Master in International and European Business

The study programme is management-oriented with a strong emphasis on international management and a focus on business in Europe. Designed to teach methods, concepts and tools to manage international companies, it also builds intercultural awareness and the soft skills necessary to be a successful and valuable member of an international management team. With a rich offer of courses from different management fields (strategy, finance, HR, etc.), this study programme builds on lectures but also group work and case studies in intercultural teams; excursions to companies and visits from executives from multinational companies and international organisations. In addition, the Faculty of economics and social sciences of the University of Fribourg together with the EM Strasbourg Business School in France and the Università di Pavia in Italy have established two Double degree programmes leading to two Master's degrees, with one year in Fribourg and one year in Strasbourg or Pavia.

  • Study plan - 90 ECTS - Fribourg

    To finish the programme, a master thesis has to be written in English.

    Duration of Studies:

    3 to 4 semesters

    Languages of Instruction:

    English

    However, some courses (max. 18 ECTS) taught in French or German or other languages may be chosen.

    * Of the total ECTS credits in exams for the Master in International and European Business programmes, a maximum of 9 ECTS credits can be chosen in Bachelor courses, if they have not already been validated for a Bachelor programme.

  • Study plan - 120 ECTS - Double Degree Fribourg - Strasbourg
       

    Courses: 93 ECTS

    		 Thesis: 27 ECTS

    Fribourg

    1.   Semester (Autumn)

    2.   Semester (Spring)

    42 ECTS

    Master Thesis:
    18 ECTS

    (flexible timing)

    Strasbourg

    1.  Semester (Autumn)

    2.  Semester (Spring)

    51 ECTS

    Case Study: 9 ECTS

    A total of at least 120 ECTS have to be validated to obtain the degrees from both institutions. The requirements concerning the modules of the MA in International and European Business have to be fulfilled. This requires at least 27 ECTS in the core module “European and Global Business” plus at least 18 ECTS in one optional module. Thoses courses should be taken mainly in Fribourg, however, it is also possible to accredit courses from Strasbourg to the modules.

    First Year of Master: University of Fribourg (42 ECTS in courses)

    In the first year Fribourg, students have to take courses for at least 42 ECTS. They must include at least two core courses of the core module “European and Global Business” plus at least two core courses of their chosen optional module which can be freely chosen from the list. 

    Second Year of Master: EM Strasbourg Business School (51 ECTS in courses)

    In the second year, students study in Strasbourg and complete the programme of the major “International and European Business”. This is composed of 51 ECTS from courses.

    Case Study in Strasbourg (9 ECTS), Grand Oral and Internship

    To complete their studies in Strasbourg, students must validate 9 ECTS from an extended case study which is done in a team. An internship of at least 3.5 months is compulsory for the French diploma. Furthermore, a “Grand Oral” is taken in which the students are examined on the skills acquired in their studies and the case study.

    Master Thesis in Fribourg (18 ECTS)

    To complete the studies, students have to write a Master Thesis in Fribourg. The timing is flexible.

  • Study Plan - 120 ECTS - Double Degree Fribourg - Pavia
       

    Courses and internship: 96 ECTS

    		 Thesis: 24 ECTS

    Fribourg        

    1.   Semester (Autumn)

    2.   Semester (Spring)

    60 ECTS

    		  

    Pavia

    1.   Semester (Autumn)

    2.   Semester (Spring)

    36 ECTS

    		 Master Thesis: 24 ECTS

    A total of at least 120 ECTS have to be validated to obtain the degrees from both institutions. The requirements concerning the modules of the MA in International and European Business have to be fulfilled. This requires at least 27 ECTS in the core module “European and Global Business” plus at least 18 ECTS in one optional module. Thoses courses should be taken mainly in Fribourg, however, it is also possible to accredit courses from Pavia to the modules. 

    First Year of Master: University of Fribourg (60 ECTS in courses)

    In the first year Fribourg, students have to take courses for 60 ECTS. They must include at least two core courses of the core module “European and Global Business” plus at least two core courses of their chosen optional module which can be freely chosen from the list that is provided in this brochure. 

    Second Year of Master: University of Pavia (36 ECTS in courses and an internship)

    Students are enrolled at the second year of the Laurea Magistrale in International Business and Economics in Pavia and have to validate 36 ECTS according to the valid study plan. For dual degree students, the study plan in Pavia contains an excellent opportunity: an internship, accounting for 6 or 12 ECTS, depending on the length.

    Master Thesis (24 ECTS in Pavia)

    To complete the studies, students have to write a Master thesis in Pavia (24 ECTS) which they have to defend towards a jury in Pavia.

