A new approach to the pre-courses of mathematics at the degree of Business Administration

One of the measures adopted by some universities to prevent the students’ failure in mathematics during their first year in Business Administration degrees is to offer introductory courses during the summer term. In this paper we describe two courses that have been experienced some weeks before the academic year 2010-11 by the Economics and Business Faculty in Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and in the IQS Economics Faculty in Ramon Llull University (URL). The UPF course focuses on strengthening the cohesion of the mathematical contents of secondary level and extending the students’ basic mathematical skills. The IQS course proposes a radical change in the students’ mathematical activity, focusing on the study of a single problematic situation in the context of the business world. After presenting both courses, this work proposes some reflexions about their link to the university way of understanding the role of mathematics in Economy and Business studies.