Study method
See the curriculum of the degree programme in International Business.
Studies consist of active problem-based individual and teamwork learning tasks that deal with marketing and foreign trade. Theory is merged with practice as students get to deal with real working-life challenges. Assignments from the Business Clinic included in different study modules carry through research and development projects. With the help of their instructors, students carry through these assignments especially for small and medium enterprises in the Vaasa region. Already during their studies, students can get a foretaste of entrepreneurship in the Business Factory, where cooperative enterprises are founded and their businesses developed. The input from all participants leads to teamwork that helps the cooperative gain its targets. The student entrepreneurs have the support of their teachers and teammates. Additionally, students have been involved in planning business ideas for shopping centres in Vaasa and the commercial city of Ideapark.
Practical training is an essential part of the studies. Practical training will prepare the students for ever more demanding tasks already during their studies, which will ease their shift to working-life. The practical training in International Business lasts 20 weeks. The student demonstrates with a thesis that they master the basic skills of the trade, know their chosen object of study and that they are capable of independent problem-solving.
Comprehensive mastery of the profession with core competences
Vaasan ammattikorkeakoulu VAMK, University of Applied Sciences will be adopting a competence-based curriculum in stages. This student-centred teaching is based on learning results and competence as a whole instead of completion of disconnected study modules. Extensive competences make it easier for students to perceive their own development and to contribute to reaching their goals.
During the first two years students develop from beginners to trainees and along with the specialised professional studies from professionals to experts. The studies are made up of extensive working-life-inspired competence modules in which generic and professional competences or skills are connected. This assures the knowledge, skills, competence, outlook and understanding needed in the profession.
There are six key competences common to all fields: self-improvement, ethical competence, communicative and interactive skills, developmental competence, organisational and societal competence and internationality. In the field of technology there is an additional competence of mathematics and science.
In addition to the common key competences, each degree programme has four to seven professional competences of its own. These are based on national field-specific competences and regional focus areas in vocational studies.
