Provisional University Bulletin (2025-2026)

Brandeis International Business School

Last updated: August 14, 2025 at 4:50 PM

At Brandeis International Business School, we believe in the power of business for global good. Our mission is to educate the next generation of principled, data-driven, and effective business leaders, and to improve the world through innovative research and ideas.

The International Business School is an AACSB-accredited institution with STEM-designated programs ranked among the best in the world. Our students gain the knowledge, skills, and global perspective required to launch successful careers, with personalized support from expert faculty and Career Coaches. Our alumni work at the world’s most successful and innovative organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, international financial institutions, and groundbreaking startups.

The International Business School is part of Brandeis University, a private research university located in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts — a global hub for higher education and innovation. Brandeis is distinguished by its values of rigorous learning, critical thinking, and making the world a better place through one’s actions and talents.

Centers and Initiatives

The school's centers and initiatives provide a springboard for the study of the global economy.

The Asia-Pacific Center for Economics and Business

The Asia-Pacific Center for Economics and Business conducts research, teaching and outreach on business and economic issues in the Asia Pacific region and on US-Asia Pacific relations. Its activities include faculty research projects, conferences, seminars, graduate and undergraduate courses, and exchange programs with Asia-Pacific universities.

The Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship

The Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship serves as Brandeis International Business School's platform to examine and understand the key trends affecting entrepreneurship across cultures and borders. It provides a diverse range of learning experiences through courses, seminars and conferences, internships, business plan competitions, field visits, and meetings with global entrepreneurs. The Asper Center was established in 2006 by Leonard J. Asper '86.

The Steven M. Bunson ’82 Finance and Society Initiative

The Steven M. Bunson ’82 Finance and Society Initiative serves as a cornerstone of the International Business School offerings in socially responsible business. It supports courses and programs that are closely aligned with our commitment to the social and environmental needs of the broader society. Experiential learning opportunities include internships, field trips, speakers and student club activities.

Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center

The Hassenfeld Family Innovation Center, founded in 2014, is overseen by Brandeis University’s Provost who facilitates collaboration between the Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) and Brandeis International Business School. The Center builds upon the university’s reputation as one of the nation’s leading research institutions by supporting faculty research while catalyzing innovation on campus. It provides a platform for increased corporate outreach to innovative firms, provides new educational opportunities for Brandeis students, and leverages the experience of industry professionals to ensure that the societal impact of the university’s groundbreaking research is maximized. The Hassenfeld Center also enhances efforts to bring Brandeis’ research and technology advances to commercial partners in sectors such as life sciences, clean energy and information technology. It serves as a platform to identify potential relationships with like-minded academic institutions and corporations around the globe.

India Initiative

The India Initiative at Brandeis International Business School is focused on further strengthening our relationships with India, which has historically accounted for a large number of students and alumni. India is not only a huge, rising economy, but it is an especially important partner driving innovation in today’s global economy. The India Initiative focuses on developing strong linkages between Brandeis and India that offer great opportunities for fostering innovation and developing partnerships with both Universities and the Indian Corporate sector. The India Initiative is designed to establish us as a leader in facilitating and championing the triangulation of innovative opportunities between the U.S., India, and Israel.

Latin American Initiative

The Latin American Initiative is a collaborative effort seeking to increase the visibility of Brandeis International Business School in Central and South America, through establishing strong business and governmental relationships, university partnerships, and outreach to local communities. The Initiative aims to have a long-term positive impact on student recruitment, alumni engagement, fundraising, and the creation of professional opportunities for students and graduates.

The Perlmutter Institute for Global Business Leadership

Established by Brandeis Trustee Louis '56 and Barbara Perlmutter in 2008, the Perlmutter Institute focuses on the intersection of business, the global economy, government, and civil society. Using a multi-disciplinary, holistic approach, the Institute prepares students for leadership in a globally interdependent world, promoting the value of balancing profit and the public good.

The Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance

The Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance seeks to analyze and anticipate major trends in global financial markets, institutions and regulations, and to develop the information and ideas required to solve emerging problems. The Institute, founded in 2002, is named for Barbara C. Rosenberg '54 and Richard M. Rosenberg.

Degree Programs

The degree programs are the academic heart of the school and focus on business, economics, and finance.

Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance Program

The Lemberg Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance (MA) is a two-year (four academic-year semesters) professional degree that integrates high-level conceptual analysis in economics and finance, on the one hand, with practical applications and a global economic perspective, on the other. The degree offers a strong focus on the analysis of economic phenomena and related issues, including economic modeling, forecasting and evaluation. The program is STEM-designated and prepares students for careers in finance, economic policy, consulting, multinational corporations, and international organizations.

Master of Business Administration Program

The MBA at the International Business School is a two-year (four academic-year semesters) professional degree, and offers in-depth preparation in all business and management functions. MBA students can customize their program by completing one of five optional concentrations: Finance, Marketing, Data Analytics, Real Estate, and Strategy and Innovation. The Data Analytics and Finance concentrations are STEM-designated).

Master of Science in Finance Program - 9 Month

The Master of Science in Finance (MSF) - 9 month is a STEM-designated full-time program with a curriculum grounded in financial theory, quantitative problem solving, and solid financial analytics at an accelerated pace for students with strong background in finance academically or through work experience. The program requires a competency in basic finance and provides MSF students with these essential applied skills in addition to a required practicum which prepares them to compete in the financial job market.

Master of Science in Finance Program - 16 Month

The Master of Science in Finance (MSF) -16 month is a STEM-designated 16-month full-time program with a curriculum grounded in financial theory, quantitative problem solving, and solid financial analytics intended for students with little to no finance experience or background. The program provides MSF students with these essential applied skills in addition to a required practicum which prepares them to compete in the financial job market.

Master of Science in Business Analytics

The Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) is a STEM designated 12-month or 16-month program that prepares students to gain a better understanding of statistical, programming, data visualization and econometric methods of analyzing data in order to make well-informed economic, financial and business decisions.

Master of Science in Business Analytics - Online

The Online Master of Science in Business Analytics (MBSA) is a part-time, STEM-designated 17- to 20 month program that prepares working professionals to design, build and leverage data-driven business projects across top industries, including finance, marketing, healthcare and sports management.

PhD in International Economics and Finance

The PhD in International Economics and Finance, offered in collaboration with the university's economics department, provides advanced training in economics, research techniques, and creative problem-solving in an integrated, global economic framework. This STEM-designated program prepares students for research, teaching, and policy making careers in business, government, and international agencies.

The PhD program enrolls every other year. The next intake will be in Fall 2026.

Combined BA/MA Programs

Brandeis and Wellesley College undergraduate students may apply for admission to the BA/MA up until the final admissions cycle of their senior year. They may begin taking program courses in their fourth year of undergraduate study and satisfy the master's degree requirements in one additional year of study at the graduate level after receiving their BA. Students must have 28 credits of eligible coursework to transfer to continue onto the MA program.

Combined BA or BS/MSBA Program

Brandeis undergraduate students may apply for admission to a special BA or BS /MSBA up until the final admissions cycle of their senior year. They may begin taking program courses in their fourth year of undergraduate study and satisfy the master's degree requirements in one additional year of study at the graduate level after receiving their BA/BS. Students must have 8 credits of eligible coursework to transfer to continue onto the MSBA program.

BA or BS/MBA Dual Degree Program

Prospective or current Brandeis graduates with a BA or BS degree may apply for admission to one of two special BA/MBA tracks; applications are normally submitted in the student's senior year or after graduation. Brandeis students with a BS in any major or a BA in any field of science are eligible for admittance to the BA/MBA-Science track, even without work experience. Students with a BA in another field of Liberal Arts will be eligible for admittance to the BA/MBA-Liberal Arts track, if they have gained a minimal amount of work experience through internships. Students in the BA/MBA will be able to count 16 credits of prior undergraduate work towards their MBA, thus reducing the time to completion for the MBA to three semesters beyond the Bachelor's degree.

Accelerated MA Program

The Accelerated MA Program allows undergraduate students studying economics or business in the United States to earn the MA degree in one additional year after completing their BA or BS by transferring 16-24 credits from their relevant undergraduate degree. The Accelerated MA Program curriculum combines graduate business coursework and practical learning in both international economics and finance, providing students expanded knowledge across both subjects and enabling them to succeed in the global job market across a wide range of opportunities. The Accelerated MA program is designed to be completed in 16 months, or three semesters.

MA/MBA Dual Degree

Students with work experience who are interested in gaining the broad management expertise of an MBA combined with the economics and finance expertise of an MA can opt to apply for the MA/MBA dual degree. Students who enroll in the dual degree when admitted to the business school or add the second degree within the first year of their program are able to complete both degrees with a combined 96 credits, instead of the 128 credits required to earn each credential independently. Students must meet admissions requirements of both programs to be admitted to the dual degree program and complete the requirements of both programs to earn both degrees.

MSF/MBA Dual Degree

Students with work experience who are interested in gaining the in-depth finance knowledge of an MSF degree combined with the broad management expertise of an MBA can opt to apply for the MSF/MBA dual degree. Students who enroll in the dual degree when admitted to the business school or add the second degree within the first year of their first program are able to complete both degrees with a combined 79 credits, instead of the 109 credits required to earn each credential independently. Students must meet admissions requirements of both programs to be admitted to the dual degree program and complete the requirements of both programs to earn both degrees.

MSBA/MBA Dual Degree

Students with work experience who are interested in gaining the in-depth business analytics knowledge of an MSBA degree combined with the broad management expertise of an MBA can opt to apply for the MSBA/MBA dual degree. Students who enroll in the dual degree when admitted to the business school or add the second degree within the first year of their first program are able to complete both degrees with a combined 77 credits, instead of the 105 credits required to earn each credential independently. Students must meet admissions requirements of both programs to be admitted to the dual degree program and complete the requirements of both programs to earn both degrees.

MSBA/MA Dual Degree

Students who are interested in gaining the in-depth business analytics knowledge of an MSBA degree combined with the broad, economics and finance expertise of an MA can opt to apply for the MSBA/MA dual degree. Students who enroll in the dual degree when admitted to the business school or add the second degree within the first year of their first program are able to complete both degrees with a combined 77 credits, instead of the 105 credits required to earn each credential independently. Students must meet admissions requirements of both programs to be admitted to the dual degree program and complete the requirements of both programs to earn both degrees.

MSBA/MSF Dual Degree

Students who are interested in gaining the in-depth business analytics knowledge of an MSBA degree combined with the in-depth finance knowledge of an MSF to gain expertise in the financial analytics field can opt to apply for the MSBA/MSF dual degree. Students who enroll in the dual degree when admitted to the business school or add the second degree within the first year of their first program are able to complete both degrees with a combined 67 credits, instead of the 86 credits required to earn each credential independently. Students must meet admissions requirements of both programs to be admitted to the dual degree program and complete the requirements of both programs to earn both degrees.

Admission

Brandeis International Business School Admission Requirements

The school seeks outstanding candidates from around the world and from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. Factors critical in the evaluation of applicants to all Brandeis International Business School degree programs include academic achievement, aptitude for graduate study, motivation, leadership, and professional/internship experience. Specific application requirements can be found below and more detailed information about these requirements and application deadlines is available on the Brandeis International Business School website and by contacting the Office of Admissions.

Application Requirements (MA, MSBA/MA)

Prerequisites: Economics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (MSBA)

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (Online MSBA)

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume
Letter of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
WES evaluation, if applicable

Application Requirements (MSF)

Prerequisites: Financial Management, Quantitative Methods
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (MBA)

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume (two years of full-time work experience preferred)
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
Interview, by invitation
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (Accelerated MA)

Prerequisites: Economics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Relevant transfer coursework (16 credits)
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable

Application Requirements (BA/MA)

Prerequisites: Economics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Required graduate coursework (28-32 credits)
Resume

Application Requirements (BA/MSBA)

Prerequisite: Statistics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Required graduate coursework (8-9 credits)
Resume

Application Requirements (BA/MBA)

Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Relevant transfer coursework (16 credits)
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (2)

Application Requirements (MA/MBA)

Prerequisite: Economics, Statistics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume (two years of full-time work experience preferred)
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (MSBA/MBA)

Prerequisite: Statistics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume (two years of full-time work experience preferred)
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (MSBA/MSF)

Prerequisites: Financial Management, Statistics
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

Application Requirements (MSF/MBA)

Prerequisites: Financial Management, Quantitative Methods
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended
Essay
Resume (two years of full-time work experience preferred)
Letters of Recommendation (1)
TOEFL, IELTS, PTE Academic or Duolingo English Test Score, if applicable
GMAT or GRE score (optional)

The PhD program enrolls every other year and the next intake will be Fall 2026.

Automatic Admission

Brandeis undergraduates are eligible for automatic admission to our MA, MSF-16 month, or MSBA if they meet the following criteria:

Enrolled in or before their second semester of their senior year of their BA or BS degree at Brandeis.
Have a major or minor in Business, Economics, Finance, Computer Science, Physics, Applied Math, or Math.
Have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA.

Some students may be able to shorten their graduate degree with eligible transfer credits, if the program allows for them. See the Requirements for Degree section of the bulletin for information on whether the program accepts transfer credits.

Academic Regulations

Registration

Every resident, post-resident, and continuation student must register at the beginning of each term, whether attending regular courses of study, carrying on research or independent reading, writing a thesis or dissertation, or utilizing any academic service or facility of the university. All students on semester abroad must register and enroll in ECON 290a for that semester.

Students enrolled in full-time degree programs are required to enroll in and maintain a minimum academic load of 12 credits per semester, except for their last semester (see Residency Requirements section for further details). Eighteen credits per semester is the maximum load per semester allowed unless additional credits are authorized by a Brandeis International Business School program administrator.

Please refer to the Academic Calendar for specific deadlines for adding and dropping courses. In order to drop a class after the end of the registration period, a student should receive permission from the instructor and Program Advisor. A student cannot drop below 12 credits as this could change your student status and impact your visa for international students.

Students in the part-time Online MSBA program may plan their registration according to their associated academic calendar (forthcoming) and withdrawal deadlines.

Repeating a Course

Students may repeat a course once if they do not earn credits for the course toward their degree or for the purpose of demonstrating a higher level of mastery. Students who have already earned credit for this course and choose to retake it will be charged per credit for the second course. Scholarships do not apply for these credits. Students may only earn credit once toward their Master’s degree per course (unless the course is explicitly defined as allowing repetition for credit).

Repeating Courses and the Effect on GPA and Earning Credits

The original course grade remains on the transcript, but is not factored into the calculation of the GPA when the repeated course is taken and a final grade is assigned. The grade in the repeated course, regardless if it is lower than the original course grade, will be factored into the GPA. If the student earns a passing grade on the repeated course, it will earn credit toward the Master’s degree credits required for graduation, and the original course will not. Students who repeat a course who earned credit the first time they took the course will be charged per credit for the additional retake course.

If a grade below a credit-bearing C+ is earned during the first attempt, the repeated passing course grade will be calculated into the GPA and earn credits towards the graduation requirement.

Original courses with outstanding incompletes will not be deemed repeatable until a grade is posted.

If a repeated course has an outstanding incomplete, the original course grade will be factored into the calculation of the GPA until a final grade in the repeated course is assigned.

Repeating Courses and Transfer Credit

Students may not repeat a course for which transfer credit has been granted. Additionally, repeating a course at another institution will not affect how the original Brandeis course is counted toward the GPA.

Repeating Courses with Duplicate Content

Students may not earn duplicate credit for courses that have substantially similar content. For example, duplicate credit cannot be earned for the following:

Courses taken under a newly assigned course number if already taken under an old course number.
Certain specific courses that duplicate material, as defined by the department.

Students with questions about repeating courses or duplicating course content should consult with the Office of the University Registrar or the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Experience.

Auditing Courses

The privilege of auditing courses without paying a fee is extended to all regularly enrolled full-time graduate students except part-time or special students. Part-time or special students may audit courses by paying for them at the same rate as those taken for credit. No courses may be audited without the permission of the instructor. Auditors may not take examinations or expect evaluation from the instructor. No credit is given for an audited course.

Attendance

All students are expected to attend classes regularly. In addition, an individual faculty member may establish attendance requirements for all students in the course, and may insist on the completion of all assignments even if a student was not in attendance for the period.

In rare circumstances, a student may have to miss more than a week of class due to serious illness or to family emergencies. In these cases, a student should be in immediate contact with their program advisor to discuss what options may be available. Students are required to have written permission from their program for absences longer than two weeks. Because class participation and peer learning are important aspects of the Brandeis educational experience, students who miss more than two weeks of class ordinarily withdraw from the semester.

Credits Per Semester

Full-time MA students will be limited to enrolling in 18 credits per semester. MSF students will be limited to 18 credits in their first two semesters and 10 credits in their third semester. MSBA students will be limited to 19 credits in their first semester and 18 credits in their second semester, and 10 credits in their third semester. MBA students will be limited to 20 credits per semester. Enrollment limits can only be overridden by explicit permission of the student’s Program Advisor.

Online MSBA students will be limited to enrolling in 8 credits per semester due to course sequencing. Students may, but are not required to, enroll in 4 credits over summer terms.

Course Exemptions

Students may request an exemption from one or more required courses, but all such requests must be made during a student's first semester.

For many required courses, exemption requires passing a test in September. Applied International Macroeconomics (ECON 202a), Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (ECON 210a), International Trade Policy and Institutions (ECON 260a), and Financial Management (FIN 203a) can only be exempted via an exemption exam. Accelerated MA students can petition to transfer equivalent coursework to meet these requirements.

For other courses students must demonstrate that comparable academic work was done prior to beginning a Brandeis International Business School program. The work must be relevant and relate closely with the material covered in the Brandeis International Business School class, as determined by the program directors. The request must be in writing on a specific form -- the Petition for Exemption from Degree Requirement form. These may be obtained from the Brandeis International Business School website. A course syllabus and transcript must accompany the completed form.

Obtaining an exemption from a required course does not reduce the number of courses needed to complete the program; rather, exempted courses need to be replaced with electives.

Course exemptions may not be permitted to students in the online MSBA program at this time.

Academic Standing Committee

The Academic Standing Committee (ASC) serves as the academic review board for Brandeis International Business School students. The committee evaluates student records at the end of each semester to determine academic standing. Academic standing refers to whether a student has a satisfactory or unsatisfactory academic record (see the Academic Status section below for further details).

The committee also hears all cases of required withdrawal from Brandeis International Business School.

The committee consists of the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Experience, who serves as chair, and the Senior Associate Dean and the program directors. Also in attendance as nonvoting members are the program advisors.

A student deemed to have an unsatisfactory record may petition the committee through his/her program adviser, who will present the student's written petition to the committee. The ASC may ask the program adviser for clarification or additional information as necessary. The ASC determines by majority vote whether to approve or deny the petition. The ASC may, at its discretion, defer its decision and require additional information in support of the petition. The decision that the ASC reaches is communicated to the student by the program adviser.

A student may appeal a decision by the ASC under certain circumstances. In cases of required withdrawal from the university, the student may appeal the committee's decision to the dean of Brandeis International Business School. The decision of the dean is final and no further appeals are possible.

In all other cases, students may request reconsideration by petition to the ASC only under the following circumstances: where the student has new evidence, not previously available, which could have materially affected the decision of the ASC; or evidence of procedural error.

Academic Standing

This policy applies to the in-person degree offerings at the International Business School.

Students are in good academic standing when they earn a grade point average of at least 2.67 and have not received a non-credit bearing grade for the semester, and have maintained satisfactory progress toward their degree (see 3. below).

Probation is an official notation that a student is not in good academic standing. Students will be placed on probation under any one of the following circumstances:

Their semester record contains one or more non-credit bearing grades. EA and EI grades do not result in probation.
Their semester GPA falls below a 2.67.
They are over 4 credits or more behind the natural progression toward the degree in the Accelerated MA program and 6 credits or more behind in all other academic programs.
They earn less than 12 credits (full-time students).
They drop a required first-semester core course. First semester courses are foundational to all graduate programs. Students who drop first-semester core courses are at risk of not completing their degree within the original expected time frame. In this circumstance, regardless of total number of credits earned, they are not making satisfactory progress toward their degree.

Full-time students placed on probation due to 1-2 will normally be returned to good academic standing following a semester of satisfactory grades, with the exception of the student who did not earn credit for a course that is a requirement for his/her degree. Students who must retake a degree requirement must continue on probation until the student has successfully completed this course. Part-time students on probation due to 1-2 will be expected to maintain satisfactory grades for 12 credits to be returned to good academic standing.

Advising Alert is a category within good academic standing, but serves as an indicator to the student that they are not performing at the academic level expected by the university. Students who earn the maximum 8 credits of C+ coursework, or have a cumulative grade point average of 2.8 or below will also be placed on Advising Alert.

Degree eligibility normally requires a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.67.

The following chart defines academic standing:

Semester Record	Cumulative GPA Less Than 2.67	Cumulative GPA 2.67 or Greater
All grades B- or better	N/A	Good Standing, unless cum. GPA is below 2.8, in which case Advising Alert
1 credit-bearing C+	Probation	Good Standing, unless cum. GPA is below 2.8, in which case Advising Alert
Maximum 8 credits of C+s to count toward degree	Probation	Advising Alert
1 or more grades that do not receive credit	Probation	Probation

If a student receives more than one non-credit bearing grade in a single semester, earns a cumulative GPA of less than 2.3 in any one term or has had multiple semesters with unsatisfactory grades, the student may be required to withdraw from the business school because of a lack of academic progress. Satisfactory academic progress in a program also involves maintaining the professional and departmental standards expected in a particular discipline or program.

A student may be required to withdraw from the business school even if the student has not been on advising alert or probation in a prior semester. The business school may require a student to withdraw at any time, should the business school determine that the student's academic performance is so profoundly deficient as to suggest an inability to meet academic requirements. Brandeis University reserves the right to deny admission or permission to register or require the withdrawal of any student at any time for any reason it considers sufficient, including but not limited to character and personal conduct. Students are informed in writing of any change in academic status.

The academic standing of students who earn unsatisfactory grades will be reviewed at the end of each semester by the Academic Standing Committee according to the above stated definitions.

A student with an unsatisfactory record who either voluntarily withdraws from the business school or who is required to withdraw from the business school may petition to return to the university. The ASC will consider petitions for readmission. The student is expected to spend a minimum of one year away from the business school.

Primary considerations in making readmission decisions are evidence of sustained and productive activity during the period of absence from the campus, evidence of serious academic purpose and pertinent letters of recommendation attesting to the candidate's readiness to resume formal study.

Courses taken for academic credit while on voluntary or involuntary withdrawal from the business school are not eligible for transfer toward the Brandeis degree. Petitions for readmission for a fall semester must be received no later than May 1 and petitions for readmission for a spring semester must be received no later than Nov. 1.

MSBA Online Academic Standing

For students in the online MSBA program, a grade below B- will not be counted toward a master’s degree or master’s certificate. MSBA online students follow the academic review process of Brandeis Online as stated here:

Students are allowed a limit of up to 10 graduate courses to complete an 8-course master’s degree. Please note that courses taken prior to official acceptance are included in this policy.
If a grade below B- is received in a required course for a degree program, the course must be retaken. If a grade below B- is also received on the second attempt, then the student’s status within the program will be reevaluated by Graduate Professional Studies with possible withdrawal from the program. If a grade below B- is received in an elective course, the student has the option of enrolling in a different elective course.
If a grade below B- is received in a master’s certificate course or in a full-time degree program track, the student’s status in the program will be reevaluated.

Time Limit for Degree

The time limitation for completing all of the requirements for all Brandeis International Business School master’s degree programs is five years. Students typically complete the PhD program within five to six years, but can have up to eight years to complete the program, if needed.

Time is counted from the beginning of a student’s program, even if a student takes a non-medical leave.

PhD Students should see their section of the bulletin for time to degree information.

Applying for F1 visa CPT

Please see the ISSO's CPT page for students, including what needs to be in the offer letter.

The offer letter must include specific beginning and end dates.
CPT has to fall within our semester dates.
It can take up to 2 weeks to get authorization, although it usually takes less time.
Students must be enrolled in an academic course to qualify for CPT. Please see your specific academic program for internship course eligibility and requirements.

For J-1 visas work authorization must come from their sponsor.

Transfer Credits

Transfer credits are only permitted in programs where the ability to transfer credits is specified in the program descriptions or if there are specific partner agreements that allow for transfer credits for students from specific academic programs. Students from partner universities may transfer up to 8 credits from a summer partner school. Students from partner universities are not permitted to study abroad during the fall or spring semester.

For the PhD program, transfer credits from previous undergraduate or graduate courses at any institution are not permitted.

Residence Requirements

Residence requirements vary by program and can be found in a later section of this Bulletin.

During all semesters other than the final semester of their program, students must take at least 12 credits and pay full tuition to satisfy the residency requirement. However, students must take a minimum of two credits and pay full tuition to satisfy the final semester residency requirement. These two credits cannot be internship credits. Only students who have front-loaded their coursework will be eligible for a reduced course load in the final semester. As such, these students have taken their allotted credits early and therefore must still pay full-semester tuition. By paying full tuition, any scholarship they receive will still be applied.

Accelerated MAs, Partner BA/MAs: If students do not complete their program in three semesters, under usual circumstances they must fulfill the residency requirement of the normal four-semester MA or MBA program. This will result in the student being charged a full semester tuition for their fourth semester. Scholarships will not be applied to the fourth semester.

Vacation Semester

The vacation semester for degree-seeking Brandeis International Business School students is normally the third semester following two consecutive semesters of full-time enrollment. The vacation semester is normally when students enroll in practicums and internships that are part of their programs.

Brandeis Courses Outside of Brandeis International Business School

Students are only permitted to take courses for credit outside the business school (graduate or undergraduate) with permission from their program advisors, and must complete a petition to do so. Any non-International Business School coursework taken for credit while enrolled in a degree program will be counted toward the student's degree GPA. Students may audit non-International Business School courses without credit, with instructor permission.

Graduate Cross-Registration

A full-time graduate student at Brandeis may enroll in one graduate course each term at Boston College, Boston University, Tufts University (excluding the Fletcher School), Bentley University, or Babson College. Information on available courses for cross-registration is available at the graduate school office of each institution.

A student at Brandeis who wishes to enroll in a graduate course at one of the host institutions must obtain a cross-registration form from the Office of the University Registrar and secure the approval via signature of the Brandeis International Business School academic advisor, the instructor of the course, and both the Brandeis and host registrar's office.

Due to differences in academic calendars among the colleges in the consortium, it is not advisable for degree candidates to enroll in a cross-registered course in their final semester.

Academic Honors

At graduation, Brandeis will grant the honor of "Graduating with Distinction" to Brandeis International Business School MA, MBA, MSBA, and MSF graduates whose cumulative GPA is a 3.70 or higher.

These honors will be recorded on the official Brandeis transcript of each recipient.

Grading

Graduate students are graded on a scale from A+ to E. The lowest grade that will earn credit at International Business School is a B–, with the exception that students in the MA, MSBA, MBA, MSF and Exchange Program are permitted a total of two courses with C+ (total of 8 credits) over the course of their program of study. Any C+ grade or lower beyond this exception will not earn credit. This policy does not apply to the PhD program, which requires a minimum of a B- in all courses to earn credit.

Grade Appeal

A student who has a question about his or her grade in courses is strongly encouraged to meet with the instructor and discuss how the instructor came to the student’s final grade. If the student continues to have concerns about his or her grade, the student may appeal in writing to the student’s Program Director. The Program Director will review the petition based on the faculty rationale for the grade, the course syllabus information on grading and the student petition. If a student is not satisfied with the result of the appeal, the student may petition the Dean for a final ruling.

Incompletes

A student who will not complete the research or written work for a course may file for an extension. The approval of the instructor and advisor are required. Examples of conditions for which such an extension may be granted are serious illness, or family emergency. The instructor specifies on the form the due date for all outstanding work, and submits a temporary EI (Excused Incomplete) grade for the student. A final permanent grade must be submitted to the Office of the University Registrar by the incomplete grade deadline from the Brandeis Academic Calendar. After the deadline, if the grade is still outstanding, the EI will be converted to a grade of I (Permanent Incomplete) or E (Fail) at the instructor’s discretion.

A student who cannot take a final examination as scheduled during Finals Week may, with the permission of the instructor, file for a make-up exam by contacting his or her Program Advisor. The exam may be taken at a time mutually agreeable to the student and instructor. If a mutually agreeable arrangement cannot be identified, the make-up exam will be administered by the Office of the University Registrar according to university policy. A make-up examination may not take place prior to the scheduled exam.

A temporary grade of EA (Excused Absence) will show on the student’s transcript until the final grade for the course has been determined. The exam must be completed no later than is allowed by the university Registrar’s make-up exam schedule. Failing to do so will result in a failing grade on the exam.

Student Status

Part-time Status

A part-time graduate student is one who is enrolled in less than a full-time course load (12 credits) for the duration of their academic program at Brandeis International Business School. Part-time students are expected to enroll in two courses per term unless otherwise approved by their program director. Students select their status when they apply to their academic program. Scholarships are available to part-time students, but financial grants are not available to part-time students. Changes in student status must be done via petition through their program advisor and are not generally granted in a student’s last semester of study. If a student's petition to change status is approved, the student's scholarship and/or financial grant may change or be forfeited. All programs offer a part-time status, except the dual degree programs. Students interested in completing a dual degree part-time can complete one degree and apply to the second program with relevant transfer credits.

Extended Master Students

In special situations a Master's student who has completed residence requirements may be permitted to remain at the university while completing degree requirements. Such an "extended Master student" should register for the appropriate courses required to complete his/her program and will be permitted to utilize the full range of academic services and university facilities. Please refer to "Fees and Expenses" below for extended master tuition information.

Continuation Students

A doctoral student who has completed all degree requirements except the dissertation is eligible for continuation status. A student in this category enrolls on a full-time basis, and is eligible for university health insurance, borrowing privileges in the Library, a computer account, use of gym facilities, and purchase of a parking sticker. They are not normally eligible for fellowships or for leaves of absence, except for health reasons.

A student must be registered and enrolled in the term(s) in which the dissertation is defended.

Continuation students must enroll before the end of registration period each semester in CONT 500a (Graduate Research). For questions regarding these enrollments, please contact the Office of the University Registrar.

Special Students

Properly qualified applicants who wish to take courses without pursuing a degree may be admitted as Special Students. Special Students may enroll in courses on a space available basis, and are not eligible for university loans, scholarships, fellowships, or teaching or research assistantships. Should a Special Student wish to enroll in a degree program, the student needs to submit a full application by the application deadline for the term in which he/she wishes to enroll as a degree-seeking student. Special Students interested in enrolling in degree programs must have an undergraduate degree conferred from an accredited university prior to submitting an application to Brandeis International Business School. Special Students are allowed to complete up to eight credits in non-degree status in the Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance (MA), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA), or Master of Science in Finance (MSF) program. Any courses completed as a Special Student will only apply to the degree program if the student has earned a minimum grade of “B” in the course. If a program allows for transfer credit, courses taken as a special student will not count toward the maximum transfer credits allowed.

Leave of Absence

Personal leaves of absence up to one year will normally be granted to students in good academic standing who present compelling personal reasons. Students can also take a Health Leave of Absence. Returns from leave may be subject to conditions established at the inception of the leave. A student who has been granted a leave of absence is not considered an active student during the leave. Time spent on authorized leaves of absence will not be counted toward the maximum time permitted to complete degree requirements. If, for any reason, a student must extend a leave of absence, he or she must request such an extension in writing before the leave of absence expires. Failure to do so will result in involuntary withdrawal from the University. Students who extend their leaves of absence beyond one year may lose departmental funding.

Health Leave of Absence:

Brandeis students may request a voluntary Health Leave of Absence (HLOA) for personal health reasons. A HLOA is intended to give students the freedom to attend to their health and well-being, away from the rigors of the University, so they can later return to campus and be successful in their academic and co-curricular pursuits. HLOAs are coordinated by the appropriate graduate school and the Office of Graduate Affairs. When an individual student’s physical and/or mental health significantly impacts their ability to function successfully or safely as a student, a Health Leave of Absence is recommended. The time away during a HLOA does not count towards total time to degree.

International Students

If you wish to remain in the U.S. for medical treatment during your leave of absence, please reach out to the ISSO for guidance. You can be authorized for a Reduced Course Load (carrying no credits) for up to 12 months while maintaining your F-1 status. You must provide medical documentation issued within the past 30 days from your licensed professional who is practicing in the United States, and holds one of the following credentials: medical doctor (MD), doctor of osteopathy (DO), or licensed clinical psychologist (LCP). The documentation is usually in the form of a letter and should recommend that you carry no credits as you pursue medical treatment. Please note you must be authorized for a Reduced Course Load in SEVIS prior to your withdrawal from your classes. A student who drops below a full course of study without the prior approval will be considered out of status.

Eligibility

This policy applies to graduate students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and the International Business School. This policy does not apply to graduate students within the Rabb School of Continuing Studies. If a full-time Rabb student needs time away from their program, they should contact their Student Advisor for assistance with program completion options.

The amount of time students take for a HLOA will vary depending on the particular circumstances (such as the nature of the situation, treatment recommendations, and time needed to successfully return to an intensive academic environment). Students are encouraged to take sufficient time to address their health-related concerns before petitioning for re-enrollment.

If students are taking a HLOA during an active semester, they will be withdrawn from their classes. For information on how this impacts tuition, please visit Student Financial Services.

Before Taking a Health Leave of Absence

It is essential that each student review their current health insurance coverage. If the student is covered by Brandeis insurance, the student should contact the University Health Plan office (1- 800-437-6448) to discuss their leave. Otherwise they should contact the insurance provider under which they are covered. Students who have been enrolled in an academic program longer than the first 30 days of a semester are automatically covered (assuming coverage was not previously waived) by the Brandeis University Student Health Insurance Plan (www.universityhealthplans.com) when they convert to HLOA status for the remainder of the plan year. Students who are covered by a family’s employer plan when they convert to HLOA status may need to apply for continuation of coverage (COBRA) with the family’s plan. Enrollment in COBRA is time sensitive. Each insurance plan may be different, so a consultation with your insurance provider before taking a leave is essential.

Request to Begin a Health Leave of Absence

Specific steps should be followed in order for a student to both obtain a HLOA and to return from one. That said, the following procedures provide for an individualized approach for assessing a student’s eligibility to take and return from a HLOA and are designed to be reasonable and flexible.

1. Initiate the process by consulting with the appropriate assistant/associate dean of student/academic affairs at their graduate school regarding their request to take a HLOA.

In this meeting, the assistant/associate dean will review the HLOA process, any impacts on their program, and advise them on any others with whom they may need to meet, depending on their specific circumstances.
Discussion will also include the return process and date for initiating the return (the time frame can be adjusted as needed). If the student wants to extend their HLOA beyond what was already approved, they need to let the school know at least six weeks before the leave is anticipated to end, communicating in writing with the appropriate assistant/associate dean of student/academic affairs.

2. Then the student should officially apply for a HLOA through Workday.

If the student is unable to apply through Workday, they should be in touch with their assistant/associate dean to apply in Workday on their behalf.

3. The student’s request must be accompanied by a letter from a licensed health care provider who is familiar with the student’s condition. Acceptable sources include, but are not limited to, the student’s primary care physician, hospital-based physicians and clinicians, Brandeis’ Health Center or Counseling Center’s clinical staff, and private licensed clinicians. The letter must include descriptions of the following:

Diagnosis
History of the diagnosis (date diagnosed, treatment/management up to current date, etc.)
Detailed description of the diagnosis’ current impact on this student relative to participating in an academically rigorous educational setting and a clear recommendation that the student cannot continue their academic program because of the physical and/or mental health condition
A recommended treatment plan
An estimate regarding the time period for a HLOA

4. The Brandeis Health or Counseling Center’s staff reviews the documentation to determine it meets the above requirements, and makes a recommendation to the relevant graduate school’s assistant/associate dean of in their graduate school.

5. The graduate school then makes the final decision regarding whether to approve or deny the HLOA and notifies the student in writing as to the decision.

Once a student has applied for a HLOA and has submitted all appropriate supporting documentation, Brandeis strives to notify the student of a decision within seven to ten business days. The recommended length of the leave will be determined individually, based on each student’s particular situation, as the goal of taking a HLOA is to ensure that the student can later return to campus and be successful in their academic and co-curricular pursuits. If the HLOA is approved, the appropriate graduate school will enact the change of standing.

Graduate student responsibilities:

The student understands that unless they return or replace any borrowed University Library materials, they will be charged for them.
If the student has federal and/or institutional loans, they will complete Student Loan Exit Counseling with Student Financial Services (Questions? sfs@brandeis.edu, 781-736-3700).
If the student is an international student, they will meet with an ISSO advisor and complete the ISSO Withdrawal/Leave of Absence Acknowledgement Form (Questions? isso@brandeis.edu, 781- 736-3480).
If the student has taken excused absences (EA) or excused incompletes (EI), they will complete all the incomplete work by the end of the semester in which they are expected to return.
The student understands that taking a health leave does not forestall any ongoing academic review the program may be conducting.
The student is not eligible to transfer courses or credits taken at other institutions while on a withdrawal or leave of absence status.
The student cannot audit courses at Brandeis, conduct or participate in research at Brandeis, or hold a student employee position at Brandeis while on leave.
If the student is currently maintaining F-1 or J-1 status sponsored by Brandeis, they understand that they must notify the ISSO of their plans to take a leave of absence.

Petitioning to Return

1. The student must contact the assistant/associate dean within their graduate school to petition to return to Brandeis. Goals for a return date should have been discussed in the initial conversation before taking HLOA. The student will review all the necessary steps and documents and will be in touch with their advisor with any questions. The student will then proceed with the return process in Workday.

If the student wants to extend their HLOA beyond what was already approved, they need to let the school know at least six weeks before the leave is anticipated to end, communicating in writing with the appropriate assistant/associate dean in their graduate school.

2. The student must submit all medical documentation and any other necessary materials by July 1 for a fall semester return or by October 15 for a spring semester return. If Brandeis requires more information, we will reach out to you and all further materials must be submitted by August 1 for a fall semester return and November 15 for a spring semester return. The Workday process will include a secure link to Box for the student to upload their medical documentation.

3. Medical documentation from (an) appropriate treatment provider(s) must include the following information:

Diagnosis and verification of treatment
Documentation of current clinical status
Detailed description of the diagnosis’ current impact on this student relative to participating in an academically rigorous educational setting and a clear recommendation for return or not return. For the purposes of this policy, an “academically rigorous educational setting” refers to one in which regular class attendance is required; students complete academic coursework and assignments on time and to a minimum B- standard, which is typically the lowest passing grade in the graduate schools at Brandeis University; students complete a combination of teaching and research in addition to other degree requirements, such as preparation for qualifying, comprehensive and final examinations; and laboratory research that may include specific chemical classes, physical hazards, or equipment hazards (as applicable). Policies or practices of the student’s School related to academic progress and standards may also be considered in determining readiness to return.
Effects of any current medication or medical equipment on the educational setting and the student's ability to learn.
Academic accommodations recommended by the licensed health care professional.

4. The student understands this will be reviewed by the appropriate staff within the Health Center and/or the Brandeis Counseling Center, who may ask to speak directly to the student’s healthcare provider(s), in which case the student will provide a release to do so. The relevant health staff will consult with the return from the health leave committee, which will make a recommendation to the student’s school.

5. If the student would like to return to Brandeis in F-1 or J-1 status sponsored by Brandeis in the future, the student understands that prior to doing so, they must notify the ISSO to request a new I-20 or DS 2019.

6. The student understands that each petition to return is considered on its individual merits.

Personal Leave of Absence:

Brandeis recognizes that during the course of their graduate study, a student may request a Leave of Absence (LOA) for personal reasons. A LOA is an agreement regarding a separation between the student and the University for a period of time, usually one semester or one year. The time away during a personal leave does not count towards total time to degree. Students must complete the official request for a personal leave at least two weeks prior to the start of the semester. LOAs are coordinated by the appropriate graduate school and the Office of Graduate Affairs.

International Students

Except in the case of a health leave of absence, students in F-1 and J-1 status who wish to maintain that status must always enroll in 12 or more credits, with the exception of their final semester. Please contact the ISSO if you are contemplating a leave of absence that is either personal or related to a health leave.

Eligibility

This policy applies to graduate students from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and the International Business School. This policy does not apply to graduate students within the Rabb School of Continuing Studies. If a full-time Rabb student needs time away from their program, they should contact their Student Advisor for assistance with program completion options.

Before Taking a Personal Leave of Absence

It is essential that each student review their current health insurance coverage. If the student is covered by Brandeis insurance, the student should contact the University Health Plan office (1- 800-437-6448) to discuss their leave. Otherwise they should contact the insurance provider under which they are covered. Students who have been enrolled longer than the first 30 days of a semester are automatically covered (assuming coverage was not previously waived) by the Brandeis University Student Health Insurance Plan (www.universityhealthplans.com) when they convert to a personal leave status for the remainder of the plan year. Students who are covered by a family’s employer plan when they convert to a personal leave status may need to apply for continuation of coverage (COBRA) with the family’s plan. Enrollment in COBRA is time sensitive. Each insurance plan may be different, so a consultation with your insurance provider is essential.

Request to Begin a Personal Leave of Absence

Specific steps need to be followed in order for a student to both obtain a LOA and to return from one. Since the deadline to officially take a personal leave is two weeks prior to the start of the semester, the student should initiate the process earlier than this by consulting with their faculty advisor or director of graduate studies and/or informing the appropriate assistant/associate dean of student/academic affairs at their graduate school of their request to take a leave of absence. This meeting will review the process and impacts on their program and advise them on any others with whom they may need to meet. The student must officially apply for a LOA through Workday at least two weeks prior to the start of the semester. Extenuating circumstances that necessitate a personal leave during an active semester will be reviewed on a case by case basis, and in these cases, students will be withdrawn from their classes. For information on how this impacts tuition, please visit Student Financial Services.

Graduate student responsibilities:

You understand that unless you return or replace any borrowed University Library materials, you will be charged for them.
If you have federal and/or institutional loans, you will complete Student Loan Exit Counseling with Student Financial Services (Questions? sfs@brandeis.edu, 781-736-3700).
If you are an international student, you will meet with an ISSO advisor and complete the ISSO Withdrawal/Leave of Absence Acknowledgement Form (Questions? isso@brandeis.edu, 781-736-3480).
If you have taken excused absences (EA) or excused incompletes (EI), you must finish all work by agreed-upon deadlines with your faculty.
You understand that taking a personal leave does not forestall any ongoing academic review your program may be conducting.
You are not eligible to transfer courses or credits taken at other institutions while on a withdrawal or leave of absence status.
You cannot audit courses at Brandeis, conduct or participate in research at Brandeis, or hold a student employee position at Brandeis while on leave.
If you are currently maintaining F-1 or J-1 status sponsored by Brandeis, you understand that you must notify the ISSO of your plans to take a leave of absence.

Petitioning to Return

You must contact your graduate school to petition to return to Brandeis: by July 15 for a fall semester return or by October 31 for a spring semester return. You will review all the necessary steps and documents and will be in touch with your advisor with any questions.
Students in good academic standing may need to finish incompletes while on leave in order to return.
If you would like to return to Brandeis in F-1 or J-1 status sponsored by Brandeis in the future, you understand that prior to doing so, you must notify the ISSO to request a new I-20 or DS 2019.
You understand that each petition to return is considered on its individual merits.

Brandeis Pregnancy Accommodation and Parental Relief:

Pregnancy Accommodation:

Brandeis University is committed to supporting pregnant and parenting students. The University acknowledges that pregnancy, breastfeeding, lactation, and parental status are protected under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”), 20 U.S.C. §1681 et seq., and other applicable state and federal laws. Under this Policy, there are different stages of pregnancy during which the University can provide support and accommodations.

Accommodations During Pregnancy

While a student is pregnant, they may require certain accommodations to allow them to continue to participate in University programs and activities. These accommodations relate to medical needs or complications associated with the pregnancy. Pregnant students can request these accommodations through Student Accessibility Support (SAS) (access@brandeis.edu 781-736-3470). There are different types of accommodations available depending on the needs of the individual, including but not limited to those related to academics[1], housing, transportation, parking, and dietary needs. More information on the process for requesting an accommodation can be found on the SAS website.

As with disability accommodations, information about pregnant students’ requests for accommodations will be shared with faculty and staff only to the extent necessary in order to provide the reasonable accommodation. Faculty and staff will regard all information associated with such requests as confidential and not to be shared.

Recovery

Students are entitled to excused absences relating to pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage, and/or recovery, for the amount of time deemed medically necessary by their provider. Students will need to provide medical documentation from their medical care providers outlining the amount of time needed for recovery. All medical documentation regarding the pregnancy should go to SAS. Graduate students can work with the Office of Graduate Affairs (graduateaffairs@brandeis.edu 781-736-3546), who will help to coordinate the student’s absences with the appropriate departments on campus. Undergraduate students should work with their academic advisors.

After taking approved absences due to pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage and/or recovery, students will be allowed to return to their program at Brandeis in the same academic status they held before the leave began. To the extent possible, students will be given the opportunity to make up any work they missed while they were on leave. If a class grade is based on attendance, students will not be penalized for their approved absence. However, depending on the length of the absence and timing in the academic year, in some cases it may not be feasible to complete certain classes. In that situation, a student may need to withdraw from a course or take a leave of absence, but will be reinstated to the status they held before the leave and will be allowed to continue in their program without penalty. What adjustments might be appropriate will vary based on the student's needs and the fundamental requirement of the program and coursework in question. International students should work with the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) (isso@brandeis.edu 781-736-3480) to address any visa concerns that may arise in relation to a leave of absence or otherwise taking time away from the University.

