Objectives and competences
Economic globalization is now an inescapable reality, and it is increasingly essential that companies have an internationalization strategy in place to ensure their competitiveness in global environments. The Master's Degree in International Business addresses the need to produce graduates who are equipped to manage global companies operating at the international level, providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to work in the various functional areas of company management.
The Master's Degree in International Business covers all the disciplines students must understand to successfully manage an international company.
The programme enables graduates who have acquired more general training in a Bachelor's Degree in International Business, Business Administration and Management, or a similar programme to specialize and attain the competences developed on an advanced master's course. In addition to theoretical training, students learn by applying their knowledge to analyse and come up with solutions to practical cases and situations like the ones they will have to deal with in their professional roles.
Thanks to a participatory, case-based approach, students get plenty of practice working on cases that closely reflect business reality.
Students who successfully complete the programme will have achieved an academic level that allows them to pursue a career with an international company, acting with complete autonomy as chief financial officer, marketing director, director of operations, human resources director or general manager.
The programme enables graduates who have acquired more general training in a Bachelor's Degree in International Business, Business Administration and Management, or a similar programme to specialize and attain the competences developed on an advanced master's course. In addition to theoretical training, students learn by applying their knowledge to analyse and come up with solutions to practical cases and situations like the ones they will have to deal with in their professional roles.
Thanks to a participatory, case-based approach, students get plenty of practice working on cases that closely reflect business reality.
Students who successfully complete the programme will have achieved an academic level that allows them to pursue a career with an international company, acting with complete autonomy as chief financial officer, marketing director, director of operations, human resources director or general manager.
Basic information
| Type | Master's degree |
|---|---|
| Faculty or school | Faculty of Economics and Business |
| Branch of knowledge |
|
| Mode of delivery |
|
| Credits | 60 |
| Number of places available | 40 |
| Length of course | 1 academic year |
| Language(s) of instruction | English |
| Approximate price per credit | 19.37 euros per credit (110 euros for students who are not EU nationals and do not currently reside in Spain). Fees for the academic year 2025-2026 |
| Coordination | FARIZA ACHCAOUCAOU IALLOUCHEN |
| business.school@ub.edu | |
| Course details | Indicators |
| Open pre-enrolment | No |
| Open enrolment | No |
| Lead to doctoral studies | Yes |
| Admission for applicants not holding a degree qualification | No |
| Bridging courses | Yes |
Objectives and competences
Objectives
The master's degree programme helps students to work more efficiently with solid skills in management or tasks relating to the above areas in international companies of any kind and size. This is achieved through a large number of varied subjects relating to business administration.
Competences
- Knowledge forming the basis of original thinking in the development and/or application of ideas, typically in a research context.
- Capacity to apply the acquired knowledge to problem-solving in new or relatively unknown environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of studies.
- Capacity to integrate knowledge and tackle the complexity of formulating judgements based on incomplete or limited information, taking due consideration of the social and ethical responsibilities involved in applying knowledge and making judgements.
- Capacity to communicate knowledge and conclusions and the grounds on which they have been reached to specialist and non-specialist audiences in a clear and unambiguous manner.
- Capacity for ongoing self-directed and independent learning.
General competences
- Creative and entrepreneurial skills (capacity to conceive, design and manage projects/capacity to research and integrate new knowledge and approaches).
- Capacity to propose a business or innovation project based on an original idea, whose feasibility can then be assessed.
Specific competences
- Capacity to apply the main concepts and management tools to solve business problems and situations related to the strategic, financial, commercial, operations and logistics management of international companies.
- Capacity to to adopt a strategic, integrated approach to business problems and to tackle them at international scale.
- Capacity to analyse and interpret the economic and financial information issued by an international business, in order to make well-considered decisions.
- Capacity to plan and direct the financial organization and accounting of an international company or group of companies in the global arena, to ensure their profitability and solvency.
- Capacity to understand and use the marketing tools and instruments required to solve problems and generate opportunities, and to apply knowledge of the principles and tools of research to solve problems relating to market research and international marketing.
