Business and French

Business

Business will equip you with essential business knowledge, techniques and theories. The course has a strong professional focus and ensures that you gain the insight and skills often sought by employers. The course encompasses a broad range of modules, such as Quantitative Techniques, Accounting, Economics, Marketing, Operations Management, Organisational Behaviour and Strategic Management. There is also emphasis on other skills such as presentation, organisation, communication and IT, which are developed throughout the course. Business will allow you to enjoy extensive and varied career opportunities.

This programme aims to deepen your understanding of how businesses operate and to develop your ability to recognise and analyse the economic, technical, financial, social and organisational parameters within which modern managers make decisions.

French

France lies at the heart of much of Europe's history and civilisation. From the French Revolution to the European Union, the country's influence in shaping the political face of modern Europe has been immense. Today France rivals Britain as Europe's second largest economy. The French language is the key to understanding continental Europe. Whether for the purpose of business, government or cultural understanding, French is an essential ingredient.

Key benefits

Business

Aston Business School has an excellent reputation for teaching and research. It scored 24/24 in the latest Teaching Quality Assessment and gained a very high grade of 5 for its research. There is a wide range of subjects on offer to complement Business. The course offers an extensive choice of final year options, enabling you to tailor your degree to specific needs and interests. Graduates of Business are entitled to exemptions from a number of the professional accreditation foundation stage exams, including those of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Institute of Chartered Accountants and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Aston's Business graduates have a strong track record of graduate employment success. This is strongly influenced by Aston's excellent placement opportunities.

Aston Business School is rated as one of the UK's leading Business Schools. It offers a range of general business and management degrees together with more specialist offerings and has one of the largest MSc. programmes in the country. Although Aston University is relatively small, Aston Business School is one of the largest in the UK with around 3000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Confidence in Aston's success has led to a significant investment programme in recent years and the School offers its own high quality conference and hotel accommodation on its premises close to the centre of Birmingham.

French

Aston is committed to the study of language in use in a wide range of contexts. Develop near-native proficiency and a high level of communicative skills (written and spoken) through your study of the history, politics, culture and economics of contemporary France and French-speaking countries.

• To equip the international communicators of the future.

• To enable students to communicate effectively in French, by instilling a deeper understanding of the French language, institutions and cultural affairs and therefore a fuller appreciation of how the French-speaking community lives and functions.

The excellence of teaching on our French degree is reflected in the Guardian Modern Languages league table position of 12th.

At Aston University, students can study French in combination with a range of other subjects offered. Some popular combinations are Business, Public Policy & Management (Aston Business School), Psychology (Life and Health Sciences) or Mathematics (Engineering and Applied Sciences).

Teaching and assessment

Business

You will experience a wide variety of learning and teaching methods, including:

• lectures, tutorials and seminars

• business exercises and case studies

• group and individual project work

• use of our extensive computing facilities

• corporate investigation and analysis

Students will be assessed in individual modules by end-of-semester (January & May/June) examinations and by assignments conducted and submitted during each session. Each module has its own method of assessment. Assessment methods include written exams, essays, presentations and projects.

French

You will experience a wide variety of learning and teaching methods, including:

• lectures, tutorials and seminars

• French exercises and case studies

• group and individual project work

• use of our extensive computing facilities

• corporate investigation and analysis

Students will be assessed in individual modules by end-of-semester (January & May/June) examinations and by assignments conducted and submitted during each session. Each module has its own method of assessment. Assessment methods include written exams, essays, presentations and projects.

Personal development

Business

There is the opportunity to develop professional skills and enhance employability by spending a year in paid employment with an industrial, commercial or public sector organisation. It is therefore strongly recommended that you choose a sandwich programme including a placement. However, it should be noted that a placement is compulsory only for Combined Honours students if they are studying a language as one of their subjects.

The year of paid employment can provide you with experience of the practical problems of management and lay the foundations for your final year of study. It is highly attractive to potential employers and around 30% of students are offered a job upon graduation by their placement year employer.

Aston Business School has excellent links with eight hundred and fifty companