{"id":77388,"date":"2021-06-21T09:18:41","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T13:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=77388"},"modified":"2025-10-20T09:25:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T13:25:30","slug":"jordan-real-world-classroom-commerce-grad","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/jordan-real-world-classroom-commerce-grad\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Grads 2021: Jordan Became Real-World Classroom for\u00a0Commerce Grad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Great Grads 2021: Jordan Became Real-World Classroom for\u00a0Commerce Grad\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

As an international student from Jordan, Sprott School of Business<\/a> graduate Ramzi Madanat remembers feeling \u201coverwhelmed\u201d with the sheer amount of universities he could apply to when he started thinking about pursuing post-secondary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Carleton University quickly emerged as the front-runner: \u201cThe amount of activities that were promoted within Carleton and the community base of the university was just amazing, especially its support for international students,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madanat chose Carleton\u2019s Bachelor of Commerce<\/a> program with a concentration in International Business<\/a>, an area of study that continued to inform much of his time as a Raven. \u201cI come from a very diverse culture and I really wanted to be involved in the international aspects of the business world,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ramzi
Ramzi Madanat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A pivotal moment for Madanat was in his third year, when he enrolled in the practicum for an international business course under Prof. Andrew Webb<\/a>, who became a key mentor and collaborator. For the practicum, Madanat flew back home and teamed up with the Jordan Express Tourist Transportation Company<\/a>. He then joined PricewaterhouseCoopers\u2019 international deals department in Jordan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After six months of practicum experience in Jordan, the original plan was for Madanat to fly back to Ottawa to continue his studies, but a key piece of the puzzle was missing. \u201cI still felt like I didn\u2019t have a clear picture of what I wanted to do with my life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n

Boosting Accessibility and Giving Back in Jordan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Madanat turned his focus to community initiatives in Jordan, including time working on boosting accessibility<\/a> in the country, before stumbling on a local startup called ViaVii<\/a>\u2014a business that aims to connect travellers with authentic experiences led by locals. Madanat joined the team as a social media intern and continued to work with the startup when he returned to Carleton six months later. \u201cI was very excited about the work that I was doing, giving back to communities, helping people and creating jobs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on campus, Madanat went to work preparing a report on his experiences in Jordan. He remembers receiving lots of helpful feedback, but one comment was especially impactful: \u201cHave you ever thought of writing a journal article?\u201d Webb wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andrew Webb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is where my education experience at Carleton changed completely,\u201d Madanat remembers. Webb and Madanat began to work on a journal article together, the start of what Madanat calls an \u201camazing relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Webb also introduced Madanat to the Sprott Student Consulting Group<\/a> (SSCG), a group of Carleton undergraduate business and MBA students who collaborate with partner organizations in the real world. Madanat and his fellow students worked with Air North<\/a>, a Canadian airline based in the Yukon. The team developed marketing strategies for the airline amid the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine rollouts, focusing on risk mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt was honestly one of the best experiences I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d says Madanat, who later worked as the marketing director for the SSCG. \u201cIt meant putting everything I\u2019ve learned into practice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Madanat found another key mentor and collaborator in Sprott Prof. Alain Lesage<\/a>, who introduced him to Carleton\u2019s Students as Partners Program<\/a>. The program pairs students with faculty, instructors or librarians for paid work experiences in course development. Madanat and Lesage worked on co-designing Sprott\u2019s regionalism and globalization course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s one thing Madanat has learned through his Carleton journey, it\u2019s that a university degree isn\u2019t just a destination. \u201cUniversity is where you embrace what you want to discover and explore,\u201d says Madanat. \u201cThis is the place where you open doors and find the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As an international student from Jordan, Sprott School of Business graduate Ramzi Madanat remembers feeling \u201coverwhelmed\u201d with the sheer amount of universities he could apply to when he started thinking about pursuing post-secondary education. But Carleton University quickly emerged as the front-runner: \u201cThe amount of activities that were promoted within Carleton and the community base […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":77389,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[25],"cu_story_tag":[1922],"class_list":["post-77388","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-student-experience","cu_story_tag-sprott-school-of-business"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97687,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77388\/revisions\/97687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=77388"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=77388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}