BA (Hons) Business Management

Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?

BNU is a vibrant and diverse University that has student experience at its heart. Our high lecturer to student ratio ensures that you will receive continual and first-hand support throughout your degree, which will allow you to stretch and excel your abilities and graduate with a versatile and in-demand degree.

Our BA (Hons) Business Management and its pathways are CMI accredited courses, CMI Accreditation is proven to boost employability by providing learners with the management and leadership skills needed to succeed. On completion of your degree, you will also walk away with a CMI qualification, developed in consultation with employers, which has been proven to improve employability upon graduation.

For the new generation of managers, change is the only consistency. Our industry-experienced academics will support you to develop not only the knowledge and understanding of contemporary best practice in strategic international management but also your personal skills to prepare you for your first roles in management, or for running your own business.

Recently, the global business landscape has had to adapt to a different way of working and trading. More key business activities are now carried out using technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI). You will study a variety of subject areas to evolve your understanding of how technology can underpin innovation and improvements to business and organisations. Alongside developing key skills, such as empathy, problem solving and creativity, which ensure learners are well placed to enter the employment market.

We give you the opportunity to develop solutions for a wide range of businesses. This allows you to gain real-world, hands-on experience while businesses benefit from having dedicated consultants to carry out research and offer advice tailored to their needs. We’ve previously had students consulting major companies as well as helping start-ups to get their businesses on the move.

Some of the large companies we have worked with include Dreams, Softcat, Enterprise-rent-a-car, Sacla, Dow Chemicals and the NHS. We have also worked with local businesses such as Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and KVA Digital.

Our strong links with industry and knowledge of their requirements for graduates helped to shape this programme. We will also introduce key business speakers and live briefs as assessments throughout the course.

What will I study?

During your time studying Business Management at BNU you will cover diverse subject areas including managing and engaging people, strategic marketing and global business sustainability. Studying such varied topics will help you understand how marketing impacts global businesses, alongside developing key skills, such as understanding financial decision making, attention to detail and analytical thinking which will ensure you are well placed to enter the employment market.

In your first year we are focused on providing you with all of the building blocks you need to create a solid understanding of the business environment. You will study topics such as the principles of marketing, employment skills, global business and sustainability as well as an induction to data and analytics to help with financial decision making.

Depending on which pathway you choose, during your second year you will study either: project management and sustainable operations, responsible enterprise and ethical research. Provided with live project briefs from real-life business clients you will develop skills including working effectively in a team and pitching for business. You will be able to choose optional modules that are consumer behaviour and data analytics for business decisions.

If you choose the Business and Human Resource Management pathway you will study resourcing and talent planning along with international human resource management, you’ll learn how to operate internationally and have a thorough grounding in cross-cultural management, comparative HRM systems and importantly HRM in the multinational context.

In your final year, you will focus on preparing yourself for your future and career after graduation. In addition to learning about macro and diverse business issues and sustainable strategic agility, you will undertake an independent professional project allowing you to examine a contemporary business management issue or address a specific organisational management issue whilst using your time management, professionalism and personal discipline skills.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in both your first and second year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

How will I be taught and assessed?

Teaching is interactive and student focused where we blend lectures, workshops, independent study, case studies, live briefs and guest speakers to enhance the learning experience. Our approach is to put you in the shoes of a junior executive and ask ‘what would you do?  We want you to have a blend of knowledge, skills and abilities that will allow you to be day one ready graduates who can seamlessly fit into any organisation you choose to join or start as an entrepreneur.  

Our assessments are heavily real world centric with live briefs and cases that challenge the student to produce a result and not simply demonstrate knowledge of a subject. We ask for management reports, business plans, people management strategies as well as marketing campaigns and digital advertising activities that are assessed through a mixture of presentations, short films, as well as management reports, memos and briefings.

In your final year you will undertake an Independent Professional Project, where you will carry out a major piece of independent research focused on strategic business issues chosen by you. During this project you will be supported by an academic supervisor and with regular meetings throughout the academic year.

We organise industry visits to see how the theory is applied in the real world and discuss with business professionals the challenges and solutions they use themselves. Our active alumni network provides guest speakers, live briefs, careers talks and job application advice across all three years of our degrees. Discuss with business professionals the challenges and solutions they use themselves.

Our business management programme gives you the opportunity to choose your specialism for your future career after your experience of the core curriculum in year one. Rather than having to make your big career decision before you join us, we introduce you to various specialisms and offer you the flexibility to choose the pathway which leads to your chosen career.