Psychology and Business
Aston University, Birmingham
UCAS Code: CN81 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
ABB in any three A levels. BBB in any three A levels plus grade B in either Core Maths or Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). BBC in any three A levels for Contextual offer students (more details https: //www2aston.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/contextuaI-offer). Excluded Subjects: We welcome the following subjects as an additional A level, but not as one of the core three A levels - General Studies, Critical Thinking, Citizenship Studies. We welcome applications from students who have tried to improve their examination grades by taking resits and only your latest grades will be accepted. We treat these applications in exactly the same way as other applications.
Access to HE Diploma
We accept the QAA-recognised Access Diploma which must consist of 45 credits at Level 3. You must obtain a minimum of 30 distinction and the rest must be at merit or distinction. Please note that we do not accept the English and Maths components within the Access qualification and you must meet the GCSE entry requirement. Subjects Accepted: Humanities, Social Sciences, Health and Social Care, Applied Science, Biology combined with Chemistry, Biomedical Science, Biosciences, Combined Sciences, Health Sciences, Health Sciences Professions, Life Sciences, and Sciences
GCSE/National 4/National 5
Five GCSEs which must include Mathematics and English all at grade C/4. Please note we do not accept Key skills or Functional skills in place of these.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
32 points overall and must include grades 6, 5, 5 in Higher Level subjects. You must also have Standard Level grade 5 in both Mathematics and English.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
With this BTEC you must also achieve a grade B one A Level subject.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)
With this BTEC you must also achieve grades BB in two A Level subjects.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Scottish Higher
UCAS Tariff
We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.
About this course
Our four year BSc (Hons) Psychology and Business Joint Honours course with integrated placement year will enable you to benefit from a unique mix of expert teaching, and real world placement opportunities that will help you to develop the skills and insight needed for a variety of careers.
Understanding how people think, feel, and act, and how this relates to behaviour in the world of work is vital for any successful business or organisation. By combining the study of psychology and business you could help organisations discover what good business practice looks like, or to make better, more informed decisions about their workforce and customers.
Accredited as conferring eligibility for the Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS). This accreditation is the first step you’ll need to become a Chartered Psychologist if you wish to take this path. This means that, not only will you have the right preparation and knowledge, but the right accreditations for a successful career as a psychologist too.
On successful graduation from the course (this includes the completion of a work placement, appropriate choice of final year modules, and payment of the appropriate membership fee) you will also be eligible to become an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and be permitted to use the letters Assoc. CIPD after your name.
Studying psychology and business at Aston gives you the opportunity to complete a professional placement year, in the UK, or even overseas. Taking a placement year gives you valuable life experience in the context of working alongside professionals in a working environment. You will gain genuine practical work experience that is invaluable in developing an appreciation of issues such as office politics, which cannot be replicated in the lecture room. Such an experience is both personally enriching and valued by future employers.
**Key course benefits:**
- This course is one of only a few undergraduate degrees in the UK to offer both a professional psychology and business accreditation: British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
- Our integrated placement year will give you the opportunity to gain valuable real-wold experience, setting your studies in the context of a working environment, designed to boost your future employment prospects. Placements can be taken in a psychology or related professional setting in both the UK and abroad.
- Top 10 in the UK for research quality (Psychology, Complete University Guide, 2021).
- Top 25 in the UK for Psychology graduate salaries one year after graduation (Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data, 2020).
Modules
Year 1
Study a mixture of key psychology and business topics from biological and social psychology, to organisational behaviour and accounting for business. Core modules: Key Skills in Psychology I, Key Skills in Psychology II, Biological and Cognitive Psychology, Developmental and Social Psychology, Introduction to Organisational Behaviour, Introduction to Marketing Management, Introductory Accounting for Business, and Introduction to Human Resource Management (HRM).
Year 2
Expand on the knowledge you gained during your first year and delver deeper into a range of specialist areas across the two specialties. Core modules: Research Methods and Data Analysis, Applied Psychology and Professional Skills, Individual Differences and Personality, Cognition and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Employee Resourcing, Psychology and Work, Developing Creativity, and Effective Teamwork.
Placement year
Your opportunity to gain valuable career boosting experience by setting your studies in a real-world context of a working environment alongside professionals.
Final year
In addition to completing your final year project, you will study a series of core modules as well as getting the opportunity to select from a range of optional modules in both psychology and business topics. Core modules: Final Year Project, Critical Social Psychology, Child Development, Strategic HRM, and Employment Law for HRM.
For more information, please visit our website.
Assessment methods
You will experience a wide range of high quality learning experiences from informative large-scale interactive lectures, to smaller group sessions such as tutorials, where you will discuss the course material with your tutors and peers, and labs, where you will learn key practical skills for psychological research; plus there will be opportunities to work with our expert staff on a one-to-one basis.
We utilise a wide range of assessments linked to learning outcomes such as: class tests/end of year examinations (unseen essay, short answer or multiple choice questions), essays, research reports (group or individual), presentations, statistics assignments, and oral presentations.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Aston University, Birmingham
School of Psychology
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.
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.
Psychology (non-specific)
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
Business studies
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
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.
Psychology
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.
Top job areas of graduates
20 years ago, this was a specialist degree for would-be psychologists but now it is the model of a modern, flexible degree subject. One of the UK's fastest-growing subject at degree level, and the second most popular subject overall (it recently overtook business studies), one in 23 of all graduates last year had psychology degrees. As you'd expect with figures like that, jobs in psychology itself are incredibly competitive, so to stand a chance of securing one, you need to get a postgraduate qualification (probably a doctorate in most fields, especially clinical psychology) and some relevant work experience. But even though there are so many psychology graduates — far more than there are jobs in psychology, and over 13,800 in total last year — this degree has a lower unemployment rate than average because its grads are so flexible and well-regarded by business and other industries across the economy. Everywhere there are good jobs in the UK economy, you'll find psychology graduates - and it's hardly surprising as the course helps you gain a mix of good people skills and excellent number and data handling skills. A psychology degree ticks most employers' boxes — but we'd suggest you don't drop your maths modules.
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.
Top job areas of graduates
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.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Psychology
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£19k
£22k
£25k
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.
Business and management
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£25k
£30k
£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.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
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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?
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