Psychology and Business
Aston University, Birmingham
UCAS Code: CN81 | Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
BBB in any three A Levels. BBC in any three A levels plus grade B in either Core Maths or Extended Project Qualification (EPQ). BCC in any three A Levels for Contextual Offer students (more details https://www.aston.ac.uk/undergraduate/contextual-offer-aston-ready). 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 and 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 to HE 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 requirements.
GCSE/National 4/National 5
Five GCSEs all at grade C/4 and must include Mathematics and English Language. Please note that 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 three Higher Level subjects. You must also have Standard Level grade 5 in both Mathematics and English Language. Or 29 points overall, with three Higher Level subjects at 5 5 4. You must also have Standard Level grade 5 in both Maths and English Language for Contextual Offer students (more details https://www.aston.ac.uk/undergraduate/contextual-offer-aston-ready).
Pearson BTEC 90-Credit Diploma (QCF)
With this BTEC you must also achieve grades BB in two A Level subjects.
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)
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Foundation Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
With this BTEC you must also achieve grades BB in two A Level subjects.
T Level
We accept grade Distinction in any of the below subjects: • Design, Surveying and Planning for Construction • Digital Production, Design and Development • Education and Childcare • Building Services Engineering for Construction • Onsite Construction • Digital Business Services • Digital Support Services • Health • Healthcare Science • Science
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, which will help you to develop the skills and insight needed for a variety of careers. Psychology is a fascinating subject that aims to understand why people behave in the way that they do, by considering the complex interplay between biological, psychological, environmental, cultural, and social influences on behaviour. Alongside this, studying Business will provide you with a breadth of business knowledge including the functions of management and the science of decision-making.
The BSc in Psychology and Business is, therefore, an ideal combination of complementary disciplines, with Psychology providing you with an understanding of the foundations of human behaviour, which can then be applied to Business contexts, while, studying Business will enable you to understand psychological knowledge and theories in the context of a real-world setting.
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.
The programme is accredited as conferring eligibility for the Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS) if students gain at least a lower second-class honours degree classification. 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.
**Key course benefits:**
- Unique dual accreditation by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD).
- As a BSc (Hons) Psychology and Business student, when you graduate from the course 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.
- Real world experience - Integrated placement year to give you real world experience, with specialist support and supervision while you undertake your role in industry. Recent examples of Psychology student placements include working for the Home Office, Civil Service, British Energy, Aston Villa Football Club, Ford Motor Co, and GlaxoSmithKline.
- Psychology graduates have gone on to secure work in organisations such as the Civil Service, the BBC, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, HSBC, IBM, Deloitte, Cooperative Bank, Jaguar Land Rover, KPMG, PwC, private care companies, and the NHS.
**We no longer offer a Foundation Programme. If you select Year 0 on your application form, this will be amended to Year 1 at admissions review stage.**
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, Health and Personality, Cognition and Cognitive Neuropsychology, Employee Resourcing, Psychology and Work, Developing Creativity, and Effective Teamwork.
Placement year
The integrated placement year is an exciting opportunity to gain valuable career boosting experience. You’ll be able to apply what you have learnt so far and set 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, Social Psychology, Lifespan Development, Strategic HRM, and Employment Law for HRM.
For more information, please visit our website.
Assessment methods
Our close employer links and focus on practical experiences to transfer to the workplace means you’ll get a blend of learning and teaching experiences that will leave you well quipped for your future career.
You will encounter a variety of learning opportunities, including:
lectures
practical sessions
interactive workshops and tutorials
group work.
There is a much stronger emphasis on reading and on your own private, independent study than at school or college. To help you manage your learning, we set out your work for the year in an online student guide. This includes full details of all modules including week-by-week lecture breakdowns, reading lists and all coursework assignments for the year with the relevant deadlines.
Each year of study is worth 120 credits, with each credit equivalent to 10 learning hours. The learning hours may include but are not limited to lectures, seminars, tutorials, lab sessions, practicals, online activity, reading, other independent study, reflecting on assignment feedback, field trips and work placements.
You will be assessed throughout the course via wide range of assessments linked to learning outcomes. These include:
class tests/end of year examinations (unseen essay, short answer or multiple choice questions)
essays
research reports (group or individual)
presentations
statistics assignments
oral presentations.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
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.
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)
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)
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.
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.
Psychology (non-specific)
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.
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
£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.
Psychology (non-specific)
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£20k
£25k
£26k
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:
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?
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