International Business
with a Year Abroad
Develop the industry-relevant skills to respond to the challenges and opportunities of business in a global context.
Develop the industry-relevant skills to respond to the challenges and opportunities of business in a global context.
If you're excited by the global nature of business and are motivated by the cultural context of enterprise, then our BSc International Business is the course for you.
You’ll study broad topics such as management, marketing, entrepreneurship, and finance with a focus on how they operate in a global context. You’ll build an understanding of international markets and trade and develop your awareness of global business opportunities. You’ll also cultivate the communication, teamworking, and data-analysis skills that will allow you to succeed, no matter your chosen career path.
The year abroad at one of our partner universities will allow you to experience another country and culture as you study and build valuable experience that bolsters your CV.
Be inspired and challenged by teaching staff in immersive seminars and workshops where you can put theory into practice using real business data. As a Kent Business School graduate, you’ll be equipped with the industry-relevant skills and essential knowledge to equip you for the challenges and opportunities faced by global businesses in a rapidly evolving world.
Gain CV boosting work experience with a year in industry.
Study at a ‘Triple Crown’ business school accredited by AACSB, AMBA, and EQUIS.
Bring your business ideas to life at our ASPIRE centre.
in the UK for Business and Management (The Guardian University Guide 2024).
Grow your employability skills while having fun.
Our typical offer levels are listed below and include indicative contextual offers. If you hold alternative qualifications just get in touch and we'll be glad to discuss these with you.
If you don't meet the academic requirements for direct entry, our International Business with a Foundation Year course offers one year of full-time study prior to the start of the BSc degree.
ABB
DDM
128 Tariff points from your IB Diploma, Typically H5, H6, H6 or equivalent.
Mathematics grade 4 / C and English grade 4 / C.
Pass the University of Kent International Foundation Programme.
The University will consider applicants holding T level qualifications in subjects closely aligned to the course.
Access to HE Diploma with 45 Credits at level 3 with 30 credits at Distinction and 15 credits at Merit.
This module listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.
Your first year is a compulsory introductory year, designed to provide you with a strong foundational understanding of key concepts and ideas in business, including the basics of accounting, management, and marketing. It will give you an insight into key areas that will support a career in business such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and theorising.
Studying international business has helped me to develop a global perspective on business and enhanced my cultural awareness.Anna Spencer
Your second year allows you to develop your ability to think critically about the global context of business with greater emphasis on emerging markets and international trade. You’ll learn about operations management, understand international finance, and expand your awareness of the challenges that businesses face around making ethical and sustainable decisions.
The law affects the commercial world in many ways. This module focuses on how businesses fulfil their legal obligations to customers, suppliers and their workforce. As well as exploring how businesses are structured and the duties on directors and partners it also considers the legal obligations individuals and organisations have over those to whom they have a duty of care. The module further covers the main laws governing the employment of staff and contractors. By applying the law to real-world business situations students are able to fine-tune their problem solving skills, and their ability to construct well-reasoned and persuasive arguments.
Indicative topics are:
The English Legal System, Legal Process, Dispute Resolution and the impact of European Union Law in the UK;
Law of Negligence – including general principles and negligent misstatement;
Law of Business Organisations - classification of business organisations; main principles applying to general and limited liability partnerships and registered companies, and directors' duties;
Employment Law - the general scope of the legal obligations owed by employers to employees, including the employment contract, discrimination and dismissal.
This module facilitates the development of an entrepreneurial mind-set, and equips students with necessary cutting-edge knowledge and skills vital for generating value in a knowledge based economy. The curriculum will include the following areas of study:
• Broader application of entrepreneurship
• Co-creation as a new form of generating value in an innovation ecosystem.
• Managing innovation entrepreneurially
• Entrepreneurial opportunity
• Entrepreneurial Motivation
• Entrepreneurial Marketing
• Entrepreneurial Finance – Finance fuels entrepreneurship.
The module provides a broad, basic understanding of strategy and strategic management, on which further strategic analysis and exploration of strategic issues can be built. It introduces students to the key vocabulary, concepts and frameworks of strategic management and establishes criteria for assessing whether or not a strategy can be successful. It introduces students to frameworks for analysing the external and internal environments and to different theories of how these relate and of their impact on strategy formulation and implementation.
