Banking and Insurance Management and Business in Emerging Markets – two Master’s courses, lots of routes to get there and a joint result: the graduates are in high demand thanks to their specialist expertise.
The Master’s degree programmes at FH JOANNEUM are open to many students, whether they completed their Bachelor’s at FH JOANNEUM or a different university. While Michael Bednarek decided to continue at the university, Michael Ingolic switched to FH JOANNEUM for his Master’s.
Business in Emerging Markets: the experiences of a student
The world and global economy are changing rapidly. Emerging markets are playing a key role and gaining in significance for multinational corporations. How can a company further develop its growth in Brazil? What is the strategy for a market launch in India? Does South Africa offer any specific potential for a company’s business idea?
Students on the Business in Emerging Markets programme think beyond the national borders. The course provides what is required to achieve this: alongside content about the emerging markets and management behaviour, the focus is also on ethics and social responsibility. The rapid changes taking place on the emerging markets are also having an effect on teaching. And so the curriculum has recently been adapted to the latest industry requirements.
One benefit of the new curriculum is the mandatory semester abroad. This enables students of the Business in Emerging Markets course to study directly on-site, for example in Argentina, Thailand or China. The university also has a double degree agreement with a university in Chile, Taiwan and Russia. Students can acquire a double degree and thus hold a recognised degree in the respective country.
After completing his Bachelor’s degree in International Management at FH JOANNEUM, Michael Bednarek immediately started out on the Master’s in Business in Emerging Markets: “For me, this was a logical and sensible continuation of my studies. The content is based on the expertise I gained during my Bachelor’s and is conveyed through practical projects – all focusing on the issue of the emerging markets. The mandatory semester abroad allows me to improve my intercultural skills and gather valuable personal experience”.
Banking and Insurance Management: experiences of a graduate
Michael Ingolic completed the Master’s degree in Banking and Insurance Management in 2016. He met the admission requirements due to his law degree from the University of Graz.
“I took lots of business management content with me from the Master’s course which is essential in corporate management. Extensive entrepreneurial expertise is required for career promotion prospects and these cannot be acquired from studying law alone,” Michael Ingolic explains. In his view, the big advantages of studying at a university of applied sciences are the mix of academic and practical topics and the part-time organisation. Classes take place weekly on Fridays from 15:00 until 22:00 and on Saturdays from 9:00 until 18:00.
Students on the Banking and Insurance Management course also choose a field of specialisation: either banking or insurance management. In addition to the common content (the international financial system, monetary policy and financial market regulation), the course also focuses on leadership, management skills and personal development.
While banks and insurance companies offer numerous job opportunities for lawyers, there is virtually no overlap in terms of the course content. “The course at FH JOANNEUM can therefore be seen as the ideal complement. Law students intending to work in banking or insurance can benefit from virtually all of the content taught by the Institute of Banking and Insurance Management”.
Today Michael Ingolic holds a senior position at Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung. His tasks include claims management in the motor vehicle division as well as service management and project management.
The Department of Management also offers additional Master’s courses where graduates can expand their knowledge: Health Tourism and Leisure Management, Health Management and Public Health, Sport and Event Management and International Industrial Management, both full-time and part-time.