NUS BBA

Academic Programmes

Ad Hoc Double Degree Programmes with Bachelor of Business Administration

The Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a pre-eminent broad-based leadership and management talent programme for sensitive, inquisitive and articulate students.

Besides specially customised double degrees and concurrent degrees developed by the School of Business and partnering Faculties or Departments, any eligible NUS non-Business undergraduate student can construct an ad-hoc double-degree combination with the BBA Honours programme.  Students with time pressure could read instead the 10-courses BBA-subset Major in Management, or even the 5-courses Minor in Management.

The rest of this page applies to any ad-hoc programme put together by an originally non-Business student. (Some information is provided for a Business student putting together an ad-hoc double degree programme with a partnering non-Business department or faculty. Henceforth, such a student is referred to as a BBA student, for simplicity.) In general, all relevant regulations below apply reciprocally to the Business student.

Double degree programmes with BBA(H) may take between 4.5 years and 5 years respectively.

Please note that currently most School of Business courses carry 4 Units, and may be studied in any order, provided that the pre-requisites (if any) are fulfilled.

  • Students are strongly advised to apply by the end of their first year so as to start the double-degree programme at the beginning of their second year. This is so that students may complete the double degree programme within the normal candidature. For students who wish to apply for mid-entry only after completion of between 60 to 80 Units, please submit a proposed study plan with the application. Students must apply through their home faculties. Short-listed applicants may then be interviewed.

    Students who would like to pursue a double degree are advised to plan their courses carefully.

  • The minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) requirement for acceptance to the double degree programme is 4.00. The applicant will also need to meet the minimum prevailing admission criteria of both degrees. In making a judgement about ability and potential, the School of Business and the partnering Faculty/Department would generally consider whether the student has read some courses in the other programme applied to.

    Students must generally have a pass in H1 Mathematics, or otherwise demonstrated equivalent preparation. The student’s non-academic activities in NUS will be considered, and he/she usually would also have to attend an interview.  Although not an explicit requirement, good communication and inter-personal skills are definite pluses and fine writing skills help.

  • A student may decide to withdraw, or be required to withdraw from the double degree programme. However, the student is not allowed to withdraw from the Partner’s non-Business degree programme and transfer to the Business programme. A student who exited from the home faculty’s Honours programme would be deemed to have automatically withdrawn from the double degree programme.

    After withdrawal from the double degree programme, all the courses that the student had taken to fulfil the requirements of the second programme will be reflected in the transcript, and included in the computation of the GPA for the home degree programme.  Non-business students may use some completed Business courses towards the Major or Minor in Management, a subset of the BBA programme.

    • For students admitted from AY2014/15 to AY2020/21: A student must maintain a GPA of at least 3.75 in courses contributing to the original degree, and a GPA of at least 3.25 for the second degree, from his/her second active regular semester onwards. The DDP continuation requirement is not applicable once a student’s total cumulative units exceeds 160 Units.
    • For students admitted from AY2021/22 onwards: A student must maintain a GPA of at least 3.5 in courses contributing to the original degree and a GPA of at least 3.5 for the second degree, from his/her second active regular semester onwards. The DDP continuation rule is not applicable once a student’s total cumulative units exceeds 140 Units.

  • To be allowed to pursue the double degree programme, a student must pursue Honours in the home degree programme, i.e. a student may pursue either Honours in both degrees, or only Honours in the home degree and non-Honours in the second degree programme.

    Student’s promotion criteria as follows:

    BBA1:   Student who has completed less than 40 Units worth of courses.

    BBA2:    Student who has completed at least 40 Units worth of courses.

    BBA3:    Student who has completed at least 80 Units worth of courses, but not eligible for (or choose not to pursue) the honours programme.

    BBAH:   Student who has completed at least 80 Units worth of courses, with a GPA score of at least 3.2 and accept the offer to be in the honours programme.

  • For students admitted prior to AY2021/22, the minimum units requirements for a Double Degree is 200 Unitss for two Honours (4-year) degrees, and 180 Units for one Honours (4-year) and one Bachelor’s (3-year) degree.