    Variation for Students from Pavia

    The programme structure above is for outgoing Fribourg students. The programme looks slightly different for incoming students from Pavia. Students from Pavia have to complete 6o ECTS from courses in their first year in Pavia. They spend their second year in Fribourg where they have to complete 42 ECTS from courses plus 18 ECTS from a master thesis under the supervision of a professor from the University of Fribourg.

  • Modules and courses for the Master in International and European Business

    Courses in bold letters are core courses. At least 2 core courses have to be accomplished in each chosen module. 
    ATTENTION: Most courses are only offered every two years. Our current timetable, you can find here.

    Please do also check here the timetable of the university for the courses of a certain semester.
    This list is indicative and non-binding. In some cases, courses may not be continued but on the other hand, new courses are added to the list.

    Main module: EUGB: European and Global Business

    In this modul you have to obtain at least 27 ECTS (i.e. take about 6 courses). All courses in this module have a focus on international business. 

    As an important overview on International Management, one course is strongly recommended for the module, namely: 

    • Fundamentals of International Management (D. Morschett) 

    Other courses that can be accredited towards the core module are: 

    • Case Studies in International Strategy
    • European Marketing
    • International Services Marketing
    • Intercultural Management
    • Managing the Multinational Network
    • Marketing Interculturel - new since 2022
    • Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) - new core course since 2022
    • Advanced Seminar in International and European Business (last time in spring semester 2024)
    • Advanced Seminar in Strategic International Management (New! - from spring semester 2025 on)
    • Asian Management (Study Trip to Bangkok)
    • Focal Firms and SMEs in Global Value Chains (last time in spring semester 2025)
    • Intégration européenne
    • Intercultural Business Projects
    • International Finance
    • International Negotiations - Success stories from an intercultural background
    • International Taxation
    • Organizational Resilience of Multinational Corporations (New course in spring 2025)
    • Strategic Value Creation
    • Sustainable Globalization
    • Transnational Enterprises in Global Society (last time in spring semester 2024)

    Optional modules

    In addition to the core module, you have to choose one optional module out of nine. In this optional module, you have to reach at least 18 ECTS (i.e. take about 4 courses).

