The Kelley School offers a 30 credit hour certificate program in the fundamentals of business. All courses required in the Business Foundations Certificate Program are introductory and may be applied toward a four-year degree. Students who are not pursuing four-year degrees, may also complete the Business Foundations Certificate as non-degree-seeking students.

Policies and criteria for the Business Foundations Certificate are;

• Achieve a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA in all IU courses; if EX is used for any IU courses, the EX policy of the student’s home school will be honored in calculating the overall GPA.
• Pass all courses required for the certificate
• Achieve a 2.0 cumulative GPA all courses counting toward the BFC; if courses are retaken or extra electives are taken, the set of courses with the highest grades will be used to calculate the cumulative BFC GPA
• A maximum of two courses, counting toward the BFC, may be taken at a campus other than IU Bloomington
• All 300 and 400 level course work must be completed on the IU-Bloomington campus.  
• Online or hybrid courses offered within a semester context, with homework deadlines and instructor interactions may be used.  However, none of the coursework may be taken in a self-paced, independent study format.
• All exceptions should be referred to the Kelley School of Business Petitions Committee.

Requirements for the Business Foundations Certificate are:

• Successfully complete the following courses:
  • ECON-E 201 (3 cr.)
  • ECON-E 202 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-A 200 or BUS-A 201 or BUS-A 202 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-F 260 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-X 100 or BUS-G 100 (3 cr.)
• Successfully complete at least two elective courses:
  • BUS-D 270 and BUS-X 271* (3 cr. combined)
  • BUS-G 300 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-J 306 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-K 201 with a minimum grade of C (3 cr.)**
  • BUS-L 100 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-L 201 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-L 408 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-F 300 (3cr.)
  • BUS-M 300 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-P 300 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-R 300 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-W 212 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-W 300 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-C 204 (3 cr.)
  • BUS-C 330 (3 cr.)
• Successfully complete nine additional elective credits to reach a total of 30 credits. 
  • These credits may be taken from any department on the IU Bloomington campus.

In addition to satisfying course requirements, candidates for the Business Foundations Certificate must apply online at https://kelley.iu.edu/ugradapps/onlineapps/signin/2yeardeg_app.cfm.

Questions about the Business Foundations Certificate should be directed to BUSADV@indiana.edu

*Students may substitute any business course counting for the Global Foundations Core for BUS-X 271 (including BUS-A 271, BUS-C 271, BUS-D 271, BUS-G271, BUS-F 271, etc.).

^**CSCI majors may substitute CSCI-C 211 or CSCI-H 211 for BUS-K 201 but if they change majors or become business majors, they must take BUS-K 201.