Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business Management (Economics) with Placement Year

at University of Westminster - Marylebone Campus United Kingdom

As globalisation encourages companies to operate and trade in multiple locations, and provides more opportunities for staff to work abroad, managing and developing people has never been more critical – or complex. On our MA, you’ll learn to appreciate the unique challenges of international HRM – from the cultural, legal and economic differences to remote relationship building.

Our problem-based approach to teaching means you’ll get to apply what you learn to management problems through assignments and projects based on actual situations. We’ll draw on everyday HR issues in the news, case studies and current examples, at times addressing some of our own students’ workplace experiences. Demonstrating evidence-based HRM, you’ll learn to collect and analyse relevant data and information, developing your ability to identify, evaluate and propose the most appropriate solutions, looking at issues ranging from expatriate employment, employee engagement, managing change and reward management.

Each year, our annual HRM conference offers you the chance to hear direct from a range of guest speakers, who have previously covered issues such as immigration and labour supply, and the impact of EU legislation on employee relations post-Brexit. You’ll also have the opportunity to develop essential HR practitioner skills through a series of practical workshops in areas such as finance, employment law, interviewing, disciplinary and grievance handling, counselling and negotiating. Working in teams, you might simulate dealing with a disciplinary hearing, for example, or conducting a job evaluation exercise. When studying people resourcing, you may participate in an assessment centre or practise your interviewing skills.

Marketing lies at the heart of every successful business. By engaging with and understanding the customer’s needs, marketing managers influence the development of products and services, providing advice on the best point of sale and recommending the most competitive price. They identify and make sure the target market knows what’s on offer – in increasingly more creative and dynamic ways.

You can also boost your employability by gaining additional qualifications with the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) and/or the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) – our status as a CIM Graduate Gateway institution entitles you apply for exemptions from modules on its professional qualifications, while you can gain IDM’s Award in Digital Marketing during the Digital Marketing Essentials module.

Top reasons to study with us

• Professionally focused course with chance to gain additional professional qualifications from the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
• Digital Marketing Essentials module incorporates a professional Award in Digital Marketing from the IDM
• Marketing degrees share a common first year, giving greater flexibility when choosing your specialism
• Option to spend one semester or one year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions, gain valuable work experience, or a combination of both. For example, one previous student worked as a marketing executive for ICG Medical
• Opportunity to study a foreign language as an optional module in each year of study: one of our students chose to learn Japanese and spent a year studying at Waseda University and working as an intern at SMEJapan in Tokyo
• Hear from experts and mingle with marketing students by joining the student-run Westminster Marketing Society or gain professional experience working for Westminster Business Consultants
• Guest lectures from industry practitioners have previously included speakers on the use of Google Analytics, and speakers from IBM, Tableau, Coca Cola and LinkedIn
• Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who come from professional practice and/or regularly publish in top international journals

Financial economics is all about managing financial assets such as trade and share prices, interest rates and exchange rates. You’ll not only be introduced to financial economics, but also gain a solid foundation in general economic concepts, principles, analysis, techniques and knowledge.

Learning how to predict and advise on the impact of economic, social and public policy issues on monetary activities, you’ll develop your analytical and decision-making abilities, expanding your skills in data gathering, handling and interpretation, quantitative analysis and forecasting.

In our state-of-the-art Bloomberg virtual trading room, you will use industry-standard software, including Bloomberg, SAGE, FAME, Excel and other statistical packages, to analyse data, build models and produce forecasts. You will also develop key soft skills such as communicating complex economic ideas to a non-expert, presentation skills and teamwork.

We enjoy strong links with employers, including the Government Economic Service and Society of Professional Economists, which was relaunched here at Westminster Business School in 2018. Membership of the Society is offered to all final-year economic students and there are opportunities to attend their monthly meetings, conferences and continuous professional development courses.

Looking for a business management degree with a difference? The opportunity to work in sports management is a dream for anyone with a passion for sport, but you don’t have to be a sports fanatic to take this degree. One of the most exciting industries, sport and leisure in the UK alone employs 580,000 people. In 2019, more than a third of those employed in the field of sport in the EU-27 was aged between 15-29.

