MSc en Commerce International

Course summary

Open to graduates from any discipline, our Master of International Business (MSc) course is a specialist award for career entry or career development that will prepare you to successfully integrate with businesses operating an international platform.

The purpose of this degree is to allow you to hone your professional, analytical and personal capabilities in order to develop a global perspective for business. This will be accomplished by developing the agile, curious, resilient and innovative mindsets that are necessary to cope with the levels of uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity and risk that are so evident in a rapidly changing world.

At every juncture, you will be encouraged to consider how you can add value to business processes while being mindful of the ethical, social and cultural responsibilities and challenges facing all organisations.

About this course

This course aims to develop a scientific, theoretical and practical understanding of, and the ability to engage with, business activity at an international level. You will develop a critical appreciation of relevant theories when aligned to practice, an understanding of the importance of data and its analysis and will have the opportunity to reflect on the application of your learning.

Using BGU staff’s significant expertise in business expertise, and that of a variety of guest speakers and international connections, the programme is designed not only to increase theoretical knowledge of business processes, but to challenge you to acquire and analyse the skills and attributes required by future-fit leaders and managers, allowing a full appreciation of what is needed to engage with global markets.

At every level, you will learn to collaborate and communicate with each other as will be expected in a business environment. Taught delivery will be complemented by group coaching sessions to encourage maximum peer-peer interaction, and overseas students will be ‘buddied’ with UK students.

At every juncture, theory and practice will be challenged by considering the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and all modules will acknowledge and link to enterprise and entrepreneurial skills and attributes as defined by The Entrecomp Framework.

The course will naturally promote the use of ‘business English’, however this is further enhanced by collaboration with external partners and stakeholders internationally to introduce a much wider social and cultural palette of business practitioners who use English to communicate.

You will be supported via individual Learning Contracts that will identify and personalise your individual learning goals that augment the learning outcomes for the course.

How you will be taught

The delivery of this course will challenge and support you to ensure you receive a positive learning experience by offering a range of delivery styles. Peer learning will be introduced as a critical element that enhances learning opportunities and create a socially enabling learning environment. These will include structured and informal networking, collaboration and exchange of ideas, tutorials, workshops and group learning that is both immersive and supportive.

Module content will be delivered through a blend of traditional face -to-face/classroom-based teaching, blended learning which incorporates elements of practical challenge, the effective use of supporting technology and online tools, and team coaching to support effective peer-peer and group learning.

The modules build on the knowledge, understanding, skills and experience you will accumulate as you progress throughout the course. The course places strong emphasis on the integration and application of learning that can be synthesised with current global issues and thinking. For instance, an understanding of global operations enables the development of market and brand strategy.

Assessment

The assessment strategy for this course has been designed to develop and assess the knowledge, understanding and skills that are required to successfully develop a career in business. It will allow you to demonstrate your confidence in articulating and critically evaluating ideas and knowledge in both written and oral formats. Formative assessment will be embedded throughout, and assessment tools have been chosen to reflect the content and teaching approach to the modules – for instance, the international finance module will be assessed through a timed examination based on financial analysis of provided data, and the marketing module is assessed by the production of marketing material as would be expected in the business world.

Support

Studying at BGU is a student-centred experience. Staff and students work together in a friendly and supportive atmosphere as part of an intimate campus community. You will know every member of staff personally and feel confident approaching them for help and advice, and staff members will recognise you, not just by sight, but as an individual with unique talents and interests.

We will be there to support you, personally and academically, from induction to graduation.

About BGU

Here at Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU), we’ve been educating students in the historic heart of the City of Lincoln for over 150 years, located on a beautifully green and pleasant campus just a few minutes’ walk from Lincoln Cathedral, Castle and the old Roman city. We’re set on a single-site campus, so just about everything you need is close by, whether it be your tutors, your friends, your lectures or the places in which you like to relax.

We began life in 1862 as an Anglican teacher training college for women. To mark our centenary in 1962, our name was changed to incorporate the current ‘Bishop Grosseteste’ title, in honour of Robert Grosseteste, the thirteenth-century scientist, philosopher, educator, and Bishop of Lincoln (so he’s the one you have to thank for the long name!). In 2012 we achieved full university status and haven’t looked back since. We’ve seen a lot of things come and go since 1862, but we’ve never stopped providing first-class education and turning out high-calibre graduates who go out into the world and change people’s lives for the better.

In recent years we’ve undergone an explosion of growth in many areas, remaining a small and friendly university whilst expanding and developing our portfolio of courses into more exciting new areas than ever before. We still consider ourselves experts in education – we have been doing it for over 150 years after all – but our teaching courses now sit alongside an exciting range of other disciplines. We currently educate over 2,000 students in a wide range of subjects – within our ever-expanding undergraduate portfolio, our traditional PGCE teacher training routes, work-based Foundation Degrees, Masters courses and even Doctoral study (and much more in between). We pride ourselves on being a supportive community, always striving to improve the lives of our students.

