International Business

Want to know the ins and outs of doing business across borders? Join the BBA International Business and discover all the secrets behind marketing, organizations, finance, logistics and intercultural communication. You will learn to write marketing plans about cross-border e-commerce and to manage business processes: from human resource management to operations & supply chain management and from financial accounting to decision making strategies.

Theory and practice

You will be immersed in international business straight away with a practical week, training sessions and a large variety of subjects. Throughout the programme you will focus on a range of different themes. We challenge you to put your new knowledge into action during several projects at internationally operating organizations. Developing your personal and professional skills also play an important part during the programme. 

Topics covered in the first year are:

Organization and People

Get acquainted with the structure of an international organization, its behaviour and processes. You will study various leadership styles, decision-making strategies and management styles within different organizations. This enables you to understand organizations better and help them solve complex business problems effectively.

Finance and Accounting

Explore the fundamentals of financial and management accounting. Financial accounting looks at the various financial statements. Managerial accounting deals with internal decision-making: what will the revenues be, how can the costs of products be calculated and at what point a profit will be made.

Marketing and Sales

Consisting of Principles of Marketing, International Market Research and Digital Marketing.

Operations and Supply Chain Management

Each organization exists and survives based upon the supply of a product or service to people or organizations that want or need it. Most organizations therefore function as a part of a chain, with suppliers and customers. In this module you will examine what operations and supply chain management is about.

Languages

Culture and language highly influence the operations of businesses. Someone from Germany, for example, negotiates differently than someone from France and an American might address you differently than a Brit. Culture and language influence how people think, collaborate, negotiate and do business. We pay a lot of attention to these aspects. You will work on your proficiency in English and one additional language (German or French for Dutch students, Dutch for international students), while also studying the cultural differences in international business. 

After first becoming acquainted with the breadth of International Business and the many facets of culture and management, you will have more and more space to discover where your strengths lie. You will have plenty of opportunity to discover this during various projects, assignments, internships and study abroad in Year 2 and 3.

Year 2

In the second year you will develop the skills to successfully work in an international setting. You will work on an international project, for example an e-commerce plan for a company or finding new markets abroad, and do a five-month internship. By the end of the year, you will share your experiences with your fellow students and supervisors. Your international skill development will be monitored by a unique tool, the Intercultural Readiness Check.

Year 3

Get ready to map out your own path, because this year prepares you for your specialization in year 4. You will explore topics such as Family Business, Sustainability, Change Management, Sales and International Marketing Communication. You will put your knowledge into action during several projects, but you can also choose from a list of assignments that have been submitted by real companies. This means that you will work on an assignment at a company for two or three days a week. Besides this, you are able to choose between a study abroad semester or another internship. Want to go the extra mile? A double degree in collaboration with our partner University of Munich is another possibility.

The fourth year is dedicated to your personal profiling, business research design and your will specialization in the last semester. Your own ambitions are leading and you will now work independently as much as possible.

Which issue will you solve?

In the specialization you show us that you are ready to enter an international business setting. You will take some courses and carry out an international project within a company.

You can, for example, graduate with:

• A cross-border e-commerce assignment to improve online international business.
• An International supply chain assignment in order to enhance the international logistics in the chain.
• Creating and improving new generation international business models.

Obtaining your Bachelor of Business Administration

You are certainly not alone when you graduate. Both the programme and the client will provide you with a supervisor with whom you can always brainstorm. Have you completed everything? You have then obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration!

At the start of your study programme, the theory will be presented to you in lectures and seminars. During the course of the programme you will increasingly work on group assignments that have been provided by our industry partners. Classes are small and consist of approximately 15 students.

Study, work or graduate abroad

Starting the second semester of your second year, you will be doing your internship abroad. A fantastic experience that instantly boosts your CV and your language skills. International students may do their internship in the Netherlands.

In the third year, you will be able to choose between a study abroad semester or another internship.

Your study path, your future

Personal and professional development are key at Windesheim. Your study pace and pathway towards reaching your goals are for you to decide. Every class has its own coach, who helps you accomplish your goals. This is reflected in the following: 

• You can study and work in a spacious, well-equipped room where you can work either individually or in groups on the learning objectives or assignments of your projects or subjects. During ‘office hours’, you get to decide what you want to work on. There are lecturers available to ask for advice or an explanation.
• Our lectures are instruction classes that provide you with the information you need at that precise moment for your independent work. These classes last roughly 30 minutes.
• We offer regular 30-minute mini-workshops where you can train your practical abilities, such as a foreign-language or your presentation skills.
• During our 2-hour workshops we focus solely on your growth as a person and business professional.

A week in the programme International Business consists of 12 to 16 hours of classes, and you are also to also study independently and together for at least the same number of hours. You will usually have one day a week without classes in your timetable. Below is a selection of the courses on offer. This will give you an idea of what four years of studying look like.