INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT International Semester or Year (30 ECTS 60 ECTS) 2013-2014
TABEL OF CONTENTS Howest, University College West Flanders 3 Course concept & overview 4-7 Is this course for me? 8 Academic recognition 8 Timing and location 8 Prerequisites 9 Tuition fee, Accommodation & Registration 10 Contact 10 2
Howest, University College West Flanders Howest is a dynamic university college, focused on innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. Our core values serve empower care continue to stimulate an open, pluralistic and international outlook on education, research and service to society. Howest is a member of Ghent University Association, which provides high-quality higher education to about 1/3 of Flanders student population. We offer degree programmes in Architecture, Health Care, Business and Management, Industrial Sciences and Technology, Education and Social Sciences, on 4 campuses in the historical cities of Bruges and Kortrijk, in the province of West Flanders, Belgium. Over the years, Howest has built a solid reputation in application-oriented scientific research, services and continuous education, working with distinguished academic, social profit and enterprise partners in Europe and all over the world. Our students and staff have plenty of opportunities to explore the globe, thanks to regional, national and international networks, scholarships and exchange programmes. Howest has coordinated highly successful national and international projects and is an active partner in many others. We constantly develop our course offer in English in order to be an attractive academic destination for students from abroad as well, who will find here an open, vibrant, cosmopolitan and friendly environment. We warmly welcome students from our Erasmus and overseas partner institutions for an exchange period. At this moment, Howest offers one full degree programme in English, the Bachelor of Digital Arts and Entertainment (www.digitalartsandentertainment.com) as well as 8 English taught international semesters in 5 different study areas, each of them representing at least 30 ECTS: > International Business Management I (Sept-Jan) > International Business Management II (Febr-June) > Applied Computer Sciences Fall (Sept-Jan) > Applied Computer Sciences Spring (Febr-June) > Realisation in Product Design (Sept-Jan) - NEW > Visualisation and Communication in Product Design (Febr-June) - NEW > Multimedia and Communication Management (Feb-June) Studying in Bruges or Kortrijk includes having a series of very attractive locations within a stone s throw: the Belgian coast as well as our Flemish art cities like Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent... You can also reach famous European places like Paris, London, Amsterdam, Cologne etc. in a one or two hours train journey. 3
Course concept & OVERVIEW International Business Management I Fall Semester The international semester International Business Management I (Fall) is composed of 5 modules: > Introduction (3 ECTS) > International Communication Skills (6 ECTS) > International Business Skills (9 ECTS) > 2 modules to be chosen from the following three (each module = 6 ECTS) - Marketing - Finance - Interpersonal Skills International Business Management I - Fall Course units & codes (30 ECTS) HTC n-tc SL INTRODUCTION 3 ECTS Cultural and socio-economic introduction to Belgium Survival course Dutch 10 65 75 You will stay for one semester or even a full year in Belgium. Therefor we like you to get to know a bit about the (company) culture in Flanders and in Belgium. You will also get an intense survival course Dutch. You will have to do an assignment introducing your own culture to the Belgian students you will take lessons with. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS 6 ECTS International Communication 20 55 75 Competent intercultural communication has become essential in this postmillennium world: there is a very strong imperative for you to communicate in both your public and private lives with people whose cultural heritage makes them different from you. The aim of this course is to provide you with the knowledge, motivation and skills to accomplish that objective. Writing and presentation skills 10 65 75 You will work in an interdisciplinary and multi-cultural team on a topic related to business management. The outcome of the project is a written report on the subject as well as a presentation. 4 ECTS = European Credit Transfer System // HTC = Hours of teaching and coaching during the semester n-tc = non-teaching and coaching hours per semester // SL = total study load in number of hours (*) = Optional Module
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SKILLS 9 ECTS International Entrepreneurship 20 55 75 You write a business plan in an international and multidisciplinary team. You will develop entrepreneurial skills and learn about economic and cultural differences in doing business. CRM 20 55 75 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to select and manage the most valuable customer relationships. CRM requires a customer-centric business philosophy and culture to support effective marketing, sales, and service processes. CRM & e-commerce applications can enable effective customer relationship management, provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy and culture. World Economy 10 65 75 This course is intended as an introduction in the world economy, with a strong focus on Europe. The objectives are to analyse the current international economic key indicators and trends and evaluate the benefits versus the costs of international trade. MARKETING 6 ECTS (*) Export Marketing 30 45 75 You become aware of specific aspects of