BA (Honours) Business Management with Entrepreneurship

• Students on this course set-up and run their own business as part of the programme with mentoring from business experts provided along the way.
• You'll have the opportunity to provide consultancy to other start ups in your second year and write a business plan for their company.
• Make a head start on your business in your final year by forward-planning your own business as part of the degree.
• We have a business incubation space at the heart of the campus so you’ll meet entrepreneurs and professionals on a daily basis.
• You'll receive talent development sessions to help you prepare for setting up your own business or making it in industry after graduation.
• Completion of this degree gives exemption to paper F1 of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). You could also gain exemption from papers F2, F5, F8 and F9, depending on module choice – see Module Information for more details.
  

First year (level 4)

All Business Management students study the same core module in their first year. This module introduces you to key business topics in the context of a real organisation.

Core module - Principles of Business

Our unique 60 credit module Principles of Business, consists of four interlinked parts which are designed to give you a holistic introduction to key business topics in the context of a real organisation, including finance, marketing, people, law, organisational behaviour and technology.

• Part 1 of the module focuses on the overall purpose of business, including the set-up and infancy of organisations.
• Part 2 gives a technical introduction to the pillars of business: finance, law, management, marketing and innovation.
• Part 3 consists of simulated placements where students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills by replicating tasks performed in the workplace by industry professionals.
• Part 4 brings together each of the pillars of business in the context of strategy, governance, ethics, and leadership before concluding with the end of an organisation’s life-cycle.
  

Principles of Business is assessed in four parts over the course of two terms.

During the first term, you will be studying two further modules (compulsary by logistics)

• Introduction to Research (15 credits)
• Professional Behaviours and Customer Management (15 credits)

Elective modules

During the second term you will be able to choose 30 credits from the indicative list below, so you can explore business and management broadly in your first year. 

• Agile App Design for Business (15 credits)
• Business Mathematics (15 credits)
• Industry Studies 1 - Consumer Goods (15 credits)
• International Business Regions 1 - Greater China (15 credits)
• Introduction to Business Economics (15 credits)
• Principles of Management Reporting and Decision Making (15 credits) - This module gives exemption to ACCA paper F2.
• Self-Managed Learning (30 credits)  

The Self-Managed Learning module gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the use of your initiative and level of autonomy by applying your skills and knowledge to a specialist area which is of particular interest to you. As an example, you could draft a report in an area of interest not covered in the main syllabus, study a module at another institution (e.g. a language at another university), create a practical project by applying a topic in depth, write a report on work based learning on an internship, or complete a professional qualification. You can design some of your own learning, incorporate learning from other sources, or incorporate work- based or entrepreneurial activities. This will help to ensure that you have the confidence to take your learning and personal development further into new areas and emerging sectors, and will allow you to pursue your own unique interests.

Second year (level 5)

Once students have had exposure to the different areas of business in their first year then they can either choose or switch their specialism before the second year begins. We aim to have more industry involvement than any other Higher Education institution and you’ll really start to focus on building connections and gaining experience. There are lots of exciting industry projects from internships to trips abroad that you can be involved in.

Core modules

All Business Management students study these core modules in order to build an understanding of the central functions within an organisation.

• Strategic Marketing (15 credits)
• People Management and Leadership (15 credits)
• Operations and Project Management (15 credits)
• Introduction to Contract Law (15 credits)
  

Specialist modules

• Entrepreneurship Consultancy Project (30 credits)
• Self-Managed Learning (30 credits)

In the Entrepreneurship Consultancy Project you will prepare a business plan for the start of a new business and will advise, as a consultant, on the business proposals of other students. In the Self-Managed Learning module you will start a new business in consultation with your supervisor and mentor, incorporating the learning from the Consultancy Project module.

Third year (level 6)

By your final year you will have developed a thorough understanding of the principles of business and will have had lots of exposure to real organisations, industry case studies and working practitioners. This final year is focused on bringing everything you have learnt together to solve real business problems.

Core modules

In your final year, all Business Management students study three core modules:

• Strategic Management (15 credits)
• Strategic Innovation Management (15 credits)
• Final Project (30 credits)

Specialist modules

• Entrepreneurship Research and Reports (30 credits)
• Self-Managed Learning (30 credits)

Within the Entrepreneurship Research and Reports and the Self-Managed Learning module, you’ll continue setting up and running your business. In the Entrepreneurship and Reports module you will write reports and consider the next steps, for example, you may choose to close the business down, or to continue to run in post-graduation (in which case you will graduate with a degree and your own micro business), or to seek further investment or other input.

We’ll challenge you academically, with inspiring, up-to-the-minute course content developed to give you the competencies that employers value. Best of all, we work with a wide range of professional bodies to make sure our degrees are aligned to their qualifications. So, as you study, you’ll gain exemptions from various professional business, management and finance examinations and have the opportunity to take professional qualifications.

Our students have also chosen to set up a number of companies themselves including Reel Time Art an initiative whereby artists attend a wedding and paint a scene of the special occasion in real time, Once Upon a Doug, a social enterprise project whereby our students have been helping cotton farmers in India to earn supplemental income which in turn has helped a whole community, and Yaantu - take a look at the video below to find out more about what Yaantu's all about!

Students who have studied this course have gone on to set up their own businesses and work for a range of different companies. Three of our students are continuing to work on a business that they set up as part of their commercial enterprise project. James Willetts, Paloma Shakouri and Christian Emmans set up Birdcage Gin, a luxury gin brand, which was developed with the help of ongoing mentorship and access to a wealth of knowledge and business connections. They have big plans for the company, saying, “Looking towards the future, there is no end to our ambition for Birdcage Gin, through development and diversification, we have the desire to create a truly opulent product range.”

Other possible career paths from this degree include:

• Entrepreneur
• Working within a Social Enterprise
• Product development roles
• Business Graduate Schemes

To find out what our trailblazing alumni are up to now, read our alumni success stories.