- Capacity to learn appropriate heuristic strategies, methods, and techniques for taking decisions in the operations area of an international business.
- Capacity to manage the international logistics of a company or group of companies to obtain optimal management of the supply chain.
- Capacity to manage people and teams in international organisations, in order to increase their motivation and their multiculturalism.
- Capacity to analyse options, potentialities and opportunities in various regions of global economies; to identify the specificities of each type of market and society, so as to obtain the best effectiveness in action, depending on the responsibility of each professional position.
- Capacity to acquire advanced knowledge to compile scientific documents, specialized reports, and research assignments in which value judgements are given, in suitable formats for publication or presentation before potential stakeholders at global scale.
Access and admission
Applicant profile and access requirements
Recommended applicant profile
Students of the master's degree must be interested professionally in the functional areas of an international company.For this reason, applicants for the master's degree in International Business should hold a bachelor's degree in International Business, Business Administration and Management, Economics, Law, International Relations, or Engineering.
The master's degree is taught in English, which is why students must present an official certificate evidencing a good command of this language.
In all these cases, the Coordinating Committee could decide that candidates must take bridging courses before they start the master's degree.
Access requirements and conditions
General requirementsStudents wishing to be admitted to a university master's degree must hold one of the following qualifications:
- Official Spanish university degree.
- A degree issued by a higher education institution within the European Higher Education Area framework that authorizes the holder to access university master's degree courses in the country of issue.
- A qualification issued by an institution outside the framework of the European Higher Education Area. In this case, applicants must request homologation of the degree to its equivalent official Spanish university qualification or obtain express approval from the University of Barcelona, which will conduct a study of equivalence to ensure that the degree is of a comparable level to an official Spanish university qualification and that it grants access to university master's degree study in the country of issue. Admission shall not, in any case, imply that prior qualifications have been recognized as equivalent to a Spanish master's degree and does not confer recognition for any purposes other than that of admission to the master's degree course.
Specific requirements
- An official degree in Business Management or related field (International Business, Business Administration and Management, Economics, Law and International Relations, as well as engineers). Students who have followed other official courses and have a wide working experience in business management will also be considered.
- Proof of proficiency in English. Candidates will have to prove at least a B2 Level or equivalent*. Applicants are exempt from documenting English certificate if they are native speakers or hold a university degree taught in an English speaking country.
Only the following officially recognized English Certificates will be accepted:
- Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE) Cambridge Linguaskill (level B2) TOEFL iBT 72-94 (Codi C086) IELTS Academic 5.5-6.0
- Certificates issued more than two years ago will not be valid.
- Applicants who have fully or partially completed the studies outside of the Spanish university system can submit their grade equivalency declarations issued by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Online platform | Instructions in English.
The Coordination Committee of the master's degree assesses whether a candidate needs to take bridging courses. Bridging courses, which are worth no more than five ECTS credits, address the following subjects: Principles of World Economy, Quantitative Tools, and Principles of International Companies. Bridging courses are taught during the two weeks prior to the start of the master's degree sessions.
In these cases, and in accordance with Royal Decree 861/2010, the training courses are considered master's degree credits for the purposes of public fees and the award of grants and financial aid.
Pre-enrolment
Calendar
Notes:- Pre-enrolment fee: A pre-enrolment fee of 30,21 euros is charged. Students who apply to more than one master's degree must pay the fee for each pre-enrolment request. Pre-enrolment requests cannot be processed until this fee has been paid.Fees will only be refunded if the master's degree in question is suspended.
- Reserved places: A maximum of 5% of the new places of the master's degree are reserved for students who meet the general and specific access requirements and accredit the recognition of a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33%.
Required documentation
Access and admissions à Pre-enrolment à Required Documentation
- Make sure you attach the required documents to the form before the round’s deadline:
- Bachelor Degree (if you have it)
- Transcript of Records (final or provisional version)*
- ID / Passport
- English Certificate (B2)**
- Curriculum Vitae
- The name of two professionals or colleagues who support your application. They will receive automatically an email with a few questions about your profile
- Letter of motivation (1 page)***
- Online video pitch (maximum 2 minutes)****
*The transcript of records has to be in English, Spanish or Catalan. It has to include the average grade and grading system of your academic institution.