international marketing and export management, such as international organisations, incoterms, import and export documents and the international marketing mix. Project Export Plan 10 65 75 In this project you put the input of International Marketing into practise by writing an export plan for an existing or fictitious company. FINANCE 6 ECTS (*) International Financial Topics 20 55 75 In the actual situation of financial turbulence it is not easy to keep up with all evolutions in the sector. In this module, actual financial topics are discussed in group and the dependency of the international markets will become clear. Forecasting and Budgeting 20 55 75 Based on historic data about sales, you learn to make a short term prognoses, in quantity and quality, of the corporate activity in the upcoming year. Coordination over business units will get a lot of attention. INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 6 ECTS (*) Self-Management 10 55 75 Self-management refers to methods, skills, and strategies by which you can affect your activities toward the achievement of objectives. You will become aware of your strengths and weaknesses through self-reflection. Change Management 20 55 75 When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change inside, the end is in sight. Companies thus cannot stand still. Implementing change in a company is not easy. You will achieve the competencies needed to establish change in your later working environment. 5
International Business Management II SPRING Semester The Spring Semester International Business Management II is also a modular semester. All modules concern Business Management topics, covering different specialisations. Depending on whether a student attends only this Spring Semester or is staying a full year, the modules which can be chosen will differ. International Business Management II - Spring Course units & codes (30 ECTS) HTC n-tc SL INTRODUCTION 3 ECTS (**) Cultural and socio-economic introduction to Belgium Survival course Dutch 10 65 75 You will stay for one semester or even a full year in Belgium. Therefor we like you to get to know a bit about the (company) culture in Flanders and in Belgium. You will also get an intense survival course Dutch. You will have to do an assignment introducing your own culture to the Belgian students you will take lessons with. ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS 6 ECTS (**) Starting your own business 10 65 75 To become an entrepreneur, studies show that both creativity and persistence are important traits. You work in a small team. Each team receives a very small amount of money and is put for the following challenge: try to multiply this amount as much as possible towards the end of the semester. It is important that students are creative in finding ways to gain money (profits) without having money to invest. During and at the end of the semester, each team reports on their different activities and the state of their balance sheet. Self-Management 10 55 75 Self-management refers to methods, skills, and strategies by which you can affect your activities toward the achievement of objectives. You will become aware of your strengths and weaknesses through self-reflection. ONLINE COMMUNICATION 6 ECTS Social Media 20 55 75 You probably use social media well so do companies. In this partim you learn why the use of social media is so important for companies. Companies ususally also have a strategy about the use of social media. This will be the main part of the lessons. Webaudit 20 45 75 6 E-commerce website are still gaining importance: selling online is still increasing. It is thus of great importance that the website of a company is attractive to consumers. There are some general principles that companies can apply. Furthermore, there is some legislation to respect when putting a website online. You have to assess if a website lives up to the relevant EU Directives and marketing techniques. You write an advisory report for the company.
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION 6 ECTS Corporate Social Responsibility 30 45 75 Economic development remains a must. However, economic growth can be seen as a threat to our planet. In this partim, it is discussed whether or not economic growth can go hand in hand with the protection of our planet and its resources. Innovation Management 20 55 75 (Eco-)Innovation is a must in companies. Companies will make the difference, not (only) by keeping costs low, but by keeping on renewing products, processes etc. You learn why innovation is so important, how innovation can be triggered in a company, which are necessary ingredients in an innovation process. Furthermore the topic of managing innovation is also covered. STRATEGIC BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 6 ECTS 30 120 150 You become aware of the importance of a strategy in a company and gain insight in the process of the "making of" a strategy. You understand the importance of internal and external factors in this context. The implementation of a strategy is addressed in the second part of the course, including translating a strategy in critical factors of success and in key performance indicators. BUSINESS GAME 3 ECTS 30 45 75 Students play during one week an international business game in heterogeneous teams. Different rounds are played, each time with increasing difficulty in the team decisions. RESEARCH PROJECT 9 ECTS 25 200 225 The research module is a module that is aimed at preparing you to write a final thesis. you learn to select good research topics, tips and tricks about writing a thesis are covered. The focus is mainly on desk research, however an introduction of market research is included. (**) Both of these modules cannot be chosen by students staying a full year During the fall semester, emphasis will be on lectures as well as on learning-by-doing. The spring semester is more project based. Students will work on different projects, mostly in international teams. The aim is to integrate students from abroad with Belgian students and stimulate teamwork and international communication and co-operation. During the semester company visits are arranged, so that students will learn about the Belgian corporate culture. 7
