International Business BA Honours
DURATION
3 up to 4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 15,400 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* international | UK: £9,250
Introduction
Globalisation has enabled companies to become better connected, able to target international customers, develop a worldwide supply chain and attract a multicultural workforce. Our degree will prepare you to respond proactively and creatively to the opportunities and risks presented by international business and the challenges of the global business environment – from cultural, legal and economic perspectives.
Today, almost all companies involved in anything from the sale of physical goods to services such as finance, marketing and construction are affected by global events and competition. Exciting opportunities exist for graduates with a cross-cultural perspective who can operate with confidence, adapt and successfully negotiate increasingly complex internal and external global environments.
On our course, you’ll have a truly global learning experience, studying alongside staff and students from all over the world. We also try to provide as many opportunities as possible for you to hear direct from our alumni, who have established successful international careers in sectors as diverse as human resources, IT, law and finance.
You’ll be studying in the heart of London, one of the world’s major cities and international business hubs, and can also choose to spend a year living, studying and/or working abroad at one of our partner institutions in Europe, and Asia, Australia or the USA. This will give you valuable insight into another country’s learning experience and broader cultural environment.
A broad internationally-focused curriculum covers business essentials, such as finance, culture, marketing, logistics and operations. A large range of optional modules – covering everything from digital business to international financial management and international business law – means you can tailor your studies each year.
Real-world case studies, guest speakers and occasional site visits will help you relate your learning to practice – for example, when learning about international project management, previous students visited the Olympic Park, and the University’s Vice Chancellor gave a talk sharing experiences from his personal involvement with the Olympic Delivery Authority.
Top reasons to study with us
- Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body that come from professional practice and/or are regularly published in top international journals.
- Participate in Westminster Working Cultures trips to understand working cultures within businesses abroad, which in the past have included Berlin, Mumbai and Washington DC.
- Extend your learning and your international experience by taking part in an overseas Summer School. Past venues include ESCE, Paris, Copenhagen Business School, and Inha University, South Korea.
- Option to spend one year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions or gain valuable work experience, or a combination of both, for example, one student studied at Copenhagen Business School and then worked at Volkswagen in Germany.
- Opportunity to study a foreign language as an optional module in each year of study.
- Access to one of the largest financial databases in our state-of-the-art Bloomberg virtual trading room.
- Guest lectures from industry practitioners have previously included speakers from IBM, Tableau, Coca Cola and LinkedIn.
Why study this course?
- Combine theory and practice
Link theory to global practice through real-life case studies, guest lectures, field trips and insight from one of the world’s largest financial databases. - Professional software
Enhance your digital literacy and computer skills with industry-standard software, including Excel, Tableau, Bloomberg, and Fame. - Build connections
Build connections with peers and future business leaders.
Career Opportunities
This course will help you develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and the challenges of the global business environment. This will make you an attractive prospect for UK-based companies that wish to gain an employee with the added value of depth of knowledge of the communication in and cultural context of a particular international environment and to employers based abroad who wish to gain an employee with expertise in international business with the added value of the ability to communicate in English and/or knowledge of the UK business environment.
Upon graduation, you could pursue careers in the main business-related professions within private business, public or third sector organisations or create your own business opportunities. Past graduates of this degree have found successful employment in diverse sectors such as international business development, business consultancy, investment banking, human resource management, logistics, events management and marketing. They can be found working all over the world: as an Influencer Marketing Manager at JUNIQE in Berlin, Germany; a senior analyst at PFC, Milano, Italy; a tax and financial advisor trainee at RsA - Asia Tax Advisors in Shanghai, China; a creative senior associate for TED Conferences, New York City, USA; a quality analyst for due diligence at Dow Jones' Barcelona office, Spain; and a global mobility consultant at Mercer, here in London.
Increasing numbers of our students progress to further study on graduation: either taking professional qualifications or proceeding to a specialist Master’s degree.
The University's Careers and Employability Service has built up a network of over 3,000 employers around the world, helping all our students explore and connect with exciting opportunities and careers.
- Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills
Develop your innovation and entrepreneurial skills in The Big Idea competition, sponsored by Santander. - Kickstart your career
Learn how to use social media in your job hunt or LinkedIn to kickstart your career. - Develop your CQ
Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – by studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.
Industry links
Westminster Business School is one of London’s leading centres for business education based in the heart of London and its political, media and financial services scene. Staff who currently teach on this course have extensive professional experience in public and private sectors both in the UK and overseas. Their research interests cover strategy development and implementation, competitive advantage, innovation, international marketing, emerging markets, diversity issues in employment and sustainability. We maintain excellent links with our alumni, many of whom repeatedly return to the University to share their experiences with current students.
