Interdisciplinary Business Professional

Projects with impact

During your master’s, you will be involved in projects that combine working in research, education and industry. Through applied research you come up with innovative solutions for genuine societal issues. Below, you can find some examples of projects our master’s students engage in.

About this programme

The Master Interdisciplinary Business Professional is an intensive, ground-breaking one-year international master programme in the domain of business studies, designed for ambitious students who are eager to make a difference. You will contribute to solutions and innovations for complex problems that organisations are facing. These problems are interdisciplinary issues that require innovative and diverse answers for organisations that add value to both people and our planet.

The Master Interdisciplinary Business Professional is also offered in Dutch, as a part-time programme for professionals with at least 3 years of work experience. Find out more at www.hanze.nl/ibp.

After your studies

Graduating from the Master Interdisciplinary Business Professional programme opens up a wide range of career opportunities in both the public and private sectors. Having received your Master of Science diploma, you'll be equipped to tackle complex, real-world challenges using an interdisciplinary and innovative approach. The programme’s strong emphasis on applied research, co-creation with industry, and sustainable value creation prepares you to work in roles that require critical thinking, collaboration, and a future-focused mindset. Position that our alumni take on are:  

• Business consultant 

• Policy and project advisor 

• Business analyst 

• CRM manager 

• Researcher 

• Performance marketeer, etc. 

Course overview

Semester 1

The master’s programme kicks off with an intensive week where you will meet fellow students and focus on a case study based on a real business issue. In the following weeks you will work in interdisciplinary teams on an assignment centered around one of the themes of the master’s programme. During these weeks you will receive intensive training on your research skills.

Innovation Assignment

Via the Networking Event at the start of the Innovation Assignment (INA) module, you are enabled to do your research project acquisition. In the following weeks you work in interdisciplinary teams on complex issues from the professional field. This module provides a dynamic combination of co-creation with fellow students and the professional field, academic depth provided by (guest) lectures and professorships, and an evidence-based approach with insights from different disciplinary perspectives.

Knowledge Based Skills 

The Knowledge Based Skills (BOKS) module runs alongside the Innovation Assignment so that you can incorporate the theories and models offered in this module in the Innovation Assignment and in the second semester in the Thesis module. The BOKS also provides you with the skills and content knowledge serve as a foundation for you to write a thesis at the master level. 

Professional Skills Development 

The Professional Skills Development & Ethics focuses on your professional skills development based on the assumption that an interdisciplinary business professional, being an individual within a social context, influences and reacts from his individual authenticity in professional settings. In parallel you will develop change agent professional skills on leadership, project design and future planning. 

Community of Learners  

The purpose of a Community of Learners (CoL) is to offer a learning environment in which one can analyse and discuss. Cooperation and reflection are key notions: Learning is not a solely individual process, but also a matter of interaction with others. There is a clear collective dimension to learning in the IBP master programme: knowledge is shared, analysed and collectively (re)constructed. In this way, you do not only develop your own competencies, but also develop new knowledge for complex problems in the business world. Input comes from practice as well as the professorships.  

Semester 2

In the second semester of the master's programme, you will work on your master thesis. Your master thesis is the centrepiece of the programme. You will demonstrate that you can execute an applied research project independently in an interdisciplinary professional context. You will complete the full research cycle and prove that you can conceive and apply innovative and relevant solutions. For your thesis you might continue on the theme of your Innovation Assignment and choose a topic of your interest to dive into. You might be able to contribute to a large research project from one of the seven research groups and their partners from the industry involved in the programme: Human Capital, International Business, Marketing/Market-focused Entrepreneurship, New Business & IT, Organisational Design and Change, Sustainable Financing and Entrepreneurship, or Sustainable HRM.

Entry requirements

Click here to check whether you qualify

To enrol for the Master Interdisciplinary Business Professional, you will need to provide the following:

• a bachelor’s degree or equivalent degree from abroad within the economic domain and related fields
• a transcript (grade list)
• a 2-3 min. video pitch in which you showcase your background, motivation, and research experience

Dutch students don't have to submit an English language proficiency test but do need to demonstrate their proficiency in the video pitch.

Application and enrolment

Once you have made your final choice of degree programme, apply for the degree programme via Studielink before 15 August.

Please note that this master uses multiple application rounds. The deadlines for the application groups are as follows:

1. Batch 1: 19 January 2025
2. Batch 2: 30 March 2025
3. Batch 3: 1 June 2025
4. Batch 4: 15 August 2025 (EU students only)

Start of the degree programme

The degree programme will start in September. It is not possible to start in February.

Admission procedure

The admission procedure for the Master Interdisciplinary Business Professional consists out of two phases:

1. You apply via 'Studielink' with a Bachelor degree or an equivalent degree from abroad within the domain business studies and related fields. You also submit the required documents: a Bachelor diploma (if available), transcript (grade list), and video pitch. For more detailed information, please go to the hanze general admissions information page. You can find the master in Studielink by looking for its official name: M Interdisciplinary Business Professional.
2. Students who pass phase 1 of the admission procedure will be invited for an online admission exam. This exam is to gain an understanding of your critical thinking skills, business research method skills and your academic language proficiency. The admission exam consists of reading a journal article, which you need to critically evaluate. The invitation for the admission exam will include the exact exam question and the journal paper. You will have four days to complete the admission exam. No exceptions will be made; the deadline for uploading your exam is fixed.

The Admissions Committee can request for additional supporting documents or examination in the form of an (online) interview.

Feel free to contact us by sending an e-mail to m[email protected] in case of questions.