Location
Breda
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This exchange programme will give you the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams with students and companies from all over the world. You will learn to think as an entrepreneur and develop a new innovative skill set. You will use creative and innovative methods to develop new sustainable business models and grow in your role as a leader.
Learn to make an impact and become a game changer. Business, Leadership and Sustainability has been designed for students who wish to promote social, environmental and economic sustainability in their personal and professional lives.
Discover all about the programme in this video:
Today’s global social and environmental issues are complex and complicated. They cannot be solved by governments on their own. Companies and institutions also play a huge role in this necessary sustainable transition. By taking part in this programme, you will learn how to act upon these issues to make an impact.
It is uncertain what various current developments will bring, but they are definitely here to stay. The Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and blockchain will provide our society and businesses with new opportunities.
As a course participant, you must prepare to embrace this uncertainty. You will challenge the existing business models from the perspectives of personal leadership and sustainable thinking. And you will develop new ones to make a meaningful contribution to the 21st-century embedded economy.
You will develop skills with respect to sustainable business models, sustainable strategy and transition, inner leadership, system thinking, ethics, creative thinking, change management, and intercultural collaboration.
In order to prepare you for the ever changing social and business reality, we will not provide traditional lectures nor specific books for you. In fact, rethinking a new economic system cannot be done with traditional teaching. Instead it requires a truly innovative didactic approach. Therefore, you will learn in a new, adventurous way by working on real-life projects and researching the business and sustainability themes that appeal to you. In this way you will shape your own learning path while contributing to the learning community of fellow students and coaches. That requires an inquiring, curious and open mind in addition to pro-activity, discipline and self-reliance.
Coaches will support you in creating your own learning strategies, guide you through your learning process and act as sparring partners. You are fully accountable for your own learning process.
You will benefit from the programme’s strong industry linkages as you will be working on actual projects with real organisations. Some of the projects previous students worked on in order to challenge the existing business models are:
In order to answer these questions, students have conducted research in numerous fields of interest:
This programme is part of the Bachelor of Business Administration at the School of Management and Finance in Breda. Breda is located in the famous Amsterdam – Eindhoven – Antwerp (B) triangle.
"I am an MBA post-graduate from the University of Bradford School of Management and I teach Business English for the bachelor's degrees in Accountancy and Finance & Control. In my role as coach and facilitator of this programme I stimulate students to find their own way of researching the field of sustainable business and ultimately make a real difference."
"In the words of Kate Raworth: ‘Creating a business model isn’t simply about completing your business plan or determining which products to pursue. It’s about mapping out how you will create ongoing value for your customers and our society as a whole. In other words, to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet to ensure that no one falls short on life’s essentials, while ensuring that collectively we do not overshoot our pressure on Earth’s life-supporting systems’. I am looking forward to investigating that."
"I spent most of my career at insurance company Nationale Nederlanden. My last function at NN was head of strategy and governance. At Avans I teach law, governance, risk management and compliance. Within risk management there’s a new topic called integrated risk management that also deals with non-financial long-term risks. This is also my starting point to further explore sustainability."
"Taking part in the minor of Business, Leadership & Sustainability was a positive experience which will resonate for the rest of my life. I have learnt that we as a species need to take responsibility for our actions, not only in scope of impacting the planet, but also the lives of other people. I have learnt that cooperation is key to success and that the real change, real impact, starts with myself. The minor also encourages students to look deeply into oneself, and nudges positive change; of character and view of the world. All the trips and assignments were great experiences, though I would have liked to see more lectures being done. Great time and great minor!"
"I had been looking forward to study abroad for a long time and Avans University of Applied Sciences was an obvious choice for me. Here I knew I could develop my professional skills in regards to sustainability and leadership but also grow as a person and enjoy university life in an international environment. After finishing my experience here I can say I was able to do that and so much more!"
"This course has helped me to think more independently and to be more proactive: to search for things I can learn and things I can do regarding sustainability. The several group projects I have developed over these past months have also made me a better leader and encouraged me to keep improving my leadership skills."
