Develop your management skills in an intercultural business setting

Master
Full-time
3 semesters

International Business and Management

Level: master
Form: full-time
Duration: 3 semesters
Language: English
Locations: Groningen
Degree: Master of Business Administration
Credits: 90 ECTS
Startmonths: Start: September

Business and Economics
International Business School

Would you like to work in the management team of an international company or be part of a business team that is aiming for internationalisation? Are you looking to develop broader competencies for your future work as a manager? Then the Master in International Business and Management is the programme for you!

This programme prepares you to work in a real international context, by developing specialised skills in intercultural communication and understanding.

Apply for this programme Request brochure

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Projects with impact

During your master’s, you will work on real-world projects that address societal and organisational challenges. Through hands-on research, you will create innovative solutions that make a difference. Curious what that looks like? Below are a few examples of our students' projects.

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- Student project
'We had to find out how Arriva's business model would change.'

What will you be studying?

Our overall educational concept is characterised by small group sizes and intensive contact between students and faculty. Next to lectures and workshops, you work both individually and in teams on practice-based and experience-based projects and case studies. Within our Living Labs, you interact with the world of professional practice through guest lectures as well as through seminars, real-life consultancy projects and company visits.

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Student met oranje smartphone en grijze trui

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Patrícia Duarte de Almeida

Head of Education IBS Masters
Ning Ding

Lecturer & Researcher
Mariusz Soltanifar

Lecturer Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Anastasia Peters

Educational Support Officer
Ineke van der Leij

Admissions Officer IBS Masters

About International Business and Management

During your International Business and Management studies, you learn to solve international business issues from the boardroom perspective of an existing company, with significant practical and professional orientation towards international business. The programme truly applies professional knowledge and skills into practice. You will be working together with students and faculty from all over the world.

The Master in International Business & Management (MIBM) programme has a strong focus on developing communication competences that you can apply in an authentic and multicultural business setting. The concept of every course gives a unique setting, which prepares you for complex decision-making in a dynamic international business environment. To create a business plan, get a go-ahead and begin implementation of the plan, you must communicate and cooperate with external stakeholders, as well as colleagues in all layers of an organisation.

On top of this, the MIBM offers you the opportunity to obtain a dual degree, allowing you to study for one third of the programme at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, UK. Please note there are limited places available. After completing the dual degree programme, you will receive two officially recognised international master's diplomas.

In this video, two students and a lecturer explain more about the content of the programme and what makes this master unique. In addition, a business partner from JC-Electronics explains how they work together with students from the master on a real-life business case.

Course overview

Year 1

Semester 1

In the first semester of the first year, you will follow courses in core areas of business management, including International Supply Chain Management, Human Resource Management, Finance & Accounting, and Marketing Management. Additionally, you will learn more about Business Research Methods, focused specifically on Entrepreneurship and Sustainability. The course 'Strategic Decision Making & Multinational Boardroom' provides you with advanced insights into decision-making in complex and uncertain international business environments. You will explore how global institutional frameworks, geopolitics, and geo-economics shape corporate strategies. Dive deep into the incentives driving decisions within multinational corporations and critically examine transformative paradigms such as Sustainability and the Circular Economy.

Semester 2

Dual Degree at ARU

The MIBM programme offers you the opportunity to spend your second semester studying at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in Cambridge, United Kingdom to obtain two officially recognised international degrees: an MBA from Hanze and an MSc from ARU. Please note there are limited places available for outgoing MIBM students. You can find more information about this dual degree here.

At Hanze

Students who stay at Hanze will follow courses in International Strategic Management and Intercultural Competences & Global Mindset. Moreover, you will take part in a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP, EU Erasmus+ programme) on Innovative Sustainability Solutions for Businesses where you will develop an advice for a real-life company on how to start or enhance their competitive position using sustainable concepts like circular economy, sustainability or de-growth.

Next to these courses, you can select two electives and one thesis electives. Topics for business elective 1 include: International Taxation, European Business in a Global Context, Employee Wellbeing and Performance, and Political Risk Analysis. Topics for business elective 2 include: Business Intelligence, Creating Business Opportunities, Contemporary Business Trends, and International Capital Markets.

Year 2 (semester 3)

In the third and final semester of the Master in International Business & Management you will work on your master thesis. During the second semester you will select a topic and business setting for your thesis. The thesis project is an individual assignment that is linked to a practical issue in an existing organisation, or type of organisation or to the start-up of a new organisation. The thesis research should be carried out as an assignment given by an organisation (profit or non-profit) or a professorship at Hanze linked to the business issue.

Curious about the courses you'll take? Check out the full overview here!

