INTERNATIONAL

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
International Semester or Year (30 - 60 ECTS)

FALL 2014 - SPRING 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Howest University of Applied Sciences

Is this course for me?

1
Course concept

Course overview

English for exchange students in higher education

A TWO-WEEK INTENSIVE LANGUAGE PREPARATION

Academic recognition

10
10

Prerequisites 11
Practical information

13

TIMING AND LOCATION

TUITION FEE
ACCOMMODATION
Registration and deadline

14

Contact and more information

14

HOWEST UNIVERSITY
OF APPLIED SCIENCES
Howest is a dynamic university of applied sciences, focused on innovation, creativity and
entrepreneurship. Our core values serve empower care stimulate an open, pluralistic
and international outlook on education, research and service to society.
Howest is a member of Ghent University Association, which provides high-quality higher
education to about 1/3 of Flanders student population. We offer degree programmes in
Architecture, Healthcare, Business and Management, Industrial Sciences and Technology,
Education and Social Sciences, on four campuses in the historical cities of Bruges and Kortrijk,
in the province of West Flanders, Belgium.
Over the years, Howest has built a solid reputation in application-oriented scientific research,
services and continuous education, working with distinguished academic, social profit
organisations and enterprises as partners in Europe, and all over the world. Our students
and staff are given plenty of opportunities to go global, thanks to regional, national and
international networks, scholarships and exchange programmes. Howest has coordinated
highly successful national and international projects, and is an active partner in many others.
We constantly develop our course offer in English in order to position Howest as an
attractive academic choice for students from abroad, who are looking for an open, vibrant,
cosmopolitan and friendly destination .
We warmly welcome students from our Erasmus and overseas partner institutions for an
exchange period. At this moment, Howest offers one full degree programme in English,
the Bachelor of Digital Arts and Entertainment (www.digitalartsandentertainment.com) as
well as 12 English taught International Semesters in 11 different study areas, each of them
representing at least 30 ECTS.

jan Darthet

INTERNATIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAMMES IN AUTUMN:

FROM SEPTEMBER TO THE END OF JANUARY
International Business Management I
Applied Computer Sciences - Fall
International Semester Professional Development
Digital Creative Projects in Tourism
Digital Creative Projects in Journalism
Realization in Product Design
INTERNATIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAMMES IN SPRING:
FROM FEBRUARY TO THE END OF JUNE
International Business Management II
Applied Computer Sciences - Spring
Digital Creative Projects Communication
Digital Creative Projects in Business
Digital Creative Projects in New Media & IT
Visualization and Communication in Product Design
Studying in Bruges or Kortrijk means having several tourist attractions within easy reach:
the Belgian coast, the Flemish & Belgian historical cities Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent... And in
a couple of hours the train will take you to European cities like Paris, London, Amsterdam,
Cologne etc.

IS THIS COURSE FOR ME?

The international semesters International Business Management are aimed at both
bachelor students and graduates. Since there is the possibility for an individual itinerary, the
international semesters are interesting for students of different study programmes, especially
commercial sciences, business and management, but also other fields of study such as
computer sciences.
This semester will surely add value to your degree and your career opportunities as your
team working and communication skills will improve.

COURSE
CONCEPT
PROFIEL
THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I- SEMESTER (FALL)
IS COMPOSED OF 6 MODULES:

Introduction (3 ECTS)
International Communication Skills (3 ECTS)
International Business Skills (9 ECTS)
Accounting (3 ECTS)
2 modules to be chosen from the following three (each module = 6 ECTS)
Marketing
Finance
Interpersonal Skills

The International Business Management II-semester (Spring) is also a modular semester.

All modules concern Business Management topics, covering different specialisations.
Depending on whether a student attends only this Spring Semester or is staying a full year,
the modules which can be chosen will differ.
During the fall semester, emphasis will be on lectures as well as on learning-by-doing. The
spring semester is more project based. Students will work on different projects, mostly in
international teams.
The aim is to integrate students from abroad with Belgian students and stimulate teamwork
and international communication and co-operation. During the semester company visits are
arranged, so that students will learn about the Belgian corporate culture.

