International Education Centre

Business professionals see accountants as the go-to consultant when important decisions need to be made about the company. 

Accountants play an important role in the financial analysis of a company and they monitor the reporting and advise the board of directors. Students need to be good with numbers and also critical and curious. 

At the same time, it is important for accountants to have good communication and social skills. After all, the student will have a lot of contact with clients, colleagues and other professionals. 

After students have graduated, young professionals move into financial or commercial roles, such as assistant accountant or controller. For instance, students may go to work for an accountancy firm, a business or a government body. 

A good idea is fun, but who’s going to do something with it? That is precisely what makes our Business Administration study program so interesting. Students of this study program learn how they can improve business processes, but above all how to get others to bring their ideas to life. Students will soon be helping organizations to analyse and answer these types of issues. 

Students on the Business Administration study program will have learned how to see and link complex issues about business processes from all important perspectives. They will understand the roles played by people, strategy, finance, legislation, technology, information, marketing and economics. This means that they may work together with specialists from any field of study. Their ‘helicopter view’ enables them to explain to others what is going on in simple terms, but they also know what needs to be done to solve a problem. 

Business & IT Management students form a bridge between ICT technology, organizations and employees. They take these three parties into account when there is a change in the business process. 

Students identify information streams, wishes and requirements, guide the key functions of applications and data storage and communicate all of this to the specialists who will build the software system. They do this by thinking about the requirements of the business, not the technology. Sometimes they act as fully-fled- ged diplomats, such as when users are not satisfied with a piece of software, and at other times they are actively involved with pricing a project. They are the people who keep an overview of projects rather than specialists who know everything about the technology. 

Half of the study programme is made up of IT, ranging from database and system development to testing and DevOps. The other half of the study programme is devoted to business administration. Students will know, for instance, how organisations work and the role that IT can play in organisations or organisation chains. 

The BIM student is a project or process manager who is specialised in business administration and ICT. He or she will know how to apply and deploy these in the broadest sense. 

If a student sees him or herself as a future entrepreneur, is focused on results and at the same time is slightly headstrong, then he or she will fit right into our Entrepreneurship community. 

We train students to become entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs who are capable of creating jobs in rapidly changing markets. When they are entrepreneurs, they do this from their own startup. When they are intrapreneurs, they are managers and build a branch, department or business unit of a larger company. 

Entrepreneurial skills are essential in both cases to be able to make a difference. We help students create ideas and tackle problems, and from time to time take decisions which are not totally without risk. Entrepreneurs are also able to work well with others, so that is also something that students will be doing regularly! 

In addition to entrepreneurial skills, we also teach students how to start a company and then to enable it to grow. The methods we frequently use for this are the Business Model Canvas and The Lean Startup method. Students make sales pitches, negotiate and discover how they can conquer national and international markets. 

The Finance & Control study programme trains students into finance professions, who clarify and monitor the success of the business within an organisation. Students create and evaluate financial analyses, such as budgets, profit and loss accounts, reports, annual report and accounts and investment plans. Students bring people and resources together and monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the business processes. The work is diverse and often depends on the size and experience of the organisation. 

Finance students have strong mathematical skills, are able to correctly interpret information, see the main elements and can draw clear conclusions. They are also good at dealing with people, working in teams and managing others. 

Thanks to their knowledge in financial and non-financial areas our students will quickly assess the potential consequences of their decisions. They will also be able to make a significant contribution to solid administration and the optimisation of business processes.  

If a student enjoys advising people on their financial or tax affairs, likes to immerse themselves in figures and also has good analytical and communication skills, he or she is a good fit for the Finance, Tax & Advice study programme. 

Students on this study programme will be trained to become financial or tax advisors. As a financial advisor or tax specialist, the student will have a good feeling for numbers and know how to communicate numerical aspects to others in a practical and clear manner. Students will provide advice resulting from the analysis of problems that are often complex, and by carefully weighing up the client’s interests. Students will have good listening skills, know how to get a better nderstanding of the client’s wishes and be capable of building a relationship with clients and partners that is built on trust. 

This is the way that students will help businesses or individuals with their financial affairs. This could include, for instance, a young couple that needs a loan to purchase a home, a company that requires credit for an investment, a person in his fifties who wants to map out their entire financial situation or a company that wants to get its business risks under control. 

Human Resource Management students learn how to connect the human and business sides.

They work in the domain of the employment market. HRM students help organisations by deploying their knowledge and skills to improve the performance of an organisation. The study programme gives attention to the use of information technology in the profession and has a business administration subject cluster. We focus on the best possible deployment of human capital within an organisation. Students are trained to become a business partner who contributes to achieving organisation’s objectives with the right deployment of personnel, training courses and terms of employment. We train students to become a professional consultant who can be employed widely in both multinational and small organisations, and profit and non-profit organisations. 

The study programme devotes considerable time to practical exercises and situations. As a student, you will work on real practical problems from the very start. This will enable you to learn how to effectively solve practical problems in professional practice with a focus on results. 

Students on the Sales and Account Management study programme choose a community right from their first year. These are four-year specialisation programmes that are part of the study programme and comprise: Creative Marketing & Sales, Global Marketing & Sales, Social Business Marketing and Sports Marketing & Management. 

The communities are linked to four major business sectors in Rotterdam. Students choose the community that best matches their interests and ambitions. All of the communities have the same end goal, namely, a degree in Sales and Account Management – they just take a different route to that destination.

The communities 

Creative Marketing & Sales 

Creative Marketing & Sales is the community for people who like to use their creativity to tackle commercial challenges. 

This community is all about innovation, creativity and commerce. How do you make interesting products and services profitable, and how do you create profit in an innovative manner? Which economic models and theories are relevant at the moment? Which ones will still be relevant in four years’ time? We use practical assignments and challenging and unexpected teaching methods, as we practice what we preach.  

Marketing of Social Business 

Does a student want a society in which social profit and economic profit are balanced and do they want to commit themselves to social problems and create a social impact in this way? 

The student understands that companies need to make profit, but not at any cost. This community trains students into socially entrepreneurial marketeers who can be employed in a wide range of areas. The students’ broad perspective and continuous search for the balance between social and commercial profit means that they can move into a variety of roles after this study programme. In this community, you will learn everything about marketing and social entrepreneurship. 

Global Marketing & Sales 

This community that is part of the Sales and Account Management study programme is all about the commercial challenges of large organisations. How can you keep an established business successful in a rapidly changing world?  Students will learn how to respond to trends in the market by means of marketing and sales. For instance, they will look at whether a new online platform can help to better reach a target group, or how VR technology can enhance the customer experience and in this way promote sales. To exploit opportunities in a manner that fits with the business, students will learn how to get a good understanding of what holds an organisation together. 

Sports Marketing & Management 

Sport is fascinating, captivating and enthralling. That is why people like to practise sport, why sports news dominates the headlines and why we follow our sporting heroes online. The sports market is growing and changing, which brings opportunities for sports organisations and companies that use sport as a resource. Changing consumer needs and developments in technology will mean that the innovative companies, or game changers, will clinch the victory. Students can start work in sports sponsorship or as sales managers for a sports clothing manufacturer, or join a municipal authority to increase participation in sports.