Bachelor of Business Administration

Learn about the world of business in a Canadian and international context. Year one and two will provide you with a solid foundation in general business, after which you will be able to specialize in Accounting, Financial Services, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Human Resources Management, Management, and Marketing.

More than simply theory, our business program is based on students applying what they learn in a practical use setting. Your professors have real-life expertise and will design projects that allow you to use your growing knowledge in a hands-on manner, often connecting you directly to local business owners for authentic results.

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Our Bachelor of Business Administration Degrees, Business Administration Diplomas, and Business Administration Certificates are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).

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Campus

  • Kelowna
  • Vernon
  • Penticton
  • Salmon Arm
View schedule and campus details
Legend:
  • Full program offered
  • Partial program offered

Credential

Degree

Delivery options

Full-Time, Part-Time

  • International students eligible

Tuition and fees

2023-24: $5,948.24 per year

Program details

This unique four-year degree program focuses on business in the Canadian and international context. Year one of the program provides a solid foundation in general business. In subsequent years, specializations are available in Accounting, Financial Services, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Human Resources Management, Management, and Marketing. A General Studies specialization is also available to those who want to take elective courses from a variety of specialties. Business and non-business electives are also part of the program.

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) students can choose one of the specialties outlined below or they can choose to take general studies where they will be able to choose courses from any of the specialties. The BBA program also offers concentrations you can add to your degree. Get your planning started with our BBA Degree Planner. If you have questions about this degree, please reach out to an advisor.

A BBA Honours degree gives you the highest level of certification possible. Not only does this earn you a special Honours parchment, but it speaks loud and clear to employers about your abilities and dedication to doing advanced research in your chosen field. The Honours program is for students who academically excel and want to further develop their analytical and communication skills. Contact businessadvising@okanagan.bc.ca to learn more.

Regional delivery of studies can differ according to the campus location, the first and second years of study is available at every campus. Some courses are also available by online delivery and distance education and students can combine on campus courses with online and distance courses.

For details on what is offered visit: 

For more information, book an appointment with an Education Advisor or a Business Advisor.

Campus Start date Schedule
Kelowna Jan. 08, 2024
Penticton Jan. 08, 2024
Vernon Jan. 08, 2024
Kelowna May 2024
Kelowna Jul. 2024
Kelowna Sep. 04, 2024
Penticton Sep. 04, 2024
Vernon Sep. 04, 2024
Salmon Arm Sep. 04, 2024
Kelowna Jan. 06, 2025
Penticton Jan. 06, 2025
Vernon Jan. 06, 2025

Admission requirements

Entry into the first year of the degree program:

Regular Applicants

  • B.C. secondary school graduation or equivalent.
  • English 12 with minimum 70% or alternatives.
  • Students graduating from secondary school in or prior to 2012:
    • A minimum of 85% in Applications of Mathematics 12 or a minimum of 60% in either Principles of Mathematics 12 or an equivalent Provincial Level Adult Basic Education mathematics course.
  • Students entering Grade 10 in or after 2010 and/or completing the new mathematics curriculum:
    • A minimum of 60% in one of Pre-calculus Grade 12, Foundations of Mathematics Grade 12, or Apprenticeship and Workplace Mathematics Grade 12, Apprenticeship Mathematics 12or the equivalent Provincial Level Adult Basic Education mathematics course.
    • Secondary students who enter the Business Administration degree or diploma program with a minimum grade of 73% in Accounting 12 may request credit for BUAD 111 (Financial Accounting I).

Selective Admission Process:

  • Applicants will be granted admission based on their grade average for English, Mathematics and two other academic courses chosen to the advantage of the applicant.

Mature Applicants

  • Mature applicants are at least 19 years of age and have been out of full-time secondary study for at least one year.
  • Secondary graduation will be waived for mature applicants.
  • Mature applicants without Mathematics 12 can take the Mathematics diagnostic test, administered by Okanagan College. A minimum score of 20/25 is required.

Qualifying status:

  • Applicants who ultimately fail to satisfy the specific English and/or math entrance requirements may be granted admission to and be allowed to remain enrolled in the business program as qualifying students subject to the availability of space after the admission and registration of qualified applicants.
  • Qualifying students may concurrently register in a maximum of three first-year business courses, any three for which they satisfy the prerequisites.
  • Qualifying first-year business students will not be considered to be continuing students and will, therefore, be allowed to continue in the program after the qualifying year only if all outstanding course entrance requirements have been successfully completed.