After your studies

Graduating from the Master International Business & Management opens up a wide range of career opportunities in both the public and private sectors. Our alumni work at companies and organisations of all sizes, from consultancies and start-ups to large multinationals such as Google, IBM, Rabobank, Volkswagen, PwC and Philips. Positions that our alumni take on are:

Product Manager
Business Consultant
Business Analyst (e.g. financial, branding)
Marketing Manager
Business Development Manager
Account Manager
Entrepreneur (own company)
Sustainability Consultant

This programme prepares you to work in a real international context, by developing specialized skills in intercultural communication and understanding.

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Click here to check whether you qualify

The entry requirements for our master’s programme are as follows:

A valid business bachelor's degree of NLQF/EQF level 6 or higher (between 180 - 240 ECTS equivalent) (no GMAT required): a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) or a business bachelor's degree accompanied by a transcript that holds all the following courses*: Human Resource Management, Operations Management or Supply Chain Management, Financial Management, Marketing Management, and Strategic Management.
An English proficiency of IELTS 6.5 with no sub-scores below 6. For more details, see the item below.

*In some cases, admission may be granted if one or more of these courses are missing on the student's transcript. Students are required to bring themselves up to the bachelor's level of this course though self-study before beginning the master's programme. A self-study literature list will be provided.

Furthermore, you have to submit:

A 2-3 minute video in which you explain your motivation and skills. In your video you should address the following:
- What are you passionate about? How does this master help you prepare for your future?
- What can you contribute to the MIBM learning community (think of skills, knowledge, experience, perspective, network)?
- Information on the following competencies with the support of relevant academic/professional achievements and or international/intercultural experiences:
  - (applied) research skills
  - critical thinking
  - cultural sensitivity

Please note that it does not matter where you upload the video, as long as you provide a link that enables us to click and immediately view the video (without downloading or logging into a new app). You are also responsible for ensuring your own privacy (sharing a private link with us, for example). In most cases, YouTube is the easiest, most reliable, and user friendly platform to use.

Please note that students must have a valid residency status in order to study in the Netherlands.

If you want to know more about the value of your own diploma, you can also check the diploma comparison site of our national agency NUFFIC.

English language proficiency should be proven with one of the following certificates:

IELTS (Academic): with a minimum overall score of 6.5 with no sub-scores below 6, or:
TOEFL ibt: with a minimum overall score of 90 with no sub-scores below 21, or;
CAE (Cambridge C1 Advanced Exam): with a minimum grade of C, or;
Pearson PTE (Academic): Minimum overall score of 61 (minimum of writing: 63; listening: 49; speaking 47; reading: 54), or;
LanguageCert (Academic): Minimum overall score of 70 (no sub-scores below 33), or;
TOEIC: Listening and Reading minimum of 865 and Speaking and Writing minimum of 335.

Note: Your language certificate should not be older than two years at the start of the programme. Please note that Hanze does not accept the home versions of the IELTS or TOEFL for the purpose of admission to the master's programme.

Exemptions
The following students are exempt from submitting an English language proficiency test:

Prospective students who have obtained a diploma at an English-taught institution within the EER and who can prove that their prior education for which they obtained a diploma was full time English-taught. (A statement, signed and stamped, from the school, confirming that the medium of instruction and examination of the prior education was entirely in English).
Prospective students whose prior education was English-taught and who obtained a diploma in the following countries: Australia, Canada (English speaking part), Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States of America.
Dutch students. They need to demonstrate their English language proficiency via the motivational video.

Note: In order to get the exemption, your bachelor's degree should not be older than two years at the start of the programme.

For more information about language requirements, please check the general Hanze page on language requirements here.

If you want to apply for our programme, you have to submit your request first in our national registration system Studielink. After this, we will start the admissions process through our own application system “Hanze Apply”.

The general application deadline:

for EU/EEA students is 15 August
for non-EU/EEA students is 1 June

Please note that scholarship deadlines are from March - May so you should apply for the programme in Studielink earlier if you want to be eligible for a scholarship.

NB: please do not send application documents via email. On this page you can find general information about enrolment, application requirements and tuition fees in preparation of your programme application. For more information about the specific programme, please contact [email protected].

Admissions interview

An admissions interview is not a standard part of the admissions procedure; however, the Admissions Committee can request for additional supporting documents or examination in the form of an (online) interview.

Hanze University of Applied Sciences offers the following scholarships for the Master in International Business & Management:

Hanze Scholarship

For non-EEA students
€10.000 contribution towards costs of living

NL Scholarship (formerly Holland Scholarship)

For non-EEA students
€5000 contribution towards costs of study

Please note that the Holland and Hanze Scholarships are open for applications from 1 March- 30 April.

For more information about scholarships and the application procedure, go to hanze.nl/scholarships

Please note: with this master's programme, you will receive student finance from DUO for the first year only. Hanze may grant you financial support for the last six months of the programme, provided you were entitled to a performance grant in the first year. Are you a Hanze student? Then check with the Student Support Regulation to see if you qualify. Not a Hanze student yet? Please e-mail [email protected].