Overview

Our Business Management and Finance programme is a career-focused course that will enable you to combine business and financial knowledge to critically understand business strategy and acquire a range of skills such as financial accounting techniques and research skills necessary for evaluation, synthesis and analysis, sought by many employers.

You’ll be able to gain a broad understanding of business concepts, models and methods, with an increased focus on strategic management as you progress through the course. You’ll also be equipped with a critical and comprehensive understanding of the nature and meaning of corporate strategy, to master your ability to assess the strategic position of corporations operating in complex global markets where the economic outlook is not looking good.

The finance element of this course will help develop your analytical and problem-solving skills with a strong focus on investments and financial markets, including an introduction to some of the main principles of corporate financial decision-making and their impact in real-life financial settings.

Key features

• This programme provides the opportunity to gain exemptions from some professional accounting body exams, including the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (subject to optional module choices and any module specific criteria).
• Our Trading Room, one of the largest in a UK university, is a dedicated trading room that will give you a simulated experience of industry-standard software that is used by leading decision-makers in finance, business and government. Through real-time share price and company performance, this will help you to prepare for the real world of business and finance.
• You’ll be taught and informed by our expert lecturers who will bring real-world experience into the classroom thanks to first-hand experience of industry. Their guidance and knowledge will help you enhance your creative, organisational and communication skills, all of which are highly sought-after skills in many jobs.
• Our DMU Works team will help you gain the skills and qualities that today’s employers are looking for through placement opportunities with local, national and global companies. Our placement students have previously secured placements at companies such as Cummins, Vauxhall, Siemens, Ernest Young, the NHS and Pfizer.
• Graduates have previously been employed by leading brands in graduate roles such as Commercial Finance Analyst at Red Bull, Auditor at KPMG, Cost Technician at PepsiCo, Tax Processor at Grant Thornton and Financial Criminal Analyst at Barclays.
• Gain global insight and understanding with our international experience programme DMU Global. Previously, students on our business courses have benefited from trips to destinations including Copenhagen, Berlin, San Diego and Toronto. During these visits, they enjoyed the opportunity to visit sites linked to their studies, such as learning about the financial institutions on New York’s famous Wall Street, as well as experiencing a tour of the Bloomberg headquarters. (Please note that future trips are subject to worldwide restrictions’ and ‚we hope to offer similar trips as soon as worldwide travel is less restricted.)

Structure and assessment

Teaching and assessment

You will be taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, seminars, group work and self-directed study. Assessment is through coursework (presentations, essays and reports) and usually an exam or test, which is typically weighted as follows in your first year:

• Exam: 53%
• Coursework: 47%

These assessment weightings are indicative only. The exact weighting may vary depending on option modules chosen by students and teaching methods deployed by the academic member of staff each year. Indicative assessment weighting and assessment type per module are shown as part of the module information. Again these are based on the current academic session.

Teaching contact hours

This is a full-time course and in total you should be prepared to devote approximately 38 hours a week to your studies. In the first year, you will typically have up to 14 contact hours of teaching most weeks. Teaching is through a mix of lectures, tutorials, seminars and lab sessions and the breakdown of these activity types is shown in each module description.

Other: In addition each module provides a two hour surgery each week for individual consultation with the lecturer. You will also have timetabled meetings with your personal tutor and careers and/or subject meetings scheduled throughout the year.

Self-directed study: In order to prepare for, and assimilate, the work in lectures and seminars you will be expected to use our on-line resources, participate in flipped or virtual classroom discussions on our virtual learning environment (VLE) and engage in personal study and revision for approximately 25 hours per week.

Subsequent years follow a similar pattern, however, the contact time will vary depending on your subject mix and options chosen, and the teaching methods appropriate to the module. Further details are contained in each module description.

Facilities and features