Business Administration (Top Up) | University of Bedfordshire

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Summary:

Applying through UCAS? Apply here (N102)
Course Code: N102

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Why choose the School of Leadership and Management

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Over 95% of full-time UK business and management graduates are in employment or further study, 15 months after graduating (source: HESA Graduate Outcomes for 2020/21, pub 2023).

Over 1,000 Business School students worked on live knowledge-exchange projects 2022/23 (KEF, 2023).

We are 1st in the UK for successful graduate social-enterprise start-ups still trading after three years; 3rd in the UK for all business start-ups (HESA, 2023).

About the course

This one-year top-up course is for those who already have qualifications (Level 4 and 5 or 240 credits) or experience in this field and wish to gain a full degree in Business Administration with a specific focus. The course delivers an industry-relevant degree that provides a broad understanding of core business administration across a variety of organisations, situations and operating conditions.

It also allows you to specialise in a specific field by choosing one of our Business Administration pathway options:

Facilities and specialist equipment

New business analytics suite to support data analytics, 'big-data', data mining, digital marketing, SEO and other management skills needed in today's workplace
Harvard Business Publishing -international learning resources providing advanced business simulations
Access to Sage, Refinitiv Workspace, the econometrics software STATA and Vensim simulation software for analysing complex and messy business problems

Your student experience

Develop a strong foundation in business management, accounting and business modelling.

Take advantage of the pathway options to develop a specialism across eight key business areas.

Benefit from regular engagement with industry and authentic assessment opportunities, dealing with real-world problems and issues. Learn from academic teams who are either industry experienced or still working in their field; involved in consultancy on real-world projects; active in research; and keep at the leading edge through regular CPD, conferences and industry events. Attend masterclasses from industry experts so learn from their experience and keep at the leading edge in your field of business.

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

with Professional Practice Year

This course has the option to be taken over four years which includes a year placement in industry. Undertaking a year in industry has many benefits. You gain practical experience and build your CV, as well as being a great opportunity to sample a profession and network with potential future employers.

There is no tuition fee for the placement year enabling you to gain an extra year of experience for free.

*Only available to UK/EU students.

with Foundation Year

A Degree with a Foundation Year gives you guaranteed entry to an Undergraduate course.

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, our Degrees with Foundation Year provide a fantastic entry route for you to work towards a degree level qualification.

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.

The Foundation Year provides an opportunity to build up your academic writing skills and numeracy, and will also cover a range of subject specific content to fully prepare you for entry to an Undergraduate degree.

This is an integrated four-year degree, with the foundation year as a key part of the course. You will need to successfully complete the Foundation Year to progress on to the first year of your bachelor’s degree.

Why study a degree with a Foundation Year?

Broad-based yet enough depth to give you credible vocational skills
Coverage of a variety of areas typically delivered by an expert in this area
Gain an understanding of a subject before choosing which route you wish to specialise in
Great introduction to further study, and guaranteed progression on to one of our Undergraduate degrees

The degrees offering a Foundation Year provide excellent preparation for your future studies.

During your Foundation Year you will get the opportunity to talk to tutors about your degree study and future career aspirations, and receive guidance on the most appropriate Undergraduate course to help you achieve this; providing you meet the entry requirements and pass the Foundation Year.

What will you study?

Studying our Business Administration (Top Up) BA (Hons) course will provide you with in-depth knowledge and skills in business strategy and operations along with selected subject specialist areas in marketing and finance. At the start of the course, you will discover the role strategy plays within organisational success in our Strategic Management for Business unit. Here, you will learn how to develop, evaluate and implement realistic and practical strategies for businesses while developing your employability skills to ease your transition into the workplace.

In core areas of study, you will develop your knowledge in operations and project management that will help in building on your analytical and evaluative skills to efficiently and effectively manage operational projects in our Management and Administration of Projects and Operations unit. You will learn to analyse scenarios in operations management, how to manage them efficiently, and identify the information systems that can help you do so.

The course also gives you an option to specialise in marketing or finance. With an international perspective, you will look at the impact of globalisation on business and marketing decisions in our Global Marketing Strategy unit. Upon closer examination, you will discover how businesses enter various markets, price their products worldwide, communicate with customers – all in cost-effective ways. Furthermore, you will conduct market research and analysis based on cross-cultural marketing theories and frameworks.

With finance as your chosen option, you will learn to effectively and efficiently manage scarce financial resources to meet corporate objectives in our Business Finance unit. This will support you in your understanding of the implications of long-term and short-term corporate decisions. Finally, you will be equipped with the skills required to carry out research our New Advancements in Business unit. This will allow you will be taught to apply various research techniques and to source and reference information correctly based on a topic of your interest.

How will you be assessed?

A range of assessment methods is used throughout the course. You are required to undertake a variety of individual based assessments throughout the course. These assessments include individual essays reports presentations and examinations. The assessments are designed to test subject knowledge and understanding of the appropriate subject matter but also to demonstrate the range of intellectual and subject specific skills identified elsewhere in this document. Providing a wide variety of types of assessment maximises your opportunities to develop a wide variety of transferrable skills such as presentation and report writing and gives you the chance to play to your strengths.

At level 6 you are treated as an independent learner and both the project unit (New Advances in Business) and the Strategic Management unit provide opportunities for you to draw together your business knowledge in an individual and more independent way. The Management and Administration of Projects unit invites you to practice Project Management skills through the organisation of an activity. Industry views this as a highly valued and transferrable skill. In all units you will find assessment support in terms of careful briefing and the completion of formative stages with detailed feedback designed not only to benchmark your performance but also to give you insights into how you can improve your work. The summary of assessments for this course is available in the assessment map below..

Careers

You can find employment in all areas of business including finance marketing and HRM.

Many graduates work for large multinational organisations but also for smaller organisations where there are opportunities to work across a number of functional areas.