Creative Business

Practice-based, connected to the industry

The Creative Business programme is very much practice-based. You will learn about all the ‘ins and outs’ of the industry from lecturers with recent national and international experience in this field. By working on assignments, mostly for real clients, you will discover what Creative Business is all about.

In-school training company

Throughout the entire programme you will spend one day a week working in our own Production House for media students. Here, you will work on assignments and projects often secured from industry, together with other students, such as developing a website, writing a communication plan or organising a media event.

Our curriculum is based on five key themes:

• Community learning in Production House
• Integration of content
• Focus on trends & innovations
• High industry involvement
• Social & professional skills integrated in all projects

The result is a community-based curriculum that offers students all-encompassing, multidisciplinary projects to work on, in which course content is integrated. Below you will find a more detailed description of each year of study.

Year 1

In the first year, you will be introduced to the international media landscape. You learn about subjects in storytelling, InDesign, marketing, research, and media legislation. There are two semesters and in each semester you will work on a project. The first semester is making a digital children’s book and in the second semester you will create your own short film.   

For example, you will follow these courses:  

• An Introduction to Marketing and Marketing & Communication; 
• A production module which introduces pre-production, production and post-production of audio-visual content, including Image Editing and short film production; 
• A content orientation module that teaches you how to recognise good content, by completing study topics in story analysis and digital concept development.

Year 2

The second year is the main phase of the study programme. The subjects of management, media psychology, camera and audio, finance, marketing, online production, communication and research will be dealt with in greater detail. The second year, divided into semesters 3 and  4, contains five projects throughout the year. These are: portfolio website, miniseries, brand development, trends/ethical/debates/podcast/speech, and live TV show. You will have the opportunity to go to Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom or Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff in the United States. A professional, state-of-the-art television studio will be at your disposal. 

You will learn to develop ideas or concepts for advertising campaigns, television programmes and multimedia activities. You get more detailed insights into the production techniques of ‘classic’ media, such as radio and television. As the programme is a management education, you will also learn more about the organisational and commercial aspects of the work. How do you ensure that a project is completed on time - before the deadline - and within budget? How do you manage people and their creative differences? 

Years 3 & 4

In these two years you can follow you own study pathway which you will choose at the end of the second year. You will focus more on your own development through a work placement, going on an exchange or attending a minor. For all students it is required in those two years to complete a semester@Buas, a work placement and a capstone (finalisation) project. As we aim for flexibility, the timing as to when to complete the various curriculum components is up to the students.  If you do a semester@BUas, it gives you the opportunity to find out how you operate in a competitive business environment as an entrepreneur and you will participate in Production House as well. You can choose your own project out of four: trend watching, cross-platform thinking, data-driven decisions, and creating & producing innovative concepts. All these four projects address different areas of interest, such as marketing, production, or content. In addition, research will be part of each project. Each student will close off with a capstone (finalisation) project. This can be something to create, produce or research. 

Pre-master's

In your fourth year you can also opt for a pre-master’s programme of a Dutch research university to gain direct access to their master’s programmes.  

In addition, BUas also offers its own pre-master's programme Strategic Business Management and Marketing (SBM). If your academic results are good, you will be offered the opportunity of attending this pre-master’s programme. Successful completion of this track will give you direct access, after Breda University of Applied Sciences, to various Master of Science programmes in business-related studies in management and marketing at several partner universities. A few examples are the universities of Maastricht, Tilburg, Brussels (B) and Warwick (UK). In this way, it will be possible for you to earn an academic master's degree within five years' time or, after having completed an accelerated three-year track, even within four years' time.

Study load and coaching

During your studies, you will have 15 hours of lectures a week and 8 hours of work in the Production House, under supervision. This amounts to a total of 23 contact hours a week. Bachelor’s programmes are generally based on a 40-hour working week. This means that you will have about 17 hours a week available for independent study, butthis obviously depends largely on your own study pace. 

Our curriculum offers you the opportunity to take charge of your own development, through free electives (optional courses) for instance, and to train your leadership skills by guiding students in other years. Moreover, in all projects to be carried out, students are always thoroughly briefed and then guided towards the deliverables by experts and supervisors. 

