The four universities of the Louvain Academy (UCL, FUNDP, FUCaM and FUSL) have created a school of management, the Louvain School of Management (LSM). It is the largest school of management in Belgium with over 1,200 Master students and more than 200 lecturers and guest lecturers. Alongside the International Executive MBA and the doctoral school programmes, the Louvain School of Management organizes different joint Masters in Management Science programmes in each of the partner universities. UCL provides the Master in Business Engineering (120), the Master in Management Science (120), the Master in Management (60) over a year, available as a day course and also on a part-time basis over two years. 

Firmly rooted in the world of business, these Masters enable students to build up their own "à la carte" programme or to specialize through a very wide selection of option courses. Certain option courses are entirely in English. This programme also enables them to gain an introduction to the epistemological, methodological and theoretical foundations of management research, giving them good preparation for doing doctoral research.

This two year programme is mainly designed for bachelors in economy or management. It aims to provide the skills and know-how which will enable them to get posts in management in private and public organizations.

There is special emphasis on the development of skills which will enable students to  :

1.      put theories and concepts of management into effective and competent use in a professional setting ;

2.      put organizations into their socio-economic and institutional context in order to understand the interdependences between organization and environment and translate them into management decisions;

3.      to take account of the challenges of  global competition in the practical application of socially responsible management techniques.

In the same way as other students of the Louvain School of Management, future Masters in Management Science will :

• demonstrate initiative and autonomy in decision-taking  (teaching methods geared to problem resolution);
• have practical experience of business (work placement and classes with many entrepreneurs and managers); 
• have developed the ability to work in an international environment     and
• be familiar with team work.

Various methods of assessment are used in the programme :

• continuous assessment of work/learning of each group of students (between 30% and 70% if individual assessment  is satisfactory) : presentations in public, participation in debates, written reports ;
• individual assessment of learning during the examination period (between 30% and 70% of final mark) : test of knowledge, part of assignment/report, critical distance/group work, reading report.

This Master contains some strong international  links :

1.      Many courses available in English with the opportunity for a non-French speaking student to take the whole programme in English.

2.      Study visit of a semester abroad (30 credits) at a location from a list of over 110 universities known all over the world for the excellence of their management programmes. This continues our tradition of being the first in Belgium to offer a wide choice of destinations abroad.

3.      Possibility of entry, exclusive in Belgium, to the network of CEMS, the Community of European Management Schools, and the international network of business schools of PIM (Partnership in International Management). 

4.      The possibility, exclusive in  Belgium, of doing the Master in International Management (ranked second in the Financial Times 2007 ranking) in cooperation with the CEMS partners. Having been selected during the first year of the Master, CEMS students spend their second year doing compulsory courses and subjects specially reserved for the CEMS programme CEMS (45 credits), a "blocked seminar" (3 credits), a business project (15 credits) and an individual dissertation (18 credits). One semester is spent in a CEMS university. At the end of their studies, students receive two degrees: one from IAG-Louvain School of Management and the other from CEMS awarded jointly by the 18 partner universities.

5.      The opportunity to spend all of Year 2 abroad in the double degree programme organized in partnership with other institutions: the Helsinki School of Economics, Universität zu Köln, Fundaçao Getulio Vargas in Brazil. Having successfully completed courses worth 60 credits in each partner university and done a joint dissertation with two universities, students will be awarded two 120 credit Master degrees : one from the IAG-Louvain School of Management and the other from the partner institution. 

For both the CEMS Master in International Management and the double degrees, students are required to gain between 18 to 21 additional credits.

Students have the possibility of specializing in a functional or a cross-disciplinary area of management science by taking, in the same special subject, 2 option courses of 15 credits each.  

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Apart from being able to do option courses from their original university, students are also able to do one or two option courses in a partner university of the Louvain School of Management, which allows them to take advantage of a wider programme. This mobility is mentioned in the annex to the degree. The option courses and special subjects provided by institutions which are partners of the LSM are organized in the following areas:

Audit and Accounting (FUCaM - Mons)  

This option course is designed to deepen students’ knowledge in the areas of accounting and financial information systems and the way they are checked by experts (auditors and accountants). The subjects dealt with concern both SMEs as well as large companies. Indeed, one part of the course is devoted to international aspects (taxation, accounting and audit standards) while the other focuses on the internal rules which enable the accounting system to become a management tool. Furthermore, this special subject is helpful for those wishing to join the Institutes of Auditors and Accountants.

Service Management (FUNDP-Namur)

Western economies are dependent on services by more than 70%.  This sector increasingly requires specific multidisciplinary skills relating to marketing, operations, computing, law or human resources. The aim of this special subject, the only one of its kind in Belgium, is to train students in a multidisciplinary way by combining managerial, technological and economic knowledge and skills.

Market finance (FUNDP-Namur)

This special subject is designed to give solid grounding in the main areas of finance with an emphasis on market finance. The training is structured around the main themes of modern finance such as business finance, credit management, risk management, portfolio management, investment strategies , interest rate management policy, the working of stock exchanges and financial markets, risk management or derivatives.

Operational Marketing (FUNDP-Namur)

This special subject is designed to train future managers who wish to take on one of the many marketing functions in businesses and organizations who put their customers and consumers at the centre of their operations. Tomorrow’s marketing executives face the challenges of knowing their customers, keeping them and attracting new customers, developing effective products and services, giving their customers the prices they expect and in the right places and standing out in the face of global, communication and technological competition.

Commercial law (FUNDP-Namur)

This special subject provides the opportunity to acquire training in a group of disciplines which make up the legal environment in which businesses and markets work. This thorough approach to commercial law enables students to build on their management training and acquire additional, specialized legal skills which are targeted towards their professional posts.

Approaches and Advanced Methods in Marketing (FUCaM- Mons)

This is by nature an advanced option course which is designed to provide training in the methods, approaches and models which help to understand the multiple facets of marketing (qualitative and quantitative ; strategic and operational ; covering both the analysis of consumer behaviour and decision taking in marketing) and finishes with a seminar which brings students up to date with the most current research themes in marketing.

Portfolio and Financial Risk Management (FUCaM - Mons)

This option course is designed to introduce the concepts and techniques for modelling financial products (including derivatives), their application in portfolio management and, more widely, in financial risk management.

At the Louvain School of Management, international experience is a key component of the programme.

The exchange visit (30 credits) takes places in the second year at one of our partner universities throughout the world. 

Students who do not wish to do an exchange visit may choose a selection of courses from the option courses available on the Business Engineering programme.