Entry into the third year of the degree program:

  • Successful completion of a recognized Business Administration diploma program or equivalent with a minimum grade average of 67%; or completion of 60 university-level credits (with a minimum of 24 credits at the 200-level or higher) with a minimum grade average of 67%; or completion of an Associate Degree in Arts or Science with a minimum grade average of 67%.
  • Applicants must submit a statement (500 words maximum) outlining their personal objectives and career goals.
  • Applicants must submit a statement (500 word maximum) outlining their work experience and community involvement.

Selective Admission Process:

  • Applicants will be ranked and admitted according to the grade average of their respective diploma, associate degree or 60 credits of university courses, as stated above.

Prior Learning Assessment:

  • Where a student has prior learning in the following courses BUAD 111, 116, 121, 128, 176 and 293, credit may be awarded if the student successfully passes a challenge exam. Contact the Business Administration department for more information.

Co-operative Education:

  • Entry into the co-operative education option is a student's choice, and subject to completion of all first-year courses and an overall grade average of 65%.

Program outline

Program Outline

Students must complete a minimum of 120 credit hours as prescribed below:
BUAD 111 - Financial Accounting I
BUAD 116 - Marketing
BUAD 123 - Management Principles
BUAD 128 - Computer Applications I
BUAD 195 - Financial Management
BUAD 209 - Business Law
BUAD 262 - Organizational Behaviour
BUAD 264 - Management Accounting
BUAD 269 - Human Resources Management
BUAD 315 - Management Science
BUAD 425 - Business and Canadian Government Policy
BUAD 340 - Strategic Management I
Students must also complete one of the following courses:
BUAD 272 - Business Simulation
BUAD 293 - Entrepreneurship
Plus (see notes below for additional information):
CMNS 112 - Professional Writing I
CMNS 122 - Professional Writing II
MATH 114 - Business Mathematics
STAT 124 - Business Statistics
ECON 115 - Principles of Microeconomics
ECON 125 - Principles of Macroeconomics
PHIL 350 - Business Ethics
21 credits of Business electives at the 300 level or higher
15 credits of Business electives at the 100 level or higher
12 credits of Business or non-business electives at the 300 level or higher
3 credits of Business or non-business electives at the 100 level or higher
9 credits of non-business electives at the 100 level or higher

Notes

With permission of the department other MATH or STAT courses may be substituted. STAT 121 is an approved substitute for STAT 124.
With permission of the department other CMNS or ENGL courses may be substituted. Six credits of CMNS or ENGL are required for graduation, but nine credits are strongly recommended.
Non-business electives must be part of a diploma or degree program. COSC 122, MATH 111, MATH 120 and MATH 160 cannot be used as non-business electives in the BBA program.

Successful completion of the prescribed and elective courses as listed in the program outline with a minimum graduating grade average of 60%.

Program specializations

While satisfying all the requirements outlined above for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, students must include the following courses in their Business elective choices to specialize in Accounting.

BUAD 121 - Financial Accounting II
BUAD 208 - Canadian Income Tax I
BUAD 263 - Intermediate Accounting I
BUAD 273 - Intermediate Accounting II
Complete at least 4 of the following:
BUAD 352 - Data Analytics in Accounting
BUAD 359 - Accounting - Contemporary Perspectives and Issues in Accounting
BUAD 365 - Cost Accounting
BUAD 367 - Fraud Examination
BUAD 368 - Selected Topics: Advanced Accounting
BUAD 469 - Selected Topics: Advanced Accounting
BUAD 369 - Canadian Income Tax II
BUAD 363 - Audit Planning
BUAD 462 - Advanced Financial Accounting
BUAD 466 - Advanced Managerial Accounting
BUAD 463 - Internal Control & Auditing

The Concentration in Communication provides students with skills in applied communications. Students develop competence in areas such as professional writing, public relations theory and practice, management communications, marketing writing, and visual communication. Completion of the Concentration will provide students with a valuable skill-set, applicable to every potential career.

The Concentration will be of interest to degree students who are looking to strengthen their principal credential. Students enrolled in a four-year degree program at Okanagan College (i.e. the Bachelor of Business Administration or Bachelor of Computer Information Systems) can apply credits earned in the completion of electives in these programs toward a transcript notation awarding them a Concentration in Communication. These students may also apply six credits of first-year Communications or English earned in the completion of their principal credential toward the Concentration notation.

