As a very general rule, business has a stronger focus on people-based topics like marketing, management, business law, and HR. You’ll develop a genuine insight into how organisations work across all business functions, and you’ll also gain the knowledge and skills to run your own business, if that’s something you’d like to do down the track.
Commerce is more analytical, with a bigger emphasis on mathematical topics like business analytics, econometrics and behavioural science.
Both courses offer industry placements, double degrees, a strong foundation in core business units and an excellent mix of majors to choose from, but they have different combinations of double degree options and majors. There's also a difference in the ATAR and maths prerequisites for both courses.
Monash Business School offers a rich and broad range of courses, meaning that you can tailor your degree to your interests and goals. There are two types of undergraduate courses: comprehensive degrees (e.g. Bachelor of Business ) and specialist degrees (e.g. Bachelor of Accounting).
Comprehensive degrees are structured into three parts over three years consisting of core units, a major of your choice and a number of electves. Specialist degrees are made up of core units, a specialisation and a number of electives. You can use electives to take up a second major from within business or from another faculty, study abroad, or complete an industry placement.
A credit point is a unit of value which goes towards the requirements of your degree.
For example, to graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce, you’ll need 144 credit points. You earn credit points for each unit you finish (most units are worth six credit points, some are worth more).
A capstone unit is a final year unit that brings together what you’ve learnt in your degree. There are three types of capstone units – coursework, industry experience and international experience
Check the handbook to find out what capstone units are available for your course.
If you already know what area of business or commerce you want to study, we have a range of specialist courses that allow you to study your area of interest from day one. With these courses, you will develop genuine depth of study across that field.
If you’re not quite sure which area is best for you, our comprehensive courses (Business, Commerce and Business Administration) provide you with flexibility and allow you to discover what areas of business interest you most before choosing your major. In a comprehensive degree, you’ll take core and elective units in your first year before you commit to your major. You can also use your elective units to undertake a second major.
A major is a sequence of eight units that makes up the area of specialisation in your degree. Within each major there’s usually a mix of units you can pick and choose from, based on your interests and career goals.
We offer more than 20 majors across our undergraduate program.
You have the option to select your major immediately or later in your degree. In all of our comprehensive degrees you will get a taste of key business areas through first year core units, narrowing your focus in the second year (while still having the opportunity to try new things) before committing to a major.
You can also use your elective units to complete a second major.
If you have sufficient elective units you can complete a major from another faculty. It’s important to be aware of any necessary prerequisite or co-requisite subjects.
We recommend speaking with a course advisor to help map out your study plan.
A double major means you can cover two different areas within the one degree.
For example, you could study a double major in business and choose two business or commerce disciplines, such as accounting and marketing, or economics and actuarial studies. Or, for something really varied, you can study one business or commerce discipline and one discipline from another faculty within the University, like accounting and a language or economics and politics.
A double degree allows you to study two separate degrees at the same time. It’s structured so that you graduate with both degrees in a much shorter time than it would take to finish them individually, and you’ll have a similar workload as a single degree course.
No. A double degree allows you to focus on two different areas at the same time, using the electives from one degree to make up the required units from the other. Generally a double degree only adds one additional year than if you were to complete a single degree.
Employers value interdisciplinary skills and a double degree is a great way to combine your interests and gain an added advantage on the job market.
Yes, you can. You have a couple of options here:
Many of our degrees meet the criteria for entry into professional membership bodies. It’s a good idea to contact professional bodies directly to talk about membership and entrance requirements. Some double degrees may enable you to be eligible for membership of more than one professional body.
Each Monash Business School course is different. Some are highly focussed and specialised, others are broad and flexible, but all are designed to develop the key transferable competencies outlined in our Competency Framework.