**Applicants are exempt from documenting an English certificate if they are native speakers or hold a university degree taught in an English-speaking country. Only the following officially recognized English Certificates will be accepted: Cambridge First Certificate in English (FCE), Cambridge Linguaskill (level B2), TOEFL iBT 72-94 (Codi C086), IELTS Academic 5.5-6.0.
***What should you include in your letter of motivation? Here you should include aspects like the description of your background, your motivation to pursue the MSc in International Business programme at the UB, your academic interests, your research and teaching experience and your professional goals, among others. Upload your letter of motivation in pdf format (size limit 3MB).
****Share the link of your video (YouTube). If you publish it on private mode, make sure we can visualize it. On the video, you should address the following topics:
Presentation of the candidate and his/her academic and professional background
Motivation to do the Master in International Business at the UB Business School
Selection criteria
The selection process is based on the following selection criteria:- 1) A previous qualification in a field related to the master's degree (50%). Holders of bachelor's degrees in International Business, Business Administration and Management, related disciplines, and degrees with an international orientation shall be given priority.
- 2) Academic experience acquired by the candidate in previous studies (40%). Previous training in business and international business shall be reviewed. Candidates should demonstrate that they have a sufficient level of training to meet the requirements of the master's degree subjects.
- 3) Professional experience in the area of international business management (5%). Credit is given for professional experience in fields related to the course subjects.
- 4) Letters of recommendation from former lecturers or people who have had a close relationship with the candidate (5%). Credit is given for letters of recommendation from former lecturers that describe the candidate's academic performance in the lecturer's subject and in the course in general.
Notification
The body in charge of resolving applications is the master's degree Admissions Committee. This procedure is carried out in the period established in the pre-enrolment calendar. Once the Committee has met and the corresponding resolution has been reached, electronic confirmation is sent. The faculty's Master's and Doctoral Office will contact admitted students to inform them of the steps to take to complete enrolment.Enrolment
As a general rule, at the UB you will be required to enrol online. Remember that you can lose your place if you do not enrol on the day you have been assigned
- Documents required for enrolment
- Procedure to formalize enrolment
- Grants and financial aid (in Catalan)
- Economic information (in Catalan)
Course curriculum
Subjects and course plans
Distribution of credits
| Type | ECTS |
|---|---|
| Compulsory | 32.5 |
| Optional | 17.5 |
| Compulsory placements | 0 |
| Compulsory final project | 10 |
| TOTAL | 60 |
List of subjects
Previous years
Placements
Placements in a company or another type of organization are an integral part of university studies, providing first-hand experience of working methodologies in students' chosen professional fields. They offer invaluable practical experience for the transition into work after graduation.
Placements are supervised by tutors and subject to assessment. They are therefore included in the academic record. There is also an option to complete non-curricular placements of up to 500 hours, which can be extended to 900 hours. For both curricular and non-curricular placements, an educational cooperation agreement is signed between the UB and the company, institution or other organization at which the placement will be carried out.
Institutional information
Career opportunities
What can you work on ?
Increasingly, companies assume responsibility for areas that until recently were mainly government concerns: social security networks, technical regulations and general regulations. In addition, consumers are becoming more aware of the form of production in responsible international companies. Pressure from stakeholders has convinced many multinationals that they must adopt corporate citizenship programmes, including policies on environmental responsibility, child labour, conditions in the workplace, and principles of ethics in business practices.The master's in International Business covers all these aspects and provides students with the knowledge required to manage an international company, taking into account the environment, from the perspective of finance, marketing, operations and logistics, or strategy. On completion of the master's degree, students are ready to work in export companies, multinationals, public entities (in autonomous communities, the state, or internationally) dedicated to economic and trade promotion, and in non-governmental organizations focused on international cooperation.