International Business BSc (Hons)
- Business, management and marketing
- Undergraduate
Want a career that could take you across the world? Study an EMFD-accredited International Business degree that combines global business knowledge with practical international experience. You’ll explore how organisations operate across countries, markets and cultures, collaborate with students overseas and have the opportunity to study abroad or complete a professional placement.
What is an International Business degree?
An International Business degree explores how organisations operate, compete and grow across different countries, markets and cultures. You’ll study the challenges businesses face when working internationally, from different legal and regulatory systems to cultural expectations, trade relationships, exchange rates and geopolitical risk.
At Kingston, you’ll begin with a broad grounding in business before developing a stronger international focus. You’ll explore how businesses respond to changing global markets, enter new countries, manage international operations and make decisions when political, economic and cultural conditions vary from one market to another.
What will you gain?
You’ll develop the commercial understanding and international perspective to assess opportunities and risks across different markets. You’ll also build skills in analysis, decision-making and working across cultures, helping you understand how global developments can shape real business choices.
Where could it take you?
An International Business degree can lead to careers in areas such as international business development, global marketing, management consultancy, international sales, trade and operations. Your skills can also be useful in multinational companies, NGOs, government trade bodies and other organisations working across countries and cultures.
At a glance
- One of only 12 undergraduate International Business degrees in the UK accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD).
- Three years full-time, with the option to add a study-abroad or professional placement year, or combine the two.
- Explore international trade, cross-cultural management, global operations, emerging markets and international business strategy.
- Study in London, a major global business centre and a leading European location for multinational headquarters.
- Study at Kingston Business School, which holds AACSB accreditation.
- Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Export and International Trade.
It was important to me to pick an International Business degree at a University offering the chance to study and work abroad. This will increase my employability, as well as help me build an international professional network. Plus, I'll get to travel, immerse myself in a different culture, learn a new language and make new friends.
Business at Kingston University
Hear from our students and staff and find out what it’s like to study business at Kingston University.
Study abroad and international experience
International Business is something you learn by doing. At Kingston, you won’t just study how organisations work across countries and cultures – you’ll get the chance to experience international working for yourself.
Cross-cultural management and global leadership
Working internationally means more than just knowing how business works in a different country. It means understanding people.
Different cultures can shape how teams communicate, how decisions are made, how relationships are built and even what good leadership looks like. On this course, you’ll learn how to recognise those differences and work with them confidently.
Through the Managing Across Cultures and Borders module, you’ll explore how culture influences organisations, management and business practice. Across the course, you'll examine established cross-cultural frameworks, including Hofstede and Trompenaars, to understand how cultural differences can shape leadership, teamwork, negotiation and decision-making.
You'll also explore the challenges of leading global teams, managing diverse international workforces and collaborating remotely, alongside how businesses adapt their marketing and brands to different cultural audiences.
Experience it for yourself
You won’t only learn about cross-cultural working from a textbook.
Through international collaborative projects, you’ll work with students from different backgrounds and get real-world experience of collaborating across cultures and time zones. You may need to adapt the way you communicate, respond to different working styles or find new ways to reach a shared decision.
And that experience continues in the classroom. Around 40% of the cohort is international, bringing opportunities to work with people who bring fresh perspectives, different experiences and alternative ways of thinking.
Build the confidence to work globally
By the time you graduate, you’ll have experience of:
- communicating across cultures
- adapting to different ways of working
- understanding how culture can influence management and decision-making
- collaborating with international teams
- managing communication across countries and time zones
- working confidently with people whose perspectives may be different from your own
These are the skills that will help you stand out in your global business career, whether that’s in a multinational business, an international team or working across different markets and cultures.
Why choose this course?
Fascinated by how business really works across countries, cultures and markets? This course brings international business to life, helping you understand the issues shaping organisations right now – from trade and emerging markets to geopolitics, sustainability and global disruption.
You won’t just study those challenges. You’ll tackle them. Through live consultancy work, you’ll work in a team on a genuine business problem set by an external client, carrying out research, developing recommendations and producing professional work for the organisation. It’s much closer to working as a consultant than completing a theoretical classroom case study.
You can make your degree even more international too. You’ll collaborate with students overseas during the course and can choose to add an extra year for study abroad, a professional placement, or a combination of the two. You can add the placement year even if you didn’t originally apply for the course with an integrated placement.
And you don’t need to have everything mapped out from day one. Year 1 gives you broad Business Management foundations, with flexibility to move between Business Management pathways before your International Business specialism develops further.
International consultancy in action
Work on a real international business challenge for a real client.
Previous students worked with Angel O’Donnell, a specialist interior design company, on plans for expansion into the US market. They:
- carried out market research
- developed recommendations
- produced a professional business report
- received feedback from the client
We were genuinely impressed by the clarity, creativity and commercial awareness they brought to the task.
International Success Support Scholarship
If you are an international student, you may be eligible for a £2,500 International Success Support Scholarship for this course, for September 2026 start only.
