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BA (Hons) Business Management

Name: BA (Hons) Business Management
Availability: InStock

UCAS CODE: N202 (Full-time) or NN20 (Foundation Year)

TARIFF: 88 - 112 (Full-time) and 32 - 56 (Foundation Year)

Are you an ambitious, driven individual? Looking to kick-start your career in the business sector? Accredited by the leading professional body The Chartered Management Institute (CMI), our Business Management degree can help you gain the confidence and skills to become a future CEO. You’ll study a range of subject areas, including: global business, sustainability, ethical research, financial decision making and innovation,

We are proud to be ranked 14th for the UK’s top universities for producing CEOs and MDs.

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No. 1 in England for Student Satisfaction*

*Measured by % of positivity across all questions within the larger providers only: taught or registered population (NSS 2023)

No. 1 Students' Union in the UK*

*As ranked among taught students at non-specialist HEIs (NSS 2023)

Top for our response to the cost-of-living-crisis*

*Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

95% of students are positive about how well we support their learning in Business Studies*

*NSS 2023

No. 4 in the UK for overall student positivity in Business Studies*

*Measured by % of positivity average of Q1-24, NSS 2023

No. 1 in the UK for providing engaging subjects in Business Studies*

*NSS 2023

Why study BA (Hons) Business Management at BNU?

Professional accreditations

With BNU, you can benefit from CMI accreditation, proven to boost employability by providing learners with the management and leadership skills needed to succeed. On completion of your degree, you will gain a CMI qualification developed in consultation with employers.

Choose your specialism

Buckinghamshire New University 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 decision before you join us, we introduce you to various specialisms and offer you the flexibility to choose the specialism which leads to your chosen career area. You can choose between BA (Hons) Business Management or BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management.

These specialisms are also offered as four-year programmes, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

Industry insight

Our industry-experienced academics have developed this business management degree with the latest industry insights. And are here to support you to develop the knowledge and understanding of contemporary best practice in strategic international management.

You’ll gain experience of real client projects and enhance your CV, ready for graduate employability. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn how to apply practical and realistic solutions to complex business scenarios, studying subject areas that include financial decision-making, contemporary business issues, international marketing, and strategic agility. All of which will help you to develop and specialize in your areas of interest.

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What will I study?

With a BA (Hons) Business Management degree from BNU, you’ll be well-placed and well-prepared to enter the employment market.

You’ll cover diverse subject areas, including managing and engaging people, strategic marketing and global business sustainability. This will be alongside developing key skills such as understanding financial decision making, enhancing your attention to detail and analytical thinking. Studying such varied topics will help you understand how marketing impacts global businesses

We are focused on providing you with all the building blocks you need to create a solid understanding of the business environment. Your first year will be integrated with the BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management course. You will be taught a range of modules that cover both courses allowing you to collaborate with fellow students.

During your second year you will study project management, sustainable operations and 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 including consumer behaviour and data analytics for business decisions.

In your final year, you will focus on preparing 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. This allows you to examine a contemporary business management issue, whilst using your time management, professionalism, and personal discipline skills.

Opportunity modules are also a key part of the BNU curriculum. You will choose modules in your first 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 let you develop outside your discipline's traditional boundaries. Helping you to stand out from the crowd to future employers.

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To be honest, I believe the entire experience will be remembered fondly for the rest of my life. I met wonderful people and formed lifelong connections while studying there. The teachers were amazing, compassionate, and supportive.

Sabina Choudhry 3rd Year Student

How will I be taught and assessed?

Teaching is interactive and student-focused. We blend lectures, workshops, independent study, case studies, live briefs, and guest speakers to enhance your learning experience. Our approach is to put you in the shoes of a junior executive and ask ‘what would you do? We will give you a blend of knowledge, skills and abilities, allowing you to become a day-one-ready graduate. We’ll help you to 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 you 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. These are assessed through a mixture of presentations, short films, management reports, memos and briefings.

In your final year you will undertake an independent professional project. You’ll 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 with regular meetings throughout the academic year.