COURSE OVERVIEW
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I - FALL
COURSE UNITS

HTC

n-TC

SL

10

65

75

INTRODUCTION 3 ECTS
CULTURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTRODUCTION TO BELGIUM
SURVIVAL COURSE DUTCH

You will stay for one semester or even a full year in Belgium. Therefore, we would like you to get to
know a bit about the (business) culture in Flanders and in Belgium. You will also get an intense survival
course Dutch and do an assignment introducing your own culture to the Belgian co-students.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS 3 ECTS
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION

20

55

75

Competent intercultural communication has become essential in this post-millennium world:

there is a very strong imperative for you to communicate in both your public and private life
with people whose cultural heritage makes them different from you. The aim of this course is to
provide you with the knowledge, motivation and skills to accomplish that objective.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SKILLS 9 ECTS
INTERNATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

20

55

75

You write a business plan in an intercultural and multidisciplinary team. You will develop
entrepreneurial skills and learn about economic and cultural differences in doing business.
CRM

20

55

75

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business strategy to select and manage the
most valuable customer relationships. CRM requires a customer-centric business philosophy
and culture to support effective marketing, sales, and service processes. CRM & e-commerce
applications can enable effective customer relationship management, provided that an enterprise
has the right leadership, strategy and culture.
WORLD ECONOMY

10

65

75

This course is intended as an introduction to world economy, with a strong focus on Europe in the
globalized world. The objectives are to analyse the current international economic key indicators
and trends and evaluate the benefits versus the costs of international trade.
ACCOUNTING 3 ECTS
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING

24

51

75

Management accounting is a course focused on the legal and technical aspects of accounting
in a national and international context. Topics such as fusions, acquisitions and liquidations are
also discussed.
*HTC = Hours of Teaching and Coaching
n-HTC = non-Teaching or Coaching Hours

SL = Study Load
(*) optional module

COURSE OVERVIEW
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I - FALL
COURSE UNITS

HTC

n-TC

SL

30

45

75

MARKETING 6 ECTS (*)

EXPORT MARKETING

You become aware of specific aspects of international marketing and export management, such as
important international organisations, Incoterms, import and export documents and the international
marketing mix
PROJECT EXPORT PLAN

10

65

75

In this project you put the input of International Marketing into practise by writing an export plan
for an existing company with concrete export plans
FINANCE 6 ECTS (*)
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL TOPICS

20

55

75

In this current situation of financial turbulence it is not easy to keep up with all evolutions in the sector.
In this module, recent financial topics and the dependency of the international markets are discussed.
FORECASTING AND BUDGETING
20
55
75
Based on historic data about sales, you will learn to make a short term prognosis, in quantity and
in quality, of the corporate activity in the upcoming year. Coordination of business units is also
discussed.
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 6 ECTS (*)
SELF-MANAGEMENT

10

65

75

Management accounting is a course focused on the legal and technical aspects of accounting
in a national and international context. Topics such as fusions, acquisitions and liquidations are
also discussed.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT

20

55

75

When the rate of external change exceeds the rate of internal change, the end is in sight.
Companies thus cannot afford a status quo, although implementing change in a company is not
an easy task. You will achieve the competencies needed to establish change in your later working
environment.
OPTIONAL COURSE
ENGLISH FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

60

15

75

Two-week course prior to the international semester (see further).

Fall-semester course: Monday 8 - Friday 19 September 2014.

COURSE OVERVIEW
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I - SPRING
COURSE UNITS

HTC

n-TC

SL

65

75

INTRODUCTION 3 ECTS (This module cannot be chosen by students staying a full year)
CULTURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC INTRODUCTION TO BELGIUM
SURVIVAL COURSE DUTCH

10

You will stay for one semester or even a full year in Belgium. Therefore, we would like you to get to
know a bit about the (business) culture in Flanders and in Belgium. You will also get an intense survival
course Dutch and do an assignment introducing your own culture to the Belgian co-students.
LOGISTICS 6 ECTS
SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

30

45

75

A company can economize by optimizing the flow of goods, i.e. from raw materials to the finished
product. The objective of Supply Chain Management is to obtain insight in an optimal flow of
goods by managing the demand from customers, the offer of suppliers as well as all production
and transport phases as a whole for certain product groups.
BUSINESS PROCESSES

30

45

75

Business processes are the corner stones of a company and thus, it is essential that they be
optimized. In this course you will learn the various principles to analyse and improve business
processes and safeguard the overall quality.
ONLINE COMMUNICATION 6 ECTS
SOCIAL MEDIA

20

55

75

We use social media privately all the time well so do companies. In this course you will learn
why social media are so important in a business context. Companies usually also have a strategy
about the use of social media. This will be the main topic.
WEBAUDIT

20

55

75

E-commerce websites are still gaining importance: selling online is continuously increasing. It
is thus of great importance that the website of a company is attractive to consumers. There are
some general principles that companies can apply. Furthermore, there is some legislation to
respect when putting a website online. You have to assess if a website lives up to the relevant EU
Directives and marketing techniques. You write an advisory report for a specific company.