Developed in partnership with some of London’s leading sports clubs, agencies and governing bodies, including Queens Park Rangers and the MCC at Lords, our BA includes practical, professional work experience with a sports club or agency to get you work-ready.

Whether you go on to work as a marketing manager for a Premiership club, a sports analyst, sponsorship executive or diversity advisor, the career pathways are varied and rewarding.

Our degree provides an innovative, industry-focused programme that develops your knowledge of contemporary business management within the context of the wider sports industry. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of how the industry works. You will also learn to appreciate the internal and external challenges facing sports organisations, such as sustainability, diversity, and the impact of new technologies on sports marketing, management and customer engagement.

Specialist optional modules allow you to tailor your studies to match your interests. They include marketing and management, entrepreneurial enterprise, event management, sustainability, and social media innovation.

Where better to study than a centre of sports excellence? With 12 professional football teams, two premiership rugby team, and two country cricket sides, London is home to iconic sporting venues such as Wembley Stadium, Twickenham, Lord’s Cricket Ground and the Olympic Park in East London.

On our exciting Master’s programme, you’ll experience first-hand what it’s like to innovate, solving real-life problems and coming up with smart solutions. Inspired by serial entrepreneurs and our academic experts, you will cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset, improving your ability to identify viable business opportunities – whether you launch your own enterprise or support others to do so.

Individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit don’t always start up a new business, but they repeatedly come up with ideas that change the way we live and work, inspiring new products, services and activities that create jobs and spur economic growth. Their innovation, big picture outlook, willingness to take calculated risks and ability to build positive relationships make them an asset to any employer.

On this course, your journey begins in the pre-start-up phase, with the formation of ideas on a possible business venture, right through to potentially pitching your plan to prospective investors or raising money via crowdfunding campaigns. You will be mentored and coached throughout, developing the personal and professional skills needed to envision new products or services capable of attracting investment, then guide them to completion.

Building surveying offers an exciting, dynamic profession focused on the physical, functional and economic performance of buildings – new builds, building control, refurbishment work, restorations, maintenance and design.

Fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE), our degree aims to equip you with the professional and technical skills and knowledge needed to become a building surveyor.

You may be called on to report and advise on the condition of various property assets, identifying defects and structural problems, designing, specifying and administrating refurbishment projects or interpreting the meaning of 'repairing obligations' in a lease, for example. You could go on to work in private practice, the public sector, building control, property management or the conservation of historic buildings.

Our construction courses share a common first year, allowing you to gain knowledge of the different professional roles and the interdisciplinary nature of the modern construction industry. At the end of the second year, should your interests change, it's possible to switch pathway. You’ll mix with students from across the various pathways, broadening your social circles and networks, and be taught by our professionally qualified lecturers, who will share their experience of working in the property, construction and surveying sectors prior to joining academia.

Our central London location and numerous industry contacts, which include Great Portland Estates, Mace, Lendlease, The Portman Estate and The Crown Estate, enable us to invite practising professionals to give guest lectures and regularly contribute to the course. They provide buildings as case studies for coursework, learning materials (drawings, reports, client briefs etc.) and come into the University to give face-to-face formative feedback on students’ work. We aim to create authentic learning activities to ensure you are business-ready for employment.

Whether caused by politics, environmental issues or world health crises, the global economy is ever changing and of growing concern to businesses. Monitoring and predicting the impact of economics on business is now a top priority, raising the demand for graduates who understand how markets work and how local and international issues can affect competition and performance.

Combining the study of economics with general business management, this degree is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge to analyse individual company and industry performance within the context of global economics. Using live and historical data in our state-of-the-art Financial Markets Suite (FMS), you’ll apply economic theory and practice to real-world businesses, learning how to plan, evaluate economic trends and become better placed to help firms make effective business decisions. 

To help you support future business and management decisions, we’ll examine how and why businesses emerge, exist and expand – studying their global environment, relationship and interactions with employees, providers of capital, customers, competitors, government and other regulatory bodies. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of the economic, qualitative and quantitative techniques and ideas used to analyse and solve business problems in a global marketplace. 