Find out more about international scholarships and bursaries
Accreditations
Internationally recognised quality
Kingston’s International Business BSc is accredited by the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD), meaning the course has been independently assessed against international quality standards and benchmarked internationally.
It is one of only 12 undergraduate International Business degrees in the UK to hold this accreditation – a strong independent mark of the course’s international quality.
Build your professional network
The course is also accredited by the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade.
Eligible final-year students can apply for professional membership, with Kingston covering the cost. Membership gives you access to the Institute’s professional network, events, guest speakers and careers advice, helping you start making industry connections before you graduate.
Study at an AACSB-accredited Business School
You’ll study at Kingston Business School, which holds AACSB accreditation – an international recognition earned by just 6% of business schools worldwide.
That means you’ll be studying in a Business School whose education has been independently assessed against internationally recognised standards for quality.
Ready for business
At Kingston Business School, we believe that professional success is shaped by honing your personal capacity and skillset, supported by the academic framework of knowledge. Through vocationally rich, employer-engaged and research-informed courses, we work alongside our students to help them meet personal goals and career ambitions.
Course overview
Begin your journey to leadership in international business
Want a successful international career that crosses countries, cultures and markets? This degree will give you the broad business knowledge, global perspective and practical experience you need to kickstart it with confidence.
You’ll study alongside a diverse community of students from the UK and around the world, while developing from broad business foundations into increasingly specialist International Business study.
- Build strong business foundations. Develop your understanding of how organisations work across areas including management, marketing, finance, technology and people.
- Develop an international perspective. Explore how culture, sustainability, innovation and international markets influence the way organisations operate, compete and make decisions.
- Understand what shapes global business. Examine trade, tariffs, exchange rates, trading blocs, geopolitical developments, emerging markets and disruption – and how they influence real business decisions across borders.
- See how international business works in practice. Get to grips with the practical challenges of global operations, sourcing, transport, location decisions and supply chains.
- Learn to work across cultures. Through international collaboration and cross-cultural study, you’ll experience how to work with people who bring different perspectives, cultural contexts and communication styles.
- Develop a specialist focus. Modules including International Trade and Markets and International Operations Management bring together the knowledge you’ve developed and challenge you to apply it to current international business issues.
- Keep your career options open. The broad Year 1 structure gives you flexibility before you specialise, while the course is designed to support you in achieving your international business and management career ambitions.
Course content
What you will study
International Business brings together the core areas of business management with a much more global perspective. You’ll build a strong foundation in how organisations work, then explore what changes when business crosses borders – from international trade, finance and operations to culture, emerging markets, sustainability and global strategy.
As you progress through the course, you’ll develop increasingly specialist knowledge of how organisations operate, compete and make decisions across different countries and markets.
At Kingston, you’ll study areas including:
- International trade and global economic systems
- Cross-cultural management and global leadership
- International marketing and global brand strategy
- Financial accounting
- Global operations and international supply chain management
- Emerging markets and global business development
- Business strategy in a global context
- Entrepreneurship and innovation in international markets
- Sustainability and corporate social responsibility in global business
- Data analytics and digital technology in international business
At Kingston, you will explore these topics through global case studies, international business simulations, study abroad opportunities and placement years.
Foundation year: Business
Not quite ready to start Year 1 of your BSc (Hons) degree?
Our foundation year can help you build the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to progress to the first year of your degree.
The foundation year forms part of a four-year degree and is taught at Kingston College, close to Kingston University’s Penrhyn Road campus. You’ll explore topics including professional skills, numerical concepts, business IT, marketing, customer care and business law.
Year 1
In your first year, you’ll build the broad business foundations that underpin the rest of your degree. Over the course of the year, you will:
- Explore the global business environment and the external forces that shape how organisations operate.
- Build your understanding of marketing, sales, customer value and digital communications.
- Explore disruptive technologies and how data and digital tools are changing the way businesses operate and make decisions.
- Develop your understanding of organisations, people, leadership and effective collaboration.
Core modules
Year 2
In Year 2, your International Business specialism starts to take shape. You’ll build your analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills while exploring how organisations operate across different markets, cultures and business environments.
Over the course of the year, you will:
- Develop your understanding of accounting and financial management.
- Use business analytics, data and emerging technologies to support better decision-making.
- Explore global innovation, sustainability, corporate responsibility and ethical business.
- Examine how culture influences management, communication and business practice across borders.
- Apply your learning to international business situations, including how organisations enter and compete in global markets.
Core modules
Optional year
You can choose to add an extra year between Year 2 and your final year to study abroad, complete a year-long professional placement, or combine the two.
It’s a chance to take your learning beyond the classroom, gain international or workplace experience, build new connections and develop skills such as adaptability, problem-solving and confidence in unfamiliar environments.
Professional placement year
You can choose to complete a professional placement year between Year 2 and your final year, giving you the opportunity to put what you’ve learned into practice in a professional setting.
You’ll gain extended workplace experience, build your confidence and add valuable evidence to your CV before you graduate.
