Bachelor in Business

3 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

Hanken School of Economics

Program Overview

The Bachelor in Business programme is a 3-year integrated degree that prepares you for leadership in a rapidly evolving business world, combining rigorous economics and business education with practical skills for real-world impact. What makes this programme truly unique is the integrated pathway to a Master's degree—once you complete your bachelor's, you can seamlessly continue into a 2-year master's programme without submitting a separate application.

Curriculum Structure

First Year: Building Your Foundation

Your first 1.5 years focus on creating a strong, broad foundation across all business disciplines. You'll take core courses like Introduction to Economic Analysis and Introduction to Accounting, which give you the fundamental language of business, alongside Principles of Marketing to understand how organizations create value. The programme also emphasizes meta-skills through the Navigator Path—starting with Navigator 1: Self-awareness and Leadership—ensuring you develop not just technical knowledge but the interpersonal capabilities that employers actually value.

Second Year: Specialization and Global Experience

After your first year, you'll choose your major and minor subjects based on your interests and career goals. During this phase, you'll deepen your expertise in your chosen field while completing courses like Business Analytics and Programming and Management and Entrepreneurship, blending quantitative thinking with practical business acumen. This year typically includes a semester abroad or internship, giving you invaluable international experience and helping you build a global professional network.

Final Year: Mastery and Integration

In your final years, you'll complete your major and minor studies alongside other business students, Navigator 2 focused on interpersonal skills, and undertake your thesis. This period consolidates your expertise and prepares you for immediate entry into professional roles or continued master's-level studies.

Focus Areas

The programme offers flexible specialization across multiple majors including Finance, Economics, and other business disciplines, each combining quantitative rigor with strategic thinking.

Learning Outcomes

You'll develop critical business acumen, advanced analytical capabilities, leadership competencies, and the ability to navigate complex global business environments with responsibility and sustainability at the forefront.

Professional Alignment

Hanken is recognized as one of the best business schools in the world, and the programme is specifically designed to meet high international standards comparable with leading business schools globally.

Reputation

Hanken achieved its best-ever ranking in the Financial Times Masters in Management ranking, reflecting the quality and recognition of its educational approach across degree levels.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

At Hanken School of Economics, our Bachelor in Business programme puts experiential learning right at the heart of how you build real-world skills, working directly with companies to tackle their actual challenges. You'll dive into hands-on projects that mirror professional business environments, blending classroom insights with practical action—all backed by our state-of-the-art facilities like the Hanken Business Lab. This approach, straight from our Hanken 2030 strategy, ensures you're not just learning theory but applying it through corporate collaborations, entrepreneurship ventures, and sustainability-focused initiatives.

Here are some standout ways you'll gain those practical edges in the programme:
- Group projects with real organisations: Team up in small groups (around 3 students) to solve sustainability or business problems for partners like Lindström, Save the Children, Fairtrade Finland, Ramboll, or Unicef Finland—spending half-days weekly over 8 weeks on-site, gathering data, and delivering solutions, just like a consultant.
- Entrepreneurship courses and ventures: Jump into Sustainable Venture Creation, where you reflect, form teams, ideate at hackathons, validate ideas, and pitch ventures aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals, culminating in an SDG gala—with weekly feedback from mentors and guest experts.
- Hanken Business Lab support: Access pre-incubation and incubation services in Helsinki and Vaasa to launch your own enterprises, plus tools like the Hopscotch Canvas workshop for team-building and Entrepreneurial Leadership courses focused on problem-solving, stakeholder relations, and video pitches.
- Service learning and corporate challenges: Engage in reciprocal projects via service learning, addressing global issues like children's rights or carbon pricing, fostering skills in teamwork, critical reflection, and real impact.

Progression & Future Opportunities

At Hanken School of Economics, experiential learning isn't just a buzzword—it's woven into how you'll actually study and develop as a business professional. Rather than spending your time purely on theory, you'll work on real projects with real organizations, tackling actual business challenges while building skills that employers are desperately looking for. The school emphasizes hands-on problem-solving from day one, meaning you'll graduate with a portfolio of work experience, not just grades on a transcript.

One of the most powerful ways Hanken integrates this approach is through service learning courses, where you collaborate directly with organizations on sustainability initiatives and social impact projects. You'll typically work in small groups of around three people, spending significant time—sometimes half a day every week over eight weeks—embedded in partner organizations. This isn't a one-off assignment; it's a sustained engagement where you learn how real businesses operate, how teams function under pressure, and how your work creates tangible value.

To support this hands-on approach, Hanken provides you with innovative tools and spaces designed to enhance teamwork and entrepreneurial thinking:

- Hopscotch Canvas workshop tool: Developed by Hanken researchers, this cutting-edge resource helps you and your team build shared understanding, surface personal motivations, and work together in a psychologically safe environment—skills that transform how teams collaborate.
- Hanken Business Lab: An on-campus incubator where you can develop business ideas, learn from real entrepreneurs, and explore funding opportunities if you want to launch your own venture.
- Hanken Studios: Collaborative spaces that support creative project development and digital content creation alongside your coursework.
- Courses with organizational partnerships: Classes like Entrepreneurial Leadership and Sustainable Venture Creation connect you with companies working toward UN sustainable development goals, giving you exposure to meaningful business challenges.
- Project-based learning across disciplines: Whether you're studying responsible marketing, business communication, or entrepreneurship, you'll apply theory to real company cases and consumer behavior scenarios rather than hypothetical exercises.
- Service learning framework: A structured approach to collaboration with external organizations that emphasizes reciprocity—both you and the organizations you work with teach and learn from each other.
- Language and Business Communication Centre: Beyond just learning languages (Finnish, Swedish, or English), you'll develop professional communication skills in demanding international business contexts, preparing you for global career opportunities.
- Exchange study opportunities: Hanken has partnerships with universities worldwide, so you can gain international experience while earning credit toward your degree.

This experiential model aligns directly with Hanken's 2030 strategy, which prioritizes signature teaching methods that connect classroom learning to real business impact. You're not just preparing for a career—you're already building one while you study.