*HTC = Hours of Teaching and Coaching

n-HTC = non-Teaching or Coaching Hours

SL = Study Load

COURSE OVERVIEW
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT I - SPRING
COURSE UNITS

HTC

n-TC

SL

30

45

75

SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION 6 ECTS

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Economic development is a must for human welfare. However, economic growth can equally be seen
as a threat to our planet. In this course, it is discussed whether or not economic growth can go hand
in hand with the protection of our planet and its limited resources.
INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

20

55

75

(Eco-)Innovation is a global trend. Companies will make the difference, not (only) by keeping costs
low, but by keeping on renewing products, processes etc. You will learn why innovation is so
important, how innovation can be triggered in a company, and which are the necessary ingredients
in an innovation process. Furthermore, the topic of managing innovation is also covered.
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE 3 ECTS
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

40

35

75

Business Intelligence is the transfers of data into knowledge. The objective of BI is to integrate all
relevant information from various operational sources and to analyse this information for decision
making purposes.
BUSINESS GAME 3 ECTS
BUSINESS GAME

20

55

75

During a full week, students will play an international business game in heterogeneous teams.
The game consists of different rounds with increasing degree of difficulty in the team decisions.
RESEARCH PROJECT
RESEARCH PROJECT

142

150

The research module is a module that is aimed at preparing students to write a final thesis. You
will learn to select a relevant research topic, and get some tips and tricks about writing a thesis.
The focus is mainly on desk research, however an introduction of market research is included.
OPTIONAL COURSE
ENGLISH FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

60

15

75

Two-week course prior to the international semester (see further).

Spring-semester course: Monday 26 January - Friday 6 February 2015.

ENGLISH FOR
EXCHANGE STUDENTS
ENGLISH FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION:
A TWO-WEEK INTENSIVE LANGUAGE PREPARATION
This course has been designed for our incoming and outgoing exchange students in order
to provide them with an optimal linguistic preparation for their English study abroad (one
semester or year). It is offered as a two-week crash course (a total of 60 hours, Mondays
to Fridays) before the start of the international semester at Howest (see course overview).
Classes will take place all day, every day, except for weekends.
This course provides exchange students with an intensive training in speaking, listening,
reading and writing skills, and is focused on their upcoming academic experience. The
diversity of the academic backgrounds of the participants will be taken into account by
choosing and covering a wide range of relevant topics.
The course will also function as an excellent networking opportunity for the students who are
about to start their study abroad. One field trip will be organised.
We strongly recommend English for Exchange Students in Higher Education for students
who have not fully achieved the B2-level in English at the moment of application. More
proficient students will benefit from the immersion and acclimatisation experience .
This course will always fall under the Learning Agreement and has to be attended for the
full two-week period. As the number of places will be limited, we expect students whose
attendance has been confirmed to show up in time and to fully participate. There is an extra
cost for the handbook and the field trip.

ACADEMIC RECOGNITION
Howest fully applies the ECTS grading system and awards credits for the successfully achieved
course units. After concluding the semester, all students receive an official ECTS Transcript of
Records and a Certificate.

10

PREREQUISITES
Minimum 2 successfully completed semesters in a Bachelor Business programme or an
equivalent of 60 ECTS. This will need to be confirmed by means of an official certificate,
a survey of completed courses, or a signed letter from the sending university.
The proficiency level we expect from incoming students is the B2 level of the Common
European Framework of Reference for Foreign Languages (CEFR), in writing, speaking and
understanding skills.
We expect applying students to provide proof of their proficiency in English
in one of the following ways:

A signed confirmation letter from the sending university, stating that the applicants
language skills reach the B2 level and thus are sufficient to attend courses, participate
in different types of classroom and examination activities. (only valid for exchange
students)

The results of a (free) online language test which can be related to the CEFR B2 level,such
as the Erasmus online language test, Dialang and Testpodium. The online test should
have been taken under the supervision of the sending institution. The result sheet needs
to be stamped and signed by a staff member of the sending institution. (only valid for
exchange students)

An official certificate or score report referring to the European Framework or from one
of the recognized language tests, e.g. TOEFL: paper based 550/internet based 79/
computer based 213 or IETLS: 5.5, no partial results below 5.
The following applicants are not required to document their language skills:

applicants from countries having English as their national language.

applicants attending a full-time English taught degree programme at their home

institution.

