Students are required to complete a total of 140 credit hours for graduation, comprising forty-five business and general education courses, an immersion program and seven foreign language courses (for a minor in language).
Study Scheme: Two Semesters + Two Terms per year
The annual SolBridge academic program consists of two Assessment Periods each consisting of a fifteen-week semester and five-week study term, followed by a five-week study break. This accounts for forty-weeks of study each year and ten weeks of holiday. This schedule permits students to graduate within 3.5 years in the undergraduate program (and as few as sixteen months for the graduate program).
General Education:
Nearly all of the first year of education is in general education subjects to promote basic skills in writing, presentation, critical thinking, intercultural communication, computer applications for business, quantitative methods and a range of elective courses intended to extend the student’s creative skills through courses in such subjects as environment, art, drama, psychology, etc. Students have to complete a total of ten courses, five are required and five are electives.
Business Core:
The core of the curriculum imparts essential foundational and business-specific knowledge. Students have to complete fourteen required courses. The core has been designed with careful attention to preparing our students for strong business foundations and local knowledge.
Focus Areas
In addition to the standard specializations that most business institutions require, SolBridge departs from the norm by requiring three courses in one of the following focus areas: Asian Management, International Business or Convergence Management. In today’s business environment, managers need to have deep and practical knowledge of their business context. Focus area courses in the curriculum have the purpose of imparting such knowledge to students.
- Asian Management: students learn about the realities of doing business in Asian countries such as China, Japan, or Korea. They also acquire knowledge of how Asian markets and financial institutions operate.
- Global Business: Students who are interested in developing knowledge of global issues such as managing multinational enterprises and mastering the art and science of global supply chains will choose this focus area.
- Convergence Management: Students interested in the management of emerging technologies or who wish to pursue careers in high-technology industries such as nano-, bio- and information- technologies and sustainable energy will choose this focus area.
Specializations
Students need to complete four courses in a specialization of their choice in order to graduate. There are five specializations in the SolBridge curriculum: Finance, Management, Marketing, Information Systems and Entrepreneurship.
Free Electives
Beyond the Focus area and Specialization electives, students can choose five courses from a list of free electives, or from any specialization or focus area courses of their choice.
Immersion Program
The immersion program is designed to give the student hands-on experience in order to prepare them for managing in a dynamic environment. Students have to complete a total of five credit hours of immersion during their stay at SolBridge. Students will participate in a series of projects, workshops and fieldwork under the guidance of SolBridge faculty. During these projects and workshops, they are “immersed” in the world of practice. Students have the opportunity to put into practice the concepts and skills they learned in the classroom environment. Students reflect and learn from these experiences, and understand how to translate classroom learning to managerial work.
Internships
SolBridge makes every effort to secure internships for qualified students prior to graduation. Students who are able to obtain an internship in an organization for a period of four weeks or more may substitute three credits of the immersion program with their internship.
Language Learning
During their stay at SolBridge, students are required to study Korean, Chinese or Japanese language. Students have to choose a language that is not their mother tongue. All SolBridge BBA graduates are expected to complete a total of twenty-one credit hours in one of these three languages.
Mentoring Program
The goal of the mentoring program is to develop well-rounded and confident graduates who have a clear career vision and plan. The program helps develop a shared sense of identity among students at all levels so that they have a life-long network. The program also forges a long lasting bond between the institution and its alumni through the mentor-mentee relationships of faculty and students. Students are mentored by faculty for seven semesters, the first semester is mandatory, but is non-credit, and the remaining six semesters are mandatory with one credit per semester for a total of six semesters; in their last two semesters, students also work with the career development center to develop their skills for competing in the job market.
