Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Global Studies
Course information for - 2025 entry
Domestic
- Domestic
- International
- Domestic
- International
Offered at 3 locations
- Brisbane
- Melbourne
- North Sydney
- Brisbane
- Melbourne
- North Sydney
- Duration
- 4 years full-time or equivalent part-time
- QTAC code
- 116401
- ATAR
- 58.50 for Brisbane
- Fees (first year)*
- Start dates
-
Semester 1 intake: Beginning February 2025Applications open August 2024Midyear (Semester 2) intake: to be advised
Overview
As you develop your business acumen and skills managing people, organisations, markets, technology, and money via your commerce specialisation. Your studies will be enhanced by growing your understanding of the complex global landscape in which professionals, businesses, and organisations work.
Learn about global economic, environmental, political, social, and technological challenges and build your understanding of different cultures, places, and commercial realities through overseas travel. Study at our English-speaking campus in Italy for a semester, or at a partner university around the world, consider an internship, or choose to study International Development and join the International Development Global Experience study tour.
This double degree will help you pursue a career as an Australian or international public servant, diplomat, social entrepreneur, or travel journalist. It’s also an opportunity to expand your world view on marketing, management, HR, informatics, or accounting via a study abroad experience or international internship. Additionally, you’ll gain valuable business experience by taking part in a professional work placement here in Australia.
To further enhance your employment opportunities and skills, you can opt to study a Diploma in Languages in either Spanish or Italian alongside your degree.
Professional experience
Students will complete a period of study or work overseas in an area relevant to their studies and interests.
Work placement
This course offers a unique opportunity to study abroad or gain valuable overseas work experience via one of our international internship partner organisations in your third year of study.
You are also required to take part in community engagement and you can choose to complete additional professional work experience as part of your commerce studies.
Professional recognition
Graduates are eligible for membership of the following organisations depending on the major completed: Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and Certified Practising Accountants Australia (CPA Australia); Australian Human Resources Institute; Australian Marketing Institute.
Careers
Our graduates have pursued careers in:
- business management and regulation employment relations
- government service (including diplomatic service)
- international relations
- international trade and investment
- international marketing and advertising
- journalism
- management
- personal investment
- public sector
- policy administration
- retailing and wholesaling
- travel and tourism
- the United Nations system and other international organisations
- social entrepreneurship
- companies with a global outreach
Course details
Course structure
To complete the Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Global Studies, a student must complete 320 credit points (cp).
Available Major(s)
-
Accounting
Accounting is the method of evaluating and reporting the financial health of businesses and individuals. In studying the accounting major sequence, you’ll learn to analyse, research and make informed recommendations about a broad range of accounting problems and issues. You’ll also become proficient in internationally-recognised accounting principles, practices and techniques and apply them to a variety of situations. You’ll prepare for a rewarding career as a professional accountant, tax professional, business advisor or manager.
Choose accounting and you’ll be given the skills, knowledge and accreditations you need to embark on a career that can provide value to almost any kind of organisation or business – regardless of whether the wider economic outlook is a boom, bust, bull market, or recession.
Data Analytics
Studying the data analytics major sequence at ACU will give you insight into the fundamental concepts behind data and databases and the state-of-the- art techniques and technologies required to analyse large volumes of data. You’ll be introduced to real-world applications that can be derived from a thorough understanding of the data at your fingertips.
Careers in data analytics are in great demand in Australia and around the world. These skills are highly transferrable and continuously growing and developing. Good data analysts have more than a knack for numbers. They have an excellent eye for detail, possess good computer skills, and can identify key trends and patterns from a sea of information. They play an important role in their organisations – collecting and analysing a wide range of data types to gain game-changing insight. Data analysts can make informed recommendations to management to help improve and optimise the business – potentially changing its fortunes in the process. In an increasingly digital world, good data analysts are instrumental to their organisations.
Human Resource Management
A business is only as good as its employees – and employees only thrive when there’s a good human resources team behind them. Human resource management (HRM) plays a critical role in every organisation. As an HRM professional, you’ll work to get the best from your people for the entire employment cycle. It’s a broad field, touching all parts of an organisation. It’s also a rapidly growing profession, with both jobs and income levels forecast to increase in the future. So why not get in on the ground floor with this human resource management major sequence?
Marketing
Be the go-between in the business world, connecting brands, products and services to new markets and customers. As a graduate of the marketing major sequence, you’ll use your creativity and insight to understand consumer behaviour, communicate brand and product value, monitor dynamically changing trends, find new markets for products and services, develop business strategies and work with a range of cutting-edge digital technologies.
