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Business and Supply Chain Management

Entry requirements


A level

B,B,B-B,C,C

BBB: Standard offer BBC: If the student is also presenting either Core Maths or Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) grade B BCC: Contextual offer (more details https://www2.aston.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/contextual-offer)

Access to HE Diploma

D:30,M:15

Access at level 3.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

Grade C/4 in Mathematics and English Language or Literature.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

31

with 5, 5, 5, in Higher Level subjects.

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DDM

For other BTEC combinations please see Aston's webpages.

T Level

D

The following T levels are accepted qualifications for this course: - Building Services Engineering for Construction - Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction - Onsite Construction - Digital Business Services - Digital Production, Design and Development - Digital Support Services - Education and Childcare - Health - Healthcare Science - Science - Management and Administration - Design and Development for Engineering and Manufacturing - Engineering, Manufacturing, Processing and Control - Maintenance, Installation and Repair for Engineering and Manufacturing - Accounting - Legal Services - Finance - Agriculture, Land Management and Production, - Animal Care and Management - Catering - Craft and Design - Media, Broadcast and Production - Hairdressing, Barbering and Beauty Therapy

UCAS Tariff

104-120

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

4years

Sandwich | 2024

Subjects

Business studies

Logistics

Our BSc Business & Supply Chain Management course is offered as either a three or four year course with integrated placement year. This course has been designed to give you the skills and experience you need to excel in your career as a supply chain professional.

You will develop a thorough understanding of supply chain management and everything that happens to ensure that companies can satisfy their customers’ needs and wants. You will explore the role of purchasing, manufacturing and logistics as well as the planning, organisation and resource management that is needed to manage a global supply chain. Effective supply chain management underpins the performance of retailers and manufacturers – it is essentially what they do, but they depend on talented professionals to achieve success and there is a well documented skills shortage in this area.

People with knowledge and skills in the supply chain are in high demand as retail and manufacturing companies continue to develop and grow. At the end of your time at Aston, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to work in areas including supply chain management, purchasing and procurement, logistics analysis and distribution management.

Key course benefits:

- The course combines study of essential business management theory and practice in Aston Business School with specialist supply chain and industry expertise from our Engineering Systems and Management group, along with regular interaction with business.

- This course is linked to the NOVUS scheme, which supports students through professional mentoring, industry seminars, site visits, and access to placement opportunities with their sponsor companies.

- Aston Univeristy is inside the UK top 30 for 'Graduate Prospects', which measures student success 15 months after completion, in both the 2022 Sunday Times Good University Guide and the 2022 Complete University Guide.

Modules

Year 1:
• Study and Research Skills
• Building Professional Relationships
• Introduction to Supply Chain Management
• Introductory Accounting for Business
• Introduction to Organisational Behaviour
• Law for Business
• Introduction to Marketing Management
• An Introduction to Business Economics

Year 2:
Modules Core:
• Quantitative Tools for Supply Chain Planning
• Purchasing Principles for International Supply Chains
• Operations and Process Management
• Facilities and Systems
• Land Transport
• Employee Resourcing

Choose one of the following:

• Managing Engineering Projects
• Air and Maritime Transport
• Business Operations Excellence
• Enterprise Systems

Year 3: Placement year

Final year:
Modules Core:
• Supply Chain and Procurement Strategy
• Strategic Financial Management and Finance
• Supply Chain Planning
• Final Year Project
• Theories and Practice of Leadership
• Contemporary Issues in Supply Chains

Choose one of the following:
• International Trade Law
• Performance and Efficiency Analytics
• Technology and Practice of eCommerce
• International Marketing
• Innovation and New Product and Service Development

Please Note: All modules are based on the current academic year. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review.

Assessment methods

We use a wide variety of teaching and learning styles on our degrees, and place particular emphasis on project-based learning and hands-on experience. Visiting lecturers from the logistics profession bring real-life experience to your learning. 

Assessment is through a combination of project work, case studies, practical reports and coursework (approximately 50%), and exams (approximately 50%). Your final degree classification is based on your final year studies, but also on your second, and if relevant, your placement year.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,250
per year
International
£18,150
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Aston University, Birmingham

Department:

School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

77%
Business studies

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Business studies

Teaching and learning

69%
Staff make the subject interesting
80%
Staff are good at explaining things
80%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
76%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

80%
Library resources
84%
IT resources
84%
Course specific equipment and facilities
70%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
59%
Male students
41%
Female students
81%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
B
C

Logistics

Sorry, no information to show

This is usually because there were too few respondents in the data we receive to be able to provide results about the subject at this university.


Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

77%
UK students
23%
International students
63%
Male students
37%
Female students
81%
2:1 or above
18%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

B
C
C

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Business studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£24,000
high
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education
79%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

25%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
17%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
14%
Business, research and administrative professionals

The number of business studies graduates fell significantly last year after a long period of increase. But there were still more than 14,000 degrees awarded and this is the third most popular subject for new graduates. Because so many graduates get business studies degrees, you can find them everywhere in the economy, and very few jobs are completely out of reach for a good business studies graduate. Around 40% go into jobs in finance, sales, recruitment, management (particularly retail) or marketing. There is also a small (but well paid) group who take their technical skills into computing and IT. Thousands of graduates from this subject go into professional jobs every year, and average starting salaries are above the average for all subjects and particularly healthy in London where they top £25k. Graduates with good degree grades in business studies are much more likely to get good jobs, so don’t be complacent, and keep a close eye on your grades.

Others in technology

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£25,140
med
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

31%
Business, finance and related associate professionals
12%
Business, research and administrative professionals
12%
Managers and directors in transport and logistics

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Business studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£24k

£24k

£30k

£30k

£39k

£39k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Others in technology

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£29k

£29k

£32k

£32k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here