Accommodations for Nursing Students

Brandeis is committed to supporting students surrounding their needs in regards to nursing and lactation. Students should work with their program or instructors to find mutually convenient times for them to nurse or pump. Students must be given adequate, excused breaks as necessary and should not be penalized for the need to take time away. Generally a person who is lactating will need two to three breaks during the day, for a period of up to 30 minutes, to express milk. Under certain circumstances, a student may need to provide a doctor’s note if it is medically necessary to pump on a certain schedule.

Nursing students have the right to breastfeed in any public or private location where they are otherwise allowed to be. To support members of our community in regards to lactation, the University provides the private lactation spaces listed below. Additionally, departments can create ad hoc lactation spaces as necessary to support those in their community. Ad hoc spaces can be an office or other space temporarily utilized for the purposes of pumping or breastfeeding. The minimum requirements for lactation rooms (ad hoc or permanent) include having a private space with a door that locks, that has an electrical outlet, good lighting and ventilation, with a comfortable chair and a counter or table. There also should be access to a sink and a refrigerator either inside the space or nearby. Bathrooms are not appropriate lactation spaces.

The following campus locations are dedicated lactation rooms. Individuals must bring their own breast pumps; all rooms have refrigeration, electrical outlets and microwaves for sterilization. Most have sinks nearby.

Goldfarb Library Room 69-41A
- This room is kept locked. To access the room a key can be checked out at the library’s information desk with your Brandeis ID. For reservations, please check the specific Google calendar for the space and book an available time or contact library-lactation@brandeis.edu. You may need to ask for directions after obtaining the key as the room is a little tricky to find. The room can accommodate two individuals at one time. The key should be returned to the information desk after use. The room is equipped with a refrigerator and microwave (for sterilization) with a sink nearby.
Leo Gerstenzang Library of Science Room 021
- This room is kept locked. To access the room, contact Jing Zhang.
Rabb Graduate Center Room 118
- This room is kept locked. To access the room a key can be checked out with reservations by contacting pannella@brandeis.edu in the English department. The room is equipped with a refrigerator, a microwave (for sterilization) and numerous electrical outlets with a sink nearby.

Reporting Concerns

Discrimination against any member of the Brandeis community who is or who is perceived to be pregnant, recovering from childbirth, or nursing is prohibited under Brandeis’ Policy Against Discrimination, Harassment & Sexual Violence. Anyone with concerns regarding discrimination should contact the Office of Equal Opportunity (oeo@brandeis.edu 781-736-4806). Negative comments related to pregnancy, childbirth recovery, breastfeeding, lactation, or parental status may constitute illegal sex discrimination or harassment. Retaliation against anyone exercising their rights under this policy is prohibited.

Students with concerns about an accommodation request that was denied or an approved accommodation that was not properly implemented can file a grievance with the Office of Equal Opportunity (oeo@brandeis.edu 781-736-4806). For more information, please refer to the Accommodations Grievance Process.

[1] Some examples may include: breaks during class, as needed; rescheduling tests or exams; excusing absences; and developing a plan for making up missed assignments.

Graduate Student Parental Relief:

To assist full-time graduate students in balancing academic, teaching, and research responsibilities with parenting demands, Brandeis University provides eligible graduate students with support in the form of Parental Relief immediately after their child’s birth, adoption, or placement in foster care (for a child up to the age of six). Parental Relief permits students to maintain full-time status–along with the same level of guaranteed funding and other benefits–with reasonable adjustments to deadlines, completion of course assignments, examinations, and other academic, research, and teaching requirements for up to eight consecutive weeks.

International students

Before taking Parental Relief, international students should consult their ISSO advisor to understand how their specific Parental Relief arrangements may affect their immigration status. Students in F-1 and J-1 status who wish to maintain that status must always enroll in 12 or more credits, with the exception of their final semester. In general, Parental Relief should not impact your immigration status, as long as your program duration remains the same and you do not enroll in fewer than 12 credits; please contact the ISSO for more details.

Eligibility

The Parental Relief Policy applies to full-time, enrolled Brandeis graduate students who are making satisfactory progress toward completion of their degree. The policy covers students who experience a child birth or the adoption or fostering of a child under the age of six for whom the student has parental responsibilities. Students are eligible for a Parental Relief period for up to eight consecutive calendar weeks immediately following the child’s birth, adoption, or placement in foster care. If both parents are students, they each are eligible for this relief time and can take it concurrently. Students who give birth are also eligible for pregnancy- and childbirth-related accommodations in the Pregnancy Accommodation policy, and can take Parental Relief concurrently with any Pregnancy Accommodation.

This policy does not apply to graduate students within the Rabb School of Continuing Studies. If a full-time Rabb student needs time away from their program, they should contact their Student Advisor for assistance with program completion options.

How it Works

During the period of Parental Relief, the student will continue to be enrolled as a full-time student. Because the student remains enrolled full-time and continues to pay tuition, this is not a leave of absence. It is instead a modification of deadlines and academic expectations to support the student’s new parental responsibilities. The student will be able to postpone completion of course assignments, examinations, and other academic requirements. The student and their advisor will tailor the Parental Relief to the student’s individual circumstances and the timing of the student’s academic responsibilities. In the case of an international student, consideration must be given to the fact that any extension of the program may affect their immigration status and so they must speak with their ISSO advisor in advance.

Request to Begin Parental Relief

Specific steps need to be followed in order for a student to be able to utilize Parental Relief. First, the student should initiate the process as early as possible by consulting with the assistant/associate dean at their graduate school, their faculty advisor, or the director of graduate studies to inform them of the student’s desire to utilize Parental Relief. This meeting will review the process and impacts on their program, and advise them on others with whom they may need to meet. The student must officially apply for Parental Relief through Workday.

The student must then consult with their advisor to plan the student’s Parental Relief and how the student will meet academic goals and requirements at the end of the Parental Relief. The student is responsible for ensuring that this consultation takes place, and should also initiate this as early as possible.

Once approved and with a plan in place, the Relief period will begin on the date of birth, adoption, or placement in foster care. The student must notify the Assistant Dean within five days of the child’s birth, adoption, or placement in foster care to start the Parental Relief period.

The student must complete the Relief period within eight consecutive calendar weeks of the birth, fostering or adoption. The student may not divide the time period of Parental Relief for use past this time limit. The total Parental Relief period for each birth or adoption is limited to eight weeks; this time limit does not change in the event of a multiple birth, fostering or adoption.

Following the Parental Relief Period

After the end of the Parental Relief period, students are expected to continue their usual graduate study and progress toward completing their degrees. Faculty are encouraged to remain flexible in their expectations of students who become new parents, so that students can meet the demands of graduate study at the same time that they face new demands in their parental roles. Faculty should turn to their graduate schools for guidance on this flexibility.

Additional Information

Nothing in this policy can or should replace communication and cooperation between student and advisor, and the good-faith efforts of both to support the demands resulting from the birth, fostering or adoption of a child. It is the intent of this policy to reinforce the importance of that cooperation, and to provide support to make flexibility possible.

Because Parental Relief is not a leave, students making use of this policy retain the same level of access to: library privileges (borrowing rights, carrel, and electronic collections); Brandeis UNET and e-mail; meeting with advisors; health services and health insurance; Brandeis’s facilities; as well as eligibility for student loans and conference travel.

Students who receive guaranteed fellowship funding as part of their graduate program will continue to receive the same level of funding during their Parental Relief. If a student’s guaranteed funding includes funds from a source external to Brandeis and the source does not permit payment during Parental Relief, Brandeis will provide the student with the equivalent amount. Funding received during Parental Relief is part of the total funding package for the student and will not be extended past the promised duration of program funding. Students who are scheduled to act as teaching assistants, course assistants, or teaching fellows during Parental Relief will not be responsible for performing those duties and will not be paid the additional stipends they receive when doing so. Responsibility for finding a replacement will rest with the individual graduate schools.

Status of 5-Year Students

Students in the BA/MA, BA/MSBA and BA/MBA are subjected to undergraduate policies while still an undergraduate and graduate policies while a graduate student. These students are not eligible to take a leave between their bachelor and graduate years as this would be a deferral of their program. They may withdraw and apply to the other versions of our program if they decide they would like to re-enroll. A leave of absence for their graduate program is only granted between the terms that they are matriculated as a graduate student.

Withdrawal

A student who wishes to withdraw voluntarily from International Business School during a semester must do so in writing to the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Experience or to the student's Program Advisor. Failure to notify in writing of a withdrawal may subject the student to loss of eligibility for refunds in accordance with the refund schedule outlined in the "Fees and Expenses" section. Permission to withdraw voluntarily will not be granted if the student has not discharged all financial obligations to the university or has not made financial arrangements satisfactory to the bursar. When a student withdraws after a certain date each semester, course enrollments are not expunged from his or her record; rather, a grade of W ("withdrawn") is entered for each course.

Students who are obliged to register and fail to do so by the appropriate deadline or who fail to pay their bill will be administratively withdrawn. They may be readmitted (see below) for study in a subsequent term, but not for the term in which they were withdrawn for failure to register. Belatedly fulfilling financial obligations will not negate the effects of administrative withdrawal. Additionally, a student may be administratively withdrawn due to unacceptable academic performance, violations of academic integrity, or violations of the University's Rights and Responsibilities.

A student who wishes to voluntarily withdraw from his/her Brandeis International Business School program must meet with his/her Program Advisor in the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Experience to discuss the consequences of withdrawal upon the student’s academic future at Brandeis International Business School and/or other universities, as well as submit a Withdrawal form to the Office of Academic Affairs and Student Experience. The Withdrawal form must be submitted prior to the last day of instruction in a term.

Permission to withdraw voluntarily will not be granted if the student has not discharged all financial obligations to the University or has not made financial arrangements satisfactory to the Office of Student Financial Services. A student who is expected to register and fails to do so by the appropriate deadline or who fails to pay his/her bill by the appropriate deadline will be administratively withdrawn. If a student in this case wishes to return to his/her program, he/she must reapply to the program. They may be readmitted for a subsequent term, but not for the term in which he/she was withdrawn for failure to register. Belatedly fulfilling financial obligations will not negate the effects of administrative withdrawal.

Program Changes and Reapplication

Program Change Policy

Students are admitted to and enroll in specific degree programs and requests to switch programs will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. A student's request to change programs will only be considered in the student's first term, by the university's last day to add classes. This policy excludes:

Dual Degrees where students can apply to add a degree offered with their current program by dates outlined by Admissions.
MSF-9 month students can petition to add a concentration and extend their program to 16-months through Academic Affairs.

Should a student be interested in applying for a program change, either during the application process or after the final deposit deadline of June 1, the following steps will be taken.

The student contacts the Admissions Office to discuss a possible program change. Should the student wish to proceed with the program change, the student will submit a Program Change Request form via Slate. As part of the request form, the student must include a detailed statement indicating why the student is requesting the program change.
Prior to June 1: Upon receipt of the form, the Admissions Office will evaluate the request and the student’s original application. The Admissions Office will submit the application to the new program’s Admissions Committee with a recommendation as to whether the student is a viable candidate for the new program. This application will be assessed with the subsequent round’s applications. The committee will make a recommendation to the Senior Associate Dean on whether the program change request should be approved or denied. The Senior Associate Dean will make a final decision as to whether the program change request will be approved or denied.
After June 1: Upon receipt of the form, the Admissions Office will evaluate the request and the student’s original application. The Admissions Office will submit the application to the Program Director and Program Adviser of the new program, with a recommendation as to whether the student is a viable candidate for the new program. The Director of Admissions, Program Director and Program Adviser will make a recommendation to the Senior Associate Dean on whether the program change request should be approved or denied. The Senior Associate Dean will make a final decision as to whether the program change request will be approved or denied.
The student receives his/her decision in writing from the Admissions Office.

Should the program change be approved, the Admissions Office will update the student’s application record with the new program. The student will be notified that he/she may not attempt to switch programs again at any time during his/her Brandeis International Business School studies.

Should the program change be denied, the student may choose to enroll in his/her original program, with the understanding that the student may not attempt to switch programs again at any time during his/her Brandeis International Business School studies.

Dropping a Dual Degree

Dual Degree students may petition to drop one program and graduate with only one degree. Students who graduate with three semester degrees (MSF or MSBA) will be charged three semesters of dual degree tuition. Students who graduate with four semester degrees (MA or MBA) will be charged three semesters of dual degree tuition and charged their final program tuition in the 4th semester. Students may take a full course load in their final semester.

Readmission

A readmission applicant is any student previously enrolled in a Brandeis International Business School graduate program who would like to apply to return to the same degree program. Students who have withdrawn, whose leave of absence has expired, who were academically dismissed, or who were previously enrolled in a graduate program and were unable to meet the required minimum degree completion timeline are eligible to go through the readmission process.

Students who wish to be considered for a different program than the one in which they were previously enrolled must submit a full application for the new program through the Brandeis International Business School Admissions Office.

Please note that Brandeis International Business School graduate coursework will only apply toward the MA, MSF, and MSBA degrees if the coursework was completed within five years of the term for which the student is applying for readmission. Readmission to the PhD degree requires committee review in order to evaluate which course work still applies. Students should contact their Program Advisor to initiate the reapplication process.

Students reapplying to their previous academic program must submit the following:

Application
Résumé
Recommendation Letters: Two recommendation letters; one letter must be from a colleague or supervisor with whom you worked in the past year.
Reapplication Essay: Please describe the circumstances contributing to your previous withdrawal from the graduate program. This essay must state all reasons which, in the opinion of the applicant, should cause the Admissions Committee to conclude that you are now sufficiently able to complete the program.
Transcript(s): Readmission applicants need only supply transcripts of coursework they have completed outside of Brandeis International Business School since leaving.

Fees and Expenses

Financial Assistance

Scholarships

Committed to enrolling a highly qualified student body, the school awards competitive merit-based scholarships to qualified applicants. Domestic and international students are automatically considered for scholarships during the admissions process and are notified at the time of admission if they have received a scholarship. Some merit- and need-based scholarships are available to students in their second year. A complete list of available scholarships and criteria can be found on the Brandeis International Business School website.

Scholarships are only applied to semesters in which students are billed the full-time tuition rate, and do not cover fees, health insurance, room and board or other program expenses. If a student withdraws from the program, fails to satisfactorily complete the required credits each semester or fails to maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0, his/her scholarship will be permanently forfeited.

Loans

Federal Direct Stafford Loans are available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are enrolled at least half-time in a degree program and who demonstrate need by filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

For additional details, please see Federal Loan information for 2025-2026.

Faculty

Hamza Aburezak
Corporate finance. Investment management. Risk management. Hedge funds.

Ying Becker
Quantitative investment. Advanced technologies in finance. Equity and derivatives pricing. Modeling and applications. Active portfolio optimization and risk hedging.

Daniel Bergstresser
Municipal finance. Corporate governance. Household financial behavior.

Elizabeth Brainerd
Labor economics. Economic demography. Health economics, health and fertility in post-socialist countries.

Linda Bui
Environmental economics. Industrial organization. Public economics.

Stephen Cecchetti
Monetary policy. Financial stability policy. Central bank cooperation.

Sandra Cha
Leadership. Identity in organizations. Organizational behavior.

Judith Dean
International economics. Economic development. Econometrics.

Jane Ebert
Consumer judgment and decision-making. Temporal discounting. Health promotion.

Kathryn Graddy
Applied microeconomics. Empirical industrial organization. Economics of the arts.

George Hall
Macroeconomics.

Alice Hsiaw
Behavioral Economics. Applied Microeconomic Theory.

Arnold Kamis
Data analytics. Business analytics. Decision support technology. Health information systems. Information technology strategy.

Divya Khaitan
Lecturer in Accounting

Blake LeBaron
International finance. Exchange rates. Artificial stock markets.

Sida Li
Market microstructure. High-frequency trading. ETFs. Machine learning.

JC Makolo
Firm innovation and entrepreneurial finance. Corporate finance. Investments. Venture capital. Industrial organization.

Catherine Mann
Empirical international trade. capital flows and exchange rates. globalization of information technology and economic performance.

Nidhiya Menon
Development economics. Applied microeconomics.

Andrew Molinsky
Cross-cultural interaction. Organizational behavior.

Yeabin Moon
Senior Lecturer in Data Analytics

Brad Morrison
System dynamics. Behavioral operations, healthcare operations, and operations management. Supply chain management. Medical decision making and patient safety.

Aldo Musacchio
Business Strategy in Emerging Markets. Technology Firms. Social Enterprises.

Ahmad Namini
Data Analytics. Quantitative Finance.

Debarshi Nandy
Corporate Finance. Financial Intermediation. Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance.

Gizem Nemutlu
Stochastic modeling. Data-informed decision making and optimization healthcare, health economics and outcomes research. Healthcare analytics.

Carol Osler
Currency market microstructure. Exchange rates. Behavioral finance.

Peter Petri
International trade and investment. Asia-Pacific trade policy. Asian economic development.

Davide Pettenuzzo
Time-series econometrics. Bayesian econometrics. Forecasting. Financial markets.

Scott Redenius
Economic History. The Economics of Financial Institutions.

Robert R. Reitano
Enterprise risk management. Financial derivatives pricing and hedging applications. Quantitative finance.

Quazi Sadruzzaman
Real estate investment and management.

Anna Scherbina
Investment Management. Capital Markets. Behavioral Finance. Real Estate. Empirical Asset Pricing. Corporate Finance. Cybersecurity.

Raphael Schoenle
International Macroeconomics. Macro- and Monetary Economics. International Trade.

Shubhranshu Shekhar
Assistant Professor of Data Science

Benjamin Shiller
Empirical Industrial Organization. Economics of Information. Pricing.

Yang Sun
Financial Institutions. Corporate Finance. Household Finance. Applied Microeconomics.

Xavi Vidal-Berastain
Quantitative Marketing. Demand Estimation. Machine Learning. Big Data.

Hagit Weihs
Financial Accounting. Managerial Accounting. Financial Statement Analysis.

Philippe Wells
Entrepreneurship. Private Equity. Hedge Funds. Sustainable Investing. Investment Management.

Qingxi Steve Xia
Investments, Portfolio Management. Fixed Income Securities. Asset allocation and Derivatives.

Grace Zimmerman
Marketing. Sales. Strategy. Entrepreneurship.

Other distinguished practitioners and educators serve as adjunct professors. An up-to-date list is available on the school's website.

Requirements for the Master's Degrees

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance

Learning Goals

1. Students will develop the following knowledge areas:

Analytical. Apply economic theory and rigorous analysis to understand why countries trade, the effects of that trade on countries, firms and individuals. Apply this knowledge to analyze current trade policy debates.
Technical. Analyze a country’s comparative advantage, trade patterns, and trade policies in a team mock consulting project, using primary datasets; learn and estimate a gravity model to evaluate trade agreements.
Professional. Build research, presentation and teamwork skills in a hearing on a current debate and in a mock consulting project. Work with databases from the US International Trade Commission, the WTO, OECD, World Bank, and others.

2. Students will analyze practical economic questions like consumer choice, firm pricing and supply decisions, and the effect of market structure. They will identify underlying issues and problems in real world situations and apply microeconomic framework to distill and analyze them. They will learn to critically evaluate media and policy analyses regarding economic problems and events

3. Students will develop a detailed understanding of a country’s economy as an interconnected web of individuals, businesses, financial institutions, governments and regulations. Students will learn how governments guide economies to achieve various goals such as price stability, economic growth, and financial stability. Students will become familiar with critical macroeconomic events of the past century and learn skills for analyzing and presenting macroeconomic data.

4. Students will develop a deep understanding of fundamental concepts of financial markets. Students will also learn about the time value of money, choosing among investment opportunities, and making investment decisions. Students will understand the derivation and practical applications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model.

5. Students will develop a deeper understanding of more advanced concepts in finance and to learn the models and quantitative tools to manage risk and arrive at optimal financial decisions for corporations and investment managers.

6. Students will develop a practical understanding of commonly used econometric models and empirical techniques. Students will learn to conduct empirical analysis in econometrics using the R programming language.

7. Students will develop a fundamental understanding of corporate financial reporting. Students will learn to prepare, understand, and interpret the basic financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, statement of stockholders equity and statement of cash flows). In addition, students will evaluate the financial well-being of an organization by employing analytical techniques that include financial ratios and trend analysis.

8. Students will acquire a range of quantitative and analytical skills.

9. Students will acquire the communications skills needed to present their case effectively in a business environment.

10. Students will gain specialized knowledge and skills through the completion of a concentration relevant to their degree.

Program of Study

Students must successfully complete an approved schedule of at least sixteen semester-length courses (or the equivalent), a total of 64 credits, during their four semesters of residency at Brandeis International Business School. All students must take courses in Accounting, Corporate Finance, Managerial Economics, International Macroeconomics and Applied Econometrics. Students take a capstone course for the degree that either relates to Economics, Finance, or their concentration. Students may concentrate in one of five areas: Economic Analysis and Consulting, Data Analytics, Financial Economics, Marketing, or Real Estate Finance. Otherwise students select from a list of electives in Finance, Economics, and Business. Four semester-length courses (or the equivalent) may be completed during a semester abroad. While enrolled in the program a student may petition to take courses in a field related to a student's professional interests (e.g., math, computer science, public health) that are deemed relevant to the MA degree. Courses taken without permission will not be counted toward the student’s 64-credit degree requirement. Students may exempted from all required courses except the Practicum.

Core Requirements (37 credits)

ECON 202a Applied International Macro (4 credits)
ECON 207a Managerial Economics (4 credits)
ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)
FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
Advanced Finance Requirement, Choose 1: FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits) or FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)
ECON 260a International Trade Policy and Institutions (4 credits) - Students who pursue a concentration in Data Analytics, Financial Economics, Marketing or Real Estate Finance may substitute a concentration elective course for ECON 260a, International Trade Policy. This is a required course for students who choose the Economic Analysis and Consulting concentration or who have no concentration.
A practicum course. Students who do not concentrate can choose one of the following courses:

ECON 288a Field Projects: Global Firms, Trade and Development (4 credits)
BUS 294a Data Analytics Field Project (4 credits)
FIN 293a Finance Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 292a Marketing Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 295a Field Project: Social Impact Innovation (4 credits)
BUS 293a Real Estate Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (4 credits)
BUS 296a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)

Electives Requirement (27 Credits)

Students can complete one concentration with their elective credits chosen from 200-level BUS, ECON, and FIN courses.

