Study abroad

In your study abroad year, you learn about the national business environment and legal frameworks of your host country. You study business and management modules in the country’s language, giving you the chance to practise your written and spoken skills.

Studying abroad gives you a better understanding of cultural sensitivities, as well as how business customs, norms and expectations vary across the world. When you return to the UK, you can begin your graduate job search as an attractive candidate for multi-national organisations and your experience may even mean you can transfer to an overseas office later in your career.

Our expert staff

You are taught by a highly qualified, enthusiastic team of academics and business practitioners with wide-ranging research interests. Their research is used in lectures and seminars so you learn about the latest issues impacting business today.

Our staff specialise in areas including:

• Organisational diversity
• Business Ethics
• Corporate Governance
• Historical aspects of management
• Gender and LGBT inequality in the workplace
• Cultural Production
• Corporate Marketing and Corporate Communication
• The role of bodies, knowledge and skills in consumption
• Technology and Innovation
• Leadership and Human Resource Management

Essex Business School is home to practising academics who are active and influential in their field, such as Lecturer in Management and Marketing and Social Media Influencer researcher Dr Erik Jacobi. Erik’s research looks specifically at the politicisation of brands and the impact of social media influencers. This highly contemporary field of research makes Erik one of the most interesting and popular lecturers who teach on our undergraduate courses at Essex Business School.

You learn languages in the Department of Language and Linguistics, who are ranked14th for Linguistics in the Complete University Guide 2022.

All of our modern languages staff are native or bilingual speakers from countries such as France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Spain and Cuba. As well as developing your language skills, they can share their expertise in professional translation, interpreting, subtitling, film, art, business and culture.

Specialist facilities

Our BA Business Management and Modern Languages is based at our Colchester Campus.

In our landmark Essex Business School building -the first zero carbon business school in the UK- you’ll see our sustainable approach to business first-hand. Set around a lush winter garden, are a wealth of inspiring teaching and study zones..

Our new building provides you with superb facilities:

• modern lecture theatres with ‘listen again’ recording to aid your study
• study pods and innovation booths for group working
• networking opportunities with visiting businesses
• a café and adjacent foyer to enjoy on-site fresh food and drink
• study skills workshops and advice

Our business school is located on the University’s Knowledge Gateway, where you may be able to take advantage of networking and work experience opportunities with businesses located on site.

You also benefit from the learning resources available within our Department of Language and Linguistics:

• Melissi Digital Classroom software for subtitling and interpreting
• a new 20-position interpreting lab
• Extra-curricular activities are available through student societies

Your future

Well-honed business management skills combined with language skills will prepare you for a truly international career.

As the world of business becomes more globalised, your language skills will make you stand out as a business graduate. As a school with an international outlook, Essex Business School will help you do business beyond borders while developing your analytical and leadership skills.

Many of our graduates go on to graduate management training schemes or roles within NGOs straight after graduation.

The BA Business Management and Modern Languages curriculum taught here embeds transferable employability skills in analysis, critical thinking, presentation and communication across all modules.

The Study Skills module in year one will develop your academic skills, while the Student Success modules in year two will build on what you learned in year one and so that you can easily step up to meet the growing academic demands of your second and final years. The Successful Futures module in year two will foster your professionalism and introduce you to the graduate recruitment process, including practical advice to excel at interviews and assessment centres.

Recent graduate destinations include:

• Relationship Manager at Footprint Digital – a fast-growing digital marketing agency
• Delivery Consultant at RED – The Global SAP Solutions Provider – a specialist recruitment firm
• iX Business Consultant at IBM – the multifunctional information technology conglomerate

The School will support you with a range of skills and careers opportunities, including: skills development workshops; employer talks; skills events and careers conferences.

BA Business Management and Modern Languages students can also take advantage of the services offered by the Student Development Team, including: careers advice; work experience; internships; placements; and voluntary opportunities.

Course structure

This course is designed to provide you with a broad overview of all the main areas of business management, whilst also allowing you to be flexible to study your own areas of interest.

In the first year our current students cover the fundamentals that every business manager needs to know. However, we are planning some changes to our first year and we’ll be tailoring it more closely to your chosen course. Then in second and final year you will have a mixture of compulsory and optional modules.

We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. Please be aware that we are planning changes to our first year to make it more relevant to your chosen course.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.

Language options

You can study up to two languages with this course and the language modules you study depend upon your level when you arrive. Below is just one example of the combination of modules you could take in the current academic year, with this example showing the progression for a student who has an A Level or equivalent in Spanish.

It is possible to start at an initial level with no prior knowledge of a language (unless you major in Portuguese, when an A-level pass (or equivalent) in Italian, Spanish or Portuguese or first language level fluency in Italian, Romanian or Spanish is required). Please refer to the progression pathway table to find out which modules are suitable for your linguistic profile.

Teaching and learning disclaimer

Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.

The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.