Students will learn how to identify strategic issues, develop strategic options to address them and decide which option(s) to recommend. Through theoretical readings and case studies, students will develop an appreciation of strategy in different contexts and from different perspectives and of the complexity of strategic decision-making. Students will enhance their ability to read business articles from a strategic perspective and to present strategic arguments in a structured manner
This module introduces students to core concepts and theories about consumer behaviour, including individual and organisational perspectives. It is based around understanding the critical application of sociological, economic, socio-psychological and psychological concepts to and theories to consumption.
Indicative topics are:
• Consumer Research Philosophies: What is a consumer?
• Culture: Components of Culture, myths and rituals
• Marketplace cultures
• Dark Consumption and Ethical Consumption
• Personality, Identity and the Self
• Motivational Theories
• Learning Theories
• Organisational Buying Behaviour
Project Management aims to provide an understanding of the key concepts and practices within the context of the organisational setting and the wider business and technological environment.
This module aims to develop a critical understanding of project management to enable students to recognise the importance of the discipline in a variety of organisational and functional contexts. Students should develop a critical understanding of the concepts employed in project management at strategic, systems and operational levels, and an appreciation of the knowledge and skills required for successful project management in organisations.
Included topics of the module are:
• Project life cycles and alternative development paths;
• Feasibility studies;
• Time management;
• Project planning and control techniques, including Gantt charts, CPM;
• Resource planning;
• Quality Control;
• Project communication;
Students will be expected to develop the ability to use appropriate techniques of analysis and enquiry within Operations Management and to learn how to evaluate alternatives and make recommendations. Topics are likely to include:
• Strategic role of operations and operations strategy
• Design of processes and the implications for layout and flow
• Design and management of supply networks in national and international contexts
• Resource planning and management
• Lean systems
• Quality planning and managing improvement
This module is an intermediate level module. Its aims are to strengthen and widen the linguistic knowledge provided in FREN3000 (French Lower Intermediate B1), to consolidate students' vocabulary and improve their knowledge of written and spoken French through immersion in a variety of texts, and to practise translation skills both from and into French.
This module is the natural follow-on for those who have, in the previous academic year, successfully taken an intensive beginners French course such as FREN3300 (French Beginners A1-A2 (Intensive)), and who have covered the basics of grammar, acquired a stock of high frequency vocabulary and reached a degree of proficiency beyond GCSE and approaching A-level (A2 waystage in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference).
This module is designed to allow students, upon completion, to demonstrate a level of ability up to B2 threshold, turning students into independent users of French in both oral and written contexts. The course is thus also designed to prepare students for their year abroad and independent life in A Francophone country as a foreign country. This module is an intensive course, which develops the student's active and passive aural and written skills.
This module is the natural follow-on for those who have, in the previous academic year, successfully taken an intensive beginners German course such as GRMN3290 (German Beginners A1-A2 (Intensive)), and who have covered the basics of grammar, acquired a stock of high frequency vocabulary and reached a degree of proficiency beyond GCSE and approaching A-level (A2 waystage in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference).
This module is designed to allow students, upon completion, to demonstrate a level of ability up to B2 threshold, turning students into independent users of German in both oral and written contexts. The course is thus also designed to prepare students for their year abroad and independent life in Germany or a German-speaking country as a foreign country. This module is an intensive course, which develops the student's active and passive aural and written skills.
This module is the natural follow-on for those who have, in the previous academic year, successfully taken an intensive beginners German course such as GRMN3290 (German Beginners A1-A2 (Intensive)), and who have covered the basics of grammar, acquired a stock of high frequency vocabulary and reached a degree of proficiency beyond GCSE and approaching A-level (A2 waystage in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference).
This module is designed to allow students, upon completion, to demonstrate a level of ability up to B2 threshold, turning students into independent users of German in both oral and written contexts. The course is thus also designed to prepare students for their year abroad and independent life in Germany or a German-speaking country as a foreign country. This module is an intensive course, which develops the student's active and passive aural and written skills.
