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Business and Human Resource Management with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

32-56

A typical offer will require a UCAS Tariff score between 32 - 56. Every application is considered on an individual basis. For further details of our international English entry requirements, please visit our General Entry Requirements pages.

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Business studies

Human resource management

Do you have a passion for helping people achieve their full potential? Looking to create an inspiring work environment? Interested in matching people to their perfect job? Then a career in human resource management could be the perfect choice for you.

Companies are invested in their future success. They are constantly on the lookout for skilled and qualified HR managers, who are not just academically qualified but are also work-ready with skills in management and leadership. At BNU our practical BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management course is accredited by the leading professional body The Chartered Management Institute (CMI). We can give you the skills to thrive.

This course has a shared first year across multiple specialisms. After your first year, if you want to study a different specialism you can choose to change between BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management and BA (Hons) Business Management.

**Why study this subject?**
With our BA (Hons) Business and Human Resource Management course you will blend both the latest industry insights with best practice. Gain experience of real client projects and enhancing your CV ready for graduate employability.

Our academic staff have developed this degree with the latest industry insights and can help you gain real-life human resource management experience while you study. Become an innovative leader, team player, and career-ready with this hands-on course.

You will have the opportunity to learn to apply practical and realistic solutions to complex business recruitment and management scenarios. Studying employer-focused subject areas including: managing and engaging people, international human resource management, as well as human resource strategy. All of which will help you to develop the intellectual and personal skills needed to become a successful people manager.

**Why study at Buckinghamshire New University?**
BNU is a vibrant and diverse University with student experience at its heart. Our high lecturer to student ratio ensures that you will receive continual and first-hand support throughout your degree, allowing you to stretch and excel in your abilities. And graduate with a versatile and in-demand degree.

With BNU, you can benefit from CMI accreditation, proven to boost employability by providing learners with the management and leadership skills needed to succeed. On completion of your degree, you will gain a CMI qualification developed in consultation with employers.

Our industry-experienced academics will also support you in developing the knowledge and understanding of best practices in resourcing and talent planning. We’ll help you grow your personal skills and prepare you for your first roles in recruitment and business development.

You’ll also have the opportunity to develop human resource and recruitment solutions for a wide range of local businesses. You can gain real-world, hands-on experience, while businesses benefit from having dedicated consultants to carry out research and offer advice tailored to their needs.

We’ve previously had students consulting major companies as well as helping start-ups to get their businesses on the move. Some of the large companies we have worked with include Dreams, Softcat, Enterprise-rent-a-car, Sacla, Dow Chemicals and the NHS. We have also worked with local businesses such as Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and KVA Digital.

Our strong links with industry and knowledge of their requirements for graduates helped shape this programme. We will also introduce key business speakers and live briefs as assessments throughout the course.

**What are my career prospects?**
Once you have completed your degree, you will be fully equipped to begin a career in a range of industries, in general management, or to develop your own business. Working closely with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) means that you are well-placed to become a Chartered Manager once you start work.

Modules

**Year one**
Preparing for Success Knowledge and Creativity
Preparing for Success Self-development and Responsibility
Inquiry and Research Skills
Introduction to Business Studies

**Year two**
Global Business environment
Graduate Challenge
Introduction to People Management
Principles of Marketing
Financial Decision Making
Organisational Behaviour
Career Viewpoint
Data Insights for Business Decisions

**Year three**
Business Consulting
Project Management
Resourcing and Talent Planning
Managing and Engaging people
Consulting in practice
International HRM
Digital Business and New Technologies
Customer Experience

**Year four**
Research Methods
Strategic Agility
HR Strategy
Developing leadership and management skills
Managing & Developing Innovation & Creativity
Change Management and organisation Development
Dissertation (optional)
Consultancy Project (optional)

Assessment methods

Our assessments reflect our employer-led course philosophy, they are real world centric with live briefs from businesses and cases that challenge students to produce a tangible result and not simply demonstrate knowledge of a subject.

We set a variety of assessments across the three years of the degree; these include: individual management reports; group business plans; people management strategies and presentation pitches; team based marketing campaigns; industry briefed digital advertising activities; individual presentations; timed assessments.

Tuition fees

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

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£15,000
per year
International
£15,000
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

Buckinghamshire New University offers a range of bursaries and scholarships. For more information, please visit https://www.bucks.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/financial-support-bursaries-and-scholarships

The Uni


Course location:

Buckinghamshire New University

Department:

School of Business and Law

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.

55%
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

45%
Staff make the subject interesting
52%
Staff are good at explaining things
59%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
64%
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

52%
Library resources
69%
IT resources
71%
Course specific equipment and facilities
24%
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?

37%
UK students
63%
International students
69%
Male students
31%
Female students
44%
2:1 or above
28%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
D

Human resource management

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?

94%
UK students
6%
International students
58%
Male students
42%
Female students
44%
2:1 or above
21%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

D
E
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.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
95%
med
Employed or in further education
58%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

32%
Sports and fitness occupations
18%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
7%
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.

Human resource management

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.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

19%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
11%
Transport associate professionals
6%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers

This subject is much more common at postgraduate level, and so be aware that many of the good jobs in HR and personnel management go to graduates with Masters or other postgraduate qualifications in this subject. Work experience for first degree graduates can help to get around the lack of postgraduate qualifications, but if you want to go into management you might find that Masters to be an advantage. Although human resource roles are much the most common outcome for graduates from these courses, they take those jobs in an impressive array of industries so there are plenty of options for the kind of employer you can work for. If you would like to know about graduate prospects for your chosen course more specifically, head to an open day to talk to tutors about what previous graduates went on to do.

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.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£26k

£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.

Human resource 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.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£26k

£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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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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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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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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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