undergraduate and graduate student selected to undertake an innovation project (4-month full-time or 6-month part-time) with a business or a municipality. The partner organization will contribute $5,000-7,500 (plus applicable taxes) and Mitacs will contribute the remaining $5,000-7,500.

Students will complete innovation-based projects aimed at improving products and services, processes, or the organization as a whole, while gaining hands-on experience and contributing to the business landscape. 

Program goals

Real world experience

Provide students with the opportunity to apply their skills and business acumen to real-world experiential learning opportunities, while expanding their networks within the business community.

Support our community

Provide support to businesses and non-profit organizations who need additional assistance to adapt to the new economic reality.

Collaboration

Build and strengthen connections and collaborations between the Haskayne School of Business and our community.

Partner organizations must:

  • Be a for-profit OR an incorporated not-for-profit organization, OR a municipality, OR a hospital
  • Provide an innovation project for the student to work on during the internship. 
    • Projects will need to demonstrate their  innovation capacity where the latter will have to fall within the following:
      1. Product innovation: A good or service that is new or significantly improved. This includes significant improvements in technical specifications, components and materials, software in the product, user friendliness or other functional characteristics.
      2. Process innovation: A new or significantly improved production or delivery method. This includes significant changes in techniques, equipment and/or software.
      3. Marketing innovation: A new marketing method involving significant changes in product design or packaging, product placement, product promotion or pricing.
      4. Organizational innovation: A new organizational method in business practices, workplace organization or external relations.
    • The Mitacs team will also be looking for benefits related to the potential economic and societal impact of the project for example:
      1. Creating or commercializing Canadian technology / intellectual property
      2. Discovering new and broadly applicable knowledge
      3. Enhancing Canadian productivity by developing new and improved processes
      4. Supporting the entry of Canadian businesses into new domestic / international markets
      5. Developing new business models for Canadian companies
      6. Improving public services (e.g. transportation infrastructure, utilities, healthcare) in Canada
      7. Contributing new solutions to community challenges in Canada
      8. Addressing social or environmental issues important to Canadian society
      9. Advancing new approaches to include under represented groups in the knowledge economy
      10. Working towards a more equal and equitable Canada
      11. Implementing evidence informed strategies to address a specific challenge
  • Contribute $5,000-7,500 towards each internship grant
    • Mitacs offers discounts of 50% ($2,500-3,750) to projects with Indigenous participants.

Partner organizations must:

  • Offer adequate training, coaching, supervision and mentorship to students during the internship
  • Ensure that the internship constitutes a minimum of 450 hours (30 hours a week for 4 months or 20 hours a week for 6 months)
  • Provide an offer letter which details the terms of the internship directly to the student

 

All students must have an assigned supervisor from their partner organization that they report to. The supervisor will:

  • Assign work, set expectations, answer questions and provide general supervision directly to the student
  • Support the development and oversight of the student by providing onboarding, training, mentorship, coaching, performance management (feedback) and answering technical related questions
  • Be available during the assigned working hours of the student. If they are unavailable, they will assign an alternative supervisor
  • Meet (in-person or virtually) with the student and their Haskayne Internship Advisor at the start of the internship
  • Meet (in-person or virtually) with the student weekly to oversee the progress of their project

View the partner process guide.

Partner organizations interested in participating in the program are invited to post available positions on the Haskayne Job Board on Elevate. Partners should follow the MBSI Job Posting Template. Postings that do not follow the template risk being rejected. If you have already identified a Haskayne student, you are still required to post the internship in accordance with the instructions on the MBSI Job Posting Template. Postings with a pre-selected student will not be made visible to the student population.

Once your internship position is live, partners are responsible for reviewing student applications and conducting interviews. Once you have selected a student, send a signed offer letter detailing the internship term to mbsi@haskayne.ucalgary.ca. Please use the MBSI Offer Letter Template.

For questions about Elevate accounts or how to post a position on the job board, please contact hscentre@ucalgary.ca

Posting instructions

  1. View the Elevate guide to get started
  2. Click the "Partner Registration" button below.
  3. If you already have an Elevate account, select "Employer login"
  4. If you're new to Elevate, select "Register" from the top menu and then "Employer Registration"
  5. Fill out your profile, including organization and contact information
  6. Click submit 
  7. Now that you can login to Elevate, select the blue button that says "Post a job" on your dashboard and follow the instructions on the MBSI Job Posting Template
  1. Click the blue button that reads "Post a Job” on your dashboard
  2. Fill out the required information according to the MBSI Job Posting Template
    • Postings that do not follow the MBSI Job Posting Template may not be approved.
  3. Select "Save Posting"
  4. Your posting will be reviewed and approved by the Haskayne Career Development Centre. You will receive an automated email notifying you when your posting has been made live. 
  5. You are responsible for reviewing applications and conducting interviews with selected students. 

For questions or issues submitting a posting, please contact the Haskayne Career Development Centre at mbsi@haskayne.ucalgary.ca.

