Students Tilburg University

Study Abroad Study Plan - Economics & Management

Would you like to lend color to your Bachelor’s degree? Why not opt for studying a semester abroad! The Tilburg Schools of Economics & Management thinks it is important that all students are given this unique opportunity during their studies. Below you will find more information on how you can incorporate a Study Abroad experience in your program.

Most students opt for a study abroad experience in the Bachelor phase. However, there are also each year a few Master students who apply for an exchange. To enable you to include a study abroad experience into your study program without (too much) delay, the academic directors of all programs formulated the following arrangements.

BSc Economics

During the first semester of your third year you will have to take elective courses for 30 ECTS in the field of Business or Economics. You can follow these courses abroad; a minimum of 24 ECTS will need to be either Business or Economics courses. A maximum of 6 ECTS may be taken from another relevant discipline (language and skills courses excluded).

BSc International Business Administration

Students in BSc IBA get the chance to go on exchange in the first semester of the third year. An exchange is always 30 ECTS. All courses must be from the business/economics/management field, but they must not overlap with our BSc IBA curriculum. One course of maximum 6 ECTS can be from a related field, but still should have some relation with the BSc IBA program, for instance economic psychology, organization studies, human resources, advertising, etcetera.
Skills courses and languages are not allowed. You can take 1 computer programming course as an exception to the ‘no skills’ rule.

All courses must be taught in English, as the degree certificate that you receive from Tilburg University upon graduation certifies IBA as an English-taught degree.

BSc Bedrijfseconomie & BSc Economie en Bedrijfseconomie

During the first semester of your third year you will have to take elective courses for 30 ECTS in the field of Business or Economics. You can follow these courses abroad; a minimum of 24 ECTS will need to be either Business or Economics courses. A maximum of 6 ECTS may be taken from another relevant discipline (language and skills courses excluded).

BSc Fiscale Economie

You will find one or two free elective course(s) in your program (depending on your starting year) which you can follow abroad. One of these courses may be a language course (two language courses will not be approved).
It is also possible for students in starting year 2018 or newer to replace specific compulsory courses in their program. These specific courses are in semester 1: Data-analyse (323624), Inleiding Boekhouden (324065), Filosofie voor mens en maatschappij (360037), Grondslagen Europees en Internationaal Belastingrecht (695233) and in semester 2: Management Accounting (324066) and Bedrijfsethiek (360036).

If you (students in starting year 2018 and newer) would like to go on exchange without any delay to your program and graduate nominally within three years, then at least four of the second- or third-year courses must be replaced by courses abroad that qualify as an equivalent course. Unfortunately, it is not clear at this moment whether universities can be found with four courses that can later be replaced within the BSc Fiscale Economie.

BSc Econometrics and Operations Research

If you would like to go on exchange without any delay to your program and graduate nominally within three years, then you must select courses that can replace part of your EOR year 3 program.

You may select courses that replace the EOR compulsory Philosophy courses, courses that replace the EOR compulsory Cluster A courses and one Free Elective. All courses should be EOR content related,  at least 3rd year bachelor level and have no overlap with 1st and 2nd year EOR courses. The Free Elective can be taken from the field of Econometrics, Business and/or Economics.

Please note that you need approval for the courses you select and that not every destination offers courses that are suitable to replace the EOR Cluster A courses. EOR students are advised to be in touch with their Education Coordinator to discuss these courses as soon as possible, ideally before applying for destinations and certainly before going on exchange.

BSc Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation

During the first semester of your third year you will have create your own curriculum. You can do that by:

  • Selecting an 18 ECTS minor at Tilburg University that does not overlap with the E&BI program supplemented with two other elective courses, or
  • By being selected to go on exchange to a partner university of Tilburg University where you are to complete a set of courses that will not overlap with the E&BI program and that (in total) add up to 30 ECTS, or
  • You follow a 30 ECTS Minor program at another Dutch university (NOT a university of applied science) that will not overlap with the E&BI program.

None of the courses that you will follow can be taught in Dutch. Language and skills courses are also excluded. In line with the intentions of the Bologna agreement that introduced the Bachelor-Master degrees across the EU, you can use the first semester to deepen your knowledge or to broaden it. 

MSc Programs

Most MSc programs have no, or limited, free electives, thus in general all the courses you will do abroad will be ‘on top of’ courses. As a master student you are strongly recommended to speak to your Educational Coordinator well in advance to discuss how your exchange can be fitted into your academic program.

Please note that as a Master student you are also expected to take to 30 ECTS worth of (approved) courses abroad. If you would like to follow a language course this is possible, however the course cannot be approved for your study program. If this is the case you are expected to take 24 ECTS worth of (approved) courses plus one language course, which sums up to 30 ECTS worth of courses.

If your program is not mentioned in the list above, or if you are having any doubts, please contact your Educational Coordinator for more information.

Selecting courses at the Partner University

When looking for courses at the Partner University, there are a couple of rules to keep in mind:

  1. Bachelor students: Each student is expected to take 30 ECTS worth of courses abroad. All of these courses need to be approved during the pre-departure phase.
    Master students: Each student is expected to take 30 ECTS worth of courses abroad or 24 ECTS worth of courses and 1 language course. All of these courses need to be approved during the pre-departure phase. 
    It does not matter whether you need the credits for your study program at Tilburg University or not. You go on exchange as a fulltime student, so you are expected to do a full course load at your host university.
  2. You are expected to take courses that fit into your study program. So the majority of your courses need to be related to either Economics or Business.
  3. Courses need to be at the appropriate level. This means Bachelor students can only take courses at Bachelor level, and Master students can only take courses at Master level. You cannot take any first year courses. Any course that covers practical skills will not be approved as a free elective. In addition, courses that overlap with courses you already took or will take at Tilburg University will not be approved.

All courses you will take abroad will need to be approved by the TiSEM Education Coordinator of your study program. This happens during the pre-departure phase, after you find out which host university you have been selected for. You can find the instructions for your course approval on our Courses at the partner university page, and in the pre-departure instructions in your Mobility Online workflow.