Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business

Do you dream of an international career in business? With our International Business program, you gain extensive international experience with classmates from all over the world, strong connections to the international business world, and the opportunity of spending one to three semesters abroad.

International Business prepares you for challenging management positions at companies anywhere in the world. You become equipped to do business with business partners from different cultural backgrounds. As a graduate you will be a multifunctional professional with a set of interdisciplinary skills and a solid knowledge base, allowing you to perform as an intermediary across and within various business domains. You will be confident in expressing yourself fluently in two, three, or even four of the most commonly used business languages worldwide.

IB (International Business) -tracks

Within our business program, you can opt for three alternative tracks:

IB

The IB track offers all major business courses plus Business English education that ensures you master the world’s most important business language at the C1 level.

In addition, you can customize your study program by participating in a wide variety of business projects and guided MOOCs of your choice.

IB1L

The IB1L track offers all major business courses plus Business English education that ensures you master the world’s most important business language at the C1 level.

In addition, you can choose to study one extra language (French, German, Spanish, or Dutch) and customize your study program by participating in various business projects and guided MOOCs of your choice.

IB2L

The IB2L track offers all major business courses plus Business English education that ensures you master the world’s most important business language at the C1 level. In addition, you can choose to study two extra languages: French, German, Spanish, or Dutch.

Shortened study tracks

This program is also available as a shortened track for students with more than 3 years of relevant work experience, with a degree in the professional education of two or three years, such as the French BTS, IUT, DUT; the German Berufsfachschule; an Associate Degree.

Further studies

With an HZ bachelor's degree, you can continue with a Master’s program. If you wish to do a Master's at a research university in The Netherlands, you may be required to follow a pre-masters program.

HZ University of Applied Sciences is located in the South-West of the Netherlands. With a population of some 4,800 national and international students, we are a small university with a personal approach. HZ offers high-quality study programs. Since 2011 - so for the past eleven years - HZ has been in the top three Dutch multidisciplinary universities of applied sciences.

As a university of applied sciences, we focus on practice-based education and research opportunities. Our close cooperation with the business world, various research centers, and our global network of partner universities are of paramount importance.

About us

HZ has around 4,800 students divided over four study years and some 25 bachelor's degree programs, eight of which are taught in English. Some 500 students come from outside the Netherlands, so we have a great mix of Dutch and international students. Easy mathematics will tell you that with such numbers, classes are going to be small.

Where students matter

Teachers and staff put great emphasis on individual coaching. Your study coach will help you choose courses and explore your career possibilities. Ask any international student and they will tell you the lecturers and tutors are readily available to assist you when needed. HZ also has facilities and individual services for students with a disability or chronic illness.

Our professional expertise

As a university of applied sciences, we have positioned ourselves as experts in Water, Energy, and Vitality. Our programs are fully in line with these spearheads.

At the top

Every year the ‘Keuzegids Hoger Onderwijs’ (Guide to Higher Education) holds a survey of higher education in the Netherlands. Since 2011 the guide has ranked HZ in the top 3 multidisciplinary Dutch universities of applied sciences. The quality and accessibility of our lecturers and the small student groups are among HZ’s assets. But also the classrooms, workspaces, and computer facilities were rated as excellent.

Quality & Accreditation

HZ in the top 3

The Netherlands consistently ranks among the best education systems in the world. Every year the ‘Keuzegids Hoger Onderwijs’ (Guide to Higher Education) holds a survey of higher education in the Netherlands. HZ has ranked in the top three multidisciplinary universities of applied sciences since 2011.

Accreditation

HZ is a government-funded University of Applied Sciences (HBO). To obtain government funding in the Netherlands, institutes must continually meet a number of quality requirements. The quality of the departments and programs is regularly evaluated by acknowledged VBI’s (Visiting Assessment Organisations) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.

The Bachelor's programs, including the English-language programs, taught at HZ have been accredited by the NVAO (Netherlands-Flemish Accreditation Organisation) based on international agreements.

Mission statement

We are a knowledge institute with a worldwide orientation, with a specific orientation within durability & water, safety, innovation & enterprise knowledge domains.

The various target groups can master their chosen competencies via custom-made education, for a lifelong career in a multicultural and multiform society. We want to be a partner to companies, institutes, and authorities, in order to look after their every knowledge and innovation need. We, therefore, focus on a number of spearheads, which makes us attractive to a market that goes way beyond the regional and even the national borders. These spearheads are durability and water, safety and innovation & enterprise. This is also re-emphasized by the existence of lecturers in these specific areas.

Every person counts

A mission is also constantly embedded in a set of ‘values’, which provides direction for thoughts and actions. Our core values are quality, personal development, mutual respect, and professional orientation. Various HZ places and documents also emphasize the required attention for ethnic and interpretation issues, both in general and in professional situations. We want to be a community where every person counts and where every person is seen as an individual, where working together is high on the list of priorities, and where there is mutual respect for the development possibilities of all involved.