MBA or MA - Canadian Student

[smartdegree]

As a Canadian with a background in the financial services sector working with one of the top firms, I can say that Canadian hiring managers don't look fondly on any foreign degree outside the US/UK/France.  It doesn't even matter if you go to the top ranked schools in italy, greece, spain, do it on-campus, and have it validated by WES.  They will NOT have the same value as a Canadian degree in the job market.  You are better off doing a local community college graduate certificate (e.g. Seneca, BCIT, etc) vs a foreign MBA.  In fact, a lot of foreign MBAs study at a community college in Canada to facilitate job hunting when they migrate to Canada.    

The exception would be if the hiring manager is himself/herself a recent immigrant with a foreign education from that country.   So a Spanish MBA can probably get hired if the hiring manager is also Spanish or Mexican, etc.  

Probably the only value of a foreign degree in Canada is its ability to get you admission to a Canadian masters degree which will then lead to a job.  Or maybe (like I am considering) using it for personal development and "top off" my other Canadian/US degrees.  

I don't like this situation, but it is what it is.  Because of how cheap tuition is in Canada, the job market is flooded with underemployed grads from top local universities.  In Quebec, you can get an MBA for $2K to 3K if you're a local.  In Ontario, almost all academic/research masters (non-MBA) are fully funded (free tuition) for locals.  If you're the employer who would you hire first?