BA (Hons) Business & Management

Core units

• Fundamentals of Business & Management: This unit aims to develop your understanding of the business context across industry and sectors globally. You will cover the key issues and challenges facing businesses going forward and the essential role of people in dynamic, resilient and complex organisations. You will explore key functional business areas including marketing, finance, accounting, economics, people management, and organisational behaviour.  
• Academic & Professional Practice: You will build your confidence in both academic and professional skills. This unit will cover the academic skills which will be required at degree level study and you’ll practice them throughout the unit with support from key university services including the library and study skills team. There will also be the opportunity for you to reflect on and develop your own professional skills through interactions with employers, careers services and online resources. 
• Fusion Business Project: You will undertake a business project based on a real issue or problem. The Fundamentals of Business & Management unit will support you in understanding key issues and challenges which could form the basis for your project.  Projects will be undertaken in workplaces, community settings or part of research processes related to your chosen field of study. You will be allocated an academic mentor who will support you in developing and undertaking the project.  

You'll begin to develop the versatility and personal qualities needed to manage a range of business activities in a global context.

• Developing Management Competencies: You'll be exposed to real-life business and management challenges, enabling you to develop interpersonal, organisational, transferable, creative and reflective learning skills, as well as a learning culture founded on mutual support, empathy and respect.
• Global Business Environment: An introduction to the fundamentals of the external global business context, enabling you to understand business-related political, economic, social and technological news stories and developments.
• Introduction to Accounting: Expand your knowledge and skills needed to progress to further study of financial reporting and/or financial analysis by studying the fundamentals of accounting.
• Organisational Behaviour & Responsible Management: This unit covers the individual, psychological and social aspects relating to people in organisations and the systems that govern them.
• Business Simulation: Through simulation, you will gain invaluable hands-on experience by analysing data and collaborating with your peers to resolve dilemmas, making managerial decisions.
• Fundamentals of Marketing: By identifying interesting marketing problems, you'll understand the range of marketing solutions available, and learn how to develop appropriate marketing strategies by focusing on real-life case studies.

The second year is designed to prepare you for the world of work, by strengthening your employability skills, readying you for the placement application process, and helping you better manage complexity and ambiguity. You will learn about business strategy, allowing you to personalise your studies, in preparation for your final year and beyond.

Core units

• Recruiting, Selecting & Retaining Talent: You will be encouraged to develop an understanding of the recruitment and selection process, and contemporary recruitment and selection techniques, whilst developing an understanding of their position in relation to the wider talent pool. 
• Strategic Management: You'll develop the ability to apply appropriate tools and techniques to critically analyse the organisation and its environment, learning about the development of competitive marketing strategy and operations

Option units (choose four):

Please note that depending on the specialist pathway you choose not all option unit combinations will be possible.

• Global Operations Management: This unit will cover the impact global operations management has on the business as a whole and the close relationship of operations management with other business function.
• Project Management: Provides a practical communication focused perspective of the rapidly evolving digital world.  As such it offers students practical assistance in shaping professional digital identity and footprint. 
• Consumer Behaviour & Contemporary Issues: This unit aims to extend your understanding of marketing, providing a critical understanding of the role and application of consumer behaviour within marketing and the wider organisation.
• Branding & Integrated Communications: Covers strategic issues of integration and planning as well as the tactical considerations needed to execute relevant marketing communications campaigns that meet consumer’s needs.
• Supply Chain Management: As an essential aspect of business today you'll explore and evaluate key elements of supply chain management that requires numerous operational activities
• Fundamentals of HRM: This unit will introduce you to the Human Resource Management function and its practice, using frameworks, analysis and case studies for context.
• Globally Responsible Business Practice: Gain the ability to critically evaluate the complex role of business practice in global systems and their understanding of management processes.
• Digital Marketing Fundamentals: This unit provides a practical communication focused perspective of the rapidly evolving digital world, offering practical assistance in shaping professional digital identity and footprint. 

The course includes an optional 30-week (minimum) placement between your second and final year, providing a valuable opportunity to develop your vocational skills and understanding of the workplace.

