International Management with American Business Studies

First-hand knowledge of another culture can be crucial in business. The distinctive feature of this four-year course is that you spend a full academic year abroad on exchange at a top global business school or university.

You will spend your third year studying in the USA or Canada. We have 22 exchange partners across eleven American states and four Canadian provinces. Most feature in the top 100 Financial Times global rankings. Browse the full list of our current partner institutions .

In Manchester, you will benefit from a specialist North American course unit and study international topics across the range of disciplines. From your second year, you will benefit from a huge amount of choice. With over 90 course units to  choose from, you really can shape your own course.

This course aims to promote critical awareness of the merits and complexities of management and to instill an appreciation of the association between theory and practice. It aims to introduce you to important new developments in the field of management and to enable you to develop appropriate practical and transferable skills.

• Spend your third year on an academic exchange at a top business school or university in the USA or Canada.
• Choose from 22 diverse exchange partners across 11 American states and 4 Canadian provinces. Most feature in the top 100 Financial Times global rankings.
• The exchange year enhances your academic and career prospects - 81% of students who go on exchange achieve first or upper second degrees and earning potential increases by 8% (HEFCE 2010).
• Our dedicated international office prepares you for your exchange and supports you whilst on exchange.
• Study core and specialist areas of international business and management according to your personal or academic interests or career ambitions.

You will normally study four or five course units per semester. Each week there are usually two hours of lectures for each course unit and a one hour workshop in alternate weeks, although this varies slightly. You are expected to double this in private study. Group work and group or individual presentations will form a regular part of your assignments.

Essays, multiple choice tests, project reports and presentations, in-class tests and weekly assignments constitute the coursework component of assessment, although the nature and proportion of coursework varies across course units. The remainder of assessment is by unseen examination. Depending on the degree course, in your final year you can choose to do a research-based dissertation or project. We aim to strike a balance between examinations and assessed coursework as well as providing opportunities for feedback on progress through non-assessed work.

Your first year will give you a good grounding in accounting, finance, management, human resources, psychology, marketing and economics. You will study a set of core course units to provide a broad introduction to a range of topics across our management portfolio; this will ensure that you benefit from more choice in later years.

Following feedback from both current students and employers, we have recently enhanced our first year programme structure. Due to popular demand, we have introduced a first-year marketing course unit to allow new first-year students to benefit from an early insight into this area. We have also created a new course unit for semester two which uses case studies to give you a more practical understanding of the theories you have learned during the first semester.

You will study Analysing Organisations 1 and 2, Case Studies in Management, Economic Principles: Microeconomics, Financial Decision Making, Fundamentals of Financial Reporting, Fundamentals of Management Accounting, Introduction to Work Psychology, Marketing Foundations and Quantitative Methods for Business and Management 1 and 2.

You will take a compulsory 20-credit course unit in American Society and Economy. The remainder of credits are chosen from the management portfolio of second-year course units, which includes a further 20 credits of international course units.

Allocation of your exchange destination will also take place. Our dedicated international office prepares you for your exchange and supports you while on exchange. You will be asked to indicate your preferred institutions by ranking destinations in order of preference. We aim to place you as high as possible up your personal ranking.

Our partners  include the universities of Florida, Massachusetts, British Columbia, Arizona State and McGill University, Montreal, as well as renowned business schools such as Stern at NYU in New York, Marshall at USC in Los Angeles and the Schulich School of Business in Toronto. All partners have been selected on the basis of their global ranking, the quality of their business/management courses, their high standard of teaching, social and sporting facilities, the safety and attractiveness of the campus and the level of support for our exchange students.

You will spend the whole of your third year overseas, fully integrating with the students of the overseas institution - attending the same lectures, seminars and other learning activities. Your teaching and assessment will be in English, but you are encouraged to learn a language where appropriate.

You will return to Manchester for your final year and will have the opportunity to use the knowledge and experience gained on exchange in a range of specialised international options across all of the key disciplines. International course units are designed to develop an appreciation of economic, social and cultural differences between nations and the implications of this for management systems and practices.

The Manchester Bursary is available to any student who is registered on an eligible first undergraduate degree course at Manchester and who has had a full financial assessment carried out by Student Finance. Visit our student finance pages for more detailed information.

In addition to this support, Alliance Manchester Business School will be awarding five Undergraduate Scholarships for Social Responsibility worth £2,000 p.a. across three years of study to UK students achieving AAA at A-level (or equivalent) who are able to demonstrate a significant contribution and commitment to social responsibility. We will also be awarding this scholarship to an international (non-EU) student. Find out more about our Undergraduate Scholarships for Social Responsibility .

'Amazing experience I will never forget - I've learnt so much and been given so many opportunities, I would recommend studying abroad to anybody.' - Dean Tempest, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA

'A brilliant year in a fantastic city. One of the best experiences of my life.' - Greg Russell, HEC, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

'Friends for life, once in a lifetime teaching, a great institution... possibly the best year of my life!' - Ben Collins, William and Mary, Virginia, USA

'I wanted a course that stood out from the endless business courses available and after reading about the range of partner institutions in the USA, it was too good a chance to miss. I talked about my time at the University of Southern California non-stop in various job interviews. The educational experience set against the backdrop of living in Los Angeles made it one of the best years of my life.

My role at Deloitte will help me to prove to myself that I can work for one of the largest corporations in the world alongside the most talented colleagues. To know that I can contribute to top-level projects in such a competitive industry is testament to the self-belief instilled in me by my course.' - David Staunton graduated in 2010 and has been appointed as a Strategic Analyst for Deloitte.

More current students share their experience of studying IMABS on our YouTube channel

John Rylands University Library is renowned as one of the most extensive libraries in the world. This is complemented by our specialist business and management Precinct Library which provides a dedicated service to Alliance Manchester Business School undergraduates. There is increasing provision of information via various web-based services and much of your reading material will be available through e-journals. These and other standard computing services, such as access to the internet and word processing, are available through computer clusters across campus in departmental buildings, libraries and halls of residence. Many buildings in and around the campus are also equipped with free wifi access.

Personal development plans

PDPs are aimed at helping you develop awareness of generic transferable and subject-specific skills, improve independent learning and provide a record of your academic learning and achievement.

Academic advisors

All new Alliance Manchester Business School students are allocated an academic advisor who you will meet in regular sessions as part of a first-year course unit. Where possible, you will keep the same academic advisor throughout your time here. Your advisor will support you throughout your studies on matters of an academic nature, from providing feedback on a practice essay in preparation for your `formal' assessment at the end of each semester to discussing your PDP or writing you a reference. We also have a dedicated undergraduate assessment and student support centre within the School, who will be your first point of contact for any ill health or other personal problems which are affecting your work.

Student mentoring

We operate a peer mentoring scheme which aims to provide you with a second or final year 'mentor' to provide practical assistance with orientation and induction as well as advice and information on any aspect of student life.

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email:  dass@manchester.ac.uk