The program allows for flexible completion and for student choice. Students can choose to register in whichever of the available Communications and English courses are of most interest to them.
The Concentration in Communication will be granted upon the successful completion of 18 credits, including six credits of first-year Communications or English, and 12 additional credits of Communications, of which at least nine credits must be from courses numbered 300 or higher.
Students may apply six credits of first-year Communications or English earned in the completion of their principal credential toward the Concentration notation.

The Concentration in Computer Information Systems (CIS) provides students with skills in programming, database development, management and administration. Students can develop competence in areas such as Java and Visual programming, programming for mobile devices, database and web programming, database systems administration and software engineering, and software development in teams with industrial clients.


This concentration option supports Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree students who are looking to strengthen their information technology background. Students, who enrol in the BBA program, can apply credits earned in the completion of their electives in COSC courses toward their BBA degree with a Concentration in Computer Information Systems.

The Concentration in Computer Information Systems will be granted upon the successful completion of 18 credits as specified in the program outline. Students must successfully complete the following set of courses to receive a Concentration in Computer Information Systems:
Complete All of the following:
COSC 111 - Computer Programming I
COSC 121 - Computer Programming II
COSC 304 - Introduction to Database Management Systems
Three more COSC courses with at least two of the courses completed at the 300/400 level. Students would select three courses from the following list:
Complete at least 3 of the following:
COSC 219 - Client-side Web Systems
COSC 222 - Computer Data Structures
COSC 315 - Introduction to Operating Systems
COSC 331 - Microservices and Software Architecture
COSC 341 - User Experience
COSC 360 - Server Platform as a Service
COSC 404 - Advanced Database Management Systems
COSC 416 - Topics in Database
COSC 419 - Topics in Computer Science
COSC 434 - Database Administration

The Concentration in Data Science and Statistics provides students with skills in applied Data Science and applied Statistics. Students develop competence in areas such as data visualization, machine learning, regression, big data and modern statistical algorithms. Completion of this Concentration will provide students with a valuable skill-set that is applicable to a wide variety of careers.


A concentration in Data Science and Statistics will be of interest to degree students looking to strengthen their principal credential. Students enrolled in a four year degree program at Okanagan College (such as the BBA program) can apply credits earned in the completion of electives in these programs toward a transcript notation awarding them a Concentration in Data Science and Statistics.

The Concentration in Data Science and Statistics will be granted upon the successful completion of 18 credits including :
DSCI 300 - Data Wrangling and Visualization
DSCI 310 - Mathematics Computation
Complete 1 of the following:
MATH 314 - Calculus and Linear Algebra with Business Applications
MATH 221 - Linear Algebra I
Note that MATH 221 has a MATH 112 prerequisite and a MATH 122 co-requisiste)
Complete 1 of the following:
STAT 121 - Elementary Statistics
STAT 124 - Business Statistics
STAT 230 - Elementary Applied Statistics
and any 2 courses with the STAT prefix at at least a 300 level or any courses with a DSCI prefix (other than 300 and 310)

While satisfying all the requirements outlined above for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, students must include the following courses in their Business elective choices to specialize in Finance.

Complete at least 8 of the following:
BUAD 208 - Canadian Income Tax I
BUAD 234 - Retirement Income Planning
BUAD 235 - Insurance and Estate Planning
BUAD 251 - Personal Financial Planning
BUAD 296 - Long-term Capital Management
BUAD 350 - Capital Markets
BUAD 353 - Derivative Securities
BUAD 354 - Financial Modelling for Equity Analysis and Valuation
BUAD 356 - Taxation and Investment Planning
BUAD 360 - Canadian Financial Institutions
BUAD 361 - Selected Topics: Finance
BUAD 468 - Selected Topics: Finance
BUAD 369 - Canadian Income Tax II
BUAD 450 - Investment Management
BUAD 460 - Investing in Financial Institutions
BUAD 461 - Applied Corporate Finance
As 1 of the above 8 courses, students can also select BUAD 250 - Canadian Securities

You can work directly with the most important resource any organization has—its people. As a human resource manager, your career will encompass areas such as recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, employment law, health and safety, and strategic planning. Your degree in HRM from Okanagan College is accredited by Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of British Columbia and Yukon. The knowledge and skills you acquire from this program are practical for any management position.

