Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Finance and Business Management

at University of Westminster - Marylebone Campus United Kingdom

The expansion of new media technologies and sophisticated customer profiling – covering everything from media consumption to recreational preferences – have increased the choice and importance of creative decisions in marketing strategy. Developed with input from current ‘marcomms’ practitioners, our professionally-focused degree will equip you with the creative and specialist knowledge, skills and capabilities to select the right media channels and craft the most effective messages.

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 to 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 content for IDM Award in Digital Marketing and the final-year Direct and Interactive Marketing module provides opportunity to gain the IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing
• 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
• Hear from experts and mingle with marketing students by joining the student-run Westminster Marketing Society or gain experience working for the student-run Westminster Business Consultants
• Optional placement year to gain valuable work experience, for example, one of our previous students spent six months working as a podcast assistant for MailOnline, while another worked at IBM
• Guest lectures from industry practitioners have previously included speakers on Google analytics and from organisations such as 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

Architecture is a fascinating subject involving wide-ranging academic, practical and vocational activities. It requires creativity and imagination, as well as the inventive employment of environmental and technical knowledge.

Architecture is normally studied with a view to becoming a professional architect, but as it embraces the fields of art, history and science, it also opens doors to a range of postgraduate study options and other forms of career development.

At the heart of our course is a rich choice of design studios, in which students are taught in small groups by current practitioners, reflecting London’s dynamic architecture scene. There are also lecture courses in environmental and technical studies, history and theory of architecture, as well as numerous opportunities to engage with the architecture profession through construction site visits, mentoring and a work placement.

Field trips are offered in the second year and there are opportunities to study abroad, with the most recent destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and China.

Economists tackle anything from interpreting and forecasting market trends or individual business performance by country, region or market, to advising businesses, governments and individuals on everyday and strategic decisions. These can encompass areas as diverse as international trade, profit maximisation, pricing decisions, forecasting revenues or consumer demand, to managing the national health service, tackling unemployment or inequality.

You’ll learn to analyse and predict the impact of economic, social and public policy issues on a variety of stakeholders, including consumers, investors, businesses, and how to source and provide the most appropriate insight to inform future decision-making and strategy.

As the role of data in informing decision-making grows, this degree expands your crucial skills in data gathering, handling and interpretation, quantitative analysis and forecasting. You will use industry-standard software, including SPSS, Excel,Eviews, Minitab 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, a logical approach to formulating and solving problems, presentation skills and teamwork.

Project management, as a profession, has undergone rapid transformation in the last 20 years. The ever-growing consumer demand for complex, customised goods and services and the evolution of worldwide competitive markets for their production and distribution have increased the need for agile project managers who understand organisational issues, human behaviour and have the skills to organise the delivery of such products.

Accredited by both the Association of Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI), our Master’s degree recognises that in today’s competitive business environment effective project management is integral to success in all sorts of industries and sectors.

Skills in planning, benefits management, quality management, risk control and communication are essential to the smooth running of projects ranging from large-scale operational changes in multinationals to the running of hospitals and universities, government policies, engineering projects or one-off launches by fashion houses, advertising agencies and film productions.

This course is aimed at built environment professionals and others with a relevant background who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of planning and sustainable development, whether to improve career prospects in their country or enter international practice. Through the course you will examine the growing problems of sustainable development facing cities, regions and communities in a rapidly urbanising world, subject to growing climate change and other environmental, economic and social pressures and risks.

The course benefits from having strong links with the Research Community for Sustainable Cities and Urban Environments. This vibrant research community focuses on the planning of cities towards a sustainable and low-energy future and the exploration of the environmental and social impact of concentrating people and economic activity in cities and urban areas.

This course addresses the growing problems of sustainable development facing cities and communities in a rapidly urbanising world. It explores contemporary theories, public policy thinking and good practice in planning that spans both developed and developing world contexts, and offers you the opportunity to explore one area of specialism in a related field in some depth.

Setting you apart in a competitive job market, you’ll graduate with direct experience from a three-month internship and the holistic business knowledge, capabilities and cutting-edge digital expertise demanded by today’s employers.

In the fast-moving global business environment, employers demand multi-skilled, digitally competent graduates with a sophisticated understanding of business and its changing context, one which cuts across the traditional business disciplines that include human resources, management and marketing. To succeed you need a ‘big picture’ approach. You must be capable of adapting to emerging business models, creating new enterprises, leading and managing people effectively and improving processes with digital solutions.

At Westminster Business School, we recognise that future business professionals need the full range of technical and personal development skills – more responsible, resilient, adaptable and versatile than ever before. Our aim is to help you become an aspiring leader and entrepreneur, someone who can add value to any type of organisation. But we believe it’s essential for this transformation process to start early, before you have extensive working experience or have adopted the mindset of one particular employer or business sector. By starting this process early, it’s much easier to develop your skills, learn to think outside the box, and independently lead changes in the business world – wherever your career takes you. It’s also what our employer contacts tell us they’d prefer.

This exciting programme is designed with input from financial firms, public and private companies. Our aim is to combine theoretical learning content with practice to give you a deep understanding of modern financial theories together with learning about how companies make investment, financing and acquisition decisions. It will prepare you for a career in the dynamic, highly regulated world of financial services. 

Developing core quantitative and analytical skills, you’ll learn how to prepare and interpret financial data and managerial information. This education will enable you to develop your expertise to evaluate financial issues to  confidently make financial decisions. You will gain a broader understanding of the socio-economic, legal and professional environment within which finance operates. Graduates from this programme will be better placed to provide expert guidance to both professionals and non-professionals to solve complex real-world problems – the scope of the subject areas is broad ranging from graduates taking on roles from corporate financial management to highly analytical areas of the field in financial risk and investment management.    

