Aarhus BSS offers new Master’s degree programme in Commercial and Retail Management
Together with a number of key actors in the Danish retail and brand sector, Aarhus BSS is now introducing a brand new Master’s degree programme in Commercial and Retail Management. The degree programme is the first of its kind in Denmark and aims to accommodate the development in the sector, which is characterised by an increasing use of digitisation and big data, multiple sales channels, growing global competition and a different producer-consumer value chain.
The new degree programme offered by Aarhus BSS at Aarhus University is called the MSc in Commercial and Retail Management and fills a gap in the Danish degree programme offering in the field of economics and business administration. The programme is also expected to attract international students.
Along with the new programme, Aarhus BSS is also intensifying its academic focus in the form of a new research area within retail management.
“Collaborating with a wide range of companies in the sector allows us to offer a Master’s degree programme that is both specialised and broad in a sector that employs thousands of people and is one of the economic cornerstones of an industrialised society. Internationally, there are only very few degree programmes with the same breadth in the sector,” says Per Andersen, vice-dean for education at Aarhus BSS.
The programme will prepare the students for a career within the entire retail and brand sector and enable them to assume a number of key functions in relevant companies and with optimal opportunities for career advancement within and across the sector.
The degree programme has been developed in collaboration with a number of prominent actors in the sector, who are gathered in a group of Founding Partners. The companies will play an active role in the programme through guest lectures, internships and Master's theses collaborations, and they will also make a large number of relevant student jobs available to the students.
Furthermore, the companies in the group of Founding Partners will fund a professorship at Aarhus BSS in Commercial and Retail Management.
“Today, good business acumen is a highly specialised skill that extends far beyond simply buying at the right price and selling with a profit. It’s a complex mechanism that requires in-depth insight into everything from strategies to relationships and consumer behaviour, and the degree programme must accommodate all of that,” says Joachim Nisgaard, Group Senior Director in Talent Management & Learning at Salling Group. He has been one of the main driving forces in the development of the new Master’s degree programme.
The Bestseller group also welcomes the new degree programme.
“The new graduates will be a good match for the roles we need to fill in JACK & JONES in the next few years. The talents we recruit for this part of our business will benefit from having in-depth knowledge of the management aspect of running a large retail business,” says Retail Buying Director from JACK & JONES, Ole Bech.
The degree programme MSc in Commercial and Retail Management will commence in autumn 2020.
Founding Partners:
- Arla
- Bestseller
- Danish Crown
- Dagrofa
- JYSK
- KFI Industrial Foundation
- The Branded Manufacturers Association – MLDK.dk
- Rema 1000
- Salling Group
For more information, please contact:
Per Andersen, Vice-dean for Education
Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University
Tel.: 87 16 57 45
Email: perandersen@au.dk
Carsten Wandorf, Chair of Founding Partners and CEO Fritz Schur Consumer Group
Tel.: 40 32 62 67
Email: formand.MLDK@mldk.org
Salling Group:
Group Communication
Tel.: 87 78 50 02
Email: press@sallinggroup.com
Bestseller:
Press & Corporate Communication
Tel.: 99 42 16 62
Email: communications@bestseller.com
Read more about the degree programme: masters.au.dk/retailmanagement