We are proud that our students have played their part in the success of top firms including Microsoft, JP Morgan, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Motorola.

You'll undertake significant pieces of academic work, demonstrating the critical, analytical and research skills. Your two options will enable you to develop specialist knowledge, understanding and techniques in your chosen area, preparing you for your future career or further studies.

Core units:

• Business Futures: The aim of this unit is to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to anticipate and respond to future challenges and opportunities in business, management and society. The unit will provide you with practical tools, conceptual frameworks and methodologies to explore and address real-world issues across various industries.
• Organisational Leadership: The aim of this unit is to critically explore leadership styles, theories and followership concepts in a range of organisational contexts.

Core units (choose one):

The Project choice(s) available will depend on the specialist pathway selected.

• Dissertation: You will develop the knowledge and understanding of project and change management through a dissertation focusing on a business or societal problem or opportunity of your choice.  
• Reflective Practitioner Project: This unit aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of workplace and career-related challenges, as well as your critical thinking and writing skills, through a reflective project focusing on your placement year (please note that this Project choice is only available on certain pathways).
• Consultancy Project: This unit gives you the opportunity, individually or as part of a team, to work on a real-life project brief, putting into practice your project management and CRM skills, to deliver a product, service or outcome for your client (please note that this Project choice is only available on certain pathways).
• Entrepreneurship Project: You will have the opportunity to put into practice their entrepreneurial knowledge, understanding, tools and techniques to develop your own business idea (please note that this Project choice is only available on certain pathways).
• Hacking for Sustainability Project: This is a team-based consultancy-style project, which gives you the opportunity to work on challenging sustainability problems being faced by large organisations, such as the MoD. This Project involves working in a team, as well as with stakeholders and a client, and includes a mix of 'real-life' individual and group deliverables (please note that this Project choice is only available on certain pathways).
• Applied Business Project: The Applied Business Project is an independently-managed unit, which aims to develop and enhance your self-management, critical thinking, analytical, evaluative and reflective skills, as well as your personal commitment, resilience and resourcefulness. The unit further aims to enhance your ability to make assumptions, manage information gaps and tolerate ambiguity, complexity and uncertainty.

Option units (choose two):

Please note that depending on the specialist pathway you choose not all option unit combinations will be possible.

• Entrepreneurship & Business Ventures: Learn how individuals and teams build on opportunities to create new businesses or transform existing ones by undertaking entrepreneurial activities. 
• Managing Innovation: You'll begin to understand how managing different contexts of innovation is an important step to becoming an effective manager or entrepreneur in today’s business world.
• Global Operations Strategy: This unit will educate you on how to deal with strategic global operations issues, developing an understanding on how global strategies can be devised and implemented.
• Global Supply Chain Management: Supply chain management is the fastest growing area of business today, and this unit aims to develop a strategic understanding of global supply chain management through planning, sourcing, making, delivering and returning products and services.
• Contemporary Issues in HRM: The main contemporary issues and themes within human resource management will be covered in this unit, providing you with an understanding of the role of an HR professional and the key aspects of 'adding value' to an organisation through enhancing performance.
• SHRM in Context: Looking at the strategic role of human resource management and key issues within the area, this unit will critically evaluate how HRM can be used within business strategies while covering global factors.
• International Management: With a large focus on practical aspects of management, this unit will teach training and development in the contemporary global organisation, looking at global management policies, practices and processes.
• Global Strategic Marketing: By helping you to develop the ability to think critically about real-world marketing scenarios and use market information to make informed decisions and recommendations, you'll be provided with skills in strategically managing the key elements of global marketing.
• Digital Marketing: The ever-evolving topic of digital marketing has become the dominant form of marketing in the majority of organisations and this unit will equip you with technical skills and the conceptual understanding of how to engage effectively to see results
• Fashion Business: This unit is particularly for students with a strong interest in embarking on a career that involved some element of fashion, equipping you with a broad awareness and appreciation of how the fashion industry is evident within all areas of the business.
• Advanced Project Management: Providing an understanding of the role of project management, this unit focuses on the challenges, controversies, opportunities and debates around managing projects, within the organisational, social and environmental contexts in which they are located.