Management
Scale up your career in management. As a manager in the making, you’ll empower your organisation, and its people, to succeed. From providing strategic guidance to supporting and motivating your team, you’ll make sure everything goes according to plan. Combining theory with practice, your studies in management will also teach you how to build trust, manage with empathy, promote sustainability, and align your teams towards good business and the good of society. Our courses have a global emphasis, so you’ll be prepared to take on a number of roles and enter a wide range of industries and businesses, including administration, operations, international trade – even a CEO – anywhere in the world.
Available Minor(s)
-
Accounting
Accounting is the method of evaluating and reporting the financial health of businesses and individuals. In studying the accounting minor sequence, you’ll learn to analyse, research and make informed recommendations about a broad range of accounting problems and issues. You’ll also become proficient in internationally-recognised accounting principles, practices and techniques and apply them to a variety of situations, and you’ll prepare for a rewarding career as a professional accountant, tax professional, business advisor or manager.
Choose accounting and you’ll be given the skills, knowledge and accreditations you need to embark on a career that can provide value to almost any kind of organisation or business. – regardless of whether the wider economic outlook is a boom, bust, bull market, or recession.
Data Analytics
Studying the data analytics minor sequence at ACU will give you insight into the fundamental concepts behind data and databases and the state-of-the- art techniques and technologies required to analyse large volumes of data. You’ll be introduced to real-world applications that can be derived from a thorough understanding of the data at your fingertips.
Careers in data analytics are in great demand in Australia and around the world. These skills are highly transferrable and continuously growing and developing. Good data analysts have more than a knack for numbers. They have an excellent eye for detail, possess good computer skills, and can identify key trends and patterns from a sea of information. They play an important role in their organisations – collecting and analysing a wide range of data types to gain game-changing insight. Data analysts can make informed recommendations to management to help improve and optimise the business – potentially changing its fortunes in the process. In an increasingly digital world, good data analysts are instrumental to their organisations.
Economics
The economics minor sequence at ACU promotes the knowledge and understanding of local business operations, consumer behaviour, economic policy, and national and global economic issues. The sequence encourages you to develop your interest in contemporary economic events and helps you to understand important issues such as unemployment, foreign debt, changes in the value of the dollar and the implication of these issues for consumers, businesses and the nation. You will also consider the policy options that are available to deal with these important issues in Australia and globally. The study of economics provides you with the knowledge and skills for a variety of careers in both the private and public sectors, as well as providing a pathway for further study.
Entrepreneurship
Don’t just rewrite the rules, throw the rulebook away. If you like to think big and immerse in possibility, you’ll find tremendous value in the entrepreneurship minor sequence with its focus on new ventures, innovation and disruption – not just in technology and start-ups, but also family businesses, existing small businesses and social enterprises. Study the entrepreneurship minor sequence and you’ll get a firm foothold on how entrepreneurship is shaking up traditional industries like education, transport, food production and sustainable construction. You’ll also enhance many of your innate abilities, including your creativity, focus, resourcefulness, risk evaluation, determination, ability to communicate and willingness to work hard.
Event Management
Oversee once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Learn how to take an occasion from concept to execution. Graduate with the flexibility to enter a range of industries, whether you’re interested in wedding planning, sports events, concerts, festivals, awards ceremonies, corporate events, or tourism. By choosing the event management minor sequence, you'll build a diverse set of skills including branding, media relations, logistics, regulatory compliance, client and stakeholder management, marketing and communications. You’ll also hone a range of highly transferable soft skills, such as the ability to organise, attention to detail, creative vision, leadership, and high-level abilities in communication and collaboration.
Finance
Everybody needs basic finance knowledge whether you’re making decisions involving borrowing money, making investments or assessing financing options. Study the finance minor sequence to learn the fundamentals of financial management and decision-making – including in times of uncertainty – and how to apply this expertise to sectors such as banking, consulting, planning, fund management, merchant banking, treasury or the share market.
Along the way, your experience will be enhanced by our small class sizes, allowing you to form close ties to your lecturers and tutors. After graduating, you’ll be prepared for financial management roles in private enterprise, government, the not-for-profit sector and trans-national corporations.
Geography, Environment and Society
The geography, environment and society minor sequence exposes you to the major environmental issues and challenges our world faces today. It provides a methodology for analysis and interpretation and allows you to critically evaluate management strategies.
