You will spend the first semester of your first year developing an understanding of all important functions within a modern company. After this, you will learn how a company operates in an international environment and go into more detail in different subjects.
Module 1: Technology, Organizations and People
- Introduction to the main areas of Business Administration
- Organizations as open systems
- Technology, resources and people in work processes
This module focuses on the description, design and analysis of organizations, organizational problems and processes. You will go on company visits and interview company representatives to collect the information needed for a description of the company and its work processes by applying organizational theory to a real-life business situation.
On the basis of your information about the internal and external organizational context in which the firm operates, you will analyze the organization’s effectiveness and determine how best to use technology.
Tessa and Carlijn: "We were only in the second week of the programme when we went on our first company visit. We met important people and talked about the project we were working on. This helped us gain relevant insights for our project." Read more about their experiences.
Roy: "Another thing I liked about the project was that our project groups were international. This way, I got in touch with different nationalities from the first day on and got used to speaking English all day. It soon got easier. " Read more about his experience.
Jacqueline: "The first module ended in a perfect way with a poster presentation: even though we were graded that day, it was a great evening, because we got to show our tutors, fellow students and the company representatives what we had been working on during the module. The whole atmosphere was very relaxed." Read more about her experience.
Module 2: Business Operations Management
- Introduction to the main phases products (and services) pass through from development to delivery to the customer;
- Operations management, purchasing, supply chain management;
- Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
This module offers a broad overview of Operations Management. On the basis of assignments, a game, a simulation game (serious gaming) and case studies, you will get familiar with the main theories, tools and techniques applied by modern operations managers in practice. You will also learn how to approach practical problems quantitatively.
Daan: "Business Operations Management emphasizes the operational side of a business. It covers things such as how to purchase goods in an effective way, or how to minimize the time you spend on creating a valuable product for your customer. Besides that, you also get to experience what it is like to run an actual company by playing a simulation game with fellow students in which you have to run a manufacturing company."
Read more about his experience.
Merve about the BOM project: "The game is about managing your own virtual juice company with the goal of making the company profitable again. It is a great way of applying the knowledge you've gained in a practical way. The key aspect of the game is to aling all your decisions for each of the processes in order to create an optimal result for your juice company." Read more about her experience.
Module 3: Finance, Accounting and Information Systems
- Introduction to Finance, Accounting and Information Systems
- Decision making based on financial and non-financial information
- Application of internationally accepted methods and concepts for all three areas
The areas of Finance, Accounting and Information Systems are closely connected in everyday business. The focus of this integrated project is to develop and build an information system which will then be used for decision making based on both financial and non-financial information. Subsequently, you will analyse the information to prepare real-life (financial) management decisions based on internationally accepted concepts and methods, while taking the (international) context into account.
Julia: "The practical aspects became even more clear through the project of the module, where you and your project group choose a non-financial firm which interests you and then analyze the financial and business environment of that company and assess different investment options for that company yourself." Read more about her experience.
Kimberley: "What I liked most about this module is the fact that we were ‘learning by doing’. For the subjects we didn’t just have to study text, but we also had to do exercises." Read more about her experience.
Module 4: Human Resources, Organizational Behaviour, Law and Information Management
- Introductions to Business Law, Organizational Behaviour, Human Resource Management and Information Management.
- Integration of these disciplines in a business improvement project in which student teams have to procure at a company.
- As this is the final module of the first year, you will be challenged to apply insights from the previous modules where necessary and relevant.
- You will learn and apply several quantitative and qualitative research methods for the analysis of business problems in practice.
You will work in teams to experience how to develop high-quality recommendations for substantially improving a commercial work setting by applying academic insights to the satisfaction of a business client. You will systematically go through the stages of problem identification, development of a theoretical lens for the problem and selection of solutions based on the HOLI disciplines, and the integration of partial solutions into an integrated plan for the company client which you acquired during the third module.
Meike: "What I also really liked about the module was the project. Like in TOP, you work together with a company that you meet, interview and get insights about. This time, you could even choose a company yourself. In my opinion, doing this project work is always a great opportunity to get practical experience and deepen your knowledge in the domains by directly applying it to a real situation. Thus, in the HOLI project, we identified a problem within the context of the business and tried to find possible solutions by using the theories studied in the subjects while always staying in close contact to the partner company." Read more about her experience.
The second year
In the second year you will go into further detail concerning the different subjects by working on projects and assignments with national and international companies. Take a look at the study programme for the second year.