Inside the Curriculum: A Deep Dive Into the Belmont BBA Curriculum and Its Components

Three males students sitting at desks in business class
Massey College of Business

Inside the Curriculum: A Deep Dive Into the Belmont BBA Curriculum and Its Components

July 19, 2024 | by Jasmine Simmons

A solid educational foundation is crucial for success in today’s fast-paced and ever-evolving business world.

Imagine stepping into a boardroom confidently, armed with the knowledge and skills needed to make strategic decisions that drive a company forward.

Belmont University, located in the vibrant city of Nashville, Tennessee, aims to turn this vision into reality for its students through its comprehensive Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) program.

The BBA program at Belmont is structured to offer a well-rounded education. It blends core business administration degree classes with opportunities for specialization in areas like marketing, finance and entrepreneurship. This article provides you with the nitty-gritty of this course so you’ll be prepared before enrolling.

What Is a BBA Degree?

A Bachelor of Business Administration is a professional undergraduate degree for management and business career-seekers. Institutions such as Belmont University offer various BBA degree programs with a broad curriculum focusing on a solid, foundational business approach. 

Generally, a BBA degree provides a blend of practical experience and sound theoretical knowledge through workshops, training programs and more. Depending on the country and institution, this degree typically requires three to four years of full-time study.

What Is the Curriculum for a BBA Degree? 

You can immerse yourself in business and management through consistent business administration degree classes while developing leadership skills. This is why the BBA degree curriculum is quite comprehensive. At Belmont, your path toward a BBA degree will take you to a general business major and 128 credit hours of coursework.

Here’s what you will learn from your BBA degree curriculum:

  • Basic negotiation skills for business
  • Law fundamentals related to business transactions
  • Venture management
  • Marketing research techniques and their applications
  • Economic principles of labor markets

Components of Belmont’s Degree in Business Administration

Getting into Belmont to study as a general business major means you will complete numerous financial topics in your coursework. These are some of the components of the curriculum’s business administration degree requirements:

  • BELL Core: This segment is designed to provide students with a general education that encourages value, skill acquisition and knowledge. Students are encouraged to apply their knowledge beyond the classroom while positively interacting with their communities. The BELL Core requirement is 50 hours of coursework divided between signature and cognate choices.
  • Business Core Courses: For this component, 22 hours are dedicated to courses covering a range of practical and theoretical business learning experiences. These core courses include business experience, management of business systems and business ethics. Also available are principles of management, international business, principles of marketing, business of finance and strategic management.
  • BBA Core Technical Requirement: This component is a three-hour course dedicated to simplifying and teaching complex quantitative methods in business. Topics like decision analytics, forecasting, transportation models, probability, network flow models, project management, economic order quantity models, non-probability models, regression and queuing analysis are included. 
  • General Business Concentration: In addition to electives and technical requirements, the degree in business administration emphasizes general business knowledge. This is why this coursework covers 18 hours spread across elementary statistics, principles of macroeconomics, microeconomics and several others.
  • General Electives: Students can select business administration degree courses alongside their other interests. These options are usually technical requirement courses that demand 22 hours of coursework and will count toward the BELL Core. They may include the business senior capstone, principles of macroeconomics and principles of microeconomics.

What Courses Are in the BBA Degree Program?

When you major in general business for a bachelor’s degree in business administration, your coursework will require you to study some important business subjects to sharpen your skills. Subjects such as economics, entrepreneurship, finance, general business, international business, business systems and analytics, principles of management and marketing will make up a big part of your BBA degree program. At Belmont, some of the specific courses you can choose from include:

  • Labor Economics (ECO 3000): As a business owner or manager, you need to understand how and why households and firms make certain decisions within the labor market. What are the best practices when faced with issues concerning unemployment and labor unions? Labor economics is comprehensive enough to answer this burning question while covering the effects of labor unions, gender, race and ethnicity in the labor market and earning inequality. Other topics include unemployment, investment in human capital, labor demand and supply, wage differentials, minimum wage legislation and worker mobility.
  • Human Resources Management (MGT 3270): This course will teach you how to organize, coordinate and manage employees so they can fulfill the organization’s goals, mission and vision. You will also learn the basics of training, hiring, compensating, motivating and retaining staff in an HR management or advisory role. 
  • Venture Management (ETP 3400): Venture management is one of the most important business administration degree courses. It teaches innovation, planning, marketing and financial management. These skills are necessary for entrepreneurs to develop lasting systems for their businesses to thrive. Additionally, you will study the growth an entrepreneur experiences, from running a business alone to building a bigger and more professional setup.
  • Business Law II (MGT 4220): Besides learning how to operate and grow a business, a course in business law is another common business administration degree requirement. Legalities and codes in business must be maintained to avoid issues like bankruptcy and even crimes related to the fundamentals of business transactions. Business law will teach students how to maintain fairness in business transactions and defend their rights.
  • Advanced Business Finance (FIN 4410): Finance is a big aspect of running a business at any scale. You need to monitor how money comes in via revenue streams and how it flows out via expenditures. However, finance is much more than cash flow. This is why the advanced business finance course is designed to cover various financial topics like the cost of capital, capital budgeting and other lessons.
  • Negotiations (MGT 4310): This course could be the difference between a good business manager and a great one. As a requirement for a BBA degree, the negotiations course addresses basic negotiation skills for businesses. The course is structured to blend real-world skills and theoretical insight into conflict management and resolution in organizations.
  • Market Research (MKT 4440): The market research course is a specialized study of modern techniques and how you can apply them in business. Here, students are taught data collection, research design, sampling, questionnaire design and how to prepare reports and present them. At the end of the course, you should be able to define marketing research goals and apply different research methods for data gathering.

Get Started on Your BBA at Belmont

There is a lot of competition in the corporate world for top talent. A solid managerial and leadership skillset obtained from a BBA degree program will give you the edge you need to succeed. Ready to embark on a thriving career in management and business and get access to some of the best jobs for business administration degree holders? 

Find more information on a bachelor's degree in business administration and apply today!