After you select a student

  • After a student has been selected, send a signed copy of the MBSI Offer Letter Template with the internship details to mbsi@haskayne.ucalgary.ca 
  • Haskayne will initiate an application for funding in the Mitacs portal; the partner organization and the student are responsible for completing the application in sufficient detail. View the Mitacs portal Step-by-Step videos. For questions about the application, please contact the Haskayne MBSI Project Team at mbsi@haskayne.ucalgary.ca. We are available to provide application support. 
  • Once all parties have signed off on the completed application, Mitacs will review and approve it within 8 weeks. 
  • After approval, Mitacs will invoice your organization for either $5,000 or $7,500 plus GST per internship.
  • Students can begin the internship once Mitacs receives payment and provides confirmation to Haskayne.

For-profit and not-for-profit organizations, as well as municipalities and hospitals across Canada can apply to participate and receive funding through this program. With the exception of municipalities, publicly funded organizations such as provincial governments and post-secondary institutions are not eligible partners under this program.

*Important note *
BSI interns are not allowed to have any position of ownership, employment, or influence over the daily operations at the partner organization. BSI interns with close family relationships or intimate relationships with academic supervisors or employees of the partner organization are not allowed.  

Any other Conflicts of Interest (COIs) (for example, involving the academic supervisor and the partner organization) must be disclosed to Mitacs during the application process and will be reviewed by Mitacs’s COI committee. Please visit the Mitacs Conflict of Interest Policy for more information. 

Eligible NFPs include charities, economic development organizations, industry associations, social welfare organizations, health organizations, foundations, hospitals and research centres/institutes.

There is no maximum number of internships that can be funded through this program. 

Internships will begin on a rolling basis, following approval from Mitacs and confirmation that the partner portion of the stipend has been paid. Students cannot start until the partner contribution has been received. 

Internships should finish four months from the start date if the student is working full-time (30+ hours a week) and six months from the start date if the student is working part-time (up to 20 hours a week). Students must be registered as active students for the duration of the internship. 

Each internship must be a minimum of 450 hours, which equates to approximately 30 hours per week for four months or 20 hours a week for 6 months. 

Mitacs will invoice the partner organization once the application has been approved. Students cannot start the internship until the partner has paid the invoice and Haskayne receives confirmation from Mitacs. 

No. As long as the internship is within 450-480 hours, partner organizations do not need to provide additional compensation. Beyond 480 hours, partners can top up their contribution for students. 

No. The program is intended to support organizations in creating new opportunities for students, and internships cannot begin prior to receiving approval from Mitacs. 

University of Calgary will be paying the students directly in monthly installments. Once the partner organization pays their portion to Mitacs, the full stipend amount is transferred to U of C. 

Yes, international students qualify for this program, but there are restrictions. International BComm and MBA students are allowed to work full-time during the summer (May to August) and up to 20 hours per week during Fall and Winter terms. Other international students are allowed to work up to 20 hours per week throughout the year. International students must reside in Canada during the internship.

Individual internships through this fund are limited to 480 hours per student. Partner organizations can make additional fund applications for multiple student hires. Partners can also make additional funding available to hire the student to continue working after the internship. Such arrangements are out of the scope of this program.

Undergraduate students receive a stipend of $10,000 per internship from the Mitacs Business Strategy Internship program. Graduate students receive a stipend of $15,000 per internship through the program.

Yes. Mitacs will be reviewing applications based on the project criteria, and there is no weighting based on first-time participants versus those that have hired through the program before. Organizations are welcome to apply even if they participated in the pilot program. 

Yes. All MBSI internships must be posted to Elevate for our records. Please follow the instructions on the MBSI Job Posting Template for pre-selected students. 

Please email your questions to mbsi@haskayne.ucalgary.ca and they will be triaged to the appropriate party. 

When Haskayne launched the pilot version of the Mitacs BSI program, it was important that the school contribute to the stipend amount to lower the barrier to entry and allow as many partner organizations as possible to participate. 

Following the lead of other post-secondary institutions across Canada, Haskayne has decided to move to a 50/50 split between the partner and Mitacs. This will allow Haskayne to support our goal of 300 internships each year, up from the 150 internships created during the pilot year. 

There are no deadlines to apply for MBSI funding. 

From the time a partner posts a MBSI position on Elevate to the time a student can start, we anticipate the process to take 12-15 weeks. While students can start on a rolling basis throughout the year, we encourage partners to plan ahead and match start dates with the start of each semester (September, January and May). This will allow students to reduce their course load or register a work term for the Co-op program without financial penalty. 

Mitacs has available discounts to lower the partner contribution by 50% ($2,500 - $3,750)

  • Indigenous Pathways program:
    • Indigenous Industry Partner (Must be 50%+ Indigenous Owned)
    • Indigenous NFP (Must have 50% or more Indigenous Board Members OR an Indigenous Mandate)
    • Indigenous Intern

Indigenous Pathways options are available for selection at the time of application, through the Mitacs portal

 

Angelo Nwigwe is the Mitacs representative responsible for the University of Calgary, including the Haskayne School of Business. When asked for your representative in the application for funding, please select Angelo's name from the dropdown menu. 

Yes! Mitacs has recently made a change that now allows partners to apply for funding for more than one term at once (4, 8 or 12 months). Partners will still be invoiced for their portion of the stipend at the start of each term, but they will not need to submit an application every term provided it is the same student.