Degree Programmes  Business Administration/Service Management (B.A.)

Business Administration/Service Management (B.A.)

The Bachelor's degree programme in Business Administration/ Service Management offers initial training leading to a qualification within a short study period. The services sector is the biggest economic driving force in modern economies and includes industries which are expected to experience the highest growth rates in the future, e.g. management consultancy firms, financial services, logistics services, trade, but also the range of services provided by cultural and educational institutions. This growth will produce a corresponding demand for specially qualified personnel.

The provision of services is not only restricted to pure service providers, but is of paramount importance for industrial enterprises. Human resource departments as well as logistics or internal consultancy groups provide services for their company.

In the case of leading companies in the EDP sector, it is now not unusual for half of all employees to be employed in the service business, for example. The Business Administration/Service Management degree programme therefore bridges a market gap in German Business Administration education by concentrating on the future services sector.

Teaching methods:

The Bachelor's degree programme in Business Administration/ Service Management puts modern knowledge of Business Pedagogy into practice. Tried and tested teaching and testing methods are combined with a variety of new teaching methods such as "team teaching", business games as well as case studies and practical projects. In the first semester, the traditional lecture is supplemented by a service-specific business game introducing Business Administration. The learning of presentation techniques is an integral component of the teaching content for corporate management. The ability to handle standard software, nowadays indispensable in practice, is taught in tandem with Mathematics and Business Informatics education. Exercises for dealing with the Internet and Intranet are integrated into marketing courses.

The international orientation of the services sector requires graduates to have a high level of linguistic competence. This necessity is primarily met by holding intensive English seminars and by integrating them occasionally into internationally oriented business administration courses, in the form, for example, of a corporate business game relating to the globalisation of service providers conducted in English.

The outcome of this modern, academically grounded form of teaching is that students of Business Administration/ Service Management acquire a high level of professional and methodological competence, which will give them a decisive competitive edge during their subsequent professional life.

Study Contents

All courses are strictly aligned with the business specifics of Service Management.

In the first three semesters, students acquire the relevant basic Business Administration knowledge which is indispensable for every Business Administration trainee, such as investment and financing, cost and activity accounting, marketing, corporate management, taxes and balance sheets, logistics and human resource management, as well as market research.

In the fourth semester, the knowledge acquired in the first three semesters is consolidated during a work placement of at least 16 weeks' duration. Alternatively, it is also possible to complete a semester at a foreign partner university.

In the fifth and sixth semesters, general service-oriented basic Business Administration knowledge is enlarged upon in courses with a professional field orientation. Students choose a professional field and attend three professional field specialisations.

The following professional fields are currently being offered:

Location Management

    * Visitor-oriented Location Management (e.g. event management, project study)

    * Company-related Location Management (e.g. location selection, location marketing)

    * Visitor-oriented Location Management (e.g. trade marketing, city management)

Consulting

    * Consultancy Management (e.g. strategic consulting, entrepreneurship)

    * Planning and Organisation (e.g. strategic planning processes, change management)

    * Human Resources (e.g. human resource planning, psychological basics)

Financial services management

    * Taxes and Auditing

    * Management Accounting

    * Financial Risk Management

These professional field-oriented courses are supplemented by subjects such as "Selected Problems of Service Management", "Controlling" and "Human Resource Management". To ensure that students obtain practical experience along with in-depth theoretical Business Administration training during the course of studies, they work on compulsory practical projects in the fifth and sixth semesters, which provide them with training in the techniques of project management and presentation.

The theoretical and practical knowledge of Business Administration/ Service Management acquired during the study programme is topped off by a business game.

The language training which accompanies the study programme throughout is closely related to the specialist content. Compulsory language courses take place in the fifth and sixth semesters.

The seventh semester focuses on practical experience and the thesis. Students complete a work placement of at least 12 weeks' duration and write their Bachelor's thesis in this semester. This is presented in a colloquium.

Hochschule Harz
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Friedrichstrasse 57-59
38855 WERNIGERODE
GERMANY 

Tel.: +49 3943/659-150
Fax: +49 3943/659-155

international(at)hs-harz.de
www.hs-harz.de