Job roles
The course will prepare you for a wide variety of roles in business. Examples of these from our recent graduates are:
- Account executive
- Business development executive
- Business partner
- Business sales executive
- Global mobility consultant
- Graduate trainee (commercial/international)
- International recruitment officer
- Senior talent coordinator
Graduate employers
Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:
- American Express
- Bloomberg LP
- BT
- Debenhams
- Deloitte
- Euveris Aerospace GmbH
- Sparta Global
- Mercer
Westminster Employability Award
Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.
The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, comprising a set of core and optional extracurricular activities.
Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.
Admissions
Curriculum
Course structure
This course is designed to provide a solid foundation in business management, with a focus on the opportunities and challenges of conducting business across borders. In the first year, you will study five core modules and choose one option module. In the second and third year, you’ll take four core modules, choosing one option and one elective module. If you're interested in learning a new language or developing one of your current languages, our Polylang programme offers eight major languages to choose from.
The following subjects are indicative of what you will study on this course.
Year 1
You are introduced to essential business topics spanning marketing and communications, finance, management and the global business environment. From the start of your course, we’ll prepare you to conduct and interpret research, be ready for your final dissertation and develop analytical and report-writing skills that will benefit you throughout your working life. You’ll start with a basic literature review, for example, critiquing articles on what managers actually do, and you will interpret the challenges faced by international companies.
Subjects of study include:
- Communication for Global Business
- Foundations of Accounting and Finance
- Global Business Environment
- Introduction to Management
- Marketing for International Business
You will also have the opportunity to take an optional module that broadens your skills or helps you to gain more in-depth knowledge of your specialist area; your option module may be a foreign language.
Credit Level 4
Year 2
You’ll deepen your knowledge of the international business environment in terms of such topics as technology, infrastructure, international knowledge management, international mergers and acquisitions, and sustainability. You will explore the nature and extent of monetary and financial relations between countries. This will help you better understand the factors that determine exchange rates between currencies and the pros and cons of different financial models. We’ll also look at contemporary international finance issues, such as the impact of government borrowing, with recent figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimating worldwide debt to be in the region of $11.4tn. You’ll advance your research skills further in preparation for your final dissertation, typically incorporating an international business case study. So, for example, within the context of organisational behaviour, you might look at how Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, has tried to rebuild trust within the market following the 737 Max crash.
Subjects of study include:
- International Business Practice
- International Business Research
- International Financial Analysis
- Organisational Behaviour
Plus one option from Digital Business, International Business Law or other areas of business including languages.
Credit Level 5
Placement Year
Professional experience or Study Abroad year
Between Years 2 and 3, you may choose to study English-taught courses for a year at one of our overseas partner institutions. Currently, you can take a Year Abroad studying (or combining work and study) in Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris, and other locations including Brisbane, Sydney (Australia), Hong Kong, Japan, Canada and the USA. There are also many opportunities for those with appropriate language skills to study in the local language in France, Germany and Spain, among others. You can also choose to split your year abroad into a first-semester exchange and a second-semester work placement, both conducted overseas, or undertake a placement year overseas.
Alternatively, between Years 2 and 3, you can undertake a one-year, full-time business placement as a Professional Experience Year within the UK. Past students have completed placements in a variety of prestigious organisations, including Barclays Bank, British Airways, Disney UK, IBM and the NHS, as well as in smaller businesses.
Year 3
Developing your specialist knowledge further, we examine the ramifications of international project management. Previous students, when studying the 2012 London Olympics and the enormous task of stakeholder management, had an opportunity to visit Olympic Park to consider the lasting legacy of the event. The University’s Vice Chancellor Peter Bonfield, who co-created the event’s sustainable development strategy and took the lead on the sustainable procurement of construction products, gave a talk on his experience.
In the final year, you’ll complete an extended piece of independent research on an international topic. This helps to showcase to future employers your self-motivation, ability to prioritise time and resources to meet deadlines, deal with pressure effectively, apply your own informed perspective, and prepare a cogent analysis based on clearly articulated evidence. For example, one of our previous students chose to research Middle East supply chains in the FMCG (Fast-moving Consumer Goods) sector, while another looked at faux luxury goods in China.
Subjects of study include:
- International Economy
- Strategic Perspectives
- International Business Dissertation
- International Project Management
Plus one option from Comparative International Management, International Financial Management, Global Marketing Management or other areas of business, including languages.
Credit Level 6
International Opportunities
Many of our courses offer international study and work experiences, and the University provides other global opportunities that all students can apply for - so whatever you're studying, you'll have the chance to go abroad.
Opportunities could include:
- Taking part in a semester or year-long exchanges at institutions around the world
- Attending an international summer school or field trip
- Developing your CV through volunteering or work placements abroad
International experience broadens horizons, boosts self-confidence, and improves global understanding, alongside being fantastic for your career.
Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible undergraduate students, which cover all or part of your tuition fees.