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements.

Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

We select candidates for this course by looking at your application; there are usually no interviews or selection activities needed. For that reason, make sure your application really stands out from the crowd, and leave us in no doubt as to why you should be joining BU. You can find some handy hints about filling in your UCAS form on our how to apply web pages.

We look at individual applications and make a tailored offer based on your potential to succeed on the course considering a range of factors, including your academic achievements, work and other experience, reference and personal statement, and in some cases, your performance at an interview or a portfolio review. Typically, we make an offer at the bottom of the tariff range.

If you are unable to meet the entry requirements, we may be able to make you an offer through AccessBU if you meet certain criteria e.g. you have been in care or live in an area where fewer people typically progress to Higher Education. If you don't meet our published tariff, we will accept you at least 8 points below if your personal circumstances match our AccessBU criteria. 

Our offer-making will typically be based on your most recent qualifications, including any required subjects where applicable. We'll consider all qualifications when assessing your application, although these may not be part of our offer.

If you do not meet the criteria of your original offer, we may still offer you a place. We will review your whole application and consider all academic qualifications (including those not in the offer) to see if you have the academic potential to succeed on the course. If we feel the answer is yes, we will confirm your place.

AccessBU

AccessBU provides you with the opportunity to tell us about your circumstances that are not always evident in your UCAS application. This widening access initiative also considers relevant criteria such as being in care or if you live in an area with a low participation rate in Higher Education - if you are eligible, your offer could be up to 16 UCAS tariff points below the published tariff.

Apprenticeships

We recognise the transferable knowledge and skills gained through apprenticeships and welcome applications from students with a Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship recognised by the Institute for Apprenticeships. Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Deferred entry

We are happy to consider eligible applicants for deferred entry. If you have already submitted your application, please submit your deferral request through our website. 

Direct entry

We welcome applications from students who have previously studied at degree level at other institutions and wish to transfer onto a BU course. Our Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) procedure enables credit awarded from one institution to contribute to a BU award, subject to an application process. Please visit our RPL webpage for more information.

Mature applicants

​We recognise that mature applicants may have a wealth of experience rather than formal qualifications, so we’ll consider your application on these merits if included in your application. You’ll need to apply to BU in the usual way through UCAS and you may be invited to an interview to discuss your suitability for the course based on the experience you tell us about in your application.

A placement should be a highly rewarding experience for you and the employing company and we do our best to ensure that everyone involved feels that they have got the most that they can from the experience.

Placements provide a great opportunity to make your first career steps and enhance your employability while you’re completing your studies. You’ll get the opportunity to:

• Put the theory learnt throughout the course into professional practice
• Enhance your study and help you decide on subject options (where appropriate)
• Learn a wide range of skills such as time management, problem-solving and teamwork (all of these are important to succeed in any career)
• Make contacts, as it is not uncommon for our students to be offered permanent positions to return to after graduating
• Gain a real insight into how the industry operates in roles that would be almost impossible to achieve for an outsider.

Many of our students, during their placement, are given responsibilities normally associated with graduate trainees.

The faculty running your course will offer the support of a Placement Co-ordinator. 

Through timetabled sessions and one-to-one appointments, they’ll help support you in your placement search including advice on finding a placement, information and advice on all aspects of job searching and job applications, as well as ensuring your proposed placement meets the requirements of your course. 

Our CareersBU service is also available throughout your time at BU, offering services like CV checking and careers fairs to meet employers.

Placement Development Advisors will support you once you have started your sandwich placement – so you will be able to maintain contact with the university throughout. 

• BMW
• Babcock
• Boots
• IBM
• Intel
• JP Morgan
• Walt Disney
• L'Oreal
• Xerox
• Microsoft.

All of our business courses see you working closely with the local community and businesses to gain practical and valuable experience before you graduate. This will give you a head start when you begin job hunting, as well as allow you to make useful connections within a business environment.

Example roles our graduates take on include:

• Account Executive
• Account Manager
• Business Analyst
• Business Development Assistant
• Operations Manager.

