
Creative Business course overview
The course in Creative Business teaches you how to think and work from a cross-media perspective. You will focus on creative media content and management and entrepreneurship in the creative field. You get acquainted with the entire process of concept development to production and you will learn how to market media products. You can do your internship in either the Netherlands or abroad, or you can even get started with your own business in media. Over the course of four years, you will become a creative professional, who can fulfil a leading role. Both in the spotlight, as well as behind the scenes.
Student Life in Holland vlog - Nina
What’s it like to study in Leeuwarden? Meet Nina, a German Creative Business student. She’ll tell you more about her student life in this city, and you'll get to see round the house she rents with her friends, join her on campus as she studies, takes a lunch break and goes for a kickboxing session at the health club, and then finishes the day off with a night on the town. Can you see yourself dancing the night away?
The programme focuses on entrepreneurship and on managing creative professionals. During your studies, you will familiarise yourself with the various disciplines in media creation you will encounter in your future career as a manager. It is important for managers to have a practical understanding of these disciplines. As part of your studies, you will therefore learn how to record and edit a demo CD, design the layout of a magazine, and learn about the technical workings of a live broadcast. You gain all this knowledge in this course, both during your internship and as part of your bachelor’s project.
However, this is a management course. In order to hold a management position in the future, it is important that you acquire specific knowledge and specific skills related to research, business administration, and management. These subjects are integrated into the curriculum. The media world is becoming more versatile. During your studies, you will therefore learn to combine various channels and techniques and tailor them to your target audience, with the central focus being cross-media theory and cross-media work.
Semester 1
Explore
The media industry is constantly changing, bringing about questions on what the industry looks like, who the stakeholders are and what business models are used. In this semester, you work with a real-life partner from the media industry, looking into what media products and services you can create for this partner that would add value to their portfolio and how you can ensure your product will appeal to the target group. In short, in this semester you learn all about the media industry and the marketing aspects of media products and services.
Semester 2
Experience
In this semester you learn to look at media productions from a media professional point of view and learn how to make these products. You learn about media literacy and how to analyse and evaluate media products. You will make prototypes for future media formats for a partner in the media industry.
Semester 1
Concept & Production
Everything you learnt in the first year comes together in this semester. How do you develop a media concept, ensure that the concept can be turned into an actual product and organise it all? You will produce content for our own online content channel Matters.
Semester 2
Management & Marketing
In this semester, you will build on the first semester and continue to set up, organise and manage a creative organisation in the creative industry. You will learn more about marketing aspects such as the customer journey, which media you can use as an organisation to reach your target group and deciding on the message you want to send.
Strategic thinking
In this semester, you will start to develop your strategic thinking skills. You will learn how to approach issues in a strategic way. You will then be given three assignments regarding the following themes:
- New business models
- Media innovation
- Meaningful communication
Minors
In the third year, you will choose a minor; a subject in which you will specialise further. The study programme has several minor subjects on offer, including the international campuses. You may also choose to do a minor offered by a different study programme or at one of our partner universities (of applied sciences).
Internship and Graduation Project
Get started on working in the industry by doing a placement, either at an existing organisation, or in your own start-up company. For your graduation project, you work on creating a solution for an interesting challenge in creative business.
This course has a broad scope. Starting in the third year, you can specialise with a minor subject. With this, you can broaden and deepen your knowledge. In this way, you shape your own studies. You can do you minor in Leeuwarden, Bali or Thailand. You may also choose a minor offered by another study programme.
These are the minors offered by Creative Business:
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Music Management: You specialise in all aspects of promoting music. In other words: how to earn a living with music. This minor is offered both in English and Dutch.
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Intrapreneurship: You learn to strengthen your professional attitude and to be entrepreneurial within a (network) organisation of your own choosing. This minor is offered both in English and Dutch.
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Integrated Digital Marketing in Bangkok: You learn to develop a solid digital strategy. How can you be visible by using digital marketing? In addition to your creative skills, you will also learn to develop your hands-on technical skills. Bangkok is considered a creative hotspot and is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. It is the perfect place to put your talents to the test.
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Meaningful Media Expedition: You will learn how you can develop meaningful media and communication constructs within various domains and industries. The working field of media and communication is a rapidly changing environment, constantly influenced by new technology, trends and other (target) audience needs. We see an environment in which co-creation and crosslateral connections are initiated between unusual domains and working fields. Which constructs, that make use of online and offline, old and new media, events and other experiences, can be combined into a new service? In this minor, you will work in interdisciplinary teams and develop pilot concepts or parts thereof.
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Digital Entrepreneurship in Bangkok: This module is recommended if you would like to develop your own business idea into a viable digital product. It also aims at giving you a creative and structured approach when it comes to translating your own business idea into a tangible product. In a team, you will be challenged to analyze intercultural market feedback in order to implement a media product in accordance with the consumers’ needs and wants. You will also be introduced to an array of digital marketing tools that will support your organization’s growth. This minor will be offered in Bangkok, the media hotspot of Thailand.
Study abroad vlogs
During your study, you have the opportunity to go abroad for a period of time. For example, to follow your minor or do your internship. You can study abroad at one of our Grand Tour locations or at one of our partner universities worldwide. These three Creative Business students did it! Watch their vlogs below, in which they take you along into a day in their life abroad.
Vlog 1 – student Alina
On Grand Tour for her minor in Bali

Vlog 2 – student Kim
Followed a minor in Thailand.
Vlog 3 – student Neele
Did her internship in Copenhagen.
Design-Based Education (DBE)
With Design-Based Education (DBE) ideas are turned into practical solutions, often in an international context. You work in small interdisciplinary groups on assignments from actual clients, preparing you in the best possible way for your future field. DBE places a strong emphasis on the personal development of our students, and guided by the academic staff, students take charge of their own learning path. Our educational concept is increasingly being implemented in all of our study programmes.
Course Catalogue
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