Your degree in HRM from Okanagan College is accredited by the Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) of BC and Yukon. The knowledge and skills you acquire from this program are practical for any management position.


Students must complete all of the following courses:
BUAD 246 - Recruitment and Selection
BUAD 247 - Training and Development
BUAD 248 - Occupational Health and Safety
BUAD 375 - Strategic Human Resource Planning
BUAD 376 - Compensation and Benefits
Plus three courses from the following list, with at least one at the 400 level.
BUAD 201 - Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
BUAD 279 - Industrial Relations
BUAD 374 - Employment Law
BUAD 379 - Selected Topics: Human Resources
BUAD 479 - Selected Topics: Human Resources
BUAD 410 - Organization Change and Development
BUAD 411 - HR Metrics
BUAD 412 - Strategic Performance Management
While satisfying all the requirements outlined above for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, students must include the following courses in their Business elective choices to specialize in Management:
BUAD 176 - Professional Sales
BUAD 283 - Management Information Systems
BUAD 370 - Leadership
BUAD 382 - Operations Management
Student must also complete four courses from the following options:
BUAD 201 - Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
BUAD 298 - Small Business Management
BUAD 289 - Purchasing and Materials Management
BUAD 305 - Logistics and Supply Chain Management
BUAD 306 - Managing Professional Service Firms
BUAD 307 - Managing for Innovation
BUAD 308 - Multicultural Management
BUAD 309 - Social Entrepreneurship
BUAD 330 - International Business
BUAD 331 - Project Management
BUAD 334 - Events Planning
BUAD 336 - Services Design & Development
BUAD 339 - Selected Topics: Management
BUAD 439 - Selected Topics: Management
BUAD 341 - Introduction to Non-Profit Management
BUAD 346 - Sustainable Management
BUAD 401 - International Trade Management
BUAD 410 - Organization Change and Development
BUAD 412 - Strategic Performance Management
BUAD 415 - New Product Development
BUAD 480 - Strategic Management II

While satisfying all the requirements outlined above for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, students must include the following courses in their Business elective choices to specialize in Marketing:

BUAD 176 - Professional Sales
BUAD 210 - Introduction to Marketing Research
BUAD 266 - Advertising and Marketing Communications
BUAD 200 - Digital Marketing
Students must also complete four of the following courses:
Complete at least 4 of the following:
BUAD 278 - Marketing Management
BUAD 297 - Retailing
BUAD 305 - Logistics and Supply Chain Management
BUAD 333 - Search Marketing
BUAD 334 - Events Planning
BUAD 335 - Electronic Commerce
BUAD 336 - Services Design & Development
BUAD 338 - Selected Topics: Marketing
BUAD 438 - Selected Topics: Marketing
BUAD 344 - Marketing Analytics and Data Analysis
BUAD 345 - Consumer Behaviour
BUAD 415 - New Product Development
BUAD 433 - Applied Search Marketing
BUAD 470 - Customer Relationship Management
Note: Students with credit for BUAD 268: Marketing Research are not required to take BUAD 210 or 344 and must complete five marketing electives instead of four.
Students with credit for BUAD 268 must complete five marketing electives, one of which may be BUAD 344.

While satisfying all the requirements outlined above for the Bachelor of Business Administration degree, students must include the following courses in their Business elective choices to specialize in Tourism and Hospitality Management:

Complete one of the following two courses:
BUAD 115 - Introduction to Tourism
TOUR 105 - Introduction to Tourism
Complete all three of these courses:
BUAD 215 - Restaurant Management
BUAD 220 - Hotel Management
BUAD 230 - Wine and Culinary Tourism
Complete at least 4 of the following:
BUAD 308 - Multicultural Management
BUAD 332 - Selected Topics: Tourism and Hospitality
BUAD 432 - Selected Topics: Tourism and Hospitality
BUAD 351 - Tourism Planning and Development
BUAD 358 - Global Trends in Tourism and Hospitality
BUAD 449 - Sustainable Tourism and Stewardship
Consider the following courses when selecting additional electives:
BUAD 309 - Social Entrepreneurship
BUAD 335 - Electronic Commerce
BUAD 334 - Events Planning
BUAD 336 - Services Design & Development
BUAD 345 - Consumer Behaviour
BUAD 370 - Leadership
BUAD 390 - Properties Management
BUAD 470 - Customer Relationship Management
Additional information

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