Software Proficiency Requirement

Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in a software beyond STATA and R. This can be satisfied by successfully earning credit in the approved list of courses below or via project:

Advanced Stata (successful completion of ECON 261a)
Tableau (successful completion of BUS 240f)
Python (successful completion of FIN 285a or BUS 215f Python and Applications to Business Analytics)
Advanced Python (successful completion of BUS/FIN 241a)
Advanced R (successful completion of BUS 212a)
SQL (successful completion of BUS 211a)
ARGUS (demonstrate in a course/project)
SPSS (successful completion of BUS 253a)
Advanced R (successful completion of BUS 256a or ECON/FIN 250a)

Residence Requirement

The program requires two years (four semesters) of consecutive full-time residence. One of these may be a semester spent at a foreign university associated with the program.

Transfer Credit

Students who have earned a MBA or MSBA degree from Brandeis International Business School within the last 10 years and enroll in the MA program may transfer credits to the MA degree. Students who have earned an MBA can transfer up to a maximum of 32 applicable credits from their previous degree and students who have earned an MSBA degree can transfer a maximum of 26 credits.

Transfer credit is also required for the BA/MA and Accelerated MA program. Qualifying coursework is specified in the Accelerated MA program description and in the BA/MA program section.

Concentration Requirements

MA students may complete one concentration in the fields of Economic Analysis and Consulting, Data Analytics, Financial Economics, Marketing, and Real Estate Finance. Students interested in declaring a concentration must do so by the last day of instruction of their second semester.

Economic Analysis and Consulting

Group 1 Required Courses (4 credits)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics (4 credits)

Group 2 Core Economic Analysis and Consulting (4 credits required)

ECON 270a Economic Development Strategies (4 credits)
FIN 247a Transfer Pricing Theory and Practice (4 credits)
or any course from groups 1 not taken to satisfy those requirements

Group 3 Economic Analysis and Consulting Electives (8 credits required)

BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)
BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)
BUS 262a Alliance, Acquisition, and Divestment Strategy (4 credits)
BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits)
BUS 279f Corporate Fraud: Detection and Prevention (2 credits)
BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analytics for Business and Finance (4 credits)
ECON 235a Central Banking (4 credits)
ECON/BUS 265f Business and Economic Strategies in Emerging Markets (2 credits)
ECON/FIN 209a Behavioral Economics and Finance (4 credits)
ECON/FIN 243a Technological Rivalry (4 credits)
FIN 254a Modern Finance, Fintech and Beyond (4 credits)
FIN 282f New Frontiers of Finance: From Animal Spirits to Cyber Risk (2 credits)

Capstone (4 credits)

FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 293a Finance Field Project (4 credits)

Data Analytics

Group 1 Required Courses (6 credits)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 215f Python and Applications to Business Analytics (2 credits)

Group 2 Quantitative Courses (4 credits required)

BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)
BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)
BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)
BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance (4 credits)
ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics (4 credits)

Group 3 Electives (at least 8 credits required)

BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)
ECON 261a Empirical Analysis of Trade Policy (4 credits)
ECON 311a Advanced Econometrics (4 credits)
FIN 280a Financial Risk Management (4 credits)
FIN 285a Computer Simulation & Risk Analysis (4 credits)
FIN 288a Corporate Financial Engineering (4 credits)
or any course in group 2 not used to satisfy that requirement

Capstone (4 credits)

BUS 286a Applications of System Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS 294a Data Analytics Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 296a Internship (4 credits)

Financial Economics

Group 1 Required Course (10 credits)

EITHER FIN 204a Corporate Finance (4) OR FIN 205a Investment and Portfolio Management (4 credits)*

*whichever course not taken as Core must be taken as concentration

Fin 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

Fin 225 Real Estate Finance (2 credits)

Group 2 Core Courses (6 credits required)

ECON/FIN 209a Behavioral Economics and Finance (4 credits)
ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Economics and Finance (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 254a Modern Finance, Fintech and Beyond (4 credits)
FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)
FIN 271a Options and Derivatives II (4 credits)
FIN 279a Applied Risk Management (4 credits)

Group 3 Financial Electives (4 credits required)

BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analytics for Business and Finance (4 credits)
BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)
ECON/FIN 210a The Psychology of Finance (4 credits)
ECON 260a International Trade Policy and Institutions (4 credits)
FIN 231f Private Equity (2 credits)
FIN 232a Mergers and Acquisitions (4 credits)
FIN 234a Social Impact Investing (4 credits)
FIN 237f Security Analysis (2 credits)
FIN 242f Credit Risk Analysis (2 credits)
FIN 247a Transfer Pricing Theory and Practice (4 credits)
FIN 282f New Frontiers of Finance: From Animal Spirits to Cyber Risk (2 credits)
FIN 285a Computer Simulation and Risk Analysis (4 credits)
FIN 288a Corporate Financial Engineering (4 credits)
or any course in group 2 not used to satisfy that requirement

Capstone (4 credits)

FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 293a Finance Field Project (4 credits)

Marketing

Group 1 Core Courses (8 credits)

BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)

Group 2 Marketing Electives (8 credits required)

BUS 254a Branding Strategy (4 credits)
BUS 255a Consumer Behavior (4 credits)
BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 257f Social Media & Advertising (2 credits)
BUS 258f Sales and Sales Management (2 credits)
BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)

Group 3 Electives (4 credits required)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 233a Entrepreneurship and Rapid Prototyping (4 credits)
BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)
BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)
BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)
BUS/ECON 265f Business and Economics Strategies in Emerging Markets (2 credits)
or any course in group 2 not used to satisfy that requirement

Capstone (4 credits)

BUS 292a Marketing Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 295a Field Project: Social Impact Innovation (4 credits)
BUS 296a Internship (4 credits)

Real Estate Finance

Group 1 Required Courses (6 credits required)

FIN 225f Real Estate Finance (2 credits)
FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

Group 2 Electives (12 credits required)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 238f Real Estate Development (2 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research: Design and Analysis (4 credits)
FIN 216f Financial Statement Analysis (2 credits)
BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (2 credits per semester)

Capstone (4 credits)

BUS 293a Real Estate Field Project (4 credits)

Requirements for the Combined BA/MA Program

International Business School offers a BA/MA for qualified Brandeis or Wellesley College undergraduates who wish to earn the Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance (MAief) with one year of post-BA study.

Ideally, BA/MA students begin taking International Business School courses in their final year of undergraduate study and finish the master's degree with one additional year of study after receiving their BA. BA/MA students are considered undergraduates until they have successfully satisfied all of the requirements for the BA. Interested students apply in their junior or senior year. Deadlines are listed on the International Business School website. Applications may be made online through the International Business School website.

Students must submit a completed application, official undergraduate transcripts, and a resume. Additional items may be requested from the Admissions team at the time of review. An interview is required but the GRE or GMAT is not required. Admission is announced in mid-April for the fall semester. A student's preparation for the MA Program should include the following Brandeis undergraduate courses (or equivalent courses for Wellesley College students): Introduction to Economics (ECON 2a, ECON 10a, or ECON 20a).

Program of Study

Although some course substitutions are permitted, BA/MA students at Brandeis International Business School have to meet the same requirements as two-year MA students and can refer to the MA course requirements for a general overview.

BA/MA students must take 64 credits in their “field of study” with a minimum of 32 credits after they are matriculated in the MA. All International Business School BUS, ECON, and FIN courses (200 and 300 level) are relevant for credit towards this requirement, as are 100-level courses in ECON, BUS, and FIN and intermediate level courses in core degree areas (ECON 80a, ECON 82b, and ECON 83a). Students may also petition to have up to 8 credits of related 100-level course work to transfer. These include cross-listed courses in Business or Economics departments, as well as related fields like Mathematics and Computer Science. Courses taken in related fields must be approved by the MA program.

Some undergraduate ECON and BUS classes can fulfill MA program requirements. A detailed description of all acceptable substitutions for required courses can be found on the Brandeis International Business School website. Students should plan their full program of study upon admission to the program.

BA/MA students are encouraged to gain graduate level credit while still enrolled in their BA. Students must complete a minimum of 28 relevant credits toward the BA/MA to matriculate in their 5th year. Students cannot transfer more than 33 credits from their BA toward their MA degree. Students who do not have the 28 relevant credits, may qualify for the Accelerated MA which is completed in three post graduate terms and requires only 16 transferable credits, although students may transfer up to 24 credits.

For information on concentrations please see the Degree of Master of Arts section of the Bulletin.

Residence Requirement

The BA/MA program requires two semesters as a graduate student. One of these may be a semester spent at a foreign university associated with the program.

Matriculation

BA/MA students will officially matriculate as a graduate student the semester following the completion of their BA degree unless otherwise directed by their Program Advisor and/or the International Students and Scholars Office.

Requirements for the Master of Science in Finance (MSF) Programs

Learning Goals

Students will develop a deep understanding of fundamental concepts of financial markets. Students will also learn about the time value of money, choosing among investment opportunities, and making investment decisions. Students will understand the derivation and practical applications of the Capital Asset Pricing Model.
Students will develop financial skills necessary to formulate corporate strategies and financial decisions in a competitive environment. Develop skills for security, project, and firm valuations addressing incentive and information problems.
Students will develop skill sets required for an integrated approach to corporate financial modeling and how to develop coherent frameworks for financial modeling.
Students will have a fundamental understanding of financial accounting and corporate reporting.
Students will acquire fundamental knowledge of bond and fixed income derivative markets.
Students will acquire a range of quantitative and analytical skills.
Students will acquire the communications skills needed to present their case effectively in a business environment.
Students will complete a work practicum, applying the concepts learned in the classroom.
Students will gain specialized knowledge and skills through the completion of a concentration relevant to their degree.

Master of Science in Finance (MSF) - 16 Month Program

Program of Study

Students must successfully complete an approved schedule of 28 credits in required core courses in Accounting, Investments, Advanced Corporate Finance, Fixed Income, Options and Derivatives, Financial Modelling and Careers. Students must also complete 4 credits of practicum experience (Internship, Field Project, or Directed Research). Students are then required to complete the remaining 12 of the total 44 credits within one of the four concentration areas or complete the MSF without a concentration. The concentration areas are structured towards career outcomes in the following four fields: Asset Management, Corporate Finance and Valuation, Fintech, and Risk Management.

Core Requirements (28 credits)

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits)
FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 219g Financial Modeling bootcamp (1 credit)
FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)
FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)
BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)

Work Practicum Requirement (4 credits)

FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 293a Field Project in Finance (4 credits)
FIN 294a Directed Research (4 credits)

Electives (12 credits)

Master of Science in Finance (MSF) - 9 Month Program

Core Requirements (24 credits)

FIN 204a Advanced Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits)
FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 219g (Course for Financial Modeling bootcamp) (1 credit)
FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)
FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)
BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)

Work Practicum Requirement (4 credits)

FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 293a Field Project in Finance (4 credits)
FIN 294a Directed Research (4 credits)

Approved Finance Electives (6 credits)

Residence Requirement

The residency requirement is three academic semesters. Students are expected to complete their degree within sixteen months for the MSF-16 month program and within nine months for the MSF-9 month program. In special situations, students may apply for a leave of absence for a one year period and multiples thereof.

Transfer Credit

Students who have earned an MA or MBA degree from Brandeis International Business School within the last 10 years and enroll in the MSF-16 month program may transfer up to a maximum of 16 applicable credits from their previous degree to the 46 credit program. Students in programs with active partnerships will also be permitted to transfer up 16 credits to this program.

Experiential Learning

MSF students are permitted to take a maximum of 7 total credits of experiential learning (e.g., Internship, Field Project).

Concentration Requirements

Students may choose to complete the MSF degree requirements within two of four concentrations, which are geared towards careers in the following five fields: Asset Management, Corporate Finance and Valuation, FinTech, or Risk Management. Students may declare up to two concentrations. Students who cannot complete two concentrations within the 44 degree credits would be charged per credit for coursework beyond that.

Asset Management

Group 1 Required Courses (2 credits)

FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)

FIN 285a Computer Simulation and Risk (4 credits)

Group 2 (6 credits minimum required)

Any approved general finance electives

FinTech

Group 1 (6 credits required)

FIN 215f Python and Applications to Finance (2 credits) or BUS 215f Python and Applications to Finance I (2 credits)

FIN 253a Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance (4 credits)

Group 2 (6 credits required)

Any approved general finance electives

Corporate Finance and Valuation

Group 1 Required Courses (4 credits)

FIN 214a Managerial Accounting (4 credits)

FIN 216f Financial Statement Analysis (2 credits)

Group 2 (6 credits minimum required)

Any approved general finance electives

Risk Management

Group 1 Required Courses (6 credits)

FIN 242f Credit Risk Analysis (2 credits)

FIN 279a Applied Risk Management (4 credits)

Group 2 (6 credits)

Any approved general finance electives

General Finance

Finance Electives (12 credits minimum required)

Any FIN class(es) offered at the International Business School and/or

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 215f - Python and Applications to Business I (2 credits)

BUS 235f Real Estate Foundations (2 credits)

BUS 244a Gen AI Foundations for Business (4 credits)

BUS 278f Corporate Governance (2 credits)

BUS 279f Corporate Fraud (2 credits)

BUS 281f Cyber Security and Operational Risks (2 credits)

ECON 213a Econometrics w/R (4 credits)

ECON/FIN 210a The Psychology of Finance (4 credits)

ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance (4 credits)

BUS 297a Approved Internship (2 credits)

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Learning Goals

Apply strategic analysis and decision-making across diverse industries and organizational contexts.
Analyze leadership, culture, and human dynamics to drive effective organizational performance.
Grasp the core concepts of marketing and integrate them into strategic planning and execution.
Utilize financial accounting and reporting principles to support informed business decisions.
Employ data-driven methods and quantitative analysis to solve complex business problems.
Deliver clear, persuasive communication across oral, written, and digital platforms in professional settings.
Develop in-depth expertise in a chosen concentration, aligning advanced skills with industry needs and career goals.

Program of Study

There are two MBA Program options. The first is a 2-year MBA that requires a minimum of two years work experience. The second is a BA/MBA that is three semesters long and intended for students with previous study in Business, Management, Finance, or Economics. In both programs, 28-30 credits must be taken within a required set of subjects (in the areas of business analytics, accounting, finance, marketing, operations, organizational behavior, management communication, and strategy) and the remaining courses must be selected from a list of approved electives. Four semester-length courses (or the equivalent) may be completed during an optional semester abroad. Students may take up to four semester-length courses (or the equivalent) of cross-listed coursework at Heller, Rabb, or qualifying coursework from a cross-registration school. One semester length course (or the equivalent) may be from the School of Arts & Sciences, if related to the student's career goals and approved by the Program Advisor.

Graduates of the Brandeis International Business School MA, MSBA, and MSF program within the last ten years can transfer up to 32 credits to the MBA program.

Foundational Courses: Prior to enrollment, students should have had a course in economics and one in statistics, which may be approved online courses.

Core Requirements (28-30 credits)

Accounting: FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis (4 credits) or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
Finance: FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits).
Organizational Behavior: BUS 219f Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior (2 credits), plus one of the following: BUS 222f Global Dexterity (2 credits), BUS 226a Strategic Human Resource Management and People Analytics, BUS 227a Influence, Power, and Identity (4 credits), HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits), BUS 226a Strategic Human Resource Management and People Analytics, RPJM 113 negotiating and Conflict Resolution (3 credits, online).
Management Communication: BUS 228b MBA Career Strategy and Management Communication (2 credits)
Marketing: BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
Strategy: BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)
Operations: BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits) or BUS 276a Business Dynamics: Managing in a Complex World (4 credits)
Business Analytics: 4 credits from the following courses: BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits), BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits), BUS 253a Marketing Research and Design (4 credits), ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits), ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits), FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits), FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)

Residence Requirement

Four semesters in residence at Brandeis International Business School as a graduate student are required for the full-time program status. BA/MBA students will count one undergraduate semester toward this requirement. Students who are admitted as a part-time status may complete at a variable pace, within the 5-year degree time limit.

Concentrations

Requirements to complete the concentrations can be found below.

Requirements for the Concentrations for the Master of Business Administration

Concentration Requirements

MBA students may complete one or two concentrations in the fields of Finance, Marketing, Data Analytics, Social Impact, Strategy and Innovation and Real Estate. Each concentration requires some credits in foundational courses and some in electives. Courses may be double-counted between concentrations. Must be declared by the end of the second semester of the first year.

MBA Concentration in Finance

24 credits are required beyond the finance courses taken in the MBA core. These credits may also be counted towards fulfillment of other concentrations or of the MBA Core requirements. Excess credits in Foundation courses are counted towards the Electives requirement. This concentration is STEM-designated.

Foundation 8 credits required

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)

Advanced Finance Requirement (Choose 1):

FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits)

FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)

Elective Courses 20 credits required

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 215f Intro to Python for Bus Analytics (2 credits)

BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (2 credits for two semesters for a total of 4 credits)*

BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analytics for Business and Finance (4 credits)

ECON/FIN 210a The Psychology of Finance (4 credits)

ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics (4 credits)

FIN 214a Managerial Accounting (4 credits)

FIN 216f Financial Statement Analysis (2 credits)

FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)

FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)

FIN 231f Private Equity (2 credits)

FIN 232a Mergers and Acquisitions (4 credits)

FIN 234a Social Impact Investing (4 credits)

FIN 237f Security Analysis (2 credits)

FIN 240a Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance (4 credits)

FIN 242f Credit Risk Analysis (2 credits)

FIN 247a: Transfer Pricing Theory and Practice (4 credits)

FIN 252a Predictive Analytics and Corporate Innovation (4 credits)

FIN 253a Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance (4 credits)

FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)

FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

FIN 279a Applied Risk Management (4 credits)

FIN 280a Financial Risk Management (4 credits)

FIN 285a Computer Simulations and Risk Assessment (4 credits)

FIN 293a Field Project in Finance (4 credits)

FIN 204a Advanced Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits) or FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits), if not taken for the Advanced Finance requirement

BUS 295a and FIN 293a are Field Project courses – only one can be counted towards this concentration. BUS 297c is a one year Internship experience and can only be counted once towards this concentration. All must be STEM Finance projects to be counted toward the concentration.

MBA Concentration in Marketing

20 credits are required. These credits may also be counted towards fulfillment of other concentrations or of the MBA Core requirements. Excess credits in Foundation courses are counted towards the Electives requirement.

Foundation 8 credits required

BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)

Elective Courses 12 credits required

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 233a Entrepreneurship and Rapid Prototyping (4 credits)
BUS 254a Branding Strategy (4 credits)
BUS 255a Consumer Behavior (4 credits)
BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 257f Social Media and Advertising (2 credits)
BUS 258f Sales and Sales Management (2 credits)
BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)
BUS 292a Marketing Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (4 credits)*

Only 4 credits of experiential coursework can count toward this concentration. These courses include BUS 292a and BUS 297c.. BUS 297c is a one year Internship experience earning two credits per semester. *Bus 297c projects must be approved by the Program Director.

MBA Concentration in Data Analytics

24 credits are required. These credits may also be counted towards fulfillment of other concentrations or of the MBA Core requirements. Excess credits in Foundation courses are counted towards the Electives requirement. This concentration is STEM-designated.

Foundation 14 credits required

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)

ECON 210a: Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)

Elective Courses 10 credits required

BUS 215f Python and Applications to Business Analytics (2 credits)
BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)
BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 257f Social Media and Advertising (2 credits)
BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)
BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits)
BUS 274f Supply Chain Analytics (2 credits)
BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS 294a Data Analytics Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (2 credits for two semesters for a total of 4 credits)*
BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)
ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics (4 credits)
FIN 280a Financial Risk Management (4 credits)
FIN 285a Computer Simulation and Risk Analysis (4 credits)

Only 4 credits of experiential coursework can count toward this concentration. These courses include BUS 294a and BUS 297c. BUS 297c is a one year Internship experience, earning two credits per semester. *Bus 297c projects must be approved by the Program Director.

MBA Concentration in Real Estate

Foundation 6 credits required

BUS 235f Real Estate Fundamentals (2 credits)
FIN 225f Real Estate Finance (2 credits)
FIN 242f Credit Risk Analysis I (2 credits)

Field Project 4 credits required (choose one)

BUS 293a Real Estate Field Project (4 credits)

BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (2 credits for 2 semesters for a total of 4 credits)*

FIN 293a Field Project in Finance (4 credits)

Only 4 credits of experiential coursework can count toward this concentration. These courses include FIN 293a, BUS 293a, and BUS 297c. BUS 297c is a one year Internship experience, earning 2 credits per semester. *Bus 297c projects must be approved by the Program Director.

Elective and Allied Courses 10 credits required

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 238f Real Estate Development (2 credits)
BUS 239f Real Estate Law (2 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)
FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)

MBA Concentration in Social Impact

Foundation Courses (12 credits total)

Take any 10 credits from the following courses:

BUS 226a Strategic Human Resource Management and People Analytics

FIN 234a Social Impact Investing (4 credits)

HS 342f ESG Measurement and Impact Investing (2 credits)

HS 353a Managing the Triple Bottom Line (4 credits)

At least 2 credits from:

BUS297c Board Fellows (4 credits-2 semesters)

HS 228a Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation (2 credits)

Electives (choose 6 credits)

HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy (4 credits)

BUS 240F Information Visualization (2 credits)

BUS 215F Python and Applications to Business Analytics I (2 credits)

FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits)

FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)

BUS 227a Influence, Power and Identity (4 credits)

Any foundation course that has not been used to satisfy the requirement

MBA Concentration in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Strategy

20 credits are required beyond the strategy course taken in the MBA core. These credits may also be counted towards fulfillment of other concentrations or of the MBA Core requirements. Excess credits in Foundation courses are counted towards the Electives requirement.

Foundation in Strategy and Innovation 4 credits required

BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)

Additional Foundational Courses in Strategy and Innovation 8 credits required

BUS 276a Business Dynamics: Managing in a Complex World (4 credits)
BUS 233a Entrepreneurship and Rapid Prototyping (4 credits)
BUS 262a Alliance, Acquisition and Divestment Strategy (2 credits)
FIN 240a Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Finance (4 credits)

Elective Courses 8 credits required

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 230a Entrepreneurship (4 credits)
BUS 232f Digital Fabrication with Robotics (2 credits)
BUS 249f Immersion Experience (2 credits)
BUS 254a Branding Strategy (2 credits)
BUS 278f Corporate Governance: From Colossal Failures to Best Practices (2 credits)
BUS 281f Cyber Security and Operational Risks: A Need to Secure the Future (2 credits)
BUS 292a Marketing Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (2 credits for two terms for a total of 4 credits)*
BUS/ECON 265f Business and Economic Strategies in Emerging Markets (2 credits)
ECON 207a Managerial Economics (4 credits)
ECON 241a Antitrust Economics: Regulating Competition (4 credits)
FIN 214a Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 231f Private Equity (2 credits)
FIN 232a Mergers & Acquisitions Analysis (4 credits)
FIN 247a Transfer Pricing Theory and Practice (4 credits)
HS 244a Responsible Negotiation (4 credits)
RPJM 113 Negotiating and Conflict Resolution (3 credits)

Only 4 credits of experiential coursework can count toward this concentration. These courses include BUS 292a and BUS 297c.. BUS 297c is a one year Internship experience, earning two credits per semester. *Bus 297c projects must be approved by the Program Director.

