Business and Management - Professional Placement Year

Become a skilled, aware and conscious business and management professional who is ready to thrive in tomorrow’s workplace.

• Focus on the socially-conscious and sustainable future of business by embedding ethical practices and skills into your studies.

• In our close-knit School, you'll have the chance to work on real-life, live projects with local and national businesses.

• Core modules focus on creativity and innovation in business, while varied optional modules allow you to shape your own degree.

Gain a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of modern business with our flexible Business and Management degree. Develop the core skills you need to excel in all kinds of business and start to build a clear picture of exactly where those skills could take you.

Your choice of optional modules will enable you to shape your degree to your goals and aspirations, while practical work and assessments focus on what you’d encounter in the professional world: pitching, presenting, reporting, managing groups and leading projects.

As a business professional, you’ll need to be able to lead others into a sustainable future. For this reason, sustainability is a key consideration throughout the course, with many projects underpinned by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A dedicated module on managing sustainability is available in your final year of study to deepen your understanding.

Our students’ careers are as varied as the world of business itself; some work for small businesses while others join graduate schemes within national and international organisations or set up their own enterprises. With the skills you develop throughout your degree, you'll be ready to tackle the challenges of any modern workplace.

More about the Professional Placement Year
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.

In your first year you'll gain a broad understanding of today’s business environment – from the context that organisations operate in through to trends in economic thinking and the importance of data in business. You’ll learn to think differently about business challenges, which lays the foundations for you to innovate in your second and final years. You’ll be encouraged to reflect on your own strengths, performance, and areas for growth and development. Your second year focuses on the inner workings of businesses. Use business techniques to solve problems and start developing the skills that employers look for such as: strong presentational skills, effective group working, self-reflection and strategies for improvement. At the end of the year, you can choose to embark on a ten-week summer placement, and/or a ten-month business placement – applying what you’ve learned so far in the real world. In your last year, develop and explore your business learning and focus on the role of a manager. Undertake an in-depth business research project in your specialist area. You’ll also have a chance to pitch business ideas to a panel either on your own or with fellow students. Other topics to explore include managing sustainability, new trends in management, and organisational strategy. You’ll focus more and more on practical applications for your business skills looking ahead to your life after graduation.

You'll be assessed in a wide range of ways that test your business knowledge and management skills. These could include presentations, work related projects, group-work, computer based simulations, podcasts, exams, essays, videos and business reports.