Final year
In your final year, you’ll bring together everything you’ve learned and develop a more strategic understanding of how businesses operate across international markets.
Over the course of the year, you will:
- Explore international trade, markets and the forces shaping global business.
- Examine how organisations manage operations across borders, including sourcing, transport, location decisions and global supply chains.
- Assess opportunities and risks in changing international markets, including the impact of geopolitical developments, emerging technologies and sustainability.
- Develop your strategic thinking and apply it to real international business challenges.
- Build practical skills in data analysis, technology and evidence-based decision-making.
Core modules
Inside the Department of Management
Discover what it's like to study in the Department of Management at Kingston University, including the learning experience, industry connections and opportunities available to you throughout your studies.
Global careers with an International Business degree
Not sure exactly where you want your career to take you yet? That’s one of the strengths of an International Business degree.
You could go into international trade, global marketing, business development or consultancy, or use your skills in wider business and management roles with organisations that operate across different countries, markets and cultures.
You’ll build the commercial awareness, global perspective and practical experience to explore opportunities with multinational companies, consultancies, financial institutions, government trade bodies, NGOs and international organisations.
Emerging markets and global business development
Want to understand where the biggest opportunities in global business are coming from?
On this course, you’ll explore fast-changing markets around the world and look at what growth, competition and disruption mean for businesses trying to expand internationally.
You’ll examine areas including:
- emerging markets and major economic groupings such as BRICS
- regional economic integration and international trading relationships
- the role of international institutions in shaping global business
- how trading blocs and changing market conditions create opportunities and risks
- how organisations adapt their strategy when entering or operating in different international markets
You’ll consider how economic and business developments across different parts of the world are reshaping international trade and creating new opportunities and challenges for organisations.
Most importantly, you’ll explore what all of this means in practice: how businesses assess new opportunities, respond to uncertainty and decide where and how to grow internationally.
Key features
Future Skills
We don’t just teach you a subject – we prepare you for career success in a fast-changing world.
Whichever course you take at Kingston, you’ll master the Future Skills employers are looking for.
Read about how Future Skills will benefit your studies
Adobe Creative Campus
As a Kingston student, you’ll have access to Adobe Creative Campus, giving you free use of industry-standard creative tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro.
You’ll be supported to build your digital and creative skills, whatever your course or experience level.
Find out the advantages of Adobe Creative Campus
TEF Gold
We're rated Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), recognising our outstanding teaching, student experience and graduate outcomes.
This reflects our commitment to helping every student at Kingston achieve their goals.
Future Skills
Our Future Skills programme is embedded within all our undergraduate courses and throughout the whole Kingston experience. These skills will help you to become a future-proof graduate by equipping you with the skills most valued by employers, such as problem-solving, digital competency and adaptability.
As you progress through your degree, you'll learn to navigate, explore and apply these graduate skills. You’ll also understand how to demonstrate and articulate to employers how these future skills give you the edge.
Teaching and assessment
Scheduled learning and teaching on this course includes timetabled activities including lectures, seminars and small group tutorials.
How to apply
For most of our undergraduate courses, you apply online through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). You should submit your UCAS application between the beginning of September before you come to university and mid-January if you're a UK or EU applicant.
How to apply for undergraduate courses (UK and EU students)
International students
Are you an international student? Have you decided Kingston is the place for you? If so, you can apply for this course directly, rather than having to go through UCAS.
The Kingston Business School experience
Hear from our graduates as they reflect on their studies, share the skills they developed, and discuss how Kingston Business School prepared them for their future careers.
Fees and funding
Additional course costs
Some courses may require additional costs beyond tuition fees. When planning your studies, you’ll want to consider tuition fees, living costs, and any extra costs that might relate to your area of study.
Your tuition fees include costs for teaching, assessment and university facilities. So your access to libraries, shared IT resources and various student support services are all covered. Accommodation and general living expenses are not covered by these fees.
Where applicable, additional expenses for your course may include:
Scholarships and bursaries
For students interested in studying this course at Kingston, there are several opportunities to seek funding support.
The AVSH Scholarship
The AVSH Scholarship is for a student studying either Business Management BSc (Hons) or International Business BSc (Hons). This scholarship includes four years’ tuition fees for a home student (including a placement/'sandwich' year) and bursary support of £5,000 per year of study.
For more information on how to apply for this scholarship, visit The AVSH Scholarship page.
What are the facilities like?
When you join Kingston University, you will have access to a wide range of facilities and resources designed to support your studies. Use the virtual tour below to explore some of the facilities and learning environments that students within this subject area may experience during their studies.
Life at Kingston
Student life
Being part of Kingston means joining a diverse community where you can connect with others, build confidence and shape your own university experience both on campus and beyond.
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KU Connect blog
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Chat to our students
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FAQs
Frequently-asked questions
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Find out more about course changes
Specifications for this course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
Key information
The scrolling banner below displays some key factual data about this course (including different course combinations or delivery modes of this course where relevant).