Requirements for the Combined BA or BS/MBA Program

The BA or BS/MBA combined program allows Brandeis graduates with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree to complete the MBA at an accelerated pace, and without a break in their studies. The business school offers this combined program in cooperation with the School of Arts and Sciences at Brandeis. Students will complete their BA or BS in one of the majors offered by the School of Arts and Sciences before enrolling in the MBA program at the business school.

Admission to the BA/MBA Program

For this program, the business school will consider specific types of undergraduate experiences among the qualifications for admittance and will count certain undergraduate courses for credit toward the MBA degree itself. Aside from academic performance, the Admissions Office will also evaluate whether the student has acquired a minimum amount of part- or full-time work experience during or before college, and has shown a level of professional maturity consistent with the standards of the MBA. Once the student is enrolled in the MBA, the business school will count 16 credits from Brandeis undergraduate studies towards the MBA.

The remaining 48 credits required for the MBA will be earned during the following three semesters. The BA/MBA student will take core courses and electives in the normal MBA curriculum, although specific undergraduate courses in Business and Economics may allow exemptions from certain MBA requirements.

Residence Requirement for Full-Time Students

The BA/MBA program requires three semesters of residency at Brandeis from the semester students begin the program if taking courses full-time, which is after the attainment of the Bachelor's degree. During these three semesters, students need to complete twelve courses (48 credits), even if they have taken graduate level courses before they begin the program. The residency requirement may not be waived or reduced.

Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA)

Learning Goals

Learn about data, how to model its storage and retrieval. How to collect and clean data sets and deliver structure from possibly loosely structured data.
Be proficient in the tools for storing, maintaining, and querying data with representative relational databases. Specifically, to understand the Structured Query Language (SQL) to create, query, and performance tune a database.
Explore different data formats such as text, image, categorical, discrete, and network structures.
Become accomplished in using the Python programming language to model business problems, apply algorithms to solve, and render visual and tabular output visuals.
Utilize higher level Python constructs to build sophisticated workflow solutions. These include Object Oriented Programming (OOP), Application Program Interfaces (API), Web Applications, and case studies in the use of Python for technology-based business use cases.
To explore and understand data by applying statistical models, both univariate and multivariate methods.
To extend elementary statistical models to sophisticated regression and econometric statistical modeling.
Become proficient in visualizing data in various tables, charts, and industry standards. Recognize the role of the user and the accompanying Graphical User Interface (GUI) and how best to articulate data meaning from a simple chart to a sophisticated dashboard created via industry standard Tableau.
Introduce and apply machine learning algorithms to better understand the theory and application of these methods as applied to various business analytics cases. This includes problems of classification and prediction in a typical supervised learning environment. In addition, unsupervised learning is utilized via cluster analysis.
Apply machine learning to solve simple business problems. Expectation is for story-telling what the data offers. This includes exploratory data analysis, postulating business use cases from the data, applying machine learning algorithms to build a working model, and to generate model results and applications to answer business use cases.
Understand the role and use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) in business analytics.
Acquire the communications skills needed to present their case effectively in a business environment.
Learn domain knowledge in specific concentrations. Apply business analytics to domain-specific business use cases.

Program of Study

The Master's in Business Analytics equips students to analyze data. This includes both theoretical and hands-on instruction in major elements of data analytics, and related computational techniques. Students are exposed to applications in financial and marketing analytics, as well as business dynamics. They learn tools to accomplish data pre-processing, management, and visualization. Students will also be trained in selected machine learning methods, and predictive modeling. Through the use of widely adopted software tools, students will build models and execute analyses to address current needs of businesses. All students will take part in an experiential-learning field project, internship, or directed research. Program will include 41 credits.

Core Requirements 25 credits

BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)
BUS 215f Python and Applications to Business Analytics (2 credits)
BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)
BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance (4 credits)
ECON 210a Introduction to Probability and Statistics (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)

Group 1 Electives 8 credits required

BUS 140A - Sports Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)
BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)
BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)
BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)
BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits)
BUS 274f Supply Chain Analytics (2 credits)
ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics (4 credits)
FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Financial Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 214a Managerial Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 252a Predictive Analytics and Corporate Innovation (4 credits)
FIN 253a: Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance (4 credits)
FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)
FIN 271a Advanced Options and derivatives (4 credits)
FIN280a Financial Risk Management (4 credits)
FIN 282f From Cyber to Covid: Shocks, Risks, and Opportunities in Finance (2 credits)
FIN 285a Computer Simulations and Risk Assessment (4 credits)
HS 256f Healthcare Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
HS 340f Advanced Topics in Healthcare Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)
ECON 207a Managerial Economics (4 credits)
RPJM 101 Foundations of Project Management (3 credits)

Group 2 Electives 4 credits required

BUS 297a Internship (2 credits) or any FIN, BUS (except BUS 249f), ECON, BUS/FIN or ECON/FIN course offered at International Business School (including, but not limited to the courses listed above, if not used to fulfill another requirement).

Capstone 4 credits required

BUS 286a Applications of System Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS 290a Directed Research (4 credits)
BUS 294a Field Project in Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 296a Internship (4 credits)

Residence Requirement

The residency requirement is three academic semesters (normally Fall-Spring-Fall), however students may accelerate the program by petitioning to change their graduation date to the Summer semester. This petition must be received by a student’s program advisor by the last day of the student's first semester. Students approved to accelerate their program would do so by increasing their course load in fall and spring. If a student is approved to accelerate their program but does not take the course load required to complete by their new graduation date, the student will be required to pay for their remaining coursework in their fall semester on a credit basis. No scholarship will apply for this coursework.

Transfer Credit

Students who have earned an MA or MBA degree from Brandeis International Business School within the last 10 years and enroll in the MSBA program may transfer up to a maximum of 16 applicable credits from their previous degree to the 41 credit program. Students in programs with active partnerships will also be permitted to transfer up 16 credits to this program.

Experiential Learning

MSBA students are permitted to take a maximum of 8 total credits of experiential learning (e.g. Internship, Field Project). Students may request special permission from the Program Director to exceed this maximum.

Internship: Students in the 16-month program may complete up to 6 credits of internships; 4 credits in the vacation semester (which would serve as the degree capstone) and 2 elective credits after their capstone is completed. Internship courses require two semesters of graduate study (for F-1 students, 2 semesters of graduate study is required immediately preceding the internship).

Second-semester internships are allowed with written permission of the Program Director and as allowed by F-1 regulations for those on F-1 visas.

Students may only complete a 2-credit internship in their final semester if they are enrolled in a minimum of 2 additional in-person/hybrid credits. Bus 296a and BUS 297a may both be taken for credit. If both courses are taken, BUS 297a may not be repeated without the written permission of the Program Director.

Students who wish to finish their program in 12 months (e.g., Fall-Spring-Summer) will be advised to take a Field Project course in the summer. Students may take a 4-credit internship in their final semester depending on student visa regulations and permission from the Program Director. F-1 students who take a 4-credit internship course in their final semester will still need to enroll in an additional in person/hybrid course.

F-1 students may only work part-time during required academic terms, and they may work full-time (more than 20 hours per week) during vacation periods. A student's final semester is considered a required academic term, therefore a student can only work part-time during their final semester.

Field Projects: Field Projects count as experiential learning. Students may only pursue a Data Analytics Field Project after two full semesters in the program. Only Field Projects with a Data Analytics focus automatically count toward the MSBA Capstone requirement (other Field Projects can count toward the Capstone requirement with approval from the Program Director). Students may request special permission from the Program Director to apply early for a Data Analytics Field Project.

Hassenfeld Immersion Program: Credits earned via the Hassenfeld Immersion Program do not automatically count toward MSBA program requirements. Students may request special permission from the Program Director to count Hassenfeld Immersion Program credits toward degree requirements.

Concentration Requirements

Students may choose to complete the MSBA degree requirements within one of four concentrations: Healthcare, Marketing, Sports, or Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students may declare one concentration.

Healthcare Analytics

Required Courses (8 credits)

HS 236a International Health Systems & Development (4 credits)

HS 305a International Health Economics (4 credits)

Elective Coursess (4 credits)

HS 256f Healthcare Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)

HS 339f Advanced Healthcare Analytics and Data Mining (2 credits)

HS 341a Public Finance (4 credits)

HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy (4 credits)

HS 402f Research Methods (2 credits)

HS 532b Social Policy Analysis: Technique and Application (4 credits)

Marketing Analytics

Required Courses (6 credits)

BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)

BUS 256a Marketing Analytics (4 credits)

Elective Courses (6 credits)

BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)

BUS 253a Marketing Research (4 credits)

BUS 254a Branding Strategy (4 credits)

BUS 255a Consumer Behavior (4 credits)

BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)

Sports Analytics

Required Courses (4 credits)

BUS 242a - Predictive Modeling in Sports Analytics (4 credits)

Elective Coursess (8 credits)

BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)

BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)

BUS 254A Branding Strategy (4 credits)

BUS 259f Digital Marketing (2 credits)

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)

FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling (2 credits)

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Required Courses (4 credits)

BUS 244a Gen AI Foundations for Business (4 credits)

Elective Coursess (8 credits)

BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II (2 credits)

BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing (4 credits)

BUS 290a Directed Research (4 credits)

FIN 253a Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance (4 credits)

Requirements for the Combined BA or BS/MSBA Program

International Business School offers a BA or BS/MSBA for qualified Brandeis undergraduates who wish to earn the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) with one year of post-BA study.

BA or BS/MSBA students begin taking International Business School courses in their final year of undergraduate study and finish the master's degree with one additional year of study after receiving their BA. BA or BS/MSBA students are considered undergraduates until they have successfully satisfied all of the requirements for the BA. Interested students apply during the admissions cycles of their junior or senior year. Deadlines are listed on the International Business School website. Applications may be made online through the International Business School website.

Students must submit a completed application, official undergraduate transcripts, three letters of recommendation, essays, and a resume. An interview is required but the GRE or GMAT is not required. Admission is announced in mid-April for the fall semester. A student's preparation for the MSBA Program should include an approved statistics course.

Although some course substitutions are permitted, BA or BS/MSBA students at Brandeis International Business School have to meet the same requirements as the traditional MSBA students and can refer to the MSBA course requirements for a general overview.

A detailed description of all acceptable substitutions for required courses can be found on the BA/MSBA website.

Residence Requirement

The BA or BS/MSBA program requires students to complete two full-time semesters as a graduate student. Students transfer 8-9 credits from their undergrad Brandeis degree to their MS degree and complete 32-33 credits at the graduate level. All International Business School BUS, ECON and FIN courses (200 and 300 level) are relevant for credit towards this requirement, as are 100-level courses in ECON, BUS, and FIN. Students who have taken more applicable coursework than they are able to transfer may exempt from requirements and take more advanced electives.

Dual Master Degree Programs

Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of International Economics and Finance (MA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA)

This intensive program requires a minimum of 96 credit hours completed in 36 months. Dual MA/MBA students must be admitted to each of the individual programs.

Course Requirements

Dual degree program must fulfill the following course requirements:

MA Core Requirements (36-38 credits)

ECON 207a Managerial Economics (4 credits)
ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics (4 credits)
FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits) or FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis (4 credits) or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
ECON 202a Applied International Macroeconomics (4 credits)
ECON 260a: International Trade Policy and Institutions (4 credits) - Students who pursue a concentration in Data Analytics, Financial Economics, Marketing or Real Estate Finance may substitute a concentration elective course for ECON 260a International Trade Policy. This is a required course for students who choose the Economic Analysis and Consulting concentration.

Software Proficiency Requirement (2-4 credits)

Students are expected to demonstrate proficiency in a software beyond STATA and R. This can be satisfied by successfully earning credit in the approved list of courses below or via project:

Advanced Stata (successful completion of ECON 261a)
Tableau (successful completion of BUS 240f)
Python (successful completion of FIN 285a)
Advanced Python (successful completion of BUS/FIN 241a)
Advanced R (successful completion of BUS 212a)
SQL (successful completion of BUS 211a)
ARGUS (demonstrate in a course/project)
SPSS (successful completion of BUS 253a)
Advanced R (successful completion of BUS 256a or ECON/FIN 250a)

MA Capstone (4 credits)

Students choose from one of the following courses:

ECON 288a: Field Projects: Global Firms, Trade and Development (4 credits)
BUS 286a: Applications of System Dynamics (4 credits)
BUS 294a: Data Analytics Field Project (4 credits)
FIN 293a: Finance Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 292a: Marketing Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 295a: Field Project: Social Impact Innovation (4 credits)
BUS 293a: Real Estate Field Project (4 credits)
BUS 297c: Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations (4 credits)

MBA Core Degree Requirements (18-20 credits)

BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
BUS 219f Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior (2 credits)
BUS 228b MBA Career Strategy and Management Communication (2 credits)
BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)
Operations Requirement: BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits) or BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)
Advanced Organizational Behavior course (2-4 credits) — various choices

General Elective Requirement (34-48 credits) - Concentration credits apply to elective credits.

MA Concentration

Students in the combined MA/MBA program may complete any of the MA concentrations available. Choosing particular MA concentrations may limit what, if any concentrations are able to be completed in the MBA within the allotted 96 credits.

MBA Concentration

Students in the combined MA/MBA program may complete any of the MBA concentrations available, up to two as with any MBA student. Choosing particular MBA concentrations may limit what, if any concentrations are able to be completed in the MA within the allotted 96 credits.

Graduation

After fulfilling all requirements for both master’s degree programs, students will receive two degrees: a Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance and a Master of Business Administration.

Students will be eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies following completion of all academic requirements listed for both components of this dual degree. Students will not receive partial degrees from either program. In the case of being unable to complete the dual degree, students may elect to complete the single degree in which they have satisfied the coursework.

Partnership Students and Accelerated MA Students Outside of Brandeis

Students in these programs must complete all 96 credits at Brandeis International Business School, with the exception of a semester study abroad program. Transfer credits from previous degrees do not apply. Students who apply to change to a dual degree forfeit any previous degree credits transferred to the initial individual degree. However, students may be exempt from requirements based on previous coursework or partnership agreements.

Brandeis undergrads are permitted to transfer 16 credits of qualifying coursework to this dual degree.

Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Science in Finance (MSF) and Master of Business Administration (MBA)

This intensive program requires a minimum of 79 credit hours completed in 21-24 months. Dual MSF/MBA students must be admitted to each of the individual programs.

Course Requirements

Dual degree program must fulfill the following course requirements:

MSF Core Requirements (27 credits)

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
FIN 204a Corporate Finance (4 credits)
FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Financial Accounting and Analysis (4 credits) or FIN 213a Intermediate Financial Accounting (4 credits)
FIN 217f Corporate Finance Modeling (2 credits)
FIN 219g Financial Modeling Bootcamp (1 credit)
FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)
FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

MSF Practicum (choose one, 4 credits)

FIN 292a Internship (4 credits)
FIN 293a Field Project in Finance (4 credits)
FIN 294a Directed Research (4 credits)

MSF Finance Electives (8 credits)

Any 200-level Finance course. If a student completes a concentration, they will use these 8 credits toward the concentration.

Non-finance MBA Core Requirements (20 credits)

BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
BUS 219f Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior (2 credits)
BUS 228b MBA Career Strategy and Management Communication (2 credits)
BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)

Operations Requirement: HS 258a Operations Management (4 credits) or BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)

Advanced Organizational Behavior course (2 credits) — various choices

Business Analytics course (2 credits) — various choices

General Elective Requirement: (20 credits)

MBA and MSF concentration

All students will graduate with a finance concentration in the MBA, but may choose not to declare it and complete other concentrations. Students who complete the FinTech Concentration in the MSF degree may be able to complete a second concentration in Data Analytics in the MBA degree.

Graduation

After fulfilling all requirements for both master’s degree programs, students will receive two degrees: a Master of Science in Finance and a Master of Business Administration.

Partnership Students

Students in these programs must complete all 79 credits at Brandeis International Business School,with the exception of a semester study abroad program. Transfer credits from previous degrees do not apply. Students who apply to change to a dual degree forfeit any previous degree credits transferred to the initial individual degree. However, students may be exempt from requirements based on previous coursework or partnership agreements.

Brandeis undergrads are permitted to transfer 16 credits of qualifying coursework to this dual degree.

Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA)

This intensive program requires a minimum of 77 credit hours taken over 21-24 months. Dual MSBA/MBA students must be admitted to each of the individual programs.

Course Requirements

Students admitted into this dual degree program must fulfill the following course requirements:

MSBA Core Degree Requirements (24 credits)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)
ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 215f Python and its Application to Business Analytics (2 credits)
BUS 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance ( 4 credits)

Practicum (4 credits)

BUS 296a Internship
BUS 294a Field Project
BUS 290a Directed Research
BUS 286a Applications of System Dynamics

Non-business analytics MBA Core Degree Requirements (30 credits)

FIN 212a Financial Accounting and Analysis (4 credits)
FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)
BUS 252a Marketing Management (4 credits)
BUS 219f Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior (2 credits)
BUS 228b MBA Career Strategy and Management Communication (2 credits)
BUS 260a Competition and Strategy (4 credits)
Operations Requirement: BUS 272a Operations Management (4 credits) or BUS 276a Business Dynamics (4 credits)
Advanced Organizational Behavior course (2 credits) — various choices

General Elective Requirement (23 credits)

MBA Concentration

All students will graduate with a data analytics concentration in the MBA and could possibly complete a second MBA concentration depending on course selection.

Graduation

After fulfilling ALL requirements for both master's degree programs, students will receive two degrees: a Master of Science in Business Analytics and a Master of Business Administration.

Students will be eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies following completion of all academic requirements listed for both components of this dual degree. Students will not receive partial degrees from either program. In the case of being unable to complete the dual degree, students may elect to complete the degree in which they have satisfied all of their requirements.

Partnership Students

Students in these programs must complete all 77 credits at Brandeis International Business School, with the exception of a semester study abroad program. Transfer credits from previous degrees do not apply. Students who apply to change to a dual degree forfeit any previous degree credits transferred to the initial individual degree. However, students may be exempt from requirements based on previous coursework or partnership agreements.

Brandeis undergrads are permitted to transfer 16 credits of qualifying coursework to this dual degree.

Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) and Master of International Economics and Finance (MA)

This intensive program requires a minimum of 77 credit hours taken over 21-24 months. Dual MSBA/MA students must be admitted to each of the individual programs.

Course Requirements

Students admitted into this dual degree program must fulfill the following course requirements:

MSBA Core Degree Requirements (25 credits)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)
ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)
ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)
BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)
BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)
BUS 215f Python and its Application to Business Analytics (2 credits)
BUS 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance (4 credits)

Practicum (4 credits)

BUS 296a Internship
BUS 294a Field Project
BUS 290a Directed Research
BUS 286a Applications of System Dynamics

MA core requirements (20 credits)

ECON 207a Managerial Economics (4 credits)
FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice (4 credits) or FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)
FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis (4 credits) or FIN 213a Intermediate Accounting (4 credits)
ECON 202a Applied International Macroeconomics (4 credits)
General Elective credits (28 credits)

MA concentration

All Students will graduate with an MA concentration in data analytics.

Graduation

After fulfilling ALL requirements for both master's degree programs, students will receive two degrees: a Master of Science in Business Analytics and a Master of Arts in International Economics and Finance.

Students will be eligible to participate in commencement ceremonies following completion of all academic requirements listed for both components of this dual degree. Students will not receive partial degrees from either program. In the case of being unable to complete the dual degree, students may elect to complete the degree in which they have satisfied all of their requirements.

Partnership Students and Accelerated MA Students

BA/MA and BA/MSBA Students

Students previously in the BA/MA and BA/MSBA program may apply to switch to the Dual Degree MA/MSBA. Students can apply all of their graduate-level coursework after matriculation into the MA or MSBA. In addition, BA/MA students may transfer up to 17 credits of applicable coursework taken while enrolled as an undergraduate and BA/MSBA students may transfer up to 9 credits of applicable coursework taken while enrolled as an undergraduate.

Brandeis undergrads are permitted to transfer 16 credits of qualifying coursework to this dual degree.

Requirements for the Dual Degree of Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) and Master of Science in Finance (MSF)

This intensive program requires a minimum of 67 credit hours completed in 21-27 months. Dual MSBA/MSF students must be admitted to each of the individual programs.

Course Requirements

Students admitted into this dual degree program must fulfill the following course requirements:

Finance Core Requirements (27 credits)

FIN 203a Financial Management (4 credits)

FIN 204a Corporate Finance (4 credits)

FIN 205a Investments and Portfolio Management (4 credits)

FIN 212a Financial Accounting and Analysis (4 credits) or FIN 213a Intermediate Financial Accounting (4 credits)

FIN 217f Corporate Finance Modeling (2 credits)

FIN 219g: Financial Modeling Bootcamp (1 credit)

FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities (4 credits)

FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

Financial Analytics Practicum (choose only one (4 credits) - Financial Analytics

Financial Analytics Internship (4 credits)

Field Project in Financial Analytics (4 credits)

Directed Research in Financial Analytics (4 credits)

MSF Approved Finance Electives (8 credits)

Any 200-level Finance course (if a student completes a concentration, they will use the 8 credits toward the concentration.)

General Degree Requirement (1 credit)

BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career (1 credit)

Business Analytics Core Degree Requirements (24 credits)

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 240f Information Visualization (2 credits)

ECON 210a Intro to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics (4 credits)

ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)

BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics (4 credits)

BUS 215f Python and its Application to Business Analytics or Fin 215f Python and its Applications to Finance (2 credits)

BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance (4 credits)

General Elective Credits (3 credits) - these credits will be used toward an MSF concentration if a student chooses to complete one

Any 200-level BUS, ECON, or FIN course

MSF Concentration

Students in the combined MSBA/MSF program may complete any of the MSF concentrations available, but based on degree combination might have a particular interest in FinTech. Requirements for these concentrations are listed in the MSF section of the bulletin.

Graduation

After fulfilling all requirements for both master’s degree programs, students will receive two degrees: a Master of Science in Business Analytics and a Master of Science in Finance.

Partnership Students

Students in these programs must complete all 67 credits at Brandeis International Business School. MSBA and MSF programs do not permit transfer credit from partnership programs. Students may be exempt from requirements based on previous coursework or partnership agreements.

BA/MSBA Students

Students previously in the BA/MSBA Program may apply to switch to the Dual Degree MSBA/MSF. Students can apply all of their graduate-level coursework taken after matriculation into the MSBA. In addition, BA/MSBA students may transfer up to 9 credits of applicable coursework taken while enrolled as an undergraduate.

