Hill & Levene Schools of Business: 2020s Business Education Custom Case Solution & Analysis

Evidence Brief

Financial Metrics

• Institutional Budget Pressures: The University of Regina faced a 5 percent base budget reduction in the 2023-24 cycle.
• Revenue Dependency: Hill and Levene schools function as significant revenue generators for the broader university through tuition premiums.
• Enrollment Trends: Graduate enrollment at Levene saw growth driven primarily by international students, while undergraduate domestic enrollment remained stagnant or faced slight declines.
• International Tuition: International students pay significantly higher fees than domestic students, making them critical to the financial health of the faculty.

Operational Facts

• Accreditation: The schools hold AACSB accreditation, a distinction held by fewer than 5 percent of business schools globally.
• Faculty Structure: Operates within a unionized environment at a mid-sized Canadian comprehensive university.
• Program Portfolio: Offers a range of undergraduate degrees (Hill) and specialized graduate certificates and degrees (Levene).
• Geographic Context: Located in Regina, Saskatchewan, serving a resource-based economy with a significant Indigenous population.
• Regulatory Environment: Subject to federal Canadian immigration policies regarding study permits and post-graduation work opportunities.

Stakeholder Positions

• Gina Grandy (Dean): Focused on maintaining AACSB accreditation, advancing Indigenization, and ensuring financial sustainability through the 2020-2025 strategic plan.
• Faculty Members: Concerned with workload, research expectations versus teaching loads, and the implications of digital transformation.
• University Administration: Expects the business schools to offset deficits in other faculties while absorbing central budget cuts.
• International Students: Primarily from India and Nigeria, seeking Canadian credentials as a pathway to residency and employment.
• Local Business Community: Requires graduates with practical skills relevant to Saskatchewan-specific industries like ag-tech and energy.

Information Gaps

• Program-Level Profitability: The case does not provide a specific breakdown of margins for individual certificates versus the MBA.
• Competitor Cost Structures: Lack of data on the operational efficiency of larger rivals like the University of Saskatchewan (Edwards) or national players.
• Alumni Donation Rates: No specific data on the current endowment size or the success of recent fundraising efforts.

Strategic Analysis

Core Strategic Question

• How can Hill and Levene maintain financial viability and AACSB accreditation while pivoting from an over-reliance on international student volume to a differentiated regional value proposition?

Structural Analysis

PESTEL Analysis Findings:

• Political/Regulatory: Federal shifts in international student visa caps represent a catastrophic risk to the current revenue model.
• Social: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action 92 creates a mandate for Indigenous-centered business education that Hill and Levene are uniquely positioned to lead.
• Technological: Digital delivery is no longer a differentiator but a baseline requirement. Competitors with larger budgets possess an advantage in high-end virtual learning platforms.

Porter Five Forces Findings:

• Rivalry: High. Larger Canadian business schools are expanding their digital footprints, encroaching on the Regina market.
• Bargaining Power of Buyers: High. Students are increasingly price-sensitive and focused on immediate employability.

Strategic Options

Option 1: The Regional Specialist (Indigenous and SME Focus)

• Rationale: Align curriculum directly with TRC Call to Action 92 and the Saskatchewan resource economy.
• Trade-offs: Requires significant investment in faculty retraining and curriculum redesign; may have narrower appeal to international students.
• Resources: Indigenous elders-in-residence, local industry partnerships, and revised tenure tracks.

Option 2: The Digital Scale Player

• Rationale: Aggressively expand online graduate certificates to a national audience to offset local demographic declines.
• Trade-offs: High marketing spend and intense competition from established global brands.
• Resources: Instructional designers, CRM software, and digital marketing experts.

Preliminary Recommendation

Pursue Option 1. Hill and Levene cannot out-spend national competitors on digital scale. However, they can dominate the niche of Indigenous business leadership and resource-sector management. This differentiation protects AACSB status by demonstrating a unique mission and impact while securing local political and financial support.

Implementation Roadmap

Critical Path

• Month 1-3: Curriculum Audit. Map all existing courses against TRC Call to Action 92 and local labor market data.
• Month 4-6: Stakeholder Alignment. Renegotiate faculty workload distributions to prioritize the development of new Indigenous-centered modules.
• Month 7-12: Pilot Launch. Introduce specialized certificates in Indigenous Economic Development and Ag-Tech Management.
• Month 12+: Brand Re-positioning. Shift marketing efforts from volume-based international recruitment to value-based regional leadership.

Key Constraints

• Faculty Resistance: The unionized environment may slow the transition to new teaching models or increased engagement with the business community.
• Budget Restrictions: The 5 percent university-wide cut limits the ability to hire new specialized staff.
• Visa Volatility: Any sudden change in federal immigration policy could create a short-term cash flow crisis before the new strategy matures.

Risk-Adjusted Implementation Strategy

To mitigate the risk of revenue loss during the transition, the school must maintain current international recruitment channels in Nigeria and India while simultaneously diversifying the student base. A contingency fund, derived from a temporary freeze on non-essential capital projects, should be established to cover potential tuition shortfalls during the curriculum pivot.

Executive Review and BLUF

BLUF

Hill and Levene must abandon the high-volume, international-dependent growth model. Federal regulatory shifts and university budget cuts make the current path unsustainable. The schools should pivot to a specialized regional strategy focused on Indigenous business leadership and Saskatchewan-specific industries. This approach secures the AACSB mission-based accreditation and creates a defensible niche against larger national competitors. Execution must prioritize curriculum reform and local corporate partnerships over digital expansion. Success depends on reallocating existing faculty resources rather than expecting new institutional funding. The window to diversify revenue before federal visa restrictions impact the bottom line is less than 12 months.

Dangerous Assumption

The most consequential unchallenged premise is that international student demand from India and Nigeria will remain price-inelastic and unaffected by Canadian federal policy changes. If visa processing slows or caps are introduced, the financial foundation of the schools will collapse before the new strategy is implemented.

Unaddressed Risks

• Regulatory Risk: Federal changes to Post-Graduation Work Permit (PGWP) eligibility for private-public partnerships could inadvertently affect mid-sized universities, reducing the attractiveness of the Levene MBA.
• Reputational Risk: Failure to move beyond symbolic Indigenization to substantive curriculum change could alienate the very local stakeholders the school needs for its new strategy.

Unconsidered Alternative

The team did not fully explore a formal merger of administrative functions with the University of Saskatchewan (Edwards School of Business). While politically difficult, a shared-services model for graduate business education in Saskatchewan would solve the scale problem and protect against recurring budget cuts while maintaining two distinct undergraduate brands.

VERDICT: APPROVED FOR LEADERSHIP REVIEW