We’re exceptionally proud of the fact that, over the past 150 years, our commitment to first-class education has remained consistent. Our students are some of the happiest in the UK, which is incredibly important to us. We really care about our students and aim to support them all of the way through their studies, from application to graduation. Life after BGU is extremely important and we offer many different methods of support for your future career along the way.

Our Beautiful Campus

We’re very proud of our campus. We’ve been here for a very long time, developing and growing with the city around us. We continually look to make improvements to ensure BGU is an excellent place in which to study, live, work and relax. In recent years, we’ve built upon and reimagined many elements of our campus to ensure that our students’ time with us will be as stimulating, interesting, relaxing and rewarding as possible.

Some of our buildings date from the 1840s and are still in use today. We complement these fine Victorian buildings with brand new teaching and learning spaces, providing an enticing mix of the old and the new, the intimate and the expansive. Our modern library and brand new state-of-the-art teaching rooms will ensure that our students have the best facilities possible for their time here.

But, of course, the academic side of things is only one part of studying for a degree. Our Students also need to make sure that their university can satisfy their hunger, thirst and entertainment needs – fortunately, we’ve got that covered! With places on campus to eat, drink, relax, meet friends, socialise, watch the latest films and exercise, we certainly manage to pack a lot into our campus to keep you busy!

Our GOLD-Rated Teaching

Our teaching has been awarded the highest possible rating in the first-ever Government-led Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) assessment, a rating which was awarded to just the top 26% of universities in the UK. This shows that our students receive the same high standard of education at BGU as they would at other leading universities such as Cambridge and Oxford.

We’ve always strived to provide outstanding teaching and learning here at BGU and now we have the award to prove it. This means that incoming student can rest assured that coming to study at BGU will provide them with the education of the highest quality possible.

The judging panel recognised and highlighted BGU’s strengths in all three elements of the TEF – namely teaching quality, the learning environment and student outcomes. Their written statement praised BGU’s “personalised approach with high-quality support” and commented on the outstanding support that is available at BGU which ensures “that students from all backgrounds achieve excellent outcomes”.

We’re incredibly proud of this recognition of our teaching excellence, and will continue to provide a first-class education to all of our students.

Our Highly-Employable Graduates

The employability rates of our graduates are consistently high. In 8 of the last 10 years, we’ve been top nationally for employability and further study one year after graduation – no other university in the country can boast that! Of course, we think our students are fantastic from the minute they arrive on campus, but we aim to offer as much support as we can throughout their time here in order to help make them as employable as possible.

Our courses are tailored to help prepare students for life after graduation. This could be through placements in settings relevant to their field, or through one-to-one support time offered within the university. We also try to keep our class sizes smaller, to allow for a more personalised learning experience.

We also offer students the chance to participate in our Employability Award, which is designed to help them to become fully prepared for the working environment by the time they graduate, gaining valuable experience along the way. They earn points by participating in additional work experience, volunteering, part-time and vacation work, attending relevant employability award workshops and lectures, and taking part in on-campus activities.

Our Happy Students

Here at BGU, our students are amongst the happiest in the UK, and they love studying here – proven by the fact that we have consistently high ratings for student satisfaction in the National Student Survey. We think there are a number of reasons as to why our students are so happy. It could be down to the excellent facilities they have right here on campus, the support they receive from before they’ve even started studying here, or that fact that they continue to receive that support up until graduation and beyond!

Right here on campus, we have a wide range of facilities, ranging from our very own cinema, cafes and a gym through to subject-specific state-of-the-art facilities, such as the brand new Archaeology lab and the Business hub (not to mention our theatre, Human Performance Laboratory and much more besides). Our students enjoy full use of these facilities throughout their studies here with us and we are always looking to improve our campus and what we have to offer.

We really care about our students, so we aim to support them all the way through their studies, from application to graduation. Life after BGU is extremely important and we offer many different methods of support for your future career along the way.

Our Future

We’re being bold, expanding our horizons and looking to make life better for all our students. Our most recent University Strategy outlines how we intend to deliver a portfolio of courses which is not only attractive to students but also fully equips them for the world of work or further study. In recent years we’ve built new additions to our campus (for example our brand new state-of-the-art flexible teaching spaces in Constance Stewart Hall) and developed a suite of new degree courses (Counselling, Sociology, Health & Social Care and Business, to name a few) and we don’t plan to stop there. There are more developments in the pipeline which will grow our university and improve the experience for our students.

Our Vision

Bishop Grosseteste University is committed to being a leader in learning, to inspire excellence, and to enrich the lives of its students and staff and the communities it serves.

Our Mission

Inspired by the University’s Church of England foundation our mission is to:

• Excel at teaching, learning and research
• Enable all students to achieve in the highest possible standard in their chosen field of study
• Provide life‑enriching opportunities for our students
• Recognise aspiration and achievements and provide opportunities for self‑development
• Foster an ethos in which individuals are valued and diversity is celebrated
• Develop productive partnerships to extend and deepen our external contribution regionally, nationally and internationally