Business Management
Is Business Management right for me?
If you have an interest in working in the world of management and business then
Business Management can set you up well. To get the best out of this degree you will
need good time management skills and to be able to think independently, together
with a curiosity about the world of business – how things work, how to get the best
out of people, and how to constantly innovate and improve. The skills you can gain
from a business management degree are wide-ranging and provide a good basis for
employment in almost any sector.
Are all Business Management degrees the same?
All universities will offer slightly different degree courses with varied specialisms and
modules. Some universities offer both BA and BSc options and you will need to explore
with them how these programmes differ – although often there will not be much or
any difference.
Some universities will have a common first year to their Business Management degrees
which will give you the flexibility to change to a more specialist, less specialist or
different specialism at the end of the first year. If you are unsure whether to take a
broad-ranging or specialist degree, or are uncertain about which specialist area might
suit you best, this may be a good option for you.
Whatever Business Management degree you choose, as you progress, your degree will
become increasingly more specialised and you will have more scope to choose
optional modules that are of interest to you. Each University will provide information
about how their degrees work in their prospectus or on their website, and the most
up-to-date information can normally be found on the website.
Specialisms
There are a number of specialisms you could choose as part of your Business
Management degree. These include Accounting, Finance, eBusiness, Human Resource
Management, Marketing, Operations Management, Entrepreneurship, Management
Consulting and many others. Many universities will also offer options
that include a work placement or study abroad. This can give you
valuable experience which will often help you to secure a job after university.
How will I spend my time?
Most Universities schedule from 12-18 hours of teaching per week for Business
Management degrees. Teaching time is usually split between lectures, small group
work such as seminars and tutorials, and also some practical sessions in an IT lab.
Lectures will often be with the whole year group, which may be up to 700 people.
Lecturers will usually give their view on a subject or text and no participation is
usually required other than note-taking. You will often find that the lecture notes are
available for you to download in advance of the lecture via the university's virtual
learning environment (such as Blackboard or Moodle).
Seminars and tutorials are a little different in that they often require you to do some
sort of preparation beforehand. Seminars will generally have around 20-30 students
and tutorials are smaller again, or may be a one-to-one with the tutor. Both seminars
and tutorials are more discussion-based, allowing you to share and develop your ideas
and ask any questions you may have. Although slightly daunting initially, these classes
will allow you to engage much more closely with the topic of study, your fellow
students and the academic staff. With these, the more time you put into preparation,
the more you will get out of them.
Skills you gain from a Business Management degree
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Critical, analytical and evaluative thinking
Mathematical, statistical and IT skills
Good self-management and organisational skills
Coherent and concise written communication
Communication and presentation skills
Research, investigative and analysis skills
Independent working
Team work
Collection and analysis of data
These skills can help you gain work in business, marketing, enterprise, law, hospitality,
politics, policy, journalism, economics and many other areas, as well as paving the
way to further study.
Student Viewpoint
Sophie Yorke, 2nd year Business Management student
On my first day at Swansea University I attended an induction which provided me with
details of the university, my personal timetable, and what I should expect to achieve
whilst studying my Business Management degree.
My timetable consisted of the following modules:
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Marketing Principles
Introduction to Financial Accounting
Academic Professional and Entrepreneurship Skills (APES)
Quantitative Methods
People and Organisations
Principles of Economics
Introduction to Management Accounting
Statistical Methods
Each module consisted of 2 hours of lectures a week plus an hour-long tutorial,
together with an advised extra 2 hours of personal reading. As a student I felt I
learned better by actually doing work, rather than reading a text book. I found that
re-writing, summarising and re-reading my notes helped me remember what I was
learning more than reading did alone.
Initially, I was surprised at the number of students in my lectures, having previously
studied A Levels in classrooms with a maximum of 30 pupils. I was not expecting to
find a much larger number of students in the same room studying the same modules! I
was expecting our lectures to be split up into Business, Economics and Accounting,
but as we were doing some of the same modules we were often all together. The size
of lectures can be daunting, and I believe a lot of students have the impression that
they have to make friends in the lectures, but this is hard to do when you are sitting
next to someone new every lecture! This is not something to be concerned about, as
for the second year you will be picking your own modules so will meet different
people in smaller groups.
I was thankful that I was able to keep up with the workload, which is more than I had
for A Levels, but was still bearable. However, the way that lectures were taught was
not something that I was used to. During my previous years of study I was used to
working in class, whereas lectures consisted of turning up to your lectures with your
notes which the lecturers make available online for you to print out. I realised how
important it was to do this as I often didn’t understand some of the
content before the lecture, but when my lecturer explained, it became
a lot clearer! I was able to write my own personal notes onto the lecture notes which
helped me understand and remember when it came to revising.
A typical week for me during the first year was much less stressful than I was
expecting. There is a lot less pressure during the first year as the exams and
coursework do not count towards your final degree mark. This came as a great relief
to me as I was then able to understand where I had made mistakes in my work and
what I could do in order to avoid making these mistakes during the second year and
this has allowed me to produce higher graded work. An example of this would be the
essays that I submitted at first year. The feedback that I received on these pieces of
work have helped me to have a better understanding of what I need to do with my
essays in the second year.
I found the teaching style of my lectures less formal than I expected. The lecturers’
presentation slides were available online so you could view them in advance of the
lecture or again afterwards - or even instead of attending the lecture, although this
isn’t recommended! Some of my lectures were also recorded, so those I had missed I
was able to catch up – these were useful as they didn’t just include the slides, but
also the lecturer explaining the content.
At the start of the year I wanted to write about everything, however, as the year
went on, I learned what suited me and what would help me learn the most. I
discovered that I learn better when I am writing and doing work, rather than sitting
and listening. Because of this I enjoyed the tutorials more, as they consisted of much
smaller groups of students (typically around 20) and we were able to interact with our
tutor, discuss what we did in the lectures and ask questions.
Between my lectures I would often go to the dining hall, but during exams or when I
had coursework due I found myself going to the library and computer rooms a lot
more. Computers are available, although these get busy as peak times. You can bring
your own laptop and there are facilities where you can access the internet and get set
up on the University network. During shorter breaks between lectures I did group work
for my Academic Professional and Entrepreneurship Skills module with a group of 8
other students.
Throughout first year I had 2 essays, 6 in-class tests, 5 assignments, and 1 group work
assignment. Often these would all be close together so it is good to plan out what you
are going to start first, in order of which ones have to be submitted first.
I decided not to take part in any of the university’s clubs and societies as I already
had a part-time job and I did not want to take any more time away from my studies.
However, for those who do want to get involved there are a large number available to
suit everyone’s interests.
Overall I am finding university challenging, although I expected this
due to the increase in the amount of work we have each year.
University is a great experience, and while some students may find that it is not for
them, many will thrive. All of the staff I have met so far have been very polite, and
lecturers are more than happy to help you with anything, and this can be done
through email with quick responses.