    STR: Strategy
    • Advanced Seminar in Strategic International Management (New! - from spring semester 2025 on)
    • Case studies in international strategy
    • Developing an Innovation Strategy
    • Focal Firms and SMEs in Global Value Chains
    • Fundamentals of International Management
    • Marketing Strategy
    • Marché et stratégie des organisations à but non lucratif (bilingue)
    • Markt und Strategie von Nonprofit-Organisationen (bilingue)
    • Strategic Value Creation
    • Advanced Microeconomics
    • Advanced Project Management & Outsourcing (New! - from spring semester 2025 on)
    • Advanced Topics in Decision Support
    • Collaborative Value Creation in Ecosystems
    • Industrial Organization
    • Intercultural Business Projects
    • Management stratégique (Attention : Bachelor course 4.5 ECTS)*
    • Märkte und Strategien
    • Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC)
    • Organisational Economics
    • Strategic Management (Attention : Bachelor course 4.5 ECTS)* (New - from spring semester 2025 on in Englisch, no more in German!)
    • Politiques des marchés et de la concurrence
    • Project Management & Outsourcing in a Digital Era (last time in spring semester 2023)
    • Winning Consulting Projects
    INNO-ENT: Innovation & Entrepreneurship
    • Advanced Entrepreneurship
    • Advanced Seminar in International and European Business (last time in spring semester 2024)
    • Customer-centric Innovation
    • Developing an Innovation Strategy
    • Entreprenariat
    • Management of Innovation
    • Nouveaux trends de l'innovation (New: core course from spring semester 2026 on)
    • Seminar in Social Entrepreneurship
    • Collaborative Value Creation in Ecosystems
    • Esprit et création d'entreprises & entrepreuneuriat social (last time in fall semester 2023)
    • Leadership styles, contexts and success factors
    • Nouveaux trends de l'innovation (elective course until spring semester 2024)
    • Strategic Value Creation
    OHRM: Organisation and Human Resource Management
    • Auditer l’organisation
    • Compétences managériales
    • Intercultural Management
    • Leadership styles, contexts and success factors
    • Organisational Change and Crisis Management in Nonprofit Organisations
    • Organization Behavior
    • Strategisches Human Resource Management (last time in fall semester 2020)
    • Sustainable Human Capital Management (New! - from fall semester 2024 on)
    • Théories et pratiques de l‘organisation
    • Business and Human Rights
    • Ethical Leadership and Organisational Ethical Culture (New from spring semester 2025 on - replaces Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility)
    • Gestion des ressources humaines (Attention : Bachelor course 4.5 ECTS)*
    • Human Resource Management (Attention : Bachelor course 4.5 ECTS)*
    • Industrial Organization
    • International Negotiations - Success stories from an intercultural background
    • Management des ressources humaines et matérielles dans les organisations à but non lucratif (bilingue)
    • Organizational Resilience of Multinational Corporations (New course in spring 2025)
    • Ressourcenmanagement in Nonprofit-Organisationen (bilingue)
    • Winning Consulting Projects
    MAR: Marketing
    • B2B Marketing
    • Customer orientation and complaint management
    • Digital Marketing Communication - Customer Orientation 2.0
    • Marketing Durable
    • Marketing Strategy
    • Product and Price Management
    • Behavioral Economics
    • Digital Commerce in B2C and B2B Markets
    • European Marketing
    • International Negotiations - Success stories from an intercultural background
    • International Retail Management
    • International Services Marketing
    • Management of Innovation
    • Marketing interculturel
    • Nouveaux Trends de l’innovation
    FIN: Finance
    • Asset Management
    • Business Valuation (former: Unternehmensbewertung)
    • Corporate governance
    • Finance empirique
    • Gestion de portefeuille
    • International Finance
    • Project Seminar: Finance with R
    • Risk Management and Financial Derivatives
    • CFA Research Challenge (New: 6 ECTS - from fall semester 2024 on! - replaces Firm Valuation Seminar 4.5 ECTS)
    • Ethique en affaires et en finance (last time in fall semester 2024)
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    ACC: Accounting and Control
    • Advanced Group Accounting
    • Advanced Managerial Accounting
    • Financial Statement Analysis
    • International Accounting Standards
    • Management Control Systems
    • Cases in Accounting
    • Corporate Governance
    • Performance Measurement in Nonprofit Organisations
    • Projektseminar Controlling
    • Seminar in Advanced Management Accounting and Control
    • The Audit Profession and the Public Interest
    • Théorie de l’information comptable
    NPO-SUST: NPO and Sustainable Management
    • Business and Human Rights
    • Marché et stratégie des organisations à but non lucratif (bilingue)
    • Markt und Strategie von Nonprofit-Organisationen (bilingue)
    • Marketing Durable
    • Organisational Change and Crisis Management in Nonprofit Organisations
    • Performance Measurement in Nonprofit Organisations
    • Management des ressources humaines et matérielles dans les organisations à but non lucratif (bilingue)
    • Ressourcenmanagement in Nonprofit-Organisationen (bilingue)
    • Seminar in Social Entrepreneurship
    • Sustainable Globalization
    • Business Ethics (New in Englisch! - former Unternehmens- und Wirtschaftsethik)
    • Ethical Leadership and Organisational Ethical Culture (New from spring semester 2025 on - replaces Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility)
    • Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Impact
    • Das Freiburger Management-Modell (bilingue)
    • Management des organisations à but non lucratif – l’approche fribourgeois (bilingue)
    • Esprit et création d'entreprises & entrepreneuriat social (last time in fall semester 2023)
    • Ethique en affaires et en finance (last time in fall semester 2024)
    • Introduction à la gestion des organisations à but non lucratif et à l’entrepreneuriat social
    • Leadership styles, contexts and success factors
    • Renouvellement stratégique d’une organisation à but non lucratif (bilingue)
    • Strategische Neuausrichtung einer NPO (bilingue)
    • Vereine und Stiftungen
    DIG: Managing Digitalisation
    • Digital Commerce in B2C and B2B Markets
    • Digital Marketing Communication - Customer Orientation 2.0
    • Digital Value Creation
    • Digitalization and Information Systems
    • Nouveaux trends de l’innovation
    • Advanced Project Management & Outsourcing (New from spring semester 2025 on)
    • Advanced Seminar in International and European Business (last time in spring semester 2024)
    • Advanced Seminar in Strategic International Management (New! - from spring semester 2025 on)
    • Big Data Methods
    • Collaborative Value Creation in Ecosystems
    • Communication, organisation et transformation digitale
    • Developing an Innovation Strategy
    • Digital Economy
    • Network Science & Economics
    • Nouveaux médias, médias et usagers
    • Project Management & Outsourcing in a Digital Era (last time in spring semester 2023)
    • Supply Chain Management & Logistics
    DAT: Data Analytics
    • Big Data Methods
    • Databases (Attention : Bachelor course 6 ECTS)*
    • Econometric Methods and Applications
    • Machine Learning (UE-SIN.08022)
    • Méthodes de classification
    • Policy and Impact Evaluation
    • Applied Econometrics (Attention : Bachelor course 4.5 ECTS)*
    • Data analysis and statistics with the R programming language
    • Inférence, évaluation et sélection de modèles
    • Machine Learning (UE-SBL.30002)
    • Programmation scientifique (Attention : Bachelor course 6 ECTS)*
    • Project Seminar: Finance with R
    • Python Programming online
    • Social media analytics
    • Statistique bayésienne
    • Thèmes choisis de statistique multivariée

    *Of the total ECTS credits in exams for the Master in International and European Business programmes, a maximum of 9 ECTS credits can be chosen in Bachelor courses, if they have not already been validated for a Bachelor programme.

    In addition, the University of Fribourg cooperates in the BeNeFri-network with the neighbouring universities of Berne and Neuchatel. Courses from their course lists can also be taken and can – after permission by the programme responsibles – be accredited towards the optional modules of the Master of Arts in International and European Business.BENEFRI Course List

  • Highlights of the Programme - Fribourg Profile

    Within this Master, students can select from an interesting and wide base of courses. In addition to that, we offer a strong practice orientation. As a student, you study in (intercultural) teams and solve case studies and other group tasks together. This leads you to get intercultural experience from working with people from different cultural backgrounds. Our students come from more than 20 different countries. Regularly, we invite high-level executives and experts from international companies and organisations to give talks within the Master programme. The focus of the MA in International and European Business is not only on Europe, but we also offer the opportunity to learn about other world regions. For example, we have, in the last years, organised several summer schools on Asian Management in Bangkok and offered study trips to India to learn about this fascinating economic power. We will continue to offer such programmes.

  • Career openings

    The programme is designed primarily for students of management or economics who eventually wish to work in an international context. With the Master in International and European Business, students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to assume the responsibilities and decision making within any multinational company or organisation. Depending on the specialisation that students choose in the optional module, they can develop the necessary skills to work. 

    The MA in International and European Studies provides graduates with excellent career prospects in the areas of international management, strategy, marketing and other fields. Some examples of positions occupied by our graduates:

    • Managing Director
    • International Marketing Manager
    • Global Marketing Manager
    • Senior Brand Manager
    • Senior Key Account Manager
    • Head of Business Development
    • Management Consultant
    • Strategy Consultant
    • Head of Technology & Innovation
    • Global Material Group Manager
    • International Procurement Manager
    • Global Pricing Manager
    • Manager Transfer Pricing
    • Gymnasiallehrer
    • Head of Investments
    • HR Business Partner

    In the medium term, this study program prepares students for managerial positions in companies of various sizes, from SMEs to large companies. Some examples of employers that benefit from the skills of our previous graduates:

    • Nestlé
    • McKinsey
    • Villars Maître Chocolatier
    • Beiersdorf (Nivea)
    • L’Oréal
    • Schweppes International
    • GSK Consumer Healthcare
    • JURA Elektroapparate
    • Roche
    • Metro France
    • Mattel, Inc.
    • UBS
    • Mastercard
    • J.P. Morgan
    • Holcim
    • Sika
    • Liebherr Group
    • Deloitte
    • KPMG
    • EY
    • IWC Schaffhausen
    • Swatch
    • Jaeger-Le Coultre
    • Hublot North America
    • International Olympic Committee
    • SBB CFF FFS
    • Die Schweizerische Post 
  • Access to the Master Programme
    • For holders of a Bachelor degree in Management from a Swiss university : unconditional admission
    • For holders of a Bachelor degree in another field of study or from a foreign university:
      • Admission based on application file: Each dossier will be examined. In case of an admission, the admissions delegate can, after consulting the department of management, request the acquisition of additional knowledge. 
      • Application file: In addition to the documents required by the Office for Admissions of the University of Fribourg, the following documents need to be submitted:
        • motivation letter
        • a GMAT result for holders of a foreign Bachelor degree from outside the EU or the EFTA
      • The 60 ECTS Minor in Management of the SES Faculty, or recognised as equivalent, is required.
    • For the holders of a “Bachelor HES” in Management, candidates may be admitted to the master with a complementary programme of 30 ECTS. 

    In any particular case (e.g. foreign degrees and bachelor degrees older than 8 years), the candidate is not automatically admitted to the Master in International and European Business. The admissions delegate reserves the decision of admission on file.

    Admission

  • Further Information
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