"I can confidently say I will never forget this experience. The skills I have learned and perfected here will be with me for the rest of my life. This was in a huge part thanks to all the amazing professors that guided and helped me on the several projects I worked on. No words in the world can describe how much they have helped me and inspired me. I would recommend this experience to everyone! It was definitely one of the greatest chapters of my life."
“I really miss the class, my classmates, coaches, environment and unity of our group last semester.”
Hogeschoollaan 1
4818 CR Breda
Tel: +31 88 - 525 75 00
This 30 ECTS programme is entirely project-based. This means traditional lectures, exams and schedules have been replaced with assessments, demand driven education, individual coaching, and serious games. Instruction hours, stand-up meetings, and additional courses and keynote speaker sessions are organised in an agile way. We strive to match each Dutch student to a foreign student in order to broaden their perspectives.
The entire program consists of various modules:
| Module | ECTS |
|---|---|
Personal leadership | 10 |
Business model innovation | 5 |
Sustainable transition | 5 |
Multiple value creation | 2 |
Strategic management | 2 |
Change management | 2 |
Sustainable economics | 2 |
Research skills | 2 |
These modules are integrated into the four assignments (PL/BA) and will be assessed during the oral exam and the final presentation at the end of the minor.
Upon completion of the Business, Leadership and Sustainability programme, you will have learned:
Business, Leadership and Sustainability challenges you to develop your own sustainable thinking and business models. We work with multi-level assessments: self-assessment, peer-assessment and coach-assessment. These assessments are based on the level of complexity, self-reliance and self-efficacy.
At the end of the programme, you, your peers and coaches will decide collaboratively whether all the ECTS credits will be accredited.
More information about this programme is available from the School of Management and Finance: minoren.BDK.breda@avans.nl.
This programme is suitable for students with a business background. You have to be comfortable with an all-English environment and proficient in the language.
You are eligible for admission if you have completed your work placement or if you are in your fourth and final year of a bachelor’s degree programme.
You require a statement from your university confirming that you have followed a full-time English study programme for 2 years or that your level of English is equal to an IELTS score of 6.0. This equals Cambridge B2 level. For motivated students with an IELTS score lower than 6.0 an interview may be part of the admission procedure. For detailed information, please read the English Language Requirements page.
Please note that enrolment for this programme will depend on availability and will be assessed by the Avans minor coordinator.
A video-pitch of approximately 2 minutes is required in order to assess your eligibility and motivation for this program. Please, elaborate on why you would like to join, how you wish to promote social, environmental and economic sustainability in your personal and professional live, and how you deal with uncertainty, the key issue in our minor.
The next edition of the programme starts on September 1, 2026 at 09.30 am.
The first two weeks consist of crucial team building, allocation of the assignments and the vital explanation of our modus operandi (didactic approach). Make sure to be on time. If not, you maybe should reconsider your application.
We will end the programme after 17 weeks, which will be mid January 2027 at the latest.
Learning agreement can be sent to minoren.BDK.breda@avans.nl.
Successful completion of the Business, Leadership and Sustainability programme opens up a variety of opportunities. It qualifies you for a range of leadership positions in the 21st-century economy, such as Chief Sustainability Officer.
This programme is also the perfect fit for you if you are aiming to become a social entrepreneur. The unique approach to teaching and learning employed lets you grow the skills needed for any position in which you are expected to thrive in uncertainty.
You can participate in an exchange programme at Avans University of Applied Sciences if your home institution has concluded an agreement with Avans. Under this agreement you can be nominated to study with us.
Please read the details on the Applying page or contact your home institution's exchange coordinator for details. Alternatively, you can join us as a freemover.
The programme is open for Dutch students as well as international students within the Erasmus Exchange Program. The requirements for enrolment are:
As an exchange student, you will continue to pay tuition fees to your home institution. This means you do not have to pay tuition fees to Avans.
If your university is not a partner of Avans University of Applied Sciences, you can join us as a full-fee paying student. For more details, please contact the Avans International Office on +31 88 - 525 80 01 or at internationaloffice@avans.nl.