History
The history minor sequence brings the past to life by introducing you to a diverse range of societies and cultures that have shaped the modern world. History at ACU has an exciting and innovative global focus. You will have the opportunity to study European, American, Australian, Indigenous, Asian and Ancient history, and to engage with key themes such as war and peace, race and class, gender and sexuality, violence and terrorism, and film and popular culture. In exploring the people, ideas and events that have defined the past and given meaning to the present, you will develop critical skills that will equip you for a rich and rewarding professional career.
Human Resource Management
A business is only as good as its employees – and employees only thrive when there’s a good human resources team behind them. Human resource management (HRM) plays a critical role in every organisation. As an HRM professional, you’ll work to get the best from your people for the entire employment cycle. It’s a broad field, touching all parts of an organisation. It’s also a rapidly growing profession, with both jobs and income levels forecast to increase in the future. So why not get in on the ground floor with this human resource management minor sequence?
International Business
To succeed in business today, you need to develop a global mindset. When you study the international business minor sequence at ACU, your eyes will be opened to how globalisation continues to connect businesses, markets, people and information across countries and continents. Alongside such interconnectedness, a qualification in international business can open up career opportunities in a variety of sectors, in countries around the world. It’s time to make your mark on the ever-changing global economic landscape.
International Development Studies
The international development studies minor sequence focuses on contemporary understandings of the causes and consequences of poverty, conflict, refugees and migration, and develops work-ready skills in project management, research and policy development. You’ll be prepared for a career, either domestically or abroad, in a diverse range of government and non-government organisations tasked with supporting the alleviation of poverty in the developing world.
Management
Scale up your career in management. As a manager in the making, you’ll empower your organisation, and its people, to succeed. From providing strategic guidance to supporting and motivating your team, you’ll make sure everything goes according to plan. Combining theory with practice, your studies in management will also teach you how to build trust, manage with empathy, promote sustainability, and align your teams towards good business and the good of society. Our courses have a global emphasis, so you’ll be prepared to take on a number of roles and enter a wide range of industries and businesses, including administration, operations, international trade – even a CEO – anywhere in the world.
Marketing
Be the go-between in the business world, connecting brands, products and services to new markets and customers. As a graduate of the marketing minor sequence, you’ll use your creativity and insight to understand consumer behaviour, communicate brand and product value, monitor dynamically changing trends, find new markets for products and services, develop business strategies and work with a range of cutting-edge digital technologies.
Politics and International Relations
Politics is the study of power, violence and justice in our world. The questions of who gets what, why and how much, are persistent concerns plaguing all societies. In a world increasingly short of resources, individuals and nations now frequently do battle with each other to secure their own prosperity and peace. By looking at how these battles are won and lost, the discipline of politics gives you insight into the workings of diplomacy, warfare, elections, the global economy, the nature of political parties, and the rise and fall of great powers. From everyday politics at the local level to the politics among nations, the politics and international relations minor sequence at ACU will offer you the conceptual tools to think critically and act decisively in a world that is ever changing.
Sociology
Sociology is one of the most relevant disciplines for understanding complex social, cultural, and political phenomena today. Often cited as the "Queen of Disciplines" due to it producing a number of key ideas used by many subjects that study society and culture, sociology offers students a range of exciting theoretical, methodological, and conceptual tools for an understanding of human action, social and systemic change, institutions, and the deeper meanings of life. With subject matter such as globalisation, religion, health, work and economy, social movements, gender, and culture, sociologists are often crucially involved in a number of key debates around the ideas and events that impact on real people and their communities. All of these areas are a part of the sociology sequence at the ACU. Operating in both government and private industry, sociologists are employed in a variety of roles that centre on people and their environments including community project officers, policy planners and researchers, marketers and social media publicists. Sociology at the ACU helps students acquire high-order transferrable skills in reasoning, theorising, communicating, and research to do with a broader and deeper perspective of events, all of which are highly sought after by employers.
Course map
Graduate statement
AQF framework
Double Bachelor - Bachelor/Bachelor - AQF Level 7Exit Points
Students who have met the requirements of the Bachelor of Commerce or Diploma in Liberal Arts can exit with that award.
Entry requirements
An applicant must comply with the Admission to Coursework Programs Policy that includes meeting a minimum ATAR requirement.
International applicants need to meet the English Language Proficiency requirements as defined in the Admission to Coursework Programs Policy .
To be eligible for admission to the course, an applicant must have completed the following prerequisites at year 12 level, or equivalent:
State Prerequisites New South Wales
Assumed Knowledge: 2 units of English (any) (Band 3)
Queensland
Prerequisites: English (Units 3 & 4, C)
Victoria
Prerequisites: Units 3 and 4 – a study score of at least 25 in English (EAL) or 20 in any other English.