Three-year track after vwo, hbo, wo or Hochschulreifezeugnis

The three-year fast track of Creative Business offers students with a vwo (or equivalent), hbo or wo degree, the opportunity to finish the Bachelor of Arts in Creative Business in three years instead of four. With this degree you have access to our master’s programmes, allowing you to obtain a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in just four years.

If you already have a vwo diploma, a ‘Hochschulreifezeugnis’ (Abitur), hbo or wo diploma, Creative Business may be able to offer you the opportunity of completing the programme in just three years.

Are you eligible for the three-year programme? Check the list of appropriate qualifications. For Dutch students the recommended vwo profile is ‘Economie en Maatschappij (E+M)’. Other vwo profiles require independent study to achieve the expected level. All other international applications will be considered on an individual basis to ensure the standard of the diploma is appropriate to the fast track.

Set-up of the three-year track

To ensure students attending the three-year track meet all the requirements for a bachelor’s degree, we have created a programme in which you develop your professional skills in the broadest way possible.

Years 1 & 2

In the first two years, you will be introduced to the broad landscape of the international Creative Business industry.  All subjects and projects offered revolve around creating content, producing media products, and marketing these products. Every year consists of two semesters and in each semester, you will work on projects. Examples of projects you will work on are a short film, short form drama development, branded development, and a live TV show in either the UK, USA or the Netherlands. In every project, research and management play a key role.  

In addition to the projects, you participate in Production House in which you work in teams on an industry assignment. In the first year the client is fictitious, but in your second year you get to work with real clients from the industry and you get to choose a department in which you would like to work. Examples of departments are TV, Radio, Publishing, Interactive and Design Experiences. 

Some of the study units you will be introduced to are:  

• An Introduction to Marketing and Marketing & Communication; 
• A production module which introduces pre-production, production and post-production of audio-visual content, including Image Editing and short film production; 
• A content orientation module that teaches you how to recognise good content, by completing study topics in story analysis and digital concept development.

Year 3

Your third year consists of a semester@BUas and your Capstone work placement project. In the semester@BUas you get the opportunity to further develop your knowledge and skills regarding a specific subject. You can choose your own project out of four that integrate research and a more specialist unit that focuses on either trend-driven innovation, creative producing, cross-platform thinking or data-driven decision making. In addition to these major projects, you also take a course in Entrepreneurship and again participate in one of the Production House departments.

Throughout all three years you will also follow a professional development track in which you learn to develop your personal and professional leadership skills.

The final phase of the programme is the Capstone work placement. Everything that you have learned comes together in this project. You will further specialise as a starting professional by doing a work placement of your choice at a company in the Creative Business industry. You will work on a project for the company which will be your final project for graduation.

Should you be interested in the fast track and if you have questions that are related to the content and set-up of the study programme, please contact Lieke Mensink, mensink.l@buas.nl 

Tailor-made track at De Rooi Pannen and BUas

Do you find the move from havo to hbo just a step too big? Then the tailor-made track for havo graduates may be the perfect choice for you! You will first study at mbo level for two years in the Medewerker Marketing en Communicatie programme at De Rooi Pannen in Tilburg. You will conclude these two years with an mbo level 4 diploma. Afterwards, you will continue your course of study in the Creative Business degree programme at Breda University of Applied Sciences, where you will obtain your bachelor’s degree within three years’ time.

Application and information 

Do you want to attend the tailor-made track for havo graduates? Please feel free to contact BUas coordinator Cagri Sumengen or De Rooi Pannen coordinator Bas Horsten. Want to learn more about the tailor-made track for havo graduates? Check out de Rooi Pannen.

During a 4 to 5 month exchange with one of our many global partner universities, you can have an international experience while maintaining your academic level of achievement. We encourage you to go abroad since this will enhance your employability internationally after graduation. Other advantages are increasing your international network, learning other languages and increasing your understanding of cross-cultural differences (and, naturally, also similarities). We can guarantee that your perspectives will shift to a global view!

We have built up partnerships with a large number of universities all over the world who will be happy to accommodate your exchange.

We are able to offer you the following universities:

• Bournemouth University (UK)
• Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, USA)
• Hanyang University (Seoul, South-Korea)
• London School of Public Relations (Jakarta, Indonesia)
• Ehrvervaskademiet Lillebaelt (Denmark)
• University of Vic (Spain)
• Bilkent University (Ankara, Turkey)
• Bilgi University (Istanbul, Turkey)
• Westerdals (Oslo, Norway)