Business Management with Foundation Year

Gain a fundamental introduction to a range of reflective models, while keeping a learning journal to learn from your experiences, boosting employability skills and developing a growth mindset.

• Learn how to improve from failures
• Learn how to positively respond to feedback, develop a self-awareness mapping and create a plan of action for development areas
• Develop essential academic skills including referencing, academic writing, IT skills, communication skills and presentation skills
• Understand the importance of a living CV and how to showcase your employability skills, ready to test out on employers for work placements and/or part-time jobs

Understand the basics of business regulatory frameworks and operations, to learn how to run a business successfully and efficiently.

• Analyse the importance of different viewpoints including owner, managers, staff and customers
• Explore how to respond to the demands of external stakeholders and markets
• Learn about business and regulatory fundamentals through the main categories of people, operations, finance, strategy, marketing, organisational structure, markets and environmental factors
• Understand those key categories and how vital they are for you to become a successful manager

Successful marketing is the key for businesses’ growth and sustainable and valued relationships with clients, customers and audiences.

• Explore the importance of a business relationship with its brand and how to understand insight from audiences
• Learn about devising strategies to drive successful sales to each targeted segment
• Get career-ready by boosting marketing skills key to a range of job roles and industries

Study the value and social impact of enterprise, developing key skills such as research and communication, to prepare you for future employability.

• Working as a group to analyse organisations, reflect and provide valuable insights
• Put the knowledge gained from your Foundation Year modules into practice
• Test your skills in a real-world scenario
• Refine your academic writing, research, analysis, working with a range of stakeholders, communication and team working skills

78% of small business owners saying their businesses are profitable (Guidant Financial 2021). Gain an essential overview into entrepreneurship and the skills needed to succeed.

• Develop key skills such as management, communication and business development
• Boost your career prospects and prepare to become a leader in the world of business
• Learn skills and processes useful across a range of job roles and industries

Whatever path your career takes, finance is a sought-after skill worth developing.

• Understand financial terminology and concepts to become an asset to your business or team
• Learn the basics of finance including key performance indications (KPIs)
• Analyse your own personal finances, creating a budget of your cash flows to then reflect on the importance of financial analysis and financial management
• Apply your knowledge in practical and real-world scenarios
• Develop baseline numeracy to perform your financial analysis
• Become familiar with the financial statements used to monitor the health of the business

Set important foundations for success in your studies and future.

• Learn about theories and techniques for success
• Build your academic study skills
• Boost your employability and career prospects by developing key independent learning skills
• Get the chance to create your own personal professional development (PPD) plan to stay agile, adaptable and future-ready

Explore key strategies and cultures that promote creativity, enterprise and innovation.

• Examine leading individuals and organisations
• Learn about theory in a practical way
• Develop your own entrepreneurial capacity
• Learn how to be creative, enterprising and innovative for others

Develop a consistent plan of action so the ‘future you’ can reach for the stars with your career aspirations.

• Expand your understanding of key managerial concepts
• Learn about organisational purpose and structure
• Explore key topics such as leadership, corporate culture, ethics, strategic decision-making, diversity and employment law
• Make the most of a hands-on approach through case studies from today’s business environment

Get to grips with finance and accounting, an essential part of any management role.

• Explore financial controls, budgeting, profit and loss, financial statements and more
• Develop your skills quickly and efficiently through practical problem-based interactive sessions

Discover the critical role of marketing in business, gaining vital skills applicable within a variety of professional contexts.

• Learn about a range of marketing techniques, from understanding customers’ motivations to engagement and measuring effectiveness
• Explore key marketing concepts and terminology
• Delve into the fundamental role of digital and content marketing

Explore how digital technology has fundamentally reshaped traditional business, and how businesses try to keep up.

• Learn to collect, analyse, and interpret data
• Develop the ability to present your findings effectively
• Gain practical data analysis knowledge, boosting your employability prospects

Learn about best practice for project management, exploring contemporary challenges and techniques.

• Study a syllabus informed by the Association for Project Management (APM) standards
• Explore topics such as stakeholder engagement, communications and leadership

Learn about the value of and how to ensure customer satisfaction.

• Examine processes, tools and techniques used in operations management
• Analyse and evaluate delivery issues
• Apply your knowledge in practice

The global business landscape is at one of the most complex and challenging times. Explore how to become a sustainable future manager and global citizen.

• Examine, evaluate and assess some of the most important contemporary issues faced by business organisations
• Understand how to assess and adapt to be able to consider these challenges, keeping up with the speed of global change to maintain competitive advantage
• Explore current global megatrends including rapid urbanisation, demographic and social change, shifts in global economic power, technological advances, resource scarcity and climate change
• Learn about how the UK’s Industrial Strategy identified areas of strength to ensure competitive advantage for the UK across the world

Show employers you are socially responsible by gaining knowledge on the role, legal status and challenges of social and community enterprise.

• Learn about and understand ethical business
• Develop your own awareness of social enterprise
• Learn to become a values-motivated leader

Develop your managerial skills by reflecting on self-management.

• Explore ideas of self-management, personal values and journey
• Learn to combine essential management and leadership skills to successfully manage teams

This module brings marketing to life! Customer experience is a dynamic, complex and challenging matter for marketers.

• Learn more about CE, which is seen as the future of marketing, with current research suggesting that CEOs’ and CMOs’ biggest headache is delivering customer experience for competitive advantage
• Gain an introduction into models and concepts reflecting contemporary perspectives on the customer experience
• Explore topics including the Pillars of Customer Experience and the experience economy

Learn how senior managers and chief executive officers identify, select and manage strategy.

• Critically evaluate a wide range of strategic management theories and models, and
• Learn how to apply those theories and strategically implement them

Research into approaches to business, management and leadership can lead to dynamic results. Learn how to conduct focused research on a business topic of your own choice.

• Develop your research and analytical skills in a practical way
• Get career-ready by developing highly transferrable critical thinking skills
• Consider your options and explore a topic of particular interest to you, including innovation, product development, performance improvement, change, customer service excellence, strategy, problem solving and more

Develop into a professional manager by understanding your own strengths and how the job market works.

• Understand, analyse and evaluate your aspirations
• Create a career development plan to start your own business or secure a graduate position
• Explore digital profiles, job hunting, how to stand out, and more

The future of business is changing, and to keep up with the climate emergency it needs to change even faster. Learn how to become a future manager and leader in the context of ecological economy.

• Consider climate change and the underlying economics
• Critically evaluate proposed solutions and their ecological and economic impacts
• Boost your critical thinking as well as your social and economic awareness

Develop the knowledge to overcome barriers to entrepreneurism, and learn all the management techniques necessary to take your business from aspiration to reality.

• Explore the main reasons holding back entrepreneurs, from lack of capital to fear of failure
• Learn about the tools and techniques to overcome them, including planning and development
• Gain practical knowledge to prepare you for your future as an entrepreneur

Apply research and analytical skills to your chosen topic of business, developing important independent learning skills.

• Carry out primary research on a business topic of your own choice
• Interpret your findings using relevant tools and techniques, demonstrating your research and analytical skills
• Formulate informed options to draw conclusions and recommendations
• Become an expert in a business area relevant to your career ambitions