All Howest and exchange students should bring their own laptop, with all necessary and
officially licenced software. Howest applies a very strict policy on the use of legal software.
For Applied Computer Sciences you need Microsoft Office, and for the Fall programme you
also need access to course material of EC Council for the CEH-certification (costs 150 Euro).

11

PREREQUISITES
Howest reserves the right to contact the sending university to verify the information on
language proficiency, or to contact the applicant to have a telephone or Skype conversation
in English.

12

All Howest and exchange students should bring their own laptop, with all necessary
and officially licensed software. The course overview above mentions the specific
software (if any) necessary for the course unit. Howest applies a very strict policy on the
use of legal software.
Non exchange students can only attend the international semester as a Postgraduate
course and need to have completed at least a full Bachelor degree programme at the
time they start the international semester course at Howest.

PRACTICAL
INFORMATION
TIMING AND LOCATION
Both semesters take place in Bruges.
Our Fall semester runs from September 15th 2014 until January 30th 2015. The first week
is an orientation week; students are informed of the exact day of their welcome session by
email. From 27/10/2014 02/11/2014 there is one week of Autumn Holiday. Winter holidays
are from 22/12/2014 till 04/01/2015. The examination period starts immediately afterwards.
The spring semester is from February 9th 2015 until June 30th. From 06/04/2015 19/04/2015 there is a two week Easter Holiday. The examination period starts in the
beginning of June.
Students who attend the two-week intensive course English for exchange students in
higher education should arrive in time to start the lessons on Monday morning 8 September
2014 or 26 January 2015.
You find our academic calendar in English at www.howest.be/english.
Address of the campus: Howest Brugge. Rijselstraat 5, 8200 Brugge (Sint-Michiels), Belgium.
Howests campuses are cashless. You will need to activate the Maestro function of your
bank card before departure from your country. More detailed info on this on our website.
TUITION FEE AND ACCOMMODATION
For exchange students sent by our Erasmus and overseas partner institutions this course is
tuition free. Non exchange students pay a tuition fee of 1000.
The fee does not include course or other materials, nor the cost for cultural visits or study
excursions (transportation, museum entrance ). Those have to be paid on location.
Howest has cashless campuses. Payments can be made through a debit card. Dont forget
to activate the MAESTRO function on it before you leave your country.
Stuvo Howest, our students services, will assist you in your search for accommodation if you
wish. You can also find accommodation via www.kotwest.be, which has a search engine
in English, but be aware that finding student accommodation on your own in Bruges is a
challenge. A student room in Bruges will cost you between 225 and 350 per month.

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REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION AND DEADLINE
THE APPLICATION DEADLINES ARE:

June 20th for study in Fall Semester. For nationals from outside the European
Economic Area we recommend one month earlier!

November 30th for study in Spring Semester. For nationals from outside the European
Economic Area we recommend one month earlier!
Because of the international nature of this semester, we strive for a well-balanced composition
of the project teams. This balance will be taken into account during the selections.
All applications are subject to approval by the Howest IBM team.
Send your Howest Application Form to international.office@howest.be. You can download it at
www.howest.be/application.. Please also send your proposal of Learning Agreement.

CONTACT
For more information about the CONTENT contact Ms Ellen Taylor,
the IBM coordinator.
Rijselstraat 5
8200 Brugge - Belgium
Tel +32 (0)50 38 12 77
ellen.taylor@howest.be
For more information about your APPLICATION contact Ms Sophie Dewitte
of Howest International Office
Marksesteenweg 58
8500 Kortrijk - Belgium
Tel +32 (0)56 24 12 90
Fax +32 (0)56 24 12 92
international.office@howest.be
For all further information concerning study MOBILITY to Howest, have a look at our
Practical information package for incoming students: www.howest.be/english.
www.howest.be/practicalinfopackage.

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