Business Administration

What is a master's in business administration?

A master's in business administration is a graduate qualification that trains you to run and grow organisations. The best-known version is the MBA (Master of Business Administration), a general management degree usually taken after a few years of work experience. Alongside the classic MBA you will find Executive MBAs designed for working managers, specialised Master of Science (MSc) degrees in areas such as finance or marketing, and undergraduate routes like the Bachelor of Business Administration. Across all of these, the goal is the same: to give you a working command of strategy, leadership, operations, accounting and people management so you can make confident decisions under real-world pressure.

On Stuudy we currently list 422 business administration programmes at 111 universities, so this page is a starting point for comparing the qualification level, country and school that fit your plans.

MBA vs a specialised business master's

The MBA is deliberately broad. It rotates you through the core functions of a business and is built around leadership, general management and, often, a professional network you build with your cohort. Of the programmes we list, roughly 131 are MBA-format degrees, split between the standard Master of Business Administration (45) and the Executive MBA (86) aimed at people already several years into their careers.

A specialised master's works differently. A Master of Science in a business field goes deep on one discipline rather than wide across all of them, and it usually welcomes applicants straight from a bachelor's degree with little or no work experience. We list 119 MSc programmes in this subject. If you want to move into a specific function, it is worth looking at focused hubs such as Finance, Marketing and Accounting and Auditing before committing to a general MBA.

What you'll study

Most business administration curricula share a common core: financial and management accounting, corporate finance, marketing, operations and supply chain, organisational behaviour, business analytics and strategy. Later in the programme you typically choose electives or a concentration, and many degrees end with a capstone project, consulting assignment or dissertation. Increasingly, programmes weave in data-driven decision making, sustainability and digital transformation, reflecting how modern managers actually work.

Where you can study business administration

The programmes on Stuudy span 11 countries. The largest selections are in the United Kingdom and the United States, followed by the Netherlands, then Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain and France. That range matters: a one-year taught master's is common in the UK, two-year formats are typical in the US and much of continental Europe, and English-taught options are widely available across the Netherlands and the Nordics.

The list also includes globally recognised schools such as Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania (home of Wharton), the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Stanford University and the London School of Economics, alongside strong research universities across Europe.

Tuition and costs

Tuition for a master's in business administration varies more than for almost any other subject. Among the programmes we list, fees range from a few thousand up to well over 100,000 for premium executive courses, with most sitting in the tens of thousands. Public universities in continental Europe tend to charge noticeably less than private business schools and US programmes, and full-time MBAs sit at the higher end because of their length and their focus on careers services and networks. Always check the individual programme page for the current fee, the currency and what it includes, and factor in living costs for the city where you will study.

Careers after a business administration degree

Business administration is one of the most transferable qualifications you can earn. Graduates move into management consulting, corporate finance, marketing and brand management, human resources, operations and product roles, as well as founding their own companies. An MBA in particular is often used as a career accelerator or a way to switch industry or function. Because the skills apply almost everywhere, employers hiring for these degrees range from multinationals and banks to startups, NGOs and the public sector.

How to choose the right programme

Start with your goal rather than the brand. If you want general leadership and a career pivot, an MBA or Executive MBA makes sense; if you want deep expertise in one area, a specialised MSc is usually faster and cheaper. Then weigh up work-experience requirements, programme length, teaching language, location and total cost against the outcomes you care about. Comparing several programmes side by side, across more than one country, is the quickest way to see what a given budget and profile can realistically reach.

Related subjects

Business administration overlaps with several fields worth exploring on Stuudy: Economics for the theory behind markets and policy, Finance and Accounting and Auditing for the numbers, Marketing for growth and brand roles, International Trade for cross-border business, and Public Administration if you are drawn to leadership in government and the non-profit sector.