Course Information - BA(Hons) Business Management

Entry Requirements

GCSE in Maths grade C or above or equivalent.

 

200 UCAS tariff points from two subjects at BTEC National, A level or equivalent programmes.

 

Equivalent qualifications considered.

 

Applications from mature students and those offering qualifications other than GCE/VCE A levels are welcomed and considered on an individual basis.

Course Aims

  • To provide a coherent and sound foundation in business and management disciplines, at a level appropriate for an honours degree, which will enable graduates to choose from a wide range of career options.
  • To permit students to pursue specialist interests to a greater or lesser extent and to relate these specialisms to professional requirements.
  • To enable students to develop a wide range of intellectual and analytical abilities relevant to business and management and appropriate to an honours degree, including the ability to think critically and independently.
  • To develop the transferable skills necessary for students’ personal development as life-long independent learners and for their ability to respond positively to change during their careers in business and management.
  • To provide an education in the terminology, concepts, principles and techniques utilised in business and management.
  • To enable students to appreciate the importance of the social, political, ethical, technological environmental and global contexts in which business operates.
  • To provide students with a range of opportunities to develop the attitudes, skills and abilities necessary to work in an international business environment and to develop an awareness and appreciation of different cultural values.

Learning Outcomes

These course aims are broken down into sests of related skills, which are known as learning outcomes.

A.  Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the course you should be able to:

  • Variety of organisational types, objectives, operational behaviour and managerial and strategic approaches, both within and between organisations.
  • Markets and resource allocation, ‘market failures’ and policy corrections, both product and factor markets.
  • Consumer behaviour in response to a variety of price and non-price ‘signals’.
  • Contribution of the internal environment to formulating and implementing business decisions, including internal relationships, sources of power, communication structures, management and development of people.
  • External environment within which businesses operate, including economic, technological, demographic, environmental, ethical, legal, political socio-cultural and cross-cultural aspects.
  • Strategic behaviour in response to the local, national and international external environment.
  • Principles and functions of management, including human resourcing, marketing, accounting and finance, and knowledge and information management.
  • Sources, uses and management of finance, including the use of accounting and other information systems for managerial applications.
  • Contemporary issues such as globalisation, sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation, social responsibility, knowledge-based economies, demographic and structural change.

B.  Mental or cognitive skills

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

  • Use inductive, deductive and other analytical approaches to identify potential linkages between variables and generate testable hypotheses.
  • Evaluate the contribution of various qualitative and quantitative techniques to the solution of problems identified.
  • Critically analyse the existing literature on business and management approaches.
  • Plan and execute a research project into business and management issues.

C.  Subject Specific and Practical Skills

By the end of the course you should be able to:

  • Retrieve, sift and select information from a variety of sources.
  • Use communication and information technology effectively for business applications, e.g. web and internet, databases, spreadsheets, word processing, powerpoint.
  • Use practical survey techniques effectively e.g. designing, using and ‘scoring’ questionnaires, conducting interviews.
  • Use different means of communicating to different audiences e.g. written and oral summaries, reports and presentations

D.  Key Skills

Key Skills, also known as graduate key skills, transferable skills or general skills, comprise communication, information technology, problem solving, numeracy, working with others and improving own learning.

By the end of the course you should be able to:

  • Appreciate the relevance of a multi-disciplinary and multicultural approach to business and management at local, national and international levels.
  • Work effectively, both independently and within a team environment, making use of a range of interpersonal skills.
  • Communicate theories, findings and conclusions effectively in written, oral and visual form.
  • Apply appropriate qualitative and quantitative techniques to the solution of business and management problems identified

Module Framework

BMDBMT101

Micro Business Environment

20

M

BMDBMT102

Personal Development

20

M

BMDBMT103

Social, Cultural and Ethical Dimensions to Business

20

M

BMDBMT104

Introduction to Business Law

20

M

BMDBMT105

Principles and Functions of Management

20

M

BMDBMT106

Macro Business Environment

20

M

BMDBMT201

Accounting for Managers

20

M

BMDBMT202

International Business

20

M

BMDBMT203

Research Skills and Problem Solving

20

M

BMDBMT204

Human Resource Management

20

M

BMDBMT205

Management Information Systems

20

M

BMDBMT206

Marketing Management

20

M

BMDBMT399

Dissertation

40

M

BMDBMT301

Employee Relations and Diversity

20

M

BMDBMT304

International and Strategic Marketing

20

M

BMDBMT303

Business Ethics

20

M

BMDBMT305

Project Management

20

M



 

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Core knowledge and understanding is mainly acquired via lectures and seminars and directed independent study. The latter will normally make specific use of an individually accessed Key Text for that module as well as lecturer-designed course materials (booklet and/or web). Use will also be made of a range of accessible (e.g. library held) supplementary texts, articles, reports and other designated sources.

 

Hands on’ experience in computer-based workshops plays an important part in developing knowledge and understanding for a range of business and managerial functions. Similar active learning opportunities are also provided within a broad range of non-computer based seminars and workshops.

 

Team teaching in core modules will be used to support the multi-disciplinary delivery of the programme, wherever appropriate.

Timetable

The teaching is divided into two semesters, semester one runs from September to January and Semester Two from February to June. A full time student is expected to take three modules each semester, making six modules in one year. A part-time student will take one or two modules each semester. Students can expect to have to attend UCS for four to five hours per module for the twelve weeks of the semester and to spend at least an equivalent amount of time per week in independent study. Students will be provided with timetables when they join the course.

Course Delivery

The course is delivered at University Campus Suffolk Bury St Edmunds mainly in Suffolk House.

Tutorial and Study Support

Each student registered for the BA Business Management programme is allocated to a personal tutor. The personal tutor will normally teach on the programme for which the student is registered and is expected to:

  • Be allocated up to 12 tutees
  • Arrange to meet each allocated tutee formally on a one-to-one basis at least once per semester
  • Make themselves reasonably contactable and available to offer advice and support to their tutees on an ad hoc basis
  • Be aware of specialist services available at the College to which the tutee may be referred to if necessary

Opportunities on Completion of the Course

Upon graduation students can progress to employment in a professional area. This degree also helps those individuals already working in the business sector to gain promotion and become more confident with the decisions they make in the work place. Many also enter programmes of further study for advanced professional qualifications or postgraduate courses such as the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) at UCS.