Next to the different tracks, there are 3 compulsory courses for all Bachelor 3 students. Below you'll find a short description for both courses. For more information per course, please consult the Course Catalogue. If no information is available for the current academic year, you may have to select the course from the previous academic year (subject to change). 


Block 3.3: B3101 - Advanced Research Skills (3 EC)

The Advanced Research Skills course is not the first research course for International Business Administration and Bedrijfskunde students. In year 2 you followed Research Project course (Onderzoeksproject) that already offered a deep-dive into some methods such as surveys and experiments and equipped you with important practical skills, for example, how to work with primary and secondary data or how to use R for statistical analysis. 

However, your Bachelor Project course, organized around different tracks in year 3, may require application of other research methods - and you will also need to choose the right one for you. Bachelor Project will challenge you with more decisions - how to execute high quality and valid research, which literature to use for your study, how to explain in which way your work contributes to the existing knowledge, etc. 

This is why we created Advanced Research Skills - a brief and intense methodology course that prepares you for the Bachelor Project, and is relevant for all tracks. This course will:

  • Introduce to you the variety of approaches to research as a tool to help solve management problems.

  • Demonstrate how to search for and analyze relevant academic and professional literature.

  • Provide guidance about how to select a suitable research approach (strategy, method) for own research project, and how to design it. 

  • Explain how to present research results and position them in the body of the existing academic knowledge. 

  • Discuss how to perform high quality ethical research.

After completing this course, you should be able to tackle your Bachelor Project and execute all its assignments successfully. 


Note: it is recommended to take this course in the same academic year as the BSc Project. B3 students who are not participating in the BSc Project, but would like to participate in ARS, can register at least one week before the course starts via Osiris or bachelor3@rsm.nl.



Block 3.4: B3103 - Methods Master Classes (5 EC)


The Methods Master Classes is a five‑lecture, practice‑oriented course on modern quantitative methods for business analytics and management research. Students revisit core topics such as regression and optimisation and extend them to panel and time‑series settings, introductory machine learning, optimisation for decision support, and the design and analysis of survey/experimental studies.


Emphasis is on selecting appropriate methods for a given question, understanding assumptions and diagnostics, interpreting results correctly, and communicating actionable insights. Each lecture will be accompanied by guided tutorials that focus on demonstrating and implementing workflows in R to help bridge from concepts to application. The course is jointly taught by the Departments of Technology & Operations, Marketing Management and Finance, ensuring exposure to a range of applications across sub‑disciplines.




Block 3.5: BT3101 - International Business - The Dutch Way (5 EC)


This course familiarizes you with the landscape, culture and the business environment of the Netherlands: past, present and future (innovation). You will actively get to know different Dutch companies and organisations, each covering a different aspect of developing and doing international business in and from the Netherlands. You will also be helped in understanding the heritage of the Netherlands in terms of landscape, industry, culture, religion.


A core theme for the course is Water since the Dutch have a unique relationship with it and form a hub for global expertise in water management.

Throughout the course a line of thought will be developed and brought to life relating to how value is created, how businesses evolve and the future of business development.