Brandeis undergrads are permitted to transfer 16 credits of qualifying coursework to this dual degree.

Brandeis International Business Scholars

Brandeis International Business School Scholars (Scholars) are students who are pre-admitted to either
the BA/MA or BA/MSBA program when admitted to Brandeis as an undergraduate. Students in this
program are also offered priority admissions to the BA/MBA program. Details on these graduate
program requirements can be found in each program sections of the bulletin.

For those students who choose to enter the BA/MA in their 4th year, the following requirements must
be met in order to join the program in their senior year:

Minimum GPA of 3.0 at the end of the junior year.
"B" grade or better in each of the following required courses, to be completed prior to starting graduate coursework: ECON 10a Introduction to Microeconomics or ECON 20a Introduction to Macroeconomics or equivalent.
Completion of undergraduate degree in four years.

For those students who choose to enter the BA/MSBA in their 4th year, the following requirements
must be met:

Minimum GPA of 3.0 at the end of the junior year.
"B" grade or better in each of the following required course, to be completed prior to starting graduate coursework: ECON 83a Statistics for Economic Analysis or equivalent.
Completion of undergraduate degree in four years.

Scholars are also offered priority admission to the MBA program. Qualified students will have
demonstrated exceptional academic performance and internship experience. Students who have met
the following requirements by their last semester at Brandeis would be interviewed by Admissions to
determine if they are good fit for the MBA.

Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5
One required, related internship completed prior to senior year

Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Learning Goals

Successful PhD students will be able to go on to conduct their own independent research in academic, government, or business settings.
Mastery of core fields.
Mastery of two areas of specialization.
Students should be capable of reading the latest journal articles, and producing journal quality research papers.
Dissertation

Note that the PhD degree requirements align with the year in which a student began the PhD program. Below are degree requirements for PhD students starting the program in fall 2024:

Requirements for the PhD in International Economics and Finance are outlined below. Details about each requirement follows.

A grade of B- or above in 14 semester courses (56 credits), 8 of which are core requirements. (6 of these courses are full semester courses and 2 are half semester )
A grade-point average of at least 0 in core and field courses and a grade of B- or above is necessary to gain credit for having taken any course for a student enrolled in the PhD program.
At the end of the first year, successful completion of two qualifying exams (Macroeconomics and Microeconomics).
At the end of the second year, successful completion of two field exams (a required Applied Methods exam and a second field of the student’s choice, described below).
At the end of the third year, successful completion of the Third-year paper that requires some independent research.
It is required that all PhD students participate in teaching. This typically means leading discussion sections or otherwise working in collaboration with individual professors. PhD students receiving stipends are required to serve as teaching fellows for four semesters during their first three years of residence.
Successful completion of a doctoral thesis that represents substantial original research.

Residence Requirement

Three years of full-time residence are required. However, for most students it takes four or more years of full-time study to complete the PhD degree.

Program Timeline

All first-year students must take the following fall and spring required courses. Second-year students must take the following fall and spring required courses, in addition to field courses. There are no substitutions or exempting out of required courses.

See below for first and second-year required courses.

First Year - Fall

ECON 213a S3 Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)

ECON 301a Advanced Microeconomics I (4 credits)

ECON 303a Advanced Macroeconomics II (4 credits)

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop*

First Year - Spring

ECON 302a Advanced Microeconomics II (4 credits)

ECON 304a Advanced Macroeconomics II (4 credits)

ECON 311a Advanced Econometrics II (4 credits)

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop*

(Optional) Field course (See below for details.)

Second Year

ECON 307f Applied Methods I (2 credits)

ECON 308f Applied Methods II) (2 credits)

ECON 312a Advanced Econometrics II (4 credits)

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop (both Fall and Spring)*

Field course(s) (See below for details.)

Third Year

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop (4 credits) *

Third year paper (See below for details.)

Fourth Year and Beyond

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop*

Dissertation and Defense (See below for details.)

* Credits do not count towards graduation requirement

Time Limit for Degrees

Students typically complete the PhD program within five to six years, but can have up to eight years to complete the program, if needed. Time is counted from the beginning of a student’s program, even if a student takes a non-medical leave.

However, if a PhD student takes a medical leave, "then the clock stops" for the program. In other words, the time taken off for the medical leave is added to the length of the program for that particular PhD student.

Students have up to eight years after the start of their PhD program to successfully complete courses and other requirements towards their MSIEF and/or PhD degree. No work completed beyond eight years will count towards a degree.

Course Requirements At-A-Glance

The following outlines the core subject areas of the PhD program and the associated required courses:

Theory - 4 Courses (offered every other year)

ECON 301a Advanced Microeconomics I (4 credits)

ECON 302a Advanced Microeconomics II (4 credits)

ECON 303a Advanced Macroeconomics I (4 credits)

ECON 304a Advanced Macroeconomics II (4 credits)

Econometrics - 2 Courses (offered every other year)

ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R (4 credits)

ECON 311a Econometrics I (4 credits)

ECON 312a Advanced Econometrics II (4 credits)

Applied Methods - 2 Courses (offered every other year)

ECON 307f Applied Methods I (2 credits)

ECON 308f Applied Methods II (2 credits)

ECON 399 Dissertation Workshop

Students are required to enroll in ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop each semester that they are in the PhD program. Students in their third year of the program and beyond are required to present their work each semester.

This workshop provides opportunities for students to listen to research presentations by the fellow PhD students, present their own work in progress, and receive instruction on pedagogical material involving how to present and write in economics.

Qualifying Examinations

Following the satisfactory completion of the core courses at the end of the first year, students must pass qualifying exams covering the core subjects of Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. These exams are given in May of the student's first year.

If a student does not pass one of these exams, the student will be offered one opportunity to retake the exam later in the summer.

Field Concentrations

Students will take courses in the following three fields:

A. Applied Methods

B. International Economics

C. Finance

The following lists the required courses for each field:

Applied Methods - 4 Courses

ECON 307f Applied Methods I (2 credits)

ECON 308f Applied Methods II (2 credits)

ECON 311a Econometrics I (4 credits)

ECON 312a Econometrics II (4 credits)

International Economics - 3 of the Following 4 Courses

ECON 261a Empirical Analysis of Trade Policy (4 credits)

ECON 330a International Macroeconomic (4 credits)

ECON 360a International Trade (4 credits)

ECON 370a Development Economics (4 credits)

Finance - 4 Courses

FIN 270a Options and Derivatives (4 credits)

FIN 271a Options and Derivatives II (4 credits)

FIN 305f Asset Pricing (2 credits)

FIN 306f Topics in Corporate Finance (2 credits)

Electives

To complete the 14-course requirement, students also take some electives. Suggested electives for the various fields are as follows:

International Development

ECON 270a Economic Development Strategies

International Business

ECON 202a Applied International Macroeconomics

Finance

FIN 204a Advanced Corporate Finance: Theory and Practice

FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities
Background Course: FIN 201a Investments

Cross Registering for Courses at Another Area School

Students can choose from courses within or outside their field of specialization and from other appropriate courses offered by Brandeis or consortium schools in the second year and beyond. Students may take only one course per semester outside of Brandeis International Business School.

Electives must be approved in advance by the student's Advisor and the PhD Program Director.

See the Registrar’s Cross-Registration website, the Graduate Students Who Wish to Cross Register at Another School section, for more information.

Field Examinations

At the end of the second year, students are also required to pass two written field exams. Before taking either field exam, students should have obtained a passing grade in the classes required for that exam.

In the second year, students will take fields exams in International Economics and Finance. These exams are usually taken in May of the student's second year in the PhD program.

If a student does not pass one of these exams, the student will be offered one opportunity to retake the exam later in the summer.

Third-Year Paper

All students are required to complete a research paper during their third year. The paper must be an original and substantive piece of independent research. The student will write the paper under the supervision of two faculty members who serve as primary and secondary advisers. The primary adviser must be a Brandeis faculty member in the Brandeis International Business School/Economics. A faculty member outside of the Brandeis International Business School/Economics may serve as the secondary adviser.

It is expected that the student will present a draft of the third-year paper in Econ 399a during the early part of the Spring semester. Then, in consultation with their primary advisor, the student will revise the paper incorporating feedback received during the presentation. The final draft must be submitted by the last date of the final exam period in the Spring semester of the third year, and it will be evaluated by the Ph.D. student's primary and secondary advisers.

Ideally, the topic of the paper should be related to a potential dissertation topic. The paper should demonstrate the student's knowledge of the particular research area that it occupies. Typically, the student will answer a research question in the paper, but constructing a new, well-documented database that is accompanied by a detailed research plan for using it is also acceptable.

Students are responsible for finding their two advisors. Agreeing to serve as an advisor does not obligate the faculty to serve on the student’s dissertation committee. If a student is unable to find a pair of advisors, the Ph.D. Director will assist.

The paper may be co-authored with faculty, but in this case, the student's contribution should meet the standards of authorship as defined by the National Academy of Sciences. These standards are defined for academia here: https://www.pnas.org/content/115/11/2557 (accessed on January 30, 2020). In particular, "Each author is expected to have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work; or have drafted the work or substantively revised it; and to have approved the submitted version (and any substantially modified version that involves the author's contribution to the study); and to have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author's own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even ones in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature."

Dissertation and Defense

Each PhD student must complete a dissertation. The dissertation is comprised of three chapters (papers), one of which must be solo authored by the PhD student.

Each student works on their dissertation under the direction of their dissertation committee, with the thesis chair providing most of the advising.

The dissertation committee should be comprised of the following:

The dissertation chair must be a Brandeis International Business School/Economics faculty member.
The other two committee members must be Brandeis International Business School/Economics faculty members, and
One outside (of Brandeis International Business School/Economics) faculty member.

All candidates for the PhD must follow the PhD checklist for required steps in the process, including when to indicate a degree date, when to schedule a dissertation defense date, and how to submit the final dissertation.

Masters of Science in International Economics and Finance

This MSief degree is available as:

An intermediate academic credential for continuing PhD students
A terminal degree for students who do not continue in the PhD program

The requirements for the MSief degree are:

Successful completion (B- or above) of 13 courses (usually core courses plus approved electives).
Passing at least one of the macroeconomics or microeconomics qualifying exams at the end of the first year.

Curricular Practice Training (CPT) Guidelines for PhD Students

CPT is an opportunity for F-1 visa international students to participate in off campus employment during their program of study to gain practical experience in their major field of study. The following outlines the guidelines for PhD students seeking CPT:

Eligible after the 2nd year in the PhD program, after passing field exams.
Must get Program Director/advisor approval.
Up to 3 CPTs during the PhD Program allowed.
Enroll in BUS 297a (2 credits)

Requirements for academic credit for CPT are the following:

The internship/opportunity must be a minimum of 100 hours and a minimum of 6 weeks long.
The student must submit a 2-3 page paper at the end of the internship/opportunity to the assigned BUS 297a instructor.

If the CPT takes place during the student’s 3rd year, they must satisfactorily meet all 3rd year requirements, including:

Attend and present in Econ 399 each semester.
Complete the 3rd year paper.
Complete any remaining course work toward the 56 credit PhD program requirements.

Apply for F1 visa CPT:

Please see the CPT checklist for students, including what needs to be in the offer letter.

The offer letter must include specific beginning and end dates.
CPT has to fall within our semester dates.
It can take up to 2 weeks to get authorization, although it usually takes less time.

For J-1 visas work authorization must come from their sponsor.

Satisfactory Progress

The PhD committee grants students’ permission to register and renew financial aid, both of which are contingent on satisfactory progress toward completion of degree requirements. The following standards are used to evaluate satisfactory progress.

Grades

A grade-point average of at least 3.0 across core and field courses is required to continue on the program. The courses used to calculate the GPA are the core requirements in the first year and required field courses. ECON 399 Dissertation Workshop does not count towards the GPA.

A grade of B- or above is necessary to gain credit for having taken the course for a student enrolled in the PhD program. To be allowed to take the field exams after the second year, the student must have obtained a grade of B- or higher on the required classes for these exams

Exams

Qualifying examinations in micro and macro theory are given at the end of the first year. Students have one opportunity to retake the qualifying exam before the start of their second year, provided they meet the 3.0 GPA requirement in the core courses.

Field exams must be taken by the end of the second year. One opportunity to retake a field exam before the third year may be allowed provided the student has met the average GPA requirement of at least 3.0 across the field courses.

Third-Year Paper

Students must present the idea and preliminary results for a third-year paper in ECON 399 Dissertation Workshop in the fall or spring semester of their third year and submit the paper by the last date of the final exam period in the spring semester of their third year. Students must receive a grade of pass by their third-year paper committee to demonstrate satisfactory progress.

Dissertation

An initial draft of the dissertation must be approved for defense by the dissertation committee. A thesis must be defended, approved and submitted to the University.

TA/RA

Students must perform their assigned duties to a satisfactory standard.

Information about Courses

Listed on the following pages are graduate courses of instruction for Brandeis International Business School. Courses meet for three hours a week unless otherwise specified.

Most courses are available to all students qualified to take them. Access to some courses is governed by the signature of the instructor. Other courses impose a numerical limit to preserve environmental conditions suitable to the pedagogy the instructor employs; students increase their chances of gaining enrollment in such courses by participating in early registration.

Generally, a course is offered with the frequency indicated at the end of its description. The frequency may be designated as every semester, every year, every second year, every third year, or every fourth year.

Courses numbered 100-199 are for undergraduate and graduate students; courses numbered 200 and above are primarily for graduate students. Undergraduates may not enroll in courses numbered 200 or above without the written permission of the instructor.

Brandeis International Business School degree programs are structured with the assumption that all students will be taking their required courses at their first opportunity and as outlined in the program guide. While some electives may be taken concurrently to these required courses, most electives assume that the student has already mastered the core content of their program. Prerequisites are noted in the following course descriptions.

Students wishing to exempt from a course requirement based on earlier studies are expected to submit a Petition for Exemption in their first semester. Students are not to assume that an exemption will be granted.

Course abbreviations are as follows:

BUS Business
BUS/ECON Business and Economics
BUS/FIN Business and Finance
CONT Continuation
ECON Economics
ECON/FIN Economics and Finance
FIN Finance

Suffixes after course numbers have the following meanings:

A or B Semester course
F Half-semester course, half-course credit
G Quarter-course credit

A semester course carries one semester course credit (four semester-hour credits). Exceptions are noted under the individual course descriptions. Certain courses do not count for rate of work and do not carry course credit toward graduation.

The university reserves the right to make any changes in the offerings without prior notice.

Courses of Instruction

Expand All

(200 and above) Primarily for Graduate Students

BUS 200a Work Practicum

Open only to IBS BA/MA students who are entering their final year of graduate study.

Allows students to enroll on a full-time basis during the summer semester in conjunction with a required internship course. Students will be concurrently enrolled in an internship course. Usually offered every year.

BUS 211a Foundations of Data Analytics

We are now in an era of voluminous real-time data, with fast, affordable computing and data-driven decision making. Firms across the spectrum are gathering detailed real-world data on their customers, competitors, and marketplace. This vast volume of information will provide significant competitive advantage to companies and managers who can leverage these data and derive meaningful managerial insights. This course has been designed for professionals who will be using analytics on large datasets, and so is intended for students wanting to go into marketing, finance, consulting, entrepreneurship, business strategy, or operations management. More specifically, the course provides experience with applications of data analytics specific to business decisions. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 212a Advanced Data Analytics

Prerequisite: BUS 211a.

Teaches theory and best practices of modern business analytics, with particular attention to business intelligence, predictive, and prescriptive modeling. We continue with data preparation and visualization introduced in BUS 211a, and provide hands-on experience with major methods of data mining and machine learning. In addition to working with RStudio and R packages, students will become experienced in methods of reproducible research, professional communication of analytic results and creation of data products. Significant use of case studies. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 215f Python and Applications to Business Analytics

Designed to be relevant to any business student that wishes to build a skillset that can harness the power of the computer, computer science, and data analysis to various applications in business analytics. A set of these applications in business analytics that are relevant is data analysis (statistics, machine learning), data visualization (charting), algorithms (optimization, numerical methods, linear algebra), and forecasting (time series analytics, stochastic methods). Usually offered every semester.

BUS 216f Python and Applications to Business Analytics II

Prerequisite: BUS 215f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Harnesses the power of Python to build an application from design to deployment stages. Students will be learn about the product design stage, setting up a code development environment, developing and utilizing test-driven use-cases, harnessing Python-based libraries to build a GUI, implementing business analytics with user-developed and library algorithms, coding best practices, and finally, deployment to the intended device. All developed applications can be used by business analytics students that aspire to build analytics-based applications in the business world. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 219f Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. May not be taken for credit by students who took BUS 220a in prior years.

Covers the fundamentals of organizational behavior, including the topics of leadership, work motivation, organizational culture, organizational structure, group dynamics, perception, decision-making, and cross-cultural interaction. Final project includes analysis of cultural differences in organizational behavior concepts. Usually offered every year.

BUS 222f Global Dexterity

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

To be a global worker and a true "citizen of the world" today means you are able to adapt your behavior to conform to new cultural contexts without losing your authentic self in the process. Work on developing "global dexterity" skills to accomplish this. Usually offered every year.

BUS 224g Launching Your Global Career

Offered exclusively on a credit/no credit basis. Meets for one-quarter semester and yields quarter-course credit.

The goal of this course is to equip students with the career management skills essential to surviving and excelling in today's global labor market. Provides graduate students with a foundation and necessary tools for identifying target positions; conducting an effective and efficient job search; building career-planning and job-search skills that will be useful throughout their careers. Usually offered every year.

BUS 225a Leading in an Era of Diversity

Introduces students to analytical frameworks for understanding and influencing individual, group, inter-group, and total organization dynamics. Provides a foundation for developing self-awareness and an authentic leadership style suitable for working in diverse workplace. Increases students' awareness of and competence in reporting to, collaborating with, and managing people different from themselves. Usually offered every year.

BUS 226a Strategic Human Resource Management and People Analytics

Explores how to design human resource practices that develop employee knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve desired performance outcomes, in collaboration with others. To meet the growing need for data-driven, analytical approaches, students will learn to use quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate the impact of HR practices on desired objectives. Usually offered every year.

BUS 227a Influence, Power and Identity

Examines how many aspects of your career--landing a job, a promotion, or a new client--require you to influence other people and to affect how they think, feel, and behave. Students will explore and apply the latest research on successful influence strategies. Usually offered every year.

BUS 228b MBA Career Strategy and Management Communication

Yields half-course credit.

Provides students the opportunity to develop career plans, professionalize management communication style, and fine-tune professional presentation alongside academic pursuits while at Brandeis IBS, so that students are prepared to take the steps needed to gain experience through internships during graduate studies and pursue an excellent and fulfilling career upon graduation. Usually offered every year.

BUS 230a Entrepreneurship

Addresses the fundamentals of starting and growing a business, including entrepreneurial finance and financial management. Covers theory and practice and includes presentations by speakers engaged in entrepreneurship, underwriting, and venture capital. The major assignment is a team project to construct a business plan for a startup company using actual data. Usually offered every year.

BUS 232f Digital Fabrication with Robotics

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

The goal of this course is for students to walk away with the ability to imagine a design and produce it in physical reality. Students will learn the fundamental underlying technologies in digital fabrication, 3D scanning, 3D design, and robotics. Through a combination of real world examples and hands-on experiences, students will learn to take a design from concept to reality. There will be a focus on literacy of underlying technologies: how things work, what their limitations are, why they fail, and how to troubleshoot or design around those limitations. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 233a Entrepreneurship and Rapid Prototyping

Recommended prerequisites: BUS 152a and BUS 232f. Can not be taken for credit by students who have previously taken BUS 131a.

Focuses on prototyping/lean startup, minimum-viable products, design thinking, project management, and product/service development. Today, the most important skills entrepreneurs need to have are not necessarily learned in the traditional classroom environment. The work of an entrepreneur and project manager of any kind requires mastering the art of rapid experimentation/prototyping with multiple iterations to improve systems, products or services. This course is designed to allow students to learn those tools in a hands-on, immersive approach, allowing students to launch one actual product or service in the course of a semester. Usually offered every year.

BUS 235f Real Estate Fundamentals

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a (can be taken concurrently). Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Introduction to the analysis, financing, and management of income-producing real property. Explores how investors and developers identify projects, determine value, design marketing strategies, and obtain financing in the debt and equity markets. Usually offered every year.

BUS 238f Real Estate Development

Prerequisite: BUS 235f. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Focuses on how developers create value from real estate assets. Examines development process: market analysis, site selection, acquisition, planning, construction, leasing and permitting. Working in teams, students plan and present actual original development projects to a visiting panel of professionals. Usually offered every year.

BUS 240f Information Visualization

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Modern computer graphics provide many ways to tame "big data," allowing users not only to view multidimensional information, but to interactively explore, combine, and interpret massive volumes of information using software tools including R, Microstrategy and Tableau. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 242a Predictive Modeling in Sports

Prerequisite: BUS 215f and ECON 210a. Co-requisite: BUS/FIN 241a. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken BUS 140a in the past.

Offers a general topic course on machine learning tools, and their implementation through Python, and the Python packages, Scikit Learn, Keras, TensorFlow, and the Natural Language Toolkit (NLT). The course is oriented heavily to applications in business and finance, giving students the tools needed to survive in the modern data analytics space. It is not intended as a deep theoretical approach to machine learning. Students will finish the class with a basic understanding of how to execute predictive analytic algorithms, as well as rigorously test their performance. The course is statistical in nature. Usually offered every year.

BUS 243a Introduction to Natural Language Processing

Prerequisites: BUS 215f and either ECON 184a or ECON 213a. Machine Learning is recommended.

Natural language processing (NLP) is becoming increasingly widespread. Applications of NLP have become embedded in our everyday lives, and these applications are based somewhere between formal linguistics and statistical physics. Especially over the past decade, neural network approaches have become the de facto standard for many NLP tasks. This course aims to provide a survey of these foundations, but we will take NLP in a narrow sense to cover the text analysis only. The course assumes a background in multivariate calculus, linear algebra, and proficiency in Python. The goal of this course is to enable you to build your language applications using the PyTorch framework. Usually offered every year.

BUS 244a Generative AI Foundations for Business

Prerequisites: BUS 215f, ECON 210a, and one of the following: BUS 211a, or BUS 212a, or BUS/FIN 241a.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) focuses on systems that can create, manipulate, and understand content across various modalities including text, images, and structured data, and has the potential to transform business operations across sectors by learning patterns from vast amounts of data to generate new, contextually relevant content.

