Based on a long-standing partnership with  Avans School of International Studies in the Dutch town of Breda, ESB Business School has a fully-integrated German-Dutch programme leading to a double degree in International Management.

The agreement upon which the programme is based was signed on 2^nd December 2008 by IMD Programme Director professor Dr. Christoph Binder, and Regine Bechler (coordinator of the programme at Avans) and the Dean of Avans, Nies Rijnders.

Students study two years in Breda and two years in Reutlingen to earn the degrees of both schools. The course of study also includes two work-experience semesters.

In Breda classes are taught in English, and in Reutlingen in German. Students can begin the course in either country, depending on their levels of language competence and their preferences.  Students with a higher than average performance, and who also have at least nine months’ work experience, have the option of spending a semester in a third country at one of the leading partner business schools, instead of the work experience semester in Germany.  This is in the 3^rd or 6^th semester of the programme. 

The head of the German-Dutch Programme is ESB Business School professor Dr. Wolfgang Stahl, who points out the significance of this programme in the light of the fact that the Netherlands is one of Germany’s most important trading partners.

At the end of the programme, successful students are awarded the degrees:

• Bachelor of Business Administration in International Business Studies (Avans School of International Studies)
• Bachelor of Science in International Management (ESB Business School)

As with all international double-degree programmes, students graduating with bachelor degrees after four years of study have the option to go on to the IPBS Master of Science (MSc) degree programme, which can be completed over two years at two different schools within the partnership.  This combination is fully in line with the terms of the Bologna Accords, which allow for two-year masters’ programmes to complement three-year bachelors’ programmes, or for one-year masters’ programmes following bachelors’ degrees earned in four years of study.  The 240 Credit Points (ECTS) earned in four years are also an adequate prerequisite for entry into masters’ programmes in English-speaking countries, especially the USA, for which the fact that classes in Breda are taught in English is also advantageous.