Although both study programmes are completely taught in English, consist both of international and Dutch students, and various disciplines are treated in both programmes, there are also major differences:
- IBA focuses on how a company works (what kind of influences economy/politics etc. have on a company), while IBEB takes the more analytical approach and from the perspective of the economics discipline (what kind of influences have companies on the economy).
- IBEB is more quantitative than IBA therefore has more mathematical based subjects
- IBA has a larger intake of students (approximately 650) than IBEB.
If you look at the content of the each programme there will be certain overlaps but as stated the focus of the subject will be different. To better understand your decision it might help to think about what you would like to do after IBA/IBEB. If you would like to continue with more economical subjects IBEB would give you a good foundation. However, if you are more interested in management or businesses directions (e.g. Marketing, Human Resource, Strategy, Finance and Accounting), IBA would give you a more suitable foundation.