Disclaimer: The course entry requirements above are for 2025 Admission. Refer to your relevant Tertiary Admission Centre website for future years' entry requirements.
View transparency admission information
Applicants with recent secondary education
You’ll need to meet the minimum entry requirements and subject prerequisites for your chosen course.
If your school result was affected by circumstances outside of your control, such as financial hardship, illness, disability or a challenging home environment, you may qualify for an access scheme. You can apply through your TAC as part of your application process.
Applicants with vocational education and training (VET) study
You’ll need to meet the minimum entry requirements and subject prerequisites for your chosen course.
For current year 12 students
If you’re a current Year 12 applicant you can be given a selection rank separate from, and in addition to, your ATAR if you’ve completed a competency-based and graded AQF Certificate III or above.
For non-school leavers
If you’ve completed, or are completing a competency-based AQF Certificate IV or AQF diploma you will be assigned a selection rank by your local Tertiary Admission Centre (TAC). This is an entry score based on your individual qualifications and achievements.
ACU has partnerships with TAFE and many private education providers. If you have completed a qualification with one of these partners or with ACU College, you may be eligible for guaranteed entry and/or credit into a related ACU degree. Please apply through your local TAC and then submit a credit application for your previous study.
Applicants with higher education study
You’ll need to meet the minimum entry requirements and subject prerequisites for your chosen course.
If you have completed at least two units of AQF-recognised study at bachelor level or above, you’ll be assigned a selection rank based on your study level, duration and grade point average that will be applied during the admission process.
If your previous study has equipped you with knowledge, skills or experiences that align with the learning outcomes of units in your new course you may be able to apply for recognition of prior learning and you may be able to complete your course sooner.
Applicants with work and life experience
You’ll need to meet the minimum entry requirements and subject prerequisites for your chosen course.
If you have no formal education qualifications you may be eligible for a selection rank based on your work, life or service experience.
- If you’ve been in paid employment, relevant to the course you’re applying for, for a minimum of six months full-time (or equivalent), this work may be assessed for your selection rank.
- If you’re 21 years or older you can sit the Skills for Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT) through your local TAC.
- You can apply for an ACU bridging course. Our bridging courses allow you to transition back into studying and can give you a head start on the relevant undergraduate degree.
- If you have served in the defence force, your rank and time in service may contribute to your selection rank.
Adjustment factors
If you’re currently completing Year 12 you may be eligible for adjustment factors that can boost your rank and help you get into your desired course.
Adjustment factors may be applied to your TAC application if you study particular subjects, attend schools geographically close to our campuses or in certain regional areas, apply as an elite athlete or performer or meet certain other criteria.
Inherent requirement
There are essential components of a course or unit that demonstrate the capabilities, knowledge and skills to achieve the core learning outcomes of that course or unit. You will need to be able to meet these inherent requirements to complete your course.
Learn more about inherent requirements for your course and how they affect you
Pathways
Pathways into course for current or recent Year 12 students
If you can’t meet the ATAR requirement for your choice of course and you’re currently completing Year 12 or finished Year 12 in the two years previously, we have entry programs to get you where you want to be.
Alternatively, you may be able to complete a diploma or bridging course relevant to your desired course.
Pathways into course for applicants with previous study and/or life experience
Are you applying to ACU as a non-school leaver?
By that we mean, you’re not currently completing Year 12 and haven’t completed it in the two years previously. If the answer is yes and your selection rank isn’t enough to meet the requirements for your desired course you still have a number of options to help you achieve your study goals.
If you’re over 21, you can sit the Skills for Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT), or you can complete a diploma or bridging course relevant to your desired course.
Work experience - A selection rank can be calculated based on your work experience - you need to document all of your experience and provide supporting documentation.
Further study
Graduates of this course may be eligible for entry into further postgraduate coursework degree programs.
Fees
Course costs
Average first year fee*A student’s annual fee may vary in accordance with:
- the number of units studied per semester;
- the choice of major or specialisation; and
- elective units.
The University reviews fees annually.
Payment options
You should be able to concentrate on getting good marks instead of worrying about how you’ll pay your fees. We have a number of options that can help you ease the financial burden, including government assistance, scholarships and income support.
Scholarships
You could be eligible for one of the hundreds of scholarships we award each year to help students from across the university with the cost of studying, accommodation or overseas study opportunities. Some of our scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit, but these aren’t just for the academically gifted; ACU also recognises excellence in community engagement and leadership. We also offer a range of scholarships for those who may be struggling financially or who have faced other barriers to accessing education.
How to apply
Domestic applicants
Deferment
Deferment is available for one year. Find out more about deferment: Deferment Information.
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