The Bachelor of Commerce (B Com (International)), which includes a one year international exchange component, is a highly valued business qualification. The program is designed for students who want to complement their business degree with international studies (including asian studies, european studies or languages), and also for those students who want to align their degree with their interests and careers ambitions in accounting, finance, human resource management, marketing or information systems.

It is assumed that students have a certain level of knowledge in advanced mathematics in order to cope well with the mathematical or statistical component of a business degree. If you are successful in obtaining a place without this assumed knowledge, you are strongly encouraged to consider studying a Mathematics Bridging Course before starting your degree.

Program Benefits:

Participation and Enrolment Requirements

BCom (Intl) - Students are required to study overseas. This means they are subject to visa requirements, both here and overseas. But students are not compelled to go to any particular destination. Students who find themselves unable to go overseas may (under certain conditions) drop back to the B Com pass degree.

On successful completion of the BCom (International), students will have the ability to:

The program normally consists of 32 courses or 192 UOC in approved courses, to be completed over a period of 4 academic years.

These UOC need to be made up of 4 components:


1. Commerce Depth (96UOC) consists of:

Flexible core courses account for 24 UOC (4 courses). Students should choose 4 courses from the following list:

Major requirements 48 UOC in an approved disciplinary stream offered by the UNSW Business School (See Table A), containing at least 18 UOC at level 3. Note that the 48UOC includes the first disciplinary course(s) in the Core (Compulsory or Flexible). This means that, for the majority of majors, students will complete 42 UOC in specified disciplinary courses outside the core.

One course within the major is to be in the international-labelled course in the relevant discipline, such as: ACCT3601, ECON2111, ECON2322, ECON3104, ECON3116, FINS3616, FINS3650, TABL2756, TABL2790, TABL3791, MARK2071, MGMT2101, MGMT2102, MGMT3102, MGMT3701.

Students may need to complete additional commerce course(s) to ensure they fulfil the 96 UOC of business courses requirement.

2. International Depth (24 UOC) consists of:

Intercultural and Cross-cultural course:

Plus Studies of the Region (12 UOC to be completed while on exchange);

And one Capstone international course:

Intercultural and Cross Cultural Study accounts for 6 UOC (1 course). This course, MGMT2102 Managing Across Cultures is to be completed prior to undertaking the 1 year compulsory exchange.

Studies of the Region accounts for 12 UOC (2 courses). These courses are part of the 48 UOC completed while undertaking the compulsory 1 year exchange at an overseas institution. This exchange, or Commerce Overseas Program (COP), is to be taken during your 4th and 5th semester of (full-time) study, i.e. during semester 2 of Year 2 and semester 1 of Year 3.

Approved Studies of the Region courses must relate to the country or region of the COP placement - for example, language of the region, history of the region, geography of the region, politics or business practices of the regions - or be international or global in nature.

Studies of the Region courses are separate to the Commerce depth component and the Focussed International Studies component. The Studies of the Region courses need to be approved by the UNSW Business School Student Centre.

To proceed on the Commerce Overseas Program (COP) students must have achieved satisfactory academic progress in their first and second years of study and must fulfil the requirements of the University's Exchange Program.

Upon returning from exchange, 48UOC is required to the transferred to your BCom(Intl) program (Refer to Academic Rule 6). Students who fail to meet this requirement are advised to contact the UNSW Business School Student Centre.

Capstone international course (6 UOC). MGMT3110, Integrative Seminar in Global Business, is to be completed within the subsequent two semesters following exchange.

3. Focussed International Studies (24 UOC)

These courses are from UNSW Arts & Social Sciences and are to be taken within ONE area of Asian Studies, Development Studies, European Studies, Globalisation Studies, International Relations, Language Studies, Politics or History (See Table A). If a student wishes to complete a major or minor in their chosen International Studies area by using some UOC from their Free Electives, please refer to the UNSW Arts & Social Sciences website for details of the courses and requirements.

4. Free Electives account for up to 48 UOC (8 courses).

Students are free to use these UOC to complete courses from any Faculty however they need to be mindful of the program limit on Level 1 courses (84 UOC) when making their selection. Ways to use these UOC include: completing a range of courses across different Faculties; completing a second business major or a business minor; expanding the International Studies courses into a major or minor. GEN coded courses cannot be counted as Free Electives


Table A

Business - Discipline Streams

Language Studies for Commencing Mid-Year Students

If your language skills are assessed as Level A in Introductory, Intermediate, Advanced or Professional you cannot commence study until Semester 1.

Click here to view the Progression Plan for your degree program

High achieving students may undertake honours in the area of their business major by enrolling in 4501 BCom(Hons) program.

Rules relating to the award of the degree of Bachelor of Commerce shall apply wherever relevant. Students are advised to consult the Academic Rules for further information.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  UNSW Fee Website.

For further information, please refer to the Professional Recognition of Programs in the UNSW Online Handbook.

Please note that these requirements may be subject to change. Students should always follow the program requirements according to the year they started their degree. For more information please visit Previous UNSW Online Handbooks

Contact the UNSW Business School Student Centre for advice.
tel: + 61 2 9385 3189
location: Level 1, room 1028, Quadrangle Building
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