The skills you learn on the course should stand you in good stead for your continuing professional development too – giving you more control over your career direction.

A degree in Business & Management will give you various career options once you graduate. Combining this knowledge with a solid grounding in economics will make you highly sought after in corporate environments, where analysing situations and putting them into a wider context is important to a business’ success, regardless of its size.

And as there’s so much choice over the pathway you choose to follow, you can align your studies to your career ambitions.

Once you have completed an undergraduate Honours degree, you can further develop your education by studying for a postgraduate degree. Please visit our postgraduate section for further details about our range of Master’s degrees.

Research degrees 

If you are a BU graduate you are eligible for a 20% ‘loyalty’ discount on the published fees for further programmes with us!  

Depending on your qualifications and experiences, you can choose to undertake a MRes or PhD level research degree. Bournemouth University has a strong business research foundation within our Department of People & Organisations through a number of research centres, which explores theory, education and professional practice. 

Visit our postgraduate research courses for further details about research degree options with the Bournemouth University Business School and the funding options available. 

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

• Materials for laboratory and mandatory field-based teaching activity.
• Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement if this is part of your course of study
• A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
• The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
• Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
• IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
• Free software download to your personal device of Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus while you are studying, as well as access to applications provided on AppsAnywhere, subject to licensing and compatibility restrictions
• Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme
• Disability and additional learning support, according to individual circumstances.
• 24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

​Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

• Laptops, tablets and mobile devices and any software used on personal devices. Access to a personal computer is strongly recommended for your study. If you are experiencing financial difficulty, visit our website for information regarding hardship funds.
• Textbooks, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of textbooks and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shop stocks a wide range of stationery supplies.
• Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website. 
• Travel costs to and from the University campus. An annual bus pass is included in your rent if you are living in halls of residence/Unilet accommodation or may be purchased separately.
• Travel costs to and from your placement (both in the UK and overseas). Information about funding your placement year can be found on our website.
• You will need to meet the cost of any Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check if required by your placement setting, including any Post Office verification changes. 
• Clothing or equipment costs required for your placement if this is part of your course of study.
• SportBU membership.

While all aspects of the programme, including required field trips, are included in the fee, additional, optional or extra curricula activities may be available for which a student contribution is required.

If you need to repeat one or more units during your studies (with or without attendance) the pricing will be pro-rata of the full-time fee.

The Annette D’Abreo Studentship in Business and Marketing is a £5,000 a year grant available to students enrolling on one of the following courses from September 2026:

• BA Hons Business and Management – including specialist pathways in Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Project Management
• BA Hons International Business & Management
• BSc (Hons) Marketing

It is designed to provide financial and career support to students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK and is open to:

• Students from Black, Asian or other minority ethnic backgrounds
• Students from a low household income (combined income of £50,000 or less)
• Care experienced students (those in the care system or care leavers)
• Mature students (those aged 21-24)

To apply, please complete the application form by 2 October 2026. 

Laura is dedicated to the principles of humanistic leadership and the cultivation of a culture of best practices. Her professional background is firmly rooted in Higher Education quality assurance and project management. These roles have given her a diverse spectrum of experience and insights into the intricacies of the Higher Education environment. Laura has earned the distinction of being a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Chartered Business and Management Educator. Laura also holds the position of Deputy Chair (Communication) for the global LeanHE group.

Mark Ridolfo is a Principal Academic in Human Resources & Organisational Behaviour, within the Bournemouth University Business School. A passionate, student-oriented innovator, Mark has been lecturing at Bournemouth University since 1992.

Living and working in France, Germany, Italy and China has helped inform Mark’s main interests of cross-cultural communication and management.

He also delivers courses in professional effectiveness – specialising in presentations, report writing, online communication, and negotiation.

Maureen is a lecturer in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour in the Business School at Bournemouth University. She has successfully taught and delivered business management, human resource management, financial management, leadership, organisational behaviour, corporate social responsibility, business ethics, sustainability, research methods and research projects at diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.  