IS THIS Course For Me? The international semesters International Business Management are aimed at both bachelor students and graduates. Since there is the possibility for an individual itinerary, the international semesters are interesting for students of different study programmes, especially commercial sciences, business and management, but also other fields of study such as computer sciences. This semester will surely add value to your degree and your career opportunities as your team working and communication skills will improve. ACADEMIC RECOGNITION Howest fully applies the ECTS grading system and awards credits for the successfully achieved course units. After concluding the semester, all students receive an official ECTS Transcript of Records and a Certificate. TIMING & LOCATION Both semesters take place in Bruges. Our Fall semester runs from September 16th 2013 until January 31st 2014. The first week is an orientation week; students are informed of the exact day of their welcome session by email. From 28/10/2013 01/11/2013 there is one week of autumn holiday. Winter holidays are from 23/12/2013 till 05/01/2014. The examination period starts immediately afterwards. The spring semester is from February 10th 2014 until June 30th. From 07/04/2014 20/04/2014 there is a two week Easter holiday. The evaluation period starts in the beginning of June. Address: Howest campus Professional Bachelors Bruges. Rijselstraat 5, 8200 Brugge (Sint-Michiels), Belgium. 8
PREREQUISITES > Minimum 2 successfully completed semesters in a Bachelor Business Programme or an equivalent of 60 ECTS. This will need to be confirmed by means of an official certificate, a survey of completed courses, or a signed letter from the sending university. > Sufficient command of the English language (both oral and written communication). The minimum level required is the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference. http://www.languages.unimaas.nl/niveaus_common_european_framework_reference/cef_english.htm Applicants need to provide proof for this in one of the following ways: - An official certificate or score report referring to the European Framework or from one of the recognized language tests (e.g. TOEFL internet based 87/paper based 550 or IETLS - 5.5, no partial results below 5). - A signed confirmation letter from your university, stating that your English language skills reach the B2 level and thus are sufficient to attend courses, participate in classroom and examination activities, present your project and its results. The following applicants are not required to document their English skills: - applicants from countries having English as their national language - applicants attending an English taught degree programme at their home institution - applicants who send proof of having succeeded at least one year of an English taught higher education programme Howest reserves the right to contact the applicant or the sending university to verify this information. Applications without sufficient proof of previous study or language proficiency will not be taken into consideration. > All Howest and exchange students should bring their own laptop, with all necessary and officially licenced software. The course overview above mentions the specific software (if any) necessary for the course unit. Howest applies a very strict policy on the use of legal software. > Non exchange students can only attend the international semester as a Postgraduate course and need to have completed at least a full Bachelor degree programme at the time they start the international semester course at Howest. 9
Tuition Fee, ACCOMMODATION & REGISTRATION For (Erasmus) exchange students this course is free of tuition. Non exchange students pay a tuition fee of 1000 per semester. The fee does not include course or other materials, the costs for cultural visits or study excursions. Those have to be paid cash on location. Stuvo Howest, our students services, will assist you in your search for accommodation if you wish. You can also find accommodation via www.kotwest.be, but be aware that finding student accommodation on your own in Bruges is a challenge. A student room in Bruges will cost you between 225 and 350 per month. The registration deadlines are: 21th June 2013 for the Fall programme 29th November 2013 for the Spring programme. Because of the international nature of this semester, we strive for a well-balanced composition of the project teams. This balance will be taken into account during the selections. All applications are subject to approval by the Howest IBM team. You can download the application form at www.howest.be/application. Please also fill out the Learning Agreement with your selection of course units. CONTACT 10 For more information about the content, contact Ms Ellen Taylor, the IBM Coordinator: ellen.taylor@howest.be. Send your application to Howest International Office: International.office@howest.be. Ms. Isabelle Pertry, Howest International Mobility Officer. Post address: Marksesteenweg 58, 8500 Kortrijk Belgium. Tel.: + 32 56 24 12 90 For all further information concerning study mobility to Howest, have a look at our Practical information package for incoming students : www.howest.be/practicalinfopackage.