A uniquely interdisciplinary approach to business

For more than four decades, Waterloo Arts students have prepared for diverse careers across business.

It’s well known that Waterloo excels in work-integrated learning and entrepreneurship. What may be less known – though many Arts alum would know — are the rich ways that Arts students can also prepare for careers across business.  

In fact, Arts has a uniquely interdisciplinary approach to business. And while this is not necessarily new, it is a dynamic and evolving approach. 

Remember Applied Studies Co-op? Some pre-2005 grads such as Heather Matson (BA '98) would. It started in 1980 and was once the only program incorporating co-op for Arts students. The goal of Applied Studies was to provide students with “the skills appropriate to a wide range of careers,” according to the Undergraduate Calendar.  

Employer demands led to more business courses being incorporated in the Applied Studies curriculum, and eventually students could also add specializations, including international trade, cultural management, human resources management and digital arts.  

Applied Studies set the course for an enriched business education that provided important foundational skills and knowledge – critical thinking, communication, problem-solving in social sciences, humanities and creative arts – alongside core business and applied skills. 

In 1999 the Arts and Business (ARBUS) program was launched to build more offerings for aspiring careers across business sectors. By 2005 Applied Studies was replaced by ARBUS Co-op. And since that time, we all know how rapidly our world has changed socially, economically, technologically, and more.

For ARBUS students today, the evolution of this unique business education continues with collaboration projects and learning options with peers and professors in Waterloo’s STEM fields, including Engineering, Environment and Science. Yet the genesis of Applied Studies and Arts and Business – combining interdisciplinary and business learning with co-op – remains key to past and present student successes.