Maureen also holds Professional Membership as an Associate Fellow Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and currently, she is pursuing a PhD in management. Her research is on Sustainability and Green Human Resource Management in Higher Education. Also, she has continuing interests in research areas which contributes to the understanding and addressing of issues relating to Sustainable development, Human Resource Management, Leadership, CSR, Ethics and Critical management Education and Learning. 

Natalia is a Lecturer in Strategic Management and former Research Assistant for the Bournemouth University Business School. She is currently writing up her EdD doctorate with the University of Southampton. She holds a Professional Economist degree and an MSc Tourism Management & Marketing, so she is a BU Alumna too. She has also worked on research projects for the University of Winchester and the University of Ulster.

She has previously taught on Organisations, Strategy and Finance, Managing Organisations, Strategic Management, Work Based Studies (Apprenticeship framework), Entrepreneurship, Small Business Management, and Research Methods.

Her research interests are broadly in ‘landscape and wellbeing’ and ‘enterprise and communities’. Within landscape and wellbeing she has looked at green/blue space, rural, peri-urban  and urban  landscape mapping, utilising GIS, to identify relationships between land type, tranquillity and user wellbeing; and the use of leisure space in migrant/refuge communities. Within enterprise and community she has looked at the role of work experience in prisoner rehabilitation; graduate enterprise motivation; social and community enterprise in rural communities; entrepreneurship in transitional economies. She is currently working with an independent consultant to develop Neural Networks (NN) models capable of classifying audio signal patterns gathered by equipment used in the maintenance of public utility pipe networks. Her research has ranged from the UK, EU, South America and Russia. Within Higher Education she has researched ‘collegiality’, the role of networking within research communities; and peer to peer sexual harassment within university institutions.

Martyn Polkinghorne has a PhD in Knowledge Management and Decision Making using Artificial Intelligence and is recognised as being the developer of the first commercially available intelligent ship autopilot system. At Bournemouth University, he is a Principal Academic in Business and Management, operating from within the Business School and based in the Department of Marketing, Strategy and Innovation (MSI) . Martyn was the Head of Education for the Department of People and Organisations (P&O) and previously the Head of Education for the Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisations (LSO) in the Bournemouth University Business School with responsibility for many of the business and management courses in the Business School.

Deborah Taylor is the Director of the MBA programme and a Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University. Deborah joined Bournemouth University in 2010 having worked within the Investment banking and the recruitment industry. Her teaching centres on the areas of Organisational Behaviour and Leadership at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels. Research interests include Psychological Ownership, Leadership, Career and Talent Management.

Dr Parisa Gilani is an emerging thought leader and Principle Academic in Human Resources and Organisational Behaviour. Her research interests primarily centre around leadership, leadership development, gender and diversity. She is particularly interested in qualitative means of assessing the impact of leadership interventions and the enactment of gender and leadership in male dominated industries. Parisa has a keen interest in extending our understanding of leadership to non-Western contexts. She has researched and delivered workshops in Iran, Denmark and China. She is keen to supervise Doctoral students in any of the areas listed above.

Parisa is also an educator and Programme Coordinator for the MSc in Management with HR and Academic Lead for the BU Certificate in Programme Leadership. In 2022 she won the Vice Chancellor's Award for 'Inspiring Learning'.

David is an experienced project and change manager with an industry track record in the management and successful delivery of IT and business projects. David has PRINCE2 Practitioner, APM and PMP accreditation, has an MBA, BSc (Hons) and BA (Hons) and a PhD in Project Management.

His practical experience of projects provides a solid foundation for his role as principal lecturer at Bournemouth University where he teaches project management, management and data science at undergraduate and post graduate levels and supervises projects to PhD level.

David's teaching has been recognised through the award of multiple ‘You’re Brilliant’ awards. These culminated in the award of the Students; Union (SUBU) silver award for ‘Most Brilliant Lecturer’ and SUBU ’Most Outstandingly Brilliant Gold Award’ in November 2015.

David's research encompasses technology enhanced learning, learning analytics, data visualisation and reporting. David is a recognised thought leader in student learning using technology.

David has an international reputation for his knowledge of the Anglo Boer War, 1899 - 1902 and is the author of four books on this conflict.