This course aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of generative AI technologies, architectures, and deployment strategies in business contexts. It is designed to equip students with both theoretical foundations and practical implementation skills that are grounded in real-world business applications. The primary objective is to help students develop the ability to identify business problems where Gen AI can create value, select appropriate AI architectures and models, and implement end-to-end solutions while considering business constraints. Usually offered every year.

BUS 248b Business in Global Markets

Noncredit.

Usually offered every year.

BUS 249f Immersion Experience

Prerequisite: BUS 248b. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Meets in a country with a dynamic business and economic environment. Consult the program administrator for details regarding special costs and meeting times. May be repeated once for credit, to different destinations.

Provides analysis of the host country's business, economy, markets, and institutions, in the broader context of its history, politics, culture, and society. Explores their relationship with broader global trends in business. In-country program consists of academic lectures, field trips to companies and other institutions, and group discussion. Preparatory lectures at Brandeis in advance of visit. Usually offered every year.

BUS 252a Marketing Management

An in-depth exploration and practical application of the basic marketing tools of product policy, pricing, promotion, distribution, sales management, customer segmentation, and retention in order to analyze marketing opportunities and develop marketing programs for a variety of management situations. Usually offered every year.

BUS 253a Marketing Research: Design and Analysis

A practical exploration of a broad sampling of market research techniques to compile, analyze, and apply consumer, product, and market intelligence to strategic and marketing decisions concerning market segmentation, targeting, positioning, product design, and demand forecast. Usually offered every year.

BUS 254a Branding Strategy

Prerequisite: BUS 252a.

Examines the value of building, sustaining, and communicating a company's brand and its value proposition through promotional activities and channels of distribution. A competitive, online simulation is used to enhance case studies. Usually offered every year.

BUS 255a Consumer Behavior

Focuses on fundamental theories and concepts in consumer psychology and exciting new findings to enhance students' understanding of how and why people choose, use and evaluate goods and services the way they do. This knowledge will come from lectures, readings and discussions in class, but also from hands-on experiential learning through involvement in a semester-long group project. Usually offered every year.

BUS 256a Marketing Analytics

Prerequisite: ECON 210a. Corequisite: BUS 211a.

Provides experience with applications of business analytics to marketing decisions. We begin each topic with a representative case study, practicing the skills of framing questions and decisions in ways that can be answered with available data. We study a group of widely-used statistical models to support and/or automate marketing decisions. Usually offered every year.

BUS 257f Social Media and Advertising

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Explores the activities a company undertakes to educate, engage and prompt to action its various target customer segments. Topics include advertising, promotions, event sponsorship, internet marketing, social media marketing, corporate blogs, word-of-mouth advertising, and marketing communications for social initiatives. Usually offered every year.

BUS 258f Sales and Sales Management

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Explores concepts and techniques for professional sales and sales management. Includes strategies for maximizing revenue and customer satisfaction while optimizing costs to sell, service and maintain customer relationships. Usually offered every year.

BUS 259f Digital Marketing

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Introduces students to important concepts and techniques of online marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search marketing (search and display ads), web analytics, and monetization models (sales funnel and email campaigns). Students will have first-hand experience applying these concepts and techniques by building a website themselves to market a product or service. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 260a Competition and Strategy

Introduces frameworks for analyzing industries and firm competitive advantage and reviews key concepts in business strategy. Uses case method to practice strategic thinking and team projects to practice business research. Core for MBA students and recommended for other business students. Usually offered every year.

BUS 262a Alliance, Acquisition, and Divestment Strategy

Business combinations are central to competitive strategy. Inter-firm alliances of various sorts (e.g., joint ventures) are particularly valuable in rapidly changing industries and in unfamiliar markets. Mergers and acquisitions can add value when scale and scope are keys to success. Surveys the strategic and organizational issues involved in business combinations. Discusses ideas from research, and applies them to managerial decisions using case studies and projects. Usually offered every year.

BUS 264b Climate Innovation

Innovations are critical to fighting climate change. But innovations don’t spread automatically. We
will learn the status of climate technologies and explore real-world barriers and opportunities they
face. Prior coursework in business or climate issues is helpful but not required. Usually offered every year.

BUS 272a Operations Management

Explores how different business strategies require different business processes, and, conversely, how different operational capabilities support different strategies to gain competitive advantage. Topics may include inventory management, cycle time management, supply chain management, quality management, and process management and improvement, as well as recent developments such as lean or world-class manufacturing, just-in-time operations, time-based competition, and business reengineering. Usually offered every year.

BUS 274f Supply Chain Analytics

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Instructs students how to optimize supply chain processes so that they can achieve a company's strategic goal of either efficiency or responsiveness. The course will cover supply chain metrics, production planning, inventory control and supply chain coordination. We will also investigate global supply chain design, logistics, and outsourcing. Usually offered every year.

BUS 275a Introduction to Negotiations

Introduces students to the fundamentals of negotiation analysis and practice. It uses case studies and experiential exercises, which take place inside and outside of the classroom to build an analytic and behavioral framework for sharpening understanding and improving performance in negotiation. Usually offered every year.

BUS 276a Business Dynamics: Managing in a Complex World

A study of why so many business strategies generate disappointing results or outright failure. Case studies include successful applications of system dynamics in growth strategy, management of technology, operations, project management, and implementation of improvement programs. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 278f Corporate Governance: From Colossal Failures to Best Practices

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

How the board of directors, management, shareholders, and an external auditor should work. How individual goals and external pressures influence individuals, and how their decisions impact a corporation's failure or success. Focuses on the United States with comparisons to Europe and Asia. Usually offered every year.

BUS 279f Corporate Fraud: Detection and Prevention

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Exposes students to the problem of fraudulent financial reporting, including its causes, impact, and practical, cost-effective responses. Using actual and simulated case material, students will acquire skills needed to identify, investigate, and report findings on corporate fraud. Usually offered every year.

BUS 281f Cyber Security and Operational Risks: A Need to Secure the Future

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Today's managers must be able to assess the risk profile of their business and respond to issues as they arise. Cyber security is an emerging risk for any company, small or large. Examines how companies are dealing with the challenges and legislation that have made executives in the U.S. and abroad fully accountable for effective cyber security and operational risk management processes. Usually offered every year.

BUS 290a Directed Research

Prerequisite: Two full semesters of MSBA coursework (at least 32 credits). Open to Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) students only.

The MSBA Directed Research is a 4-credit course that provides an opportunity for MSBA students to carry out a detailed directed research and independent study under the supervision of a faculty member. The MSBA Directed Research requires students to apply principles and frameworks from the MSBA curriculum to identify and analyze a question/puzzle with a data-driven approach that broadens the students understanding and knowledge on that particular issue and could potentially help the student in his/her job search. The Directed Research counts towards fulfilling the 4-credit core practicum requirement for the MSBA degree. As the MSBA Directed Research necessarily requires an advanced understanding of Business Analytics it is expected that students would have completed related coursework prior to undertaking this course. Usually offered every year.

BUS 291g General Education Seminar

Open only to IBS students. Enrollment is limited. Yields one-fourth course credit (one credit). May be repeated for credit as the seminar topic varies.

Addresses a narrow, important topic and is taught jointly by an IBS faculty member and a prominent outside expert. Each seminar involves nine hours of structured learning and discussion. Usually offered every year.

BUS 292a Marketing Field Project

Students work in teams on marketing projects for external sponsors. This course provides an opportunity for students to apply their skills and knowledge to solving real-world problems under the supervision of a faculty member. The course culminates in a final presentation to the sponsor before the end of the semester in which it is undertaken. Field Projects serve as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Requires a strong foundation in marketing, along with good presentation and teamwork skills. Usually offered every year.

BUS 293a Real Estate Field Project

Students work in teams on real estate projects for external sponsors. This course provides an opportunity for students to apply their skills and knowledge to solving real-world problems under the supervision of a faculty member. The course culminates in a final presentation to the sponsor before the end of the semester in which it is undertaken. Field Projects serve as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Requires a strong foundation in real estate, along with good presentation and teamwork skills. Usually offered every year.

BUS 294a Data Analytics Field Project

Students work in teams on data analytics projects for external sponsors. This course provides an opportunity for students to apply their skills and knowledge to solving real-world problems under the supervision of a faculty member. The course culminates in a final presentation to the sponsor before the end of the semester in which it is undertaken. Field Projects serve as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Requires a strong foundation in data analytics, along with good presentation and teamwork skills. Usually offered every year.

BUS 295a Field Project: Social Impact Innovation

Students work in teams on projects for external sponsors. This course provides an opportunity for students to apply their skills and knowledge to solving real-world problems under the supervision of a faculty member. The course culminates in a final presentation to the sponsor before the end of the semester in which it is undertaken. Field Projects serve as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Requires a strong foundation in business, along with good presentation and teamwork skills. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 296a Internship

Prerequisite: Two full semesters of MSBA coursework (at least 32 credits). Open to Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) students only.

The MSBA Internship is a 4-credit course that provides an opportunity for MSBA students to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty member. The MSBA Internship requires students to apply principles and frameworks from the MSBA curriculum for a client organization seeking help with a business analytical challenge. The Internship counts towards fulfilling the 4-credit core practicum requirement for the MSBA degree. Along with the Field Project in Business Analytics, the MSBA Internship serves as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Internship must be a minimum of 100 hours and 6 weeks in length. Usually offered every year.

BUS 297a Internship

Prerequisite: Two semesters at IBS or permission of program director. Yields half-course credit. May be repeated for credit up to 3 times (6 credits) for IBS MA and MBA students only. MSF and MSBA students may take only once.

Offers students an opportunity to apply the theories and key themes covered in the core courses in a real-life setting. Requires completion of at least six weeks of a paid or unpaid internship approved and monitored by a faculty advisor. The project could involve a research or consulting assignment or a structured internship in the school's fields. Internship must be a minimum of 100 hours and 6 weeks in length. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 297c Leadership Internships in Social Impact Organizations

Yields half-course credit per semester. Both semesters are required.

Provides an opportunity for students to individually assume high level strategic, tactical and/or leadership assignments in social impact organizations. Students may become a non-voting board fellow as part of their assignment and/or may be providing board level strategic and tactical consulting, depending on the nature of the host organization and the scope of each student's particular assignment. All opportunities will provide a forum for students to develop and amplify their own unique brand of high stakes contributions to real world social impact organizations. Usually offered every year.

BUS 297g Internship

Prerequisite: Two semesters at IBS or permission of program director. Yields quarter-course credit. This course may be repeated twice for credit.

BUS 298a Independent Study

Normally available for a student who wishes to pursue advanced reading on research in a subject or field not available in the department's course listings. Usually offered every semester.

BUS 298f Independent Study

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

See BUS 298a for course description.

BUS 398a Independent Study

Normally available for a PhD student who wishes to pursue advanced reading under the direction of a faculty member. Usually offered every semester.

BUS/ECON 265f Global Strategic Management

Formerly offered as BUS 265a.

Studies the economic strategies followed by emerging markets and examines the differences in the business environment in emerging and developed markets. We then zoom in and study the strategies of firms that successfully (and unsuccessfully) do business in emerging markets. We analyze strategy in large and small entrepreneurial firms, particularly social enterprises that target the base of the pyramid. Usually offered every year.

BUS/FIN 241a Machine Learning and Data Analysis for Business and Finance

Prerequisites: BUS 215f and ECON 210a. Corequisite: Either ECON 184a or ECON 213a.

Offers a general topics course on machine learning tools, and their implementation through Python, and the Python packages, Scikit Learn, Keras, TensorFlow, and the Natural Language Toolkit (NLT). The course is oriented heavily to applications in business and finance, giving students the tools needed to survive in the modern data analytics space. It is not intended as a deep theoretical approach to machine learning. Students will finish the class with a basic understanding of how to execute predictive analytic algorithms, as well as rigorously test their performance. The course is statistical in nature. Usually offered every semester.

ECON 202a Applied International Macroeconomics

Using countries to illustrate, this course covers domestic and international macroeconomics. Topics include the goals and functioning of monetary authorities, financial crises, international competitiveness and PPP, exchange rate regimes, hyperinflation, and the sustainability of government finances. Students also master basic skills for manipulating and presenting macroeconomic information. Usually offered every year.

ECON 207a Managerial Economics

May not be taken for credit by students who took ECON 80a. Teaches students to apply basic microeconomic concepts to business and management decision-making. Key concepts include consumer behavior, properties of market supply and demand, firm's production decisions, market structures, government interventions in the markets, and optimal pricing strategy under various market conditions such as monopoly and oligopoly. Usually offered every year.

ECON 210a Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Business and Economics

Provides a working knowledge of the analytical tools of probability and statistics used in business and economic analysis. Some of the topics that we will cover include descriptive statistics, probability theory, the Central Limit Theorem, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing. The course will conclude with an introduction to regression analysis using the bivariate model. Students will learn how to use R for statistical analysis. Usually offered every year.

ECON 213a Applied Econometrics with R

Prerequisite: ECON 210a. May not be taken for credit by students who took ECON 184b.

Aims at introducing econometric models and empirical techniques that are useful to conduct economic research with data. The course covers linear regression models, discrete choice models, time series models, and panel data models. We will devote significant space to empirical applications, and give the students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience on how to conduct empirical work in econometrics using the R programming language. Usually offered every year.

ECON 241a Antitrust Economics: Regulating Competition

Prerequisites: ECON 80a or ECON 207a.

Studies antitrust economics and economic regulation. The first part of the course will introduce the student to the economics of antitrust and to the economic theories and tools needed to understand and conduct antitrust policy analysis. The second part of the course will focus on economic regulation and introduce the student to the theory and practice of economic regulation involving the basics of natural monopoly regulation as applied to public utilities such as electricity, gas, water and telecommunications. Usually offered every year.

ECON 260a International Trade Policy and Institutions

Prerequisite: ECON 80a or ECON 207a.

Develops the fundamental economic theories behind the various policies that regulate and interfere with international trade. Examines the predominant national and international institutions that are charged with administering these policies as well as the scope and process for potential reform. Usually offered every year.

ECON 261a Empirical Methods for Economic Consulting

Prerequisite: ECON 184b or ECON 213a.

Applies and extends econometric tools to analyze current economic issues in global trade, economic development, environmental sustainability, and more. Offers hands-on work with real-world data, where students apply advanced techniques, with a focus on economic consulting. Students carry out their own original research, from hypothesis to data collection, testing and evaluation. Usually offered every year.

ECON 270a Economic Development Strategies

Prerequisites: At least one semester of undergraduate microeconomics and one semester of undergraduate macroeconomics, or the equivalent.

Discusses the current situation of developing countries and the main theories of development and underdevelopment. Introduces the field and tools of development economics, explores the theoretical and policy debates around developing economies, and looks at alternative development strategies. Usually offered every year.

ECON 288a Field Projects: Global Firms, Trade and Development

For Business School second year MA, BA/MA, MA/MBA, and MSBA/MA students only.

Can digital technology help countries trade better? Can global value chain production be used to improve environmental quality? Are firms shrinking their global footprint due to the trade war? Has the pandemic further excluded small firms from participating in the global economy? This Business School MA capstone course gives students the opportunity to research current issues like these as field projects for clients at international institutions and global research firms. Throughout the semester, students will work on projects designed with and guided by their clients. The first part of course will include a workshop exploring several topics that provide a foundation for all the field projects. The rest of the semester will be focused solely on the team projects. Teams will work with the professor, guest experts, and staff members of the partner organization) to complete their projects. Usually offered every year.

ECON 298a Independent Study

Normally available for a student who wishes to pursue advanced reading or research in a subject or field not available in the department's course listings. Usually offered every semester.

ECON 298f Independent Study

Open only to IBS students. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Normally available for a student who wishes to pursue advanced reading on research in a subject or field not available in the department's course listings. Usually offered every year.

ECON 301a Advanced Microeconomics I

Prerequisites: Prior coursework in microeconomics, multivariate calculus, and linear algebra.

Study of the theories of microeconomics, including optimization, theory of the firm, theory of the consumer, duality theory, general equilibrium, welfare economics, public goods, and externalities. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 302a Advanced Microeconomics II

Prerequisites: ECON 301a.

This course will focus on game theory with specific emphasis on its application to firm behavior, information economics, and the study of market organization including auctions. Important contributions of behavioral economics will also be addressed in this course. A strong emphasis will be placed on acquiring the tools that are required for economic research. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 303a Advanced Macroeconomics I

Prerequisites: Prior coursework in microeconomics, multivariate calculus, and linear algebra.

Study of modern theories of short-run and long-run determination of aggregate income. Topics include private consumption and investment behavior, fiscal policy, the current account and exchange rates, economic growth, and stochastic dynamic programming with applications to macroeconomics. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 304a Advanced Macroeconomics II

Prerequisite: ECON 303a.

Current research issues in macroeconomics, such as the impact of supply shocks, real demand shocks, and monetary shocks on output, interest rates, and exchange rates. Empirical studies and testing of competing macroeconomic theories. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 307f Applied Methods: Macroeconomics

Prerequisites: ECON 301a, ECON 302a, ECON 303a, ECON 304a, and ECON 311a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

This course is an advanced PhD-level course in macroeconomics. It studies the concepts behind key economic aggregates and (dynamic) inter-relations amongst them, with a particular focus on business cycles and monetary economics. It provides insights into major modern macroeconomic models developed and thereby, tools for analysis of macroeconomic and policy questions, forming a basis for future research work. Prerequisites include graduate-level macroeconomics, microeconomics, and econometrics. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 308f Applied Methods: Microeconomics

Prerequisites: ECON 301a, ECON 303a, and ECON 311a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit. Intended for IBS PhD students.

This advanced course for PhD students in economics covers empirical methods in applied microeconomics, including both reduced-form and structural approaches. Topics include difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity, discrete choice models of differentiated products demand, dynamic optimization models, moment inequalities, and web scraping. The course integrates theoretical foundations with practical skills, equipping students to apply these methods through hands-on problem sets. Prerequisites include graduate-level microeconomics, econometrics, and game theory. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 311a Advanced Econometrics I

Prerequisite: ECON 213a.

Econometric theory and applications. Discusses the statistical theory of regression modeling and associated hypothesis testing, with emphasis on the construction, interpretation, and use of econometric models. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 312a Time Series Econometrics

Prerequisite: ECON 213a.

Examines the models and statistical techniques used to study time series data. Topics will include linear and non-linear univariate as well as multivariate econometric models. One objective of the course is to provide the students with a good understanding of econometric models for time series data. These models are widely used in the empirical literature, and a good understanding of these models is crucial for the second objective of the course: to provide the students with the ability to evaluate recent empirical studies. The third objective of the course is to develop practical skills, which are necessary to perform independent research using real world data. A theme throughout the course is the use of computational methods for analyzing the material covered in class, and throughout the course we will rely heavily on examples and applications with Matlab. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 330a International Macroeconomics

Prerequisite: ECON 304a.

Applications of macroeconomic theory to open economies. Topics include international parity theorems, models of exchange rate determination, and central bank management of the exchange-rate. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 332f Topics in Empirical International Economics: Questions, Methods, and Data

Prerequisite: Open to IBS PhD students only. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Students present and discuss current working papers in economics and finance focusing on the questions that are being asked, the empirical methods used, and the sources of data. Course prepares students for the thesis process and for presenting thesis work. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 360a International Trade Theory

Prerequisite: ECON 301a. Open only to International Business School students.

Studies economic models explaining comparative advantage and the gains from trade, followed by trade policies at the center of current global debate. Examines empirical contributions testing the implications of trade and trade policy for welfare, wage inequality, growth, employment, sustainability, global production networks, and more. Students design their own empirical research proposal. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 370a Development Economics

Prerequisite: ECON 302a.

Introduces selected topics in the micro-economic literature in development economics. Also teaches advanced empirical techniques that are commonly used.Usually offered every second year.

ECON 398a Independent Study

Normally available for a PhD student who wishes to pursue advanced reading under the direction of a faculty member. Usually offered every semester.

ECON 399a Dissertation Workshop

Prerequisites: ECON 302a and ECON 304a.

Third year and above PhD students present to PhD cohort and faculty. Presentation and discussion of dissertation topics and work in progress. Graded on a satisfactory / unsatisfactory basis. Usually offered every semester.

ECON/FIN 209a Behavioral Finance and Economics

Prerequisites: ECON 207a or intermediate microeconomics and statistics.

How do economic agents make decisions? Though economists historically assumed that decisions are made "rationally," the evidence suggests otherwise. Examines evidence on human decision-making processes culled from many disciplines. Students investigate how those processes can explain observed patterns in economic and financial behavior. They also analyze how such behavior can explain observed market phenomena that would not emerge if agents were "personally rational." Usually offered every other year.

ECON/FIN 210a The Psychology of Finance

Prerequisites: Basic statistics or ECON 210a; basic microeconomics or ECON 207a; and FIN 203a or FIN 205a. May not be taken for credit by students who have taken ECON/FIN 209a or BUS 109a in prior years.

Applies insights from psychology to understand the human behavior that drives prices and quantities and strategies in financial settings including investing, saving, day trading, banking, pension management. The Psychology of Finance builds on the insights of psychology to enhance our understanding of such real world phenomena. It starts by asking: How do people actually think? As psychologists began documenting a century ago, normal human thinking deviates in predictable ways from the traditional assumption in academic finance: “perfect rationality.” Perfectly rational individuals make decisions following the rules of logic and statistics textbooks; they see the world accurately, and they have perfect recall. This course introduces you to some of these predictable deviations and shows how they help explain a wide range of economic behavior and market outcomes. Why do stock prices, house prices, and exchange rates sometimes go through bubbles and crashes? Why do retail investors trade too much, and why don't they diversify enough? Why don't people save enough for retirement? Usually offered every third year.

ECON/FIN 250a Forecasting in Finance and Economics

Prerequisites: FIN 201 or FIN 203a or FIN 205a and ECON 213a.

Covers forecasting and time series analysis as used in finance and economics. Topics will include regression, seasonal adjustments, exponential smoothing, ARIMA, error correction models, volatility modeling, causality, vector autoregression, and neural network autoregression. We will introduce students to new data sets, provide guidance on model selection, and develop judgments when using forecasting results in decision-making. Students will leave the course with the ability to apply tools used in modern time series analysis and quantitative finance to achieve forecasts arising in many finance and economics professions. Usually offered every semester.

ECON/FIN 272a Financial Crisis

Prerequisite: Open to second year MA students who have completed ECON 82b or ECON 202a and ECON 213a or ECON 184b.

Exposes participants to the methods of modern economic analysis in a learning-by-doing environment. The history of financial crises provides context and motivation for using them. Special one-time offering, spring 2024.

FIN 203a Financial Management

May not be taken for credit by students who took BUS 71a, FIN 103a, ECON/FIN 171a, FIN 201a, or FIN 202a in prior years.

Aims to develop the financial skills and logical thought processes necessary to make and implement business decisions in a global environment. The main objective is to analyze how financial managers make decisions within a framework which emphasizes the time value of money and the relationship between expected return and risk. The course also examines different techniques used by financial managers to evaluate feasibility of undertaking new projects (i.e., capital budgeting). Usually offered every year.