    For students admitted from AY2021/22 onwards, the minimum units requirements for a Double Degree is 160 Units.

    The actual total units will be dependent on the requirements of the two degrees and how much double counting is possible between the two programmes.

  • The details are as follow:

    • University Level Requirements Students need to satisfy only one set of University Requirements.
    • Programme Requirements:

      DDP students must also fulfil The University guidelines on DDP which is available via: http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-information-policies/undergraduate-students/special-programmes/double-degree-programmes/double-degree-programme-framework-and-guidelines. For Cohort 2020 and before, at least two-thirds of each set of programme requirements must be fulfilled by dedicated and distinct (i.e. unshared; no overlapping) courses. For Cohort 2021 onwards, ip to 40% of each major / programme / Faculty’s requirement in a Double Degree can be double counted with another major / minor / programme / Faculty / College requirement in the Double Degree, to the extent practicable, i.e., at least 60% of each major / programme / Faculty requirement in a Double Degree must be fulfilled by distinct non-overlapping courses.

      It is sometimes possible to do a field service project and/or integrated honours thesis for the two degree programmes.

      Some courses in the BBA requirements can be substituted or replaced by permitted recognized courses offered outside the School of Business. Partnering Faculties and Departments may suggest courses for consideration as Substituting or Recognized. For example, ES2002/MNO2706 business communication course may be replaced by a USP Writing and Critical Thinking course.

      The BBA programme requires 5 Specialisation courses (6 for Cohort 2018 and before). In place of a specialisation, students may take an equal number of business courses from any area, at the equivalent levels.

    • Unrestricted Electives: Students are usually exempted from Unrestricted Elective Courses (UEs), but may be required to read them in order to meet the minimum Units required for the double degree programme.  If UEMs are read, these must count towards one of the two degrees.
    • Courses double counted towards the requirements of both degrees may not be further counted towards a Minor (i.e. triple counting is not allowed).
    • Degree Requirements: Both the Business School and the partnering Faculty/Department (and residential colleges, if applicable) must be satisfied that all the graduation requirements, including any non-credit graduation requirements, for their respective degrees (and programme) have been fulfilled.

  • Refer to the University Guidelines for details on DDP: http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-information-policies/undergraduate-students/special-programmes/double-degree-programmes/double-degree-programme-framework-and-guidelines#residency.

    The maximum period of candidature will be six years. The two degree programmes must be undertaken and completed within a single continuous candidature period (save for the usual provisions for leave of absence).

  • The University Guidelines on DDP applies. Please refer to the following for details: http://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-information-policies/undergraduate-students/special-programmes/double-degree-programmes/double-degree-programme-framework-and-guidelines#computation

    • The GPA for both degree programmes will be computed separately and the two GPAs, one each for the respective degree programmes, are reflected separately on a single transcript.
    • The process and method for computation of GPA are as follows:During the registration for courses in each semester, the student must declare which courses he/she wants to use to count towards fulfilment of each of the two degrees. Any changes to the course declarations may only be made during the final semester, subject to the approval of the partnering Faculty and the School of Business.The grades from courses that may be double counted (e.g. University Level Requirements) will be used twice to compute the GPA for each of the two degrees.If any Unrestricted Elective Courses has been taken, the grade obtained will be used to compute the GPA for either one (but not both) of the two degrees.Any Honours or Merit classification for two degrees will be determined by the respective GPA.

  • Please refer to the RO website and this DDP FAQ link (refer to A12) for details. Students currently receiving financial aids for their undergraduate programmes should consult their awarding organisations concerning whether any extra fees will be covered. Many NUS-funded scholarships awarded to students may cover tuition fees for the fifth year in Double Degree programmes.

    The Student Financial Aid Unit provides financial aid information.

  • The student will be eligible for award of medals and prizes and for inclusion on the Dean’s List for both degrees. Two separate degrees will be conferred with the same conferment date, and two degree scrolls issued, one for each degree.

For more information, you may also refer to the general FAQ page for double degree programmes.

Please do contact us for any further information.