Laurier Brantford’s business technology management program moving to the Milton campus in September

Laurier Brantford’s business technology management (BTM) program is moving to the Milton campus in September 2025. The decision was made this fall to align with Milton’s focus on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.  

“A really big part of it was the plan for Milton being in software engineering in the long-term and applied computing now,” said Kyle Murray, the Dean of the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Laurier.  

Murray said he talked to faculty, students and senior university administrators while making the decision.  

“I think in BTM, both students and faculty felt it was a really strong fit for the vision of that campus,” he said. 

The BTM program allows students to gain knowledge about applying technology to business. Moving the program to Milton gives students from the GTA easier access to the campus, while allowing Milton to offer a third program. The campus, which opened this past September, is currently offering psychology and computer sciences programs.  

Students currently in the BTM program will remain in Brantford for the duration of their degree. Starting next year, faculty members in BTM will be teaching at both campuses.  

Murray said faculty is the only resource that will be divided between the two campuses. The program plans to add new experiences for Brantford students, such as a career trek to Toronto, said Murray. “We’re also going to run a few other events and connect them with the new students starting in Milton next fall.” 

The BTM program in Milton will no longer provide a guaranteed co-op, one of the main attractions to the program, according to students.  

Dhruti Yadav, a first year BTM student, said she had considered going to TMU for business, but decided on Laurier’s BTM program. 

“Guaranteed co-op honestly takes the win,” she said. The Laurier website says BTM students in co-op had a 98 per cent employment rate from 2023 to 2024. 

Murray said he’s not concerned about the lack of a guaranteed co-op. He said it will take time to build the reputation of the program at Milton, but will be a strong program with competitive co-op. “Our BBA (business administration) program doesn’t have guaranteed co-op and it’s by far the strongest program in the university in terms of application and quality of applications,” he said.  

Murray said BTM is often an alternative program for students who originally applied for the BBA program. 

Shahrez Ahmed, an ambassador for Laurier Brantford, says the move to Milton will service a lot of commuter students in the GTA area, but could set a scary precedent for programs at the Brantford campus.  

“If BTM, a program that was very enticing due to its experiential learning with the co-op can move away, I fear whether programs like UX and game design will also be moving away,” he said.  

Ahmed says the Milton campus seems to be the priority of faculty heads. “It gives off this notion that Milton, it’s the shiny new toy for Laurier and it kind of puts the focus away from Brantford onto Milton,” he said. 

This story was originally published in Volume 24, Issue 6 on February 6, 2025