Taught by academics with substantial business experience across the range of business disciplines, through consultancy or knowledge exchange, there is an emphasis on learning through practice, so you graduate with the breadth of knowledge and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges. Throughout the course, you’ll also develop a range of transferrable skills highly prized by employers, such as critical evaluation, self-direction and problem-solving, as well as a sound grasp of analysis, presentations and negotiation techniques.

You’ll be capable of holding positions of significant responsibility and authority in public companies, private businesses and government agencies. Past Business Management graduates have found successful employment as management, marketing and advertising trainees, as trainee accountants and brand managers, recruitment consultants, retail managers and as assistants in market research, PR and global branding.

Sound and ethical financial management lies at the heart of every successful business: to generate sufficient income, optimise resources, reduce risk and gain a good return on investments. On this course, you’ll learn to strategically plan, organise, direct and control finances in a rapidly evolving global financial sector.

Our Finance and Business Management degree has been purposefully designed to meet the educational requirements of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI). Although exemptions are not available, our Course will provide you with the necessary set of skills to sit several professional exams.

With an emphasis on learning through practice, it provides a solid foundation of finance theories, systems and procedures, developing your skills for complex modelling and analysis. Gaining a greater appreciation of strategic financial decision-making with a specific focus on ethics and sustainability, you’ll be prepared for a fast track and rewarding career in the international financial services sector or in management.

You will learn to analyse financial markets to forecast financial performance, using real data – live and historic – in our Finance Markets Suite (FMS) with its replica trading floor. You’ll also hear directly from current professionals through guest speakers, field trips to financial institutions and professional training sessions.

Business School graduates have gone on to work for large banks and other financial institutions, including Vanguard, Standard Chartered, Citibank, Société Générale and Paribas, and governmental agencies, such as the World Economic Forum.

Buying and renting property for professional or personal purposes is one of the most important – and expensive – decisions for a business or individual to make. Real estate offers a dynamic and exciting career requiring a skillset combining economic, interpersonal, management, planning, public policy and sales expertise.

Accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), our degree covers all aspects of real estate, including buying and selling, valuing, developing, planning, managing and investing in various property markets – commercial, industrial and residential.

Our professionally oriented course has been designed with input from major employers, capitalising on our excellent industry contacts, which include Barrett Homes, Savills and British Land. With the headquarters of many major property firms close by, our central London location enables us to invite a wide range of professionals to give guest lectures and regularly contribute to the course. They provide work placements, content for coursework and help with assessment, providing a valuable practitioner perspective.

We arrange various site visits, so you can experience real-life estate strategies and see developments from construction through to completion. In the past, for example, students visited Lendlease’s nearby Elephant Park development, part of a £2.3 billion regeneration programme on 28 acres of land in the centre of Elephant and Castle. There are also optional international field trips, which have previously included visits to Brookfield Properties and Cushman and Wakefield in New York, as well as Savills in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The course will allow you to complete the academic requirements of membership status of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. There are opportunities to enhance your CV by attending our Employer evenings and you can choose to undertake a year’s placement after your second year.

Recent graduates have found work within large and small property companies, local authorities, developers, health trusts, investment firms, landed estates and many other property-related areas.

The MArch is a long-established and well-respected course that is prescribed by the ARB and validated by the RIBA to give exemption from the second stage of professional education. The emphasis of the course is on innovative design work, and on developing a caring and critical approach to the study and practice of architecture.

The course fosters diversity of choice, interpretation and approach, whether in design projects or more academic research. The former focuses on sophisticated design programmes (in formal, technical, professional or urban terms) that demand rigour and self-criticism. The latter focuses on your major dissertation, an extended piece of specialised research into architecture and its historical or theoretical contexts.

The course has three main objectives: to develop your design ability through project-based experimentation; to present an evaluation and critique of your coursework within a broad cultural context, and in light of technical, economic and legal constraints; and to promote the articulate explanation and representation of quality and value in design projects.