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International Business (Top-up) BA(Hons)

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

It’s not too late to apply for September.
It’s not too late to apply for September.

Start date

16 September 2024

13 January 2025

Duration

Up to 10 months full-time

Places available (subject to change)

50

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. Over 77% of our students achieve a first or a second upper degree regardless of their background, ethnicity, abilities, financial background, or any other characteristics.
  2. Unparalleled support throughout your student journey. With dedicated learning development, employability, and individual academic tutor support, along with excellent developmental opportunities. You'll also get to work with students from across the globe, growing your cultural awareness and network.
  3. Study at an AACSB International accredited Business School. Globally, less than 6% of institutions offering business degrees achieve this accreditation.

Why International Business (Top-up)?

Business is becoming truly global. This one-year top-up course is designed to help you understand the global factors driving business today. You will explore international business activities and strategies and the organisational, cultural and institutional factors that shape them.

This top-up degree course will help you build a greater understanding of how commerce operates and give you an opportunity to explore in-depth the issues that affect it, with a particular focus on the international markets.

How will you learn?

You will learn through practical application and delivered lectures, workshops, seminars, group work sessions and independent study.

During your studies, you will explore topics such as international business, strategic management, business responsibility and sustainability to help you develop knowledge and practical skills that can be applied in any sector or industry.

What subjects will you cover?

Your programme of studies will include three core modules: International Business, Managing Across Cultures, and Strategy in Context.

As your studies progress, you will also be able to choose from a wide range of optional modules where you will have an opportunity to develop specialised knowledge in particular areas of business and management according with your personal and professional interests.

Course detail

Core modules:

International Business

This module considers the fundamental issue of competitiveness and helps you consider strategic business responses to globalisation. You’ll explore the different types of international business operations (international trade and foreign direct investment activities) and the factors that shape these operations (organisational resources and cultural and institutional environments in different national markets). You’ll also learn to make practical strategic decisions as international managers.

Strategy in Context

In this module you’ll gain an understanding of how organisations develop their strategies in relation to different aspects of their environment. You’ll study how both the internal context (e.g. organisational structure, routines and resources) and external context (e.g. institutional systems, industry structures and competition) shape organisational activities and the strategic decisions that individual managers make.

Managing Across Cultures

In this module, you'll explore how culture affects business and management. You'll learn the essential knowledge and theories in cross-cultural management, which will enable you to compare cultures systematically. You'll also investigate the latest developments in cross cultural research, which will develop your capability in understanding and analysing cross cultural scenarios. You are encouraged to develop an open-minded approach to cultural differences and an understanding of culture’s influence on business and management.

Option modules:

Choose from a list which may include:

Monetary and Financial Framework

This module examines contemporary and policy issues in Monetary Theory, Monetary Policy and International Finance. You’ll have the opportunity to analyse the impact of different types of risk and uncertainty in money and finance and use appropriate theory to help decide the financial methods to avoid or reduce risk.

Marketing for Small Business

Marketing is important, entrepreneurship is vital, and 95% of businesses anywhere in the world are small. When large organisations seek to improve performance – they often turn to the young dynamic small businesses as their role model. We weave these themes together into what can be called entrepreneurial marketing

Strategic Retailing

Retailers are powerful brands within their own right. How is the customer changing and how do retailers anticipate this change? You’ll investigate the various elements included in retail strategy, including sales channels, the supply chain, distribution, costing structures, product development, category management, promotional techniques and internationalisation.

Business and the Entrepreneur

In this module, you'll explore entrepreneurship for large and small businesses in both national and international settings. This module considers the theory and practice of entrepreneurship from different academic perspectives (economic, organisational, behavioural, etc.) and in the current world business climate. The teaching and learning approach on this module makes extensive use of practical case studies.

Advances in Leadership

The module is designed to offer you an advanced course in leadership. Building on the themes from the second-year module ‘Leadership: Theory and Practice’, this module invites you to engage with critical and contemporary perspectives and debates shaping the current academic field of leadership studies. We will consider the challenges of leading effectively and ethically in complex 21st century organisational settings.

E-Commerce

In this module, you’ll learn how to organise and execute business activities and specific transactions on a variety of electronic platforms. You’ll build your understanding of the electronic economy and how the changes in the electronic landscape and technology are shaping the development and success of business. In addition to learning about e-commerce operations, you’ll consider how businesses interact with their key stakeholders, such as customer and public administration agencies, in the Internet context.

Responsible Business

The module examines the inter-relationship between business ethics, corporate social responsibility, business sustainability and sustainable development. You'll engage in constructive debates related to theories of business ethics and ethical decision-making by business managers and examine how companies could fulfil their social responsibilities. By focusing on global sustainability issues, you'll appreciate how businesses can develop sustainable solutions to resolve grand challenges.

Undergraduate Dissertation

This module is an opportunity for you to conduct a research project in an area of business and management that relates to your personal and professional interests. You'll work one-to-one with an experienced supervisor who will help you develop and implement your research ideas. This module will not only deepen your knowledge of a particular business and management topic, but also help you build your practical research and report-writing skills.

Environmental Management

The aim of this module is to equip you with a set of tools and techniques for managing environmental performance in both the context of national and international policy regulations, conventions and government policy and corporate strategy. You'll examine the impact of culture, media and religion on the formulation and implementation of environmental policy at international, national and corporate level. Techniques for improving the environmental performance of an economy as a whole as well as policies and systems for measuring and managing environmental improving corporate performance will be explored.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally one of the following:

  • Higher National Diploma in Business.
  • Overseas equivalents such as two years post baccalaureate at 55% average.
  • Successful completion of two years of Higher Education with 120 ECTS credits (or equivalent).

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

What our students have to say


The University of Huddersfield offers a diverse and vibrant student environment, located on one central town centre campus site. Huddersfield Business School provides you with a modern, professional environment to learn and develop, located right next to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal it's in a leafy and picturesque location at the heart of the campus.

Watch our profile video to hear Sana describe why she chose the University of Huddersfield.

Your Career


Previous graduates from this subject area have gone on to roles such Senior Officer, Information Analyst, Area Manager, Graduate Trainee, Stockist Marketing Co-ordinator and Executive Assistant in organisations including Bupa Arabia, SK Networks, The Health Informatics Service, Magna International, Aldi, Advanced 365, PPG Industries and UBS AG. **

* Percentage of graduates from this subject who are in work and/or further study fifteen months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 19/20, UK domiciled graduates).

**Source: LinkedIn

88.4% Graduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Within Huddersfield Business School, there are numerous student support services that you can access to ensure that you make the most of your time with us. In terms of academic support, we have highly qualified Academic Skills Tutors who are able to provide support to those of you who require help in improving your academic skills in areas such as academic writing, presentation techniques, referencing etc. We also offer additional support to our International students by giving free language support sessions to our Final Year/Top-Up and Postgraduate students and co-ordinate the ‘Bud In Hud ‘ programme which provides opportunities for both International and Home students to meet and socialise in an informal setting.

We also have a team of Student Guidance and Support Officers within the School who can provide support and advice to you with any non-academic issues such as health, finance or personal issues you may be facing which are having an effect on your ability to study to the best of your abilities. Drop in sessions are always available so you can pop in and have a confidential chat about how we can help and what support is available to you.

Our support services are here to ensure that you are able to achieve your academic, professional and personal potential during your time with Huddersfield Business School.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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