Students studying the Portage College Business Program curriculum in the coming academic school year are following a class that was the best in the world.

Portage College Business Management diploma students studying at CIOT, a Calgary-based private learning institution, spent the final five weeks of a 10-week simulation at the top of a global leaderboard, besting 2,500 teams from more than 140 colleges and universities in 52 countries. The simulation saw students from around the world operate a fictitious shoe manufacturing company, providing real-time input on all aspects of the operation, from staffing, product branding, wholesale and Internet sales to celebrity endorsements, transportation, and currency exchange. The 10-week simulation, part of a 16-week strategic management course that wrapped up earlier this summer, graded them on investor expectations, best practices and financial margins.

Ken Warkentin, a Business program instructor at Portage College in Lac La Biche, provides oversight to the CIOT Business program and its intake of about 250 students. He was impressed to see the CIOT classes winning against teams from institutions like Montana State University, Texas A&M, the International Business School in Budapest and the National University of Mongolia.

“This was a big accomplishment,” said Warkentin, explaining that Portage students had cracked the top 100 of the global competition in previous years, but had never held the top spot. “There’s some significant competition in there.”

"Anytime we can promote the success of our students, the calibre of the education they're getting, and show they are able to compete on the world stage, it’s just great."

- Ken Warkentin, Business Instructor

The simulation, called The Businesses Strategy Game, allows Business students from around the world to run a manufacturing company for a time-lapsed 10-year span, with each week of play representing a year in the life of the business. Weekly results are posted to the game’s online website where thousands of online students and instructors from around the world can see the progress.

Having Portage College curriculum and students highlighted on a global level is a fantastic achievement, says Warkentin.

“Anytime we can promote the success of our students, the calibre of the education they're getting, and show they are able to compete on the world stage, it’s just great,” he said.

Azeem Khoja was the Business Management instructor teaching the game-winning students in their Strategic Management course. Khoja credits the world-class results to the drive of the students along with the teachers and curriculum.

“A lot of credit goes to the culture of competition of the students. They were very competitive, which is a good trait to have. So, you tell them it’s possible to be number one in the world, and they believe you, because they believe in themselves,” he said. “I told them that if they are as good as they think they are as students, and I’m as good as I am as an instructor, we should be number one in the world.”

The Portage College Business program offers several course options, including Business Administration Certificate, Bachelor of Business Administration and micro-credentials for many Business courses.

An overview of the Business Strategy Game, including the archived results from the CIOT teams, can be found at https://www.bsg-online.com/home/stats/top-performers/prior/2735.