International Business Management, Master of Business Administration (master studies UAS) Tornio autumn 2014: T31DY14S

Descriptions

CurriculumInternational Business Management
DegreeMaster of Business Administration
General description and aims of the degreeThe objective of the Master Programme is to provide a holistic curriculum of multidisciplinary subjects for talents who are aiming to enter into international business environments or who are already working in these environments. A strong emphasis on multicultural is included to enhance competencies in the field of business development, marketing, business cultures, and strategic management in international business especially in the High-North.

Furthermore, the programme aims at designing and building concrete development plans for enterprises to support their internationalization processes. The social and solving-based approach requires close cooperation between talents, their coaches and the educational environment. Enterprises are offered the opportunity to actively participate in the construction of the programme, contents, research and development plans. Joint courseware, virtual modules and projects will be carried out in close collaboration with international partner institutions.

Blended and participatory learning will add extra value to the programme as it provides strong opportunities to link theory with practice. These novel practices are combined with best practices from business life and education i.e. project- and team-work, coaching and learning portfolio, to underpin the future orientation of the programme and to strengthen the competencies of the talents.

Innovative entrepreneurship and management demands deepening and widening of knowledge, skills and cultural awareness of the talented to be able to understand the complexity of bringing enterprises to international markets. All practical work i.e. theme assignments and the Master thesis, for domestic or foreign enterprises will be aligned with the above objective.

Profile of the Programme

The Degree Programme in International Business Management is designed to increase the competencies of the talents and to respond to the needs of the business organizations. The studies provide skills in acquiring, analyzing and applying international business management research information in the talent’s own work and its development. By nature and methods and as a learning process the Master programme is a new form of adult educational degree, where the core consists of the professional project work. Its foundation is on definition and solving of a development idea and problem together with the fellow students and the working life. For the companies the education can be seen as a positive tool to develop their talents.

The challenges of the life outside the programme will be taken into consideration. Each student compiles her/his personal study plan under supervision of the tutor.

The programme is divided into four themes or blocks. Three blocks consist of three 5 credit unit courses and a 5 cu elective course. The thesis process starts from the first semester aiming at developing skills of the talents in information retrieval, analysis, scientific writing, and in research methodology.

Tuition is carried out virtually by utilizing Moodle-Study Environment and ILinc-system. Contact weeks are arranged once in a semester.

Core competences
Generic:
Learning competence: the student is able to self-evaluate and develop one’s expertise in a versatile and focused way; is able to retrieve, analyze and produce information and evaluate it critically from the point of view of different fields; is capable of taking responsibility for collaborative learning in a target-oriented way.
Ethical competence: the student is able to take responsibility for the actions of a community and for the consequences of these actions; is able to apply the ethical principles of the subject field as an expert and as a developer of working life; is able to make decisions considering an individual and the community;  is able to contribute to the principles of equality in working life; is able to contribute to the principles of sustainable development and social responsibility; is capable of leading socially influential activities based on ethical values.
Working community competence: the student is able to develop the operations of a work community: is able to develop multidisciplinary communication and interaction in working life; is able to utilize information and communications technology in one’s work; is able to create networks and partnerships; is capable of management and supervision tasks and is able to improve activitiesin complicated and unpredictable environments; is able to work as an expert or entrepreneur and has abilities for management and supervision tasks.
Innovation competence: the students is able to manage research, development and innovation projects and masters the methods of research and development work; is able to manage project work; is able to create new information and improve existing working methods by combining expertise from different fields; is able to develop customer-oriented, sustainable and profitable solutions.
Internationalization competence: the student is capable of international communication in one’s work and in the development of operations; is able to operate in international environments; is able to predict the effects of and opportunities for internationalization development in one’s own field.
Subject specific:
Research skills: Methodological abilities; capacity to learn; information management skills; ability to understand, evaluate and assess information and to relate research findings to theory and their own circumstances.
Analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, problem solving, critical and self-critical abilities, ability to work autonomously; scenario writing
Holistic business understanding: Ability to recognize the external factors which influence the planning of a business organization. Ability to see the business from the stakeholder perspective.
Intercultural competence: Oral and written communication in English, understanding of cultures and customs of other countries, ethical commitment.
Ability to operate in an international context: Capacity to adapt to new situations in international business environments