Business Management with Foundation Year

This course gives you the wide understanding and practical skills required to be a successful manager. It covers all the essential aspects of business management from accounting and marketing to strategy and change so you graduate ready to hit the ground running in any organisation – even a business you’ve started yourself.

The course is part of a wider portfolio of Business Management degrees, all of which have been designed with flexibility in mind. You start by building a solid foundation in the core principles of business and management. Then, at the end of your first year, you can develop a specialism by switching to any of our Business Management pathways (with the exception of Business Management with Law).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.

Foundation Year

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, taking a Foundation Year can provide an alternative entry route to a degree-level qualification. The Foundation Year supports you to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy while exploring a range of subject-specific content so you are fully prepared for the core three-year course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your degree.

Facilities and specialist equipment

• New, state-of-the-art business analytics suite to support data analytics, 'big-data', data mining, digital marketing, SEO and other management skills

• Our London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) trading room, where you can react to live ‘stock-market’ data

• Software includes Microsoft Power BI and Vensim simulation, for analysing complex and messy business problems, plus VR immersive skills practice

• Access to Sage, LSEG data platform and the econometrics software STATA.

Student experience

Learn in small classes through lectures, seminars and workshops, cementing your learning via group projects, research exercises, presentations and case-study analysis.

Apply theory to diverse real-life situations including managing organisations undergoing dramatic change.

Study with experienced experts in their fields who provide challenging learning opportunities in a professional environment replicating industry practices.

Develop sought-after transferable skills in areas such as problem solving, research and communication.

Gain from the opportunity to work independently on a final-year project in an area of interest.

Take up opportunities for consultancy experience during the second year of the degree, assisting businesses – from start-ups to established corporations - to solve problems, up-skill and innovate.

Learn from masterclasses from industry experts so you benefit from their experience and keep at the leading edge in your field.

Benefit from field trips to see business management in action at companies such as John Lewis, Volvo, PW Gates Logistics, Luton Recycling and RAJA Packaging.

Course Modules

Year 1

Applied numeracy for business – Develop key numeracy skills vital to your success in future employment. Evolution and revolution in business – Learn about the historical development of business through lectures and workshops. Management in practice – Explore ‘gamified’ learning of concepts in business management by participating in reality-mimicking simulations. Beginning your professional business journey – Take on business challenges and collaborate with peers in a professional environment.

Year 2

Employability and the future workplace – Produce a checklist-based portfolio with evidence of learning and development to enhance your employability. Risk and responsibility – Apply risk assessment tools and techniques to respond to various types of risk in business. Data and research methods for business – Learn research methods to support critical research in business issues.  Work placement – Undertake 144 hours of placement in a business setting gaining practical experience of the world of work.

Year 3

Innovation and entrepreneurship – Understand the role of corporate innovation and entrepreneurial character, start-up growth strategies, and business planning. Data-driven business – Analyse ethical data collection trends and apply tools suitable to analyse quantitative and qualitative data. Strategic leadership – Extend your capacity for strategic leadership in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) business environment. Business continuity and the planet – Explore the range of contemporary challenges and threats to business continuity and environmental issues. Business project – Independently design, plan, manage and execute a research project.

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.