Education of Business Economics

The Business Economics group is composed of a professional team with a wide range of specializations. Students receive solid training in business economics providing them with the knowledge to address research questions in the area of the economics of farms and agribusinesses, animal health, plant health, food safety and sustainable agriculture. We encourage students to develop their own interests and to think critically.

The courses combine theoretical and applied topics, covering different aspects of management, finance and business economics as well as subjects ranging from decision making at the farm or sector level to risk management in the supply chain.

We offer a BSc and MSc programme majoring in Business Economics, but minors in Business Economics are also possible. In case you're interesed in doing a BSc /MSc thesis or internship at Business Economics (BEC), you can explore your options in the “Business Economics – Thesis, Internship, Reserach practice” Brightspace. (Use the Discover tab in Brightspace to find us and enroll yourself )

Besides the chair group Business Economics offers short courses for business, organizations and government. These include postgraduate courses at Wageningen Business School such as risk management in agriculture.

Master Thesis

The subjects for a MSc thesis are associated with the group's core research innovation themes;

• Economic Performance
• Risk management
• Economics of Healthy Animals, Plants and Food
• Sustainable Food Production

Students who would like to do their MSc thesis at BEC need to make an appointment for an intake with one of our thesis coordinators in our group. For MME, MAS and MOA students this will be prof. Alfons Oude Lansink, for MFS students this will be prof. Henk Hogeveen. Appointments can be made by contacting the secretary (office.bec@wur.nl). Note that students are only allowed to start a thesis when they have completed the required courses according to their Masters programme. The required courses are listed under Prerequisites.

Students are expected to prepare themselves for the intake meeting by making them familiar with the MSc thesis protocol and by exploring their research interests. At the intake meeting, the thesis coordinator will discuss – based on the indicated research interests of the student-  the possibilities of a thesis topic and will also assign one of the staff members of the group as thesis supervisor.

Once the student has made contact with the assigned supervisor, he/she will further demarcate the intended research subject. During the first meeting with the supervisor, students will obtain further information about the thesis trajectory and requirements.

If you want to read more about “how to perform a Master thesis at BEC” visit our “Business Economics – Thesis, Internship, Research practice” Brightspace. (Use the Discover tab in Brightspace to find us and to enroll yourself) . In case of general questions about doing a thesis in the field of Business Economics, you can always contact the education coordinator, dr. Monique Mourits.

Bachelor Thesis

The subjects for a BSc thesis are associated with the group's core research innovation themes;

• Economic Performance
• Risk management
• Economics of Healthy Animals, Plants and Food
• Sustainable Food Production

Students who would like to do their BSc thesis at BEC need to make an appointment for an intake with the BSc thesis coordinator, dr Monique Mourits, e-mail to: monique.mourits@wur.nl.

Students are expected to prepare themselves for the intake meeting by making them familiar with the BSc thesis protocol and by exploring their research interests. At the intake meeting, the thesis coordinator will discuss – based on the indicated research interests of the student - the possibilities of a thesis topic and will also assign one of the staff members of the group as thesis supervisor.

Once the student has made contact with the assigned supervisor, he/she will further demarcate the intended research subject. During the first meeting with the supervisor, students will obtain further information about the thesis trajectory and requirements.

If you want to read more about “how to perform a Bachelor thesis at BEC”, visit our “Business Economics – Thesis, Internship, Reserach practice” Brightspace. (Use the Discover tab in Brightspace to find us and to enroll yourself.) In case you want to orientate or if you have any questions about doing a thesis in the field of Business Economics, you can always contact the BSc thesis coordinator.

Most of the Master students who do a major thesis in the Business Economics Group will also do an internship under supervision of BEC.

An internship can be done at various organizations, governments or firms all over the world, as long as the internship at these institutions is related to the research and education themes of the BEC. Doing an internship is a great way to explore your field of interest.

One major requirement that should be met by the internship provider is that there is guaranteed supervision on an academic level by at least one staff member of the organization.

If you want to discuss the possibilities for internships, please make an appointment with prof. Alfons Oude Lansink (in case you are a MME student) or prof. Henk Hogeveen (in case you are a MFS student) by contacting the secretary (mailto:office.bec@wur.nl).

If you want to read more about the internship procedure, visit our “Business Economics – Thesis, Internship, Research practice” Brightspace. (Use the Discover tab in Brightspace to find us and to enroll yourself.) If you have general questions about doing an internship in the field of Business Economics, you can always contact the education coordinator, dr Monique Mourits (mailto:monique.mourits@wur.nl).

If you are looking for support in finding an internship please consider the support of Student Career Services WUR.

Are you considering an internship abroad? You could apply for an Erasmus grant. Click here for more information. MME students can get help from Integrand to find an internship. Integrand is a student organisation. Go to their website here.

The Business Economics group is involved in teaching several courses as shown below. Additionally you can do an internship or thesis at our department.

Visit the Study Handbook for detailed information.

The default option for lectures, practicals and working groups is on-campus education. Lectures may be recorded if lecture rooms are equipped for that purpose, but this is not guaranteed, because technology sometimes fails. Moreover, lecturers decide whether recording lectures is useful from an educational perspective.

Alternatively lectures, practicals and working groups may be given online if that is useful from an educational perspective. Hybrid options where teacher(s) interact with students both online and offline in parallel are usually not provided.

Our education committee deals with issues concerning our courses, internships and theses. Below you see the members. If you have a question for them feel free to contact them. Monique Mourits is the education coordinator and Rena Buijze is the secretary of Business Economics Education.