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Why choose the School of Leadership and Management
We are 1st in the UK for successful graduate social-enterprise start-ups still trading after three years; 3rd in the UK for all business start-ups still trading after three years (HESA, 2023)
100% of our graduates in Economics are in highly skilled employment or graduate study, 15 months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes, 2023)
Over 95% of our business and management graduates are in employment or involved in further study, 15 months after graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes, 2023)
About the course
This one-year top-up course is for those who already have qualifications (Level 4 and 5 or 240 credits) or experience in this field and wish to gain a full degree in Business Administration with a specific focus.
The course delivers an industry-relevant degree that provides a broad understanding of core business administration across a variety of organisations situations and operating conditions. It also allows you to specialise in a specific field by choosing one of our Business Administration pathway options:
- Entrepreneurship and Enterprise
- Events Management
- Finance and Audit
- Human Resource Management
- International Banking and Finance
- International Business
- International Tourism Management
- Marketing
For more information about a specific pathway please see the relevant course description.
Why choose this course?
- It gives you the awareness of business and knowledge base you need to equip you for a broad range of careers in the world of business
- It offers the opportunity to specialise in a specific area of the business world
- You build your skills in enquiry analysis research and evaluation developing your ability to think strategically
- Gain understanding of the broader economic social political historical ethical and cultural environments that form a backdrop to business
- Undertake independent research in a business-related subject area
- Benefit from research-informed teaching delivered by an expert international faculty
- Develop transferable skills in team working and collaboration
- Study at one of the largest university Business Schools in our region with partners across the world
- In 2021 we were re-awarded Small Business Charter accreditation one of only a small number of Business Schools in the country to carry this award
with Professional Practice Year
This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.
There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.
*Only available to UK/EU students.
with Foundation Year
A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.
Whether you’re returning to learning and require additional help and support to up-skill, or if you didn’t quite meet the grades to pursue an Undergraduate course, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.
With our guidance and support you’ll get up to speed within one year, and will be ready to seamlessly progress on to undergraduate study at Bedfordshire.
The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.
This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.
Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?
- Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
- Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
- Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
- Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees
The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.
During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.
What will you study?
Business Finance
This unit aims to develop your knowledge and analytical skills on the efficient and effective management of the scarce financial resources within the business context in order to achieve set corporate objectives. In addition, you will be enabled to develop a critical comprehension of the implications of long-term and short-term corporate decision making in the wider corporate context.
You will examine the issues that arise from matching the needs of those who want to invest their funds and those who need funds and the impact of this process on corporate and individual wealth generation.
The relevance of this unit is the fact that every business requires financial assets to establish the means for delivery of the client value proposition and the working capital to sustain the business in the short and long term. Corporate finance is the management discipline charged with the knowledge, skills, and responsibility to manage the financial assets of the firm.
The central question that the unit intends to address is: What is the role of corporate finance in the allocation of scarce financial resource to meet corporate objectives?
Management And Administration Of Projects And Operations
The unit will enable you:
- To build your body of knowledge in both operations and project management whilst developing your analytical and evaluative skills to aid in efficiently and effectively managing operational and other projects.
- To evaluate how operations management concepts are integral to the planning and control of enterprises.
- To explore the theory and principles of project management as applicable to the management of public/private, large/small, national and international projects.
- To develop your skills in analysing scenarios in operations management, decide how operations and/or supply chains should be efficiently managed, and how information systems can be used to make operations management more efficient. This unit develops your knowledge and understanding of the use of operations management in strategic and functional roles.
- Using a mixture of lectures, workshop activities, case studies and independent reading, the unit will develop an appreciation of the importance and broad reach of operations and project management in all aspects of a company’s activities.
