Bachelor International Business Administration (IBA)

UNICAL’s bachelor program in International Business Administration trains students for an academic degree in business administration with special expertise in the field of the professional services industry. Central to this goal are the concepts academic and business administration. These are described as follows:

The program trains individuals for general management and consultancy roles. In addition, the program pays extra attention to acquisition and application of knowledge in the framework of the professional service industry, such as financial institutions, IT companies, accountancy firms, consultancy firms, logistics and service-based departments of large industrial companies. As such, graduates possess not only general managerial skills, but also have specific expertise in the field of the professional service industry.

The program aims primarily at international and local students having completed a secondary education equivalent to the level of European pre-university education. Selection as to motivation, international experience, proficiency in English and Mathematics is part of the admission procedure. For those students that do not completely fulfill the requirements, a pre-academic one year transition program is added as the first year.

Based on its goal, UNICAL’s Bachelor program in International Business Administration includes the following objectives.

1. To teach students to adopt an academic attitude: critical, reflective, and conscious of academic standards
2. To provide students with thorough knowledge of the disciplines business administration, social sciences, economics, technology and law, the aim of which is to provide students with multidisciplinary knowledge
3. To teach students to integrate knowledge of these disciplines to solve managerial problems from an interdisciplinary perspective. Attention is paid to business processes and international issues
4. To pay attention to theory and application; including the acquisition of the necessary skills to apply theoretical concepts
5. To focus on the professional service industry
6. To offer active participation; to offer an attractive and challenging program
7. To teach students to cooperate, present results orally and in writing, and debate
8. To offer intensive guidance
9. To offer an international context
10. To offer students a fair chance to complete the core academic program in three years
11. To offer the program to any qualified student, but to be selective once the program has started

The final attainment levels can be formulated as the following core competencies:

Through the course work in business, students will gain the best classical knowledge of the foundations of management in accounting, finance, marketing, production, and human resource management. Our coursework will also promote that students grow in the qualities of leadership most sought after in business: creative problem-solving ability, communications skill, integrity, stability, flexibility, and dynamism.

• The first of the 4-year program offers to international candidates a one year transition program focusing on international business concepts as well as proficiency in English and Mathematics.
• The following 3-year core program of B.Sc. in International Business Administration trains students for an academic degree in international business administration with special expertise in the field of Professional Services Industry and with an intensive focus on innovation, including an extensive study abroad program in Europe and the USA or another country of choice of our exchange program.

To graduate with a BA in Business, students must successfully complete all general requirements for the bachelor’s degree. As part of these requirements, 52 credits of course work in business administration must be completed as follows:

The required business administration undergraduate courses are grouped into three sequential modules. In the Skills for Success in Personal and Professional Life module students learn practical skills for successful functioning in the modern world. In the Business Foundations module, students grow in knowledge of the legal, economic, and social environment of business life. In the Entrepreneurship module, students gain knowledge and experience of starting and growing companies by studying and creating business plans.

The specialization courses in International Business span the totality of the program, and g from basic to advanced levels in a gradual manner.

Students may interview for business positions and earn up to 16 elective credits of internship toward their bachelor’s degree with the approval of the BA Program Director. Such internships are an opportunity for students to apply the knowledge gained in the Business Administration major in a workplace setting.

UNICAL will work with all transfer students to maximize the amount of credit they may transfer from prior college-level work. Any potential transfer student may send their transcripts to the BA Program Director for an evaluation of transferability.

Students whose life experience has given them the knowledge equivalent to a course in the International Business Administration major may apply to the BA Program Director for experiential learning credit. Though we do not have a formal policy governing credit for experiential learning, we are open to giving student credit for what they know and seek to follow the practices that are common at accredited institutions of higher education.

All students must spend at least three semesters abroad during the program. This means that students will be attending classes from professors from three different universities in three different continents. The different locations during the program are: Students will spend the first and the second year at UNICAL in Curaçao. One semester of the third year will be spent in Europe, at an accredited European University. One semester from the fourth year will be spent in the USA as part of the exchange program.