We organise industry visits so you can see how theory is applied in the real world. Our active alumni network provides guest speakers, live briefs, careers talks and job application advice across all three years of your degree. Discuss with business professionals the challenges and solutions they use. Network and gain valuable contacts. Feel prepared for your future career.

BA (Hons) Business Management Programme Specification

What are the course entry requirements?

A typical offer will require a UCAS tariff score of: 88 - 112 (Full-time) and 32 - 56 (Foundation Year)

UCAS points can be obtained through qualifications such as A levels, T levels, BTEC or an Access to Higher Education course in a relevant subject. Please list all your qualifications on the application form as you will be asked to provide copies when we receive your application.

A minimum of two full A-levels (or equivalent) is required. Every application is considered on an individual basis.

For further details of our international English entry requirements, please visit our international pages.

Applicants who do not meet the minimum requirements for the three-year undergraduate programme, or those who do not feel fully prepared for a degree course, can apply for a four-year programme including a Foundation Year.

Modules

This provides a guide of the modules that make up your course. You can find more information about how your course is structured on our Academic Advice section.

This course has Opportunity modules.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in your first 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. Find out more.

Foundation Year

Core Modules

Preparing for Success: Knowledge and Creativity

You’ll learn about the overlap between study skills and employability skills and develop your existing abilities in both areas. You’ll be prepared for successful progression to Level 4 academic study whilst preparing yourself for employment through inquiry-based learning, problem solving and critical and creative thinking.

Preparing for Success: Self Development and Responsibility

You’ll develop the skills associated with leadership and self-development and social and ethical awareness and responsibility, which are essential for success in higher education and in the world of work. This module will prepare you for successful progression to Level 4 academic study while allowing you to learn about employment in the twenty...

Introduction to Business Studies

This module introduces you to the different business functions within an organisation, including finance, marketing and HR. You’ll learn about the business environment, including the internal and external factors which impact on businesses. This module will equip you with appropriate business language and terminology ready for undergradua...

Inquiry Based Learning

This module has been designed to develop your understanding of key concepts and themes as well as basic methodologies and approaches to academic work. You’ll have the opportunity to analyse a problem or question that relates to your subject area, making use of information gathered from various sources using different methods and strategies.

Year 1

Core Modules

Credits

Global Business and Sustainability

20

Credits: 20

Business is an interconnected series of systems, networks and operations that span the globe where it is possible to conduct business at any hour of the day. You’ll learn about the impact and challenges of technology and the growth and benefits of emerging markets.

People Management and Employment Skills

20

Credits: 20

This module will consider the core competencies, intellectual and personal skills needed to become a successful people manager. This includes managing relationships with colleagues, subordinates and customers. You’ll also study key HR elements, development of people and sustainability employability strategies.

Introduction to Data and Analytics

20

Credits: 20

This module examines the importance of collecting and managing data to facilitate informed business decision making. You’ll study both qualitative and quantitative forms of data collection and use of appropriate software for the analysis and interpretation of data to provide insight into business and management research issues.

Introduction to Financial Decision Making

20

Credits: 20

Develop your understanding of the purpose of financial accounting information, the structure of main financial statements, and the influence of economic factors on decision-making. You’ll learn about the importance of finance and accounting in the world of business and economics, its value and relationship with the other business functions.

Principles of Marketing

20

Credits: 20

This module will cover fundamental concepts and functions of marketing within a commercial business activity. You’ll explore the marketing planning process: segmentation, targeting and positioning of a brand offering with respect to the competition. You’ll also cover topics including, context, market research and decisions.

Opportunity Modules

You must choose 2 x 10 credit Level 4 Opportunity modules.

Year 2

Core Modules

Credits

Consultancy in Practice

20

Credits: 20

This module will explore the role of a business consultant and the realities of undertaking live projects. You’ll develop skills include working effectively in a team and pitching for business. You’ll be provided with live project briefs from real-life business clients and will relate your skills and knowledge to the requirements of the client...

Responsible Enterprise and Ethical Research

20

Credits: 20

This module will equip you with the necessary tools and knowledge to start your own business venture whether a competitor to Alphabet and Amazon or an SME or as a side-hustle to supplement your income. You will also examine the environmental sustainability, social and ethical aspects of the business venture.