This module is the natural follow-on for those who have, in the previous academic year, successfully taken an intensive beginners Spanish course such as HISP3020 (Spanish Beginners A1-A2 (Intensive)), and who have covered the basics of grammar, acquired a stock of high frequency vocabulary and reached a degree of proficiency beyond GCSE and approaching A-level (A2 waystage in terms of the Common European Framework of Reference).
This module is designed to allow students, upon completion, to demonstrate a level of ability up to B2 threshold, turning students into independent users of Spanish in both oral and written contexts. The course is thus also designed to prepare students for their year abroad and independent life in A Spanish-speaking country as a foreign country. This module is an intensive course, which develops the student's active and passive aural and written skills.
This module is an intermediate level module. Its aims are to strengthen and widen the linguistic knowledge provided in HISP3000 (Spanish Lower Intermediate B1), to consolidate students' vocabulary and improve their knowledge of written and spoken Spanish through immersion in a variety of texts, and to practise translation skills both from and into Spanish.
Going abroad as part of your degree is an amazing experience and a chance to develop personally, academically and professionally. You experience a different culture, gain a new academic perspective, establish international contacts and enhance your employability.
Students on a four-year degree programme spend a year between Stages 2 and 3 at one of our partner universities in Europe or Asia. For a full list, please see Go Abroad. Places are subject to availability, language and degree programme.
You are expected to adhere to any academic progression requirements in Stages 1 and 2 to proceed to the year abroad. If the requirement is not met, you are transferred to the equivalent three-year programme. The year abroad is assessed on a pass/fail basis and does not count towards your final degree classification.
Kent Business School has excellent links with business schools globally, including in China, USA, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Italy. Our wide array of exchange partners give you the opportunity to gain international experience. Our partners are committed to enhancing their international outlook while providing excellent teaching. You will gain invaluable work experience, develop your understanding of a new culture and improve your language skills.
Our exchange partners include these top ranked institutions amongst others:
Students will spend two terms studying in another European University (i.e. those with links via the ERASMUS exchange programme) and/or overseas Universities who teach in English, such as in North America, Australasia, Hong Kong and Malaysia who have equivalent module coverage in equivalent cognate areas.
This module will enable students to gain cross-cultural skills through both living and studying in another country, whilst at the same time developing their knowledge of business and management, accounting and finance, international business and marketing.
Students will spend two terms studying in another European University (i.e. those with links via the ERASMUS exchange programme) and/or overseas Universities who teach in English, such as in North America, Australasia, Hong Kong and Malaysia who have equivalent module coverage in equivalent cognate areas.
This module will enable students to gain cross-cultural skills through both living and studying in another country, whilst at the same time developing their knowledge of business and management, accounting and finance, international business and marketing.
Your final year has a greater focus on capstone modules that look at the strategic side of international business and more closely examine our commercial relationship with Europe. You’ll also choose from a range of optional modules that may include more specialised areas relating to your course like international marketing and cross-cultural management, or more general areas, including diversity in organisations. Equally, you’ll have the option to undertake an international business project and develop your skills of working independently.
Our enthusiastic team of international teaching staff are all experts in their field of study and are regularly published in leading journals worldwide. They guide and support your learning, bringing their subject to life and drawing you into the conversation through lectures, seminars, presentations and computer-based simulations.
Your progress is assessed through a mix of coursework – including reports, essays and presentations - and exams. Undergraduate students can expect around 8 contact hours per week, depending on year of study and optional module choices made. The remainder of the working week consists of self-guided study.
Undergraduate students can expect around 8 contact hours per week, depending on year of study and optional module choices made. The remainder of the working week consists of self-guided study based on degree programme content and requirements of specific modules. For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours, which include both direct contact hours and private study hours. The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
For programme aims and learning outcomes please see the programme specification.
Kent Business School students find work in public and private sector management both overseas and in the UK in a wide range of companies and organisations, including:
The 2024/25 annual tuition fees for this course are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Fees for undergraduate students are £1,850.
Fees for undergraduate students are £1,385.
Students studying abroad for less than one academic year will pay full fees according to their fee status.
Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
Kent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. See our funding page for more details.
We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.
We welcome applications from students all around the world with a wide range of international qualifications.
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