The University is also recognised by the Chartered Financial Institute (CFA) as a University Affiliated Program partner. A fair proportion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge is embedded in this specialist finance degree.  

You’ll be taught by academics with professional experience in investment banking, derivatives, asset pricing, Treasury Management, algorithmic and high frequency trading, pricing and hedge fund trading. Theoretical aspects of your learning are seamlessly blended to develop  practical skills using our state-of-the-art Financial Markets Suite (FMS). The learning resources facility provides  access to a rich source of  financial and market data.

As well as a firm grounding in investment, finance fundamentals and general management, you’ll be able to study a wide variety of specialist finance modules, such as portfolio management and securities analysis. With the City of London's global financial institutions on our doorstep, you’ll begin building your professional network from day one. We also have guest lecturers and industry speakers, from big brokerage firms and asset management companies. 

The course enhances your analytical abilities, together with team-working, problem-solving, communication skills and commercial awareness needed to meet the needs for talent in a changing global financial world. The skills and knowledge you develop will open up a range of careers in the skills necessary for a successful career in the financial services industry, economic consultancy, government departments or in regulatory agencies. With further study, you could also progress to professional finance qualifications from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA) and the CISI. 

Our course was designed with input from a range of industry professionals with expertise in financial markets, institutions and financial regulation. To retain currency and relevance, we receive ongoing feedback from the School of Finance and Accounting’s Employability Advisory Board, whose members include practitioner representatives from Vanguard, JPMorgan and Global Structured Finance, as well as former students now working in the finance industry who provide suggestions on how to improve future employability for students. As much as 70% of the BSc Finance course content is in line with the CFA’s study units’ syllabuses.

Globalisation has enabled companies to become better connected, able to target international customers, develop a worldwide supply chain and attract a multicultural workforce. Our degree will prepare you to respond proactively and creatively to the opportunities and risks presented by international business and the challenges of the global business environment – from cultural, legal and economic perspectives.

Today, almost all companies, involved in anything from the sale of physical goods to services such as finance, marketing and construction, are affected by global events and competition. Exciting opportunities exist for graduates with a cross-cultural perspective who can operate with confidence, adapt and successfully negotiate increasingly complex internal and external global environments.

On our course, you’ll have a truly global learning experience, studying alongside staff and students from all over the world. We also try to provide as many opportunities as possible for you to hear direct from our alumni, who have established successful international careers in sectors as diverse as human resources, IT, law and finance.

You’ll be studying in the heart of London, one of the world’s major cities and international business hubs, and can also choose to spend a year living, studying and/or working abroad at one of our partner institutions in Europe, Asia, Australia or the USA. This will give you a valuable insight into another country’s learning experience and broader cultural environment.

Top reasons to study with us

• Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who come from professional practice and/or regularly publish in top international journals
• Participate in Westminster Working Cultures trips to understand working cultures within businesses abroad, which in the past have included Berlin, Mumbai and Washington DC
• Extend your learning and your international experience by taking part in an overseas Summer School. Past venues include ESCE, Paris, Copenhagen Business School, and Inha University, South Korea
• Option to spend one year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions or gain valuable work experience, or a combination of both, for example, one student studied at Copenhagen Business School and then worked at Volkswagen in Germany
• Opportunity to study a foreign language as an optional module in each year of study
• Access to one of the largest financial databases in our state-of-the-art Bloomberg virtual trading room
• Guest lectures from industry practitioners have previously included speakers from IBM, Tableau, Coca Cola and LinkedIn

Whether you consider yourself an ideas person, innovator or problem-solver, our exciting degree brings together the creative and analytical aspects of marketing to offer a hands-on experience of creating, managing and measuring the impact of an online brand.

Digital marketing is fast becoming one of the most important skills demanded by employers, as business is increasingly conducted online by digital brands and traditional players alike.

Our broad curriculum pulls together the many different strands of digital marketing – understanding user channels, stages of the customer journey, how to engage customers, drive traffic to websites, search engine optimisation, paid advertising, how to build a social media following and increase conversion through email sign-up or sales.

You will have the opportunity to tailor your course by choosing specialist option modules, covering topics like user experience, brand management, mobile and social media.

You’ll learn to build, focus and measure digital marketing messages and content to achieve the greatest effect on behalf of a brand, organisation or cause, using these same skills to manage your own professional presence online. In doing so, you’ll have the opportunity to develop and present your content ideas for campaigns, websites and apps in Switch 23, a collaborative digital marketing lab, which features the same Adobe Creative Cloud applications used in top agencies.

Top reasons to study with us

• Access to our dedicated digital marketing lab, Switch 23, using the same Adobe Creative Cloud applications used in top agencies
• Emphasis on real-world learning – you’ll engage with industry, working on real problems set in partnership with businesses and marketing agencies
• Focus on practice-based assessment with flexible final project of a dissertation or consultancy report that plays to your strengths and interests
• Optional placement or international year to gain valuable work experience. For example, one previous marketing student spent six months working as a podcast assistant for MailOnline, while another worked at IBM
• Hear from experts and mingle with marketing students by joining the student-run Westminster Marketing Society or gain experience working for the student-run Westminster Business Consultants (WBC)

Project management is now a well-established discipline within the construction industry, applied to projects of all sizes and levels of complexity. On this course, you’ll learn the modern management skills, techniques, and systems to successfully deliver a project from inception to completion, and how to meet a client’s requirements within the constraints of the external environment.

You'll have the chance to apply your skills and knowledge to real-life practical problems through case studies. When possible, we also visit construction sites in London, so you can see how developers overcome some of the issues associated with developing in a challenging environment like the centre of a large metropolis, such as traffic and transportation.