Project Management and Sustainable Operations

20

Credits: 20

Project management ensures that the associated risks are identified and managed and objectives and benefits are achieved. You’ll gain experience of project management techniques using industry standard methodologies. You’ll focus on the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains for sustainable operations man...

Strategic Marketing

20

Credits: 20

This module outlines the importance of all the key stages within the marketing planning process, from the audit, through strategic decision making, to the implementation of plans. You’ll study the importance of managing resources and employing monitoring and measurement techniques to enable the achievement of strategic marketing objectives.

Optional Modules

Credits

Consumer Behaviour

20

Credits: 20

This module covers the importance of the individual customer in the practice of marketing. You’ll study how to profile the end consumer to gain customer insights, a central function of marketing in the strategic planning process. This module will consider both psychological and sociological factors affecting the consumer’s decision-making proc...

Data Analytics for Business Decisions

20

Credits: 20

Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Mobile Technology and Augmented Reality are providing real-time data insights for decision making in business operations. This module examines how data analytics can be used to inform audience communications across marketing, e-commerce and partnerships, operations and logistics, business strategy, HRM and fi...

Year 3

Core Modules

Credits

Sustainable Strategic Agility and Innovation

20

Credits: 20

This module will equip you with the necessary skills for understanding, designing and assess strategies from an orthodox and agile perspective in a fast-moving business environment. You’ll develop resilience, time management, leadership of self, teamwork, creativity and innovation in deconstructing and creating an agile strategy.

Field Immersion and Leadership for Career Development

20

Credits: 20

You’ll examine the different schools of leadership and complete various leadership, management and personality assessments to build on your strengths. Graduate and placement applications, volunteer activities and working with careers teams and advisers will also form part of the activities when required.

Macro and Diverse Business Issues

20

Credits: 20

The macro environment is forever changing, events happen when we least expect them and impact us as local, national and global citizens. This module examines real-time events and topical issues that occur and asks you to delve into the subject and find out exactly what’s going on, why and how it will impact society and the macroenvironment.

Independent Professional Project

40

Credits: 40

You’ll complete a major piece of independent research that will enhance your employability. This module will enable students to identify their own research question, set research objectives, gather and analyse appropriate literature, secondary and primary research to meet those objectives. Students must analyse and evaluate the theories and concept...

Optional Modules

Credits

International Marketing

20

Credits: 20

You will build on knowledge gained from levels 4 and 5 marketing modules to develop a deeper understanding of key concepts, theories and contemporary debates in international marketing. This module will enable you to recognise the opportunities, issues and complexities surrounding the international markets and marketing decisions.

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Strategy and Planning

20

Credits: 20

You’ll learn about the importance of effective internal and external communications and social marketing alongside studying how marketing communications have evolved. You’ll examine consumer tastes and lifestyles and the impact of these factors and the power of communication as a tool to drives customers' behavioural responses.

What are the tuition fees

Home

Home, Academic Year 2024 - 2025: £9,250 per year

International

Overseas/International, Academic Year 2024 - 2025: £15,150 per year

Additional course costs and financial support

Most courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees.
You could benefit from financial support through a bursary or scholarship during your time as a student. For more details visit our financial support, bursaries and scholarships section.

What are my career prospects?

We see your journey with us as much more than a degree. We are committed to supporting you to carve out the route to your chosen career and life beyond BNU. We’ll help you to develop crucial skills, encouraging you to become enterprising, employable and good business leaders.

Once you have completed your degree, you will be fully equipped to begin a career in a range of industries, in general management or to develop your own business. Working closely with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) means that you are well placed to become Chartered Managers once you start work.

You will have gained a wide range of knowledge and skills, so that you can pursue a career in any profession or business role, such as:

Operations and Service Management
Customer Management
Project Management
Retail Management
Graduate Academy Executive
Legal Recruitment Consultant
Client Liaison Executive.

This programme offers the opportunity to go on to postgraduate study, either on a full-time basis or part-time whilst working. You may choose to study for the International MBA offered by the University.