FIN 204a Corporate Finance Theory and Practice

Co-requisite: FIN 203a or FIN 205a. Cannot be taken for credit by students who have taken FIN 104a in previous years.

Develops depth of financial skills and logical thought processes necessary to formulate and implement corporate finance decisions in a competitive environment. Usually offered every year.

FIN 205a Investment and Portfolio Management

Prerequisite: FIN 103a or FIN 203a. Cannot be taken for credit by students who have taken FIN 105a in previous years.

Provides a thorough grounding in portfolio management for students who are already familiar with financial markets. The first half of the course will cover Markowitz portfolio optimization, the Capital Asset Pricing Model, and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory. The lectures will cover the theories, and the problem sets will teach you how to apply these theories to manage portfolios.

The second half of the course will deal with recent developments in portfolio management. We will be spending several weeks discussing what does and does not deliver extraordinary investment performance. We will also deal with special techniques employing derivatives to enhance performance as well as the Black-Scholes model. The final part discusses the evaluation of the performance of funds and fund managers and the impact of transaction costs. Usually offered every year.

FIN 212a Accounting and Financial Analysis

Develops a fundamental understanding of financial accounting and corporate reporting issues. Students will be exposed to a variety of real world applications involving for profit financial statements. More specifically, students will acquire skills allowing them to read, interpret and analyze the income statement, balance sheet and the statement of cash flows. This course will primarily address accounting standards employed in the US (GAAP) but will acquaint students with international standards (IFRS) used by other countries in numerous accounting areas. Further, issues related to the project on the convergence of standards currently being conducted by the FASB and IASB will be discussed. Throughout the course, emphasis will be placed on interpreting financial statements to understand how accounting information, in a variety of decision settings, can be utilized by managers. Usually offered every year.

FIN 213a Intermediate Financial Accounting

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or an approved introductory course in the area of financial accounting.

Students should be familiar with the formal financial statements, transaction analysis, income measurement and accrual accounting. This course provides an extensive expansion of the introductory accounting course. Additional topics include revenue recognition, long term construction contracts, deferred taxes, capital leases, pensions, inventory valuation, dollar value LIFO, earnings per share and share based compensation. Usually offered every year.

FIN 214a Managerial Accounting

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a.

Provides a general introduction to the concepts, problems and issues related to managerial accounting. Managerial accounting predominantly addresses the internal use of economic information regarding the resources used in the process of producing goods and providing services. Internal users of accounting information are all of those individuals that are involved in the business decision-making process of the economic entity. In the course, you will become acquainted with some of the conventional methods of internal reporting used in planning, control and decision-making. Fundamental aspects of cost behavior and cost accounting will also be discussed, but always from the perspective of the manager who must make decisions rather than the accountant who prepares the information. Usually offered every year.

FIN 215f Python and Applications to Finance

Open only to IBS Master of Science in Finance (MSF) students with a concentration in Fintech.

Designed for finance students to build a skill set that can harness the power of the computer, computer science, and data analysis to various applications in finance. A set of these applications in finance that are relevant is data analysis (statistics), data visualization (charting), algorithms (optimization, numerical methods, linear algebra), and forecasting (time series analytics, stochastic methods). Usually offered every year.

FIN 216f Financial Statement Analysis

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Presents techniques of financial statement analysis that deepen the understanding of financial statements and the economic and strategic information they provide. Exposes students to the financial reporting environment and practices of U.S. companies. The course does not cover equity valuation. Usually offered every year.

FIN 217f Corporate Financial Modeling

Prerequisite or corequisite: FIN 202a, FIN 203a, or FIN 204a, and either FIN 212a or FIN 213. Corequisite may be taken during module 2. Students are expected to know basic excel. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Develops skill sets required for an integrated corporate financial modeling. The course takes an approach of first developing the building blocks of financial models and integrate them into pro forma financial statements forecasting from which cash flows can be built for valuation, scenarios and sensitivity analysis. The course starts out with a quick review of critical excel skills required for this module, followed by developing coherent frameworks for financial modeling and valuation. The course culminates with students applying these modeling frameworks to real company of financial modeling project and presentation. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 218f Portfolio Financial Modeling

Prerequisite: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a. Students are expected to know basic excel. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Introduces fundamental methods and frameworks for portfolio financial modeling. Topics covered include mean-variance- covariance portfolio optimization, Black-Litterman approach to portfolio optimization and other portfolio models. The course is designed to be hands-on implementation of these models using real data and hence requires solid understanding of matrix and array functions and how to implement them in excel or any computational software. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 219g Financial Modeling Bootcamp

Prerequisite: FIN 217f. Yields quarter-course credit.

Further develops skill sets acquired in the corporate financial modeling course. The bootcamp builds on the knowledge base by introducing the students to advanced modeling techniques in applied areas such as: Capital Structure (LBO) Modeling and Merger Modeling. Usually offered every year.

FIN 225f Real Estate Finance

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Focuses on debt and equity financing of income-producing real property, primarily in the U.S. market. Considers real estate finance from the perspective of the users of capital (developers and property owners) and the sources of capital (lenders and equity investors). Usually offered every year.

FIN 231f Private Equity

Prerequisites: FIN 202a, FIN 203a, or FIN 204a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Explores the history, structure, players and adjacent industries of Private Equity; the kinds of companies that make attractive candidates for investment; how PE firms add value; what they do when things go wrong; and how they create successful exits. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 232a Mergers and Acquisitions Analysis

Prerequisites: FIN 201a, FIN 203a, or FIN 205a, and either FIN 202a or FIN 204a (may be taken concurrently).

Reviews the core concepts involved in mergers and acquisitions; value, negotiation, deal structuring, corporate strategy and valued added, financing, and tax consequences. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 234a Social Impact Investing

Prerequisites: FIN 201a, FIN 203a, FIN 205a, or ECON/FIN 171a.

Looks at the intersection of finance and a social conscience both from the perspective of investors, and the perspective of corporate decision makers. Investors and businesses face many ESG (environment, social and governance) concerns, including climate change, income inequality, discrimination, and worker welfare, to name only a few. Students will learn about the growing field of ESG investing, and the closely related field of Impact Investing. We will examine how ESG factors can be integrated with other investment criteria such as diversification and risk. In the second part of the course we will examine ESG decisions from the perspective of corporate decision makers, often referred to as CSR (corporate social responsibility). We will look at investments in green technology, investments in the community and involvement in social causes. We will examine these investments both from a social and a financial perspective. Usually offered every year.

FIN 236f Technical Analysis

Prerequisite: FIN 201a, FIN 203a, or FIN 205a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

From FX to equity indexes to real estate futures markets, traders rely on technically-derived signals to enter speculative positions, set protective orders, and time their exits. Provides an introduction to technical analysis and familiarizes students with strategies in common use. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 237f Security Analysis

Prerequisites: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a, and either FIN 212a or FIN 213a. FIN 216f is recommended. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Examines fundamental-based investment strategies that funds use to generate alpha or positive risk-adjusted returns, with a focus on long-short equity strategies used by hedge funds and 130/30 mutual funds. Usually offered every year.

FIN 240a Venture Capital and Financing Innovation

Prerequisites: FIN 201a, FIN 203a, or FIN 205a.

Emphasizes financial decision making skills for entrepreneurs. The structure will follow the firm's life cycle, with modules on contracting, valuation, and financial planning in the entrepreneurial context, raising capital, security choice, and the structure and valuation of exit decisions in the presence of information uncertainty. Usually offered every year.

FIN 242f Credit Risk Analysis

Prerequisite: FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Examines credit risk (i.e., the possibility that an obligor will fail to perform as agreed) from the perspective of the commercial banker. Focuses on a sound understanding of the firm and its business plan and how the banker constructs the appropriate structure for the senior loan. Topics include asset-based, real estate, and cash flow lending. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 247a Transfer Pricing Theory and Practice

Prerequisites: FIN 202a, FIN 203a, or FIN 204a, and either FIN 212a or FIN 213a.

Introduces the economics of transfer pricing (a "price setting" exercise adopted by multinational enterprises among divisions within an enterprise). This course draws upon students' multi-disciplinary training across accounting, economics, and finance and applies them to the theory and practice of transfer pricing. Usually offered every year.

FIN 252a Predictive Analytics and Corporate Innovation

Prerequisite: FIN 202a, FIN 203a, or FIN 204a.

Technology has disrupted business practices dramatically over the last several years. We see great opportunities in applying technology to strategic corporate decision making. The real power of financial technology lies in our ability to think outside the world of structured financial data; incorporate other related structured and non-structured data sources; and incorporate predictive analytics, and AI to develop insights that drive new financial thinking and processes to deliver innovative financial products and strategies for long run productivity improvements. This course will explore these ideas and take initial steps to incorporate predictive analytics in corporate decision making. Usually offered every year.

FIN 253a Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance

Prerequisites: FIN 201a, and FIN 202a, 203a, 204a, or 205a, and either FIN 215f or BUS 215f.

Advanced Quantitative Analysis in Finance is a course to introduce students to a broad range of topics related to using quantitative models and the latest financial technologies to generate time value of money via a term structure, trading signals, price instruments, calculate/manage risks and the creation of an algorithmic trading application. This course is designed to be relevant to any finance student that wishes to build a skillset that can harness the power of the computer, computer science, and quantitative analysis to various applications in finance. A set of these applications in finance that are relevant are time series analysis and forecasting, determining trading signals from an exchange limit order book, security pricing using Monte Carlo simulation, building a term structure of interest rates, algorithmic programming, and risk analysis. Usually offered every year.

FIN 254a Modern Finance, Fintech and Beyond

Prerequisite: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a.

Examines the modern financial system. First to be discussed is the nature of banking, including the role of shadow banks. We will then proceed to discuss financial regulation, why we need it and how it is changing followed by discussing central banking, examining the role of central banks in the economy. In the last part of the course, we bring the various strands together--banks, shadow banks, regulation and central banks--to examine the future of finance. Usually offered every year.

FIN 261a Fixed Income Securities

Prerequisites: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a, or permission of the instructor.

Studies fixed income securities; cash flow structures, pricing risk measures; features of major fixed income sectors; valuation of fixed income securities with embedded options; portfolio management and performance measurement; interest rate derivatives and applications to asset/liability management. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 270a Options and Derivatives

Prerequisites: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a, or permission of the instructor.

Introduces students, using a reasonably formal mathematical approach, to a broad range of topics related to the traded securities, markets, pricing, and applications of financial derivatives. Special focus is placed on how replication is used to price financial derivatives. Derivatives studied include those defined on commodities, currencies, equities and equity indexes, with an introduction to fixed income derivatives. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 271a Options & Derivatives II

Prerequisites: FIN 270a.

Focuses on numerical methods for pricing various kinds of financial derivatives, with the first third of the lectures focused on reviewing and deepening the understanding of the calculations and models introduced in Options and Derivatives (i.e., FIN 270a). The second third of the course will study Monte Carlo numerical methods for these and related derivatives as well as the pricing of credit derivatives. The final third of the course will focus on interest rate derivatives. The level of mathematics for this course is the same as FIN 270a. Usually offered every year.

FIN 279a Applied Risk Management

Prerequisites: FIN 203a or FIN 205a, and either FIN 212a or FIN 213a. Co-requisite: FIN 270a.

Studies risk management in a variety of contexts as well as the applications of financial derivatives. Focuses on case studies from many industries which address risks related to commodities, weather, foreign exchange rates, interest rate, and credit, and also corporate governance matters and integrated risk management. Students will be expected to be able to analyze a corporate risk situation, work through examples and develop hedging strategies. Usually offered every year.

FIN 280a Financial Risk Management

Prerequisite: FIN 203a or FIN 205a, and FIN 270a or FIN 279a.

Introduces many of the approaches financial institutions (investment and commercial banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and pension plans) take to model, quantify, and manage risk. Types of risks covered include financial (equity, currency, interest rate, and credit), as well as operational. The Basel II and Solvency II regulatory frameworks to risk management will also be studied. Students will be expected to have good exposure to financial derivatives from the prerequisite courses as well as to the basic concepts from calculus and statistics. Usually offered every year.

FIN 282f New Frontiers of Finance: From Animal Spirits to Cyber Risk

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Introduces students to new and developing topics in finance. The first part of the course will cover the new and still little understood cybersecurity risk that firms increasingly face as they are becoming more and more reliant on information technology. We will discuss how negative spillover effects from a cyberattack can propagate beyond the directly affected firm to the wider economy and how firms can reduce their cyber risk exposure by investing in supply chain security. The second part of the course will be devoted to behavioral finance and its practical applications to investments, corporate finance, and entrepreneurship. This part of the course will also cover innovations in the field of asset management and its increasing reliance on big data. Usually offered every year.

FIN 285a Computer Simulations and Risk Assessment

Prerequisite: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a.

Introduces the computational tools and show how they can be used in various forms of financial risk assessment and portfolio construction. We will look at classic risk methods such as exponentially weighted moving average model and GARCH model, and also other modern methods such as conditional forecasting and copulas. We will apply these concepts through practical examples such as construction of index ETFs and risk-parity strategies. Students are asked to do hands-on programming through both research projects and homework. This course has been taught in various programming languages and current iteration is done through Python. Usually offered every year.

FIN 288a Corporate Financial Engineering

Prerequisite: FIN 201a or FIN 203a or FIN 205a. Corequisite: FIN 202a or FIN 204a.

Focuses on how financial engineering is used in firms to reduce their costs of financing, to alter their fundamental risk exposures and, in a handful of cases, to provide them with new ways to compete. Primarily intended for students who plan to serve in corporate roles that will involve significant interaction with financial markets and institutions. Usually offered every year.

FIN 291g General Education Seminar

FIN 292a Internship

Prerequisite: Two full semesters of coursework (at least 32 credits).

Provides an opportunity for MSF students to carry out a formal internship with a client organization under the supervision of a faculty member. The internship requires students to apply principles and frameworks from the MSF curriculum for a client organization seeking help with a management-related challenge. The internship serves as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Internship must be a minimum of 100 hours and 6 weeks in length. Usually offered every year.

FIN 293a Field Project in Finance

Prerequisite: One full semester of MSF coursework (at least 16 credits). Open to Master of Science in Finance (MSF) students only.

Provides a unique and valuable educational opportunity for MSF students to apply their skills and knowledge in a real world setting. Under the supervision of a faculty member, students will partner with a sponsoring firm to work deeply on a theme or question. The course culminates in a final presentation to the sponsor before the end of the semester in which it is undertaken. Each field projects team will consist of 4 to 5 students and an instructor. The primary student outcome is to gain experience evaluating and analyzing financial questions conduct in-depth and sophisticated analysis and market research and understand how financial decisions are taken in a corporation. Along with FIN 292a Internship, Field Project in Finance serves as a transition point for students from education to professional practice. Usually offered every year.

FIN 294a Directed Research

Prerequisite: Two full semesters of MSF coursework (at least 32 credits). Open to Master of Science in Finance (MSF) students only.

Provides an opportunity for MSF students to carry out a detailed directed research and independent study under the supervision of a faculty member. Directed Research requires students to apply principles and frameworks from the MSF curriculum to identify and analyze a financial question/puzzle that broadens the students understanding and knowledge on that particular issue and could potentially help the student in his/her job search. As Directed Research necessarily requires an advanced understanding of finance knowledge it is expected that students would have completed related coursework prior to undertaking this course. Usually offered every year.

FIN 298a Independent Study

Normally available for a student who wishes to pursue advanced reading or research in a subject or field not available in the department's course listings. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 298f Independent Study

Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Normally available for a student who wishes to pursue advanced reading or research in a subject or field not available in the department's course listings. Usually offered every semester.

FIN 305f Asset Pricing

Prerequisite: ECON 301a. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

A course in asset pricing for PhD candidates. Topics include risk aversion and choice under uncertainty, no arbitrage and stochastic discount factor, mean variance analysis, factor models, and recent empirical puzzles. Focuses on theory and empirical applications. Usually offered every second year.

FIN 306f Topics in Corporate Finance

Prerequisites: ECON 302a, ECON 304a, and ECON 213a or equivalent. Meets for one-half semester and yields half-course credit.

Equips students with some fundamental concepts in the field of Corporate Finance and to the tools commonly used to conduct empirical research in this field. This course exposes students to a few active research areas in empirical corporate finance and prominent papers in those areas, both to build a knowledge base and to learn to read and assess empirical research. It prepares students for producing their own high-quality, independent empirical research in corporate finance. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have developed an understanding on issues related to firm and project valuation, capital structure and security issuance decisions, payout policies, and venture capital financing. Usually offered every second year.

IBS Courses of Related Interest

BUS 226a Strategic Human Resource Management and People Analytics

ECON 122b The Economics of the Middle East
[ nw ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a or the equivalent. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.

Examines the Middle East economies ' past experiences, present situation, and future challenges ' drawing on theories, policy formulations and empirical studies of economic growth, trade, poverty, income distribution, labor markets, finance and banking, government reforms, globalization, and Arab-Israeli political economy. Usually offered every year.

ECON 134b Public Sector Economics
[ oc ss ]

Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.

The effect of tax and expenditure policies on economic efficiency and equity. Topics include externalities and public goods, public choice, cost-benefit analysis, income redistribution, social security, and health care. Also discussion of the U.S. tax system, public debt, and state and local finance. Usually offered every year.

ECON 135a Industrial Organization
[ oc qr ss ]

Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.

Microeconomic analysis of firm behavior under alternative market structures and implications for market outcomes. Topics include strategic interaction, entry and exit, collusion, predation, price discrimination, product differentiation, vertical relations, imperfect information, advertising, and patents and innovation. Usually offered every year.

ECON 141b Economics of Innovation
[ ss ]

Prerequisites: ECON 80a and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.

Studies innovation and technological change as the central focus of modern economies. Topics include the sources of growth, economics of research and development, innovation, diffusion and technology transfer, appropriability, patents, information markets, productivity, institutional innovation, and global competitiveness. Usually offered every year.

ECON 172b Money and Banking
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisites: ECON 82b and ECON 83a or permission of the instructor.

Examines the relationship of the financial system to real economic activity, focusing especially on banks and central banks. Topics include the monetary and payments systems; financial instruments and their pricing; the structure, management, and regulation of bank and nonbank financial intermediaries; and the design and operations of central banks in a modern economy. Usually offered every year.

ECON 173a Central Banking: Theory and Policy
[ ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 82b.

Studies the purposes and functions of central banks over time and the challenges they confront. Examines central banks' roles in the recent financial crisis and explores current debates over the policies that central banks are following in its aftermath. Usually offered every other year.

ECON 175a Introduction to the Economics of Development
[ djw ss wi ]

Prerequisite: ECON 2a or ECON 10a or permission of the instructor. Does not count toward the upper-level elective requirement for the major in economics.

An introduction to various models of economic growth and development and evaluation of these perspectives from the experience of developing and industrial countries. Usually offered every second year.

ECON 182a Topics in Advanced Macroeconomics
[ oc ss ]

Prerequisite: ECON 80a, ECON 82b, and ECON 83a.

Contemporary theories of economic growth, business cycles, monetary economics, and financial crises and their implications for monetary and fiscal policy. Emphasis on empirical work and computer modeling. Usually offered every year.

ECON 184b Econometrics
[ dl qr ss ]

Prerequisites: ECON 83a. Corequisite: ECON 80a or permission of the instructor. Students must earn a C- or higher in MATH 10a, or otherwise satisfy the calculus requirement, to enroll in this course. This course may not be taken for credit by students who have previously taken or are currently enrolled in ECON 185a, ECON 213a, or ECON 311a.

An introduction to the theory of econometric regression and forecasting models, with applications to the analysis of business and economic data. Usually offered every year.

HS 228a Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Explores how entrepreneurship has become a driving force in the social enterprise sector, provides tools for developing and evaluating new ventures, and explores the blurring line between for-profit and nonprofit social initiatives. The course also teaches hands-on social venture business plan development tools, from assessing markets to developing financial and operating plans. Usually offered every year.

HS 244a Responsible Negotiation

Provides concepts, observations and suggestions to improve analytical and operational negotiation skills. Everyone negotiates on a daily basis, but what about doing it responsibly? Faced with projects, contracts, conflicts or crises, coping with people, problems and process, how can negotiators lever the right reflections and actions in the right direction? How can they optimize utility for themselves and for others? This course also addresses negotiation foundations on how to do first things first, i.e. how to make the right moves at the right time in order to reach the right decisions and to achieve ad hoc implementation. Usually offered every year.

HS 257b Conflict Resolution by Negotiation

Develops in students an understanding of the nature, advantages, and limitations of negotiations as a conflict resolution tool. Provides a normative and practical framework for pursuing a negotiation strategy as a method of resolving disputes. Provides students with opportunities to apply this knowledge in a variety of simulated negotiation contexts. Finally, exposes students to feedback regarding their negotiation approaches via explicit instructor evaluation and via the impact of their actions on their teammates and opponents. Usually offered every year.

HS 342f ESG Measurement and Impact Investing

ESG investing has emerged as a default approach to investing for many across the globe. But the practice of ESG analysis and measurement is multi-faceted and issue specific. With new forms of ESG data arriving and evolving standards for ESG data disclosure from companies and investors alike, the landscape is shifting rapidly. In addition, impact across other asset classes has developed to allow for full portfolio alignment according to specific goals and metrics. How do investors incorporate ESG data effectively into stock selection? How do stakeholders use this information to help influence corporate action through shareholder advocacy and policy change? How does impact investing extend to other asset classes, such as bonds and private investments? How do we measure impact for specific ESG issues, such as climate risk management, diversity & inclusion, and ESG disclosure, as well as across a portfolio?

Through case studies and discussions with professional practitioners, this course explores the evolving approaches to harnessing ESG data in practical terms, with real world tools useful for investors, advocates, and company executives. Usually offered every year.

HS 353a Managing the Triple Bottom Line

Explores a new kind of 'bottom line' developing for corporations which includes social and environmental returns as well as financial returns. How can we measure 'Return on Responsibility?' What are the implications for stockholders, employees and consumers when it comes to social and environmental accountability in the corporate world? How do business decisions get made when financial considerations are not the only decisions central to continued growth and success? Through case studies and meetings with institutional decision makers, this course explores shifting strategies and developing programs in the rapidly changing landscape of the Triple Bottom Line. Usually offered every year.

HS 372b Economic Theory and Social Policy

Introduces concepts of economics that can be applied in analyzing and evaluating social policies. By the end of this course, you will be more literate in fundamental economic principles for consumer demand, producer decisions, market equilibrium, workers’ choices about labor force participation and job choice, and demand and supply of collective goods. You will better understand the limits of economic theory and free markets, as well as the context and consequences of government and nonprofit intervention in the economy. Usually offered every year.