New Advancements In Business
This unit combines a study of research skills with the development and support required for you to produce an excellent dissertation. The focus of the course is on business research with an emphasis on appreciating the application, strengths and weaknesses of commonly used research techniques. You will develop a deep academic understanding of the concepts underpinning your chosen topic and will be able to use this critically to structure an analytic framework, apply this to real world information and create appropriate conclusions and recommendations. You are expected to make use of secondary research only in order to complete your dissertation. You will be guided on how to retrieve, use and correctly reference academic material; a critical skill required in your dissertation and other final year units.
Additionally, the unit will support students to evidence how their experience at undergraduate level has contributed to the development of their professional profile as required after graduation
Global Marketing Strategy
The majority of organisations today recognise that business is global in nature. More than ever it is necessary for marketing and business students to have an understanding of the contemporary issues in global marketing. Trans-national organisations understand the requirement to service customers locally with global standard solutions or products, and localise that product as required to maintain an optimal balance of cost, efficiency, customisation and localisation in a control-customization continuum; to best meet local, national and global requirements.
This unit provides you with an understanding of the importance of marketing from a global/international perspective, recognizing the impact of globalisation and worldwide cultural changes that influence business and marketing decisions. You will learn about how businesses enter various markets, price their products appropriately worldwide, nationally and locally, and communicate with its customers in the most cost-effective way. The unit will help you understand the importance of informed marketing decisions by asking you to conduct market research and analysis and apply the theory to develop loyalty for international brands and global brand equity for the long term.
The main aims of this unit are:
- To introduce you to a range of global/cross-cultural marketing theories and frameworks (e.g. Internationalisation theories and Cultural Models).
- To understand the importance of market research for global brands.
- To develop the ability to apply these theories and models to a variety of organisations and situations in a global context
- To give you a comprehensive understanding of the global marketing planning process and its importance to the organisation.
- To introduce you to a systematic way of thinking about developing global marketing strategies and using marketing information/intelligence in marketing decision making in a global context.
Strategic Management For Business
The aims of the unit are to promote understanding of the importance of the role of strategy in organisational success. It aims to develop your understanding of the importance of choice in the design of effective strategy through which it is possible to create a unique value proposition and to enable firms to avoid direct win-lose competition.
To achieve this, you will be enabled to develop your ability to work through complex issues to identify both current and future trends and to assess their potential impacts on both the industry and the business. You will also be enabled to make a careful selection of the appropriate tools, frameworks, and concepts of strategy to assess the appropriateness of strategies and by doing so develop a range of realistic and practical strategies for businesses.
In addition to the technical skills, the unit also looks to develop student’s personal and employability skills to better prepare them for transition to the workplace by providing the transferable and fundamental job relevant competencies necessary for success.
The unit focuses primarily on competitive strategy and therefore you will concentrate on these key themes:
- Strategy as choice
- Identifying trends and their potential impact on the business
- Understanding the importance of resources and capabilities in the implementation of strategy
- Strategy design
- Evaluating strategy
How will you be assessed?
A range of assessment methods is used throughout the course. You are required to undertake a variety of individual based assessments throughout the course. These assessments include individual essays reports presentations and examinations. The assessments are designed to test subject knowledge and understanding of the appropriate subject matter but also to demonstrate the range of intellectual and subject specific skills identified elsewhere in this document. Providing a wide variety of types of assessment maximises your opportunities to develop a wide variety of transferrable skills such as presentation and report writing and gives you the chance to play to your strengths.
At level 6 you are treated as an independent learner and both the project unit (New Advances in Business) and the Strategic Management unit provide opportunities for you to draw together your business knowledge in an individual and more independent way. The Management and Administration of Projects unit invites you to practice Project Management skills through the organisation of an activity. Industry views this as a highly valued and transferrable skill. In all units you will find assessment support in terms of careful briefing and the completion of formative stages with detailed feedback designed not only to benchmark your performance but also to give you insights into how you can improve your work. The summary of assessments for this course is available in the assessment map below..
Careers
You can find employment in all areas of business including finance marketing and HRM.
Many graduates work for large multinational organisations but also for smaller organisations where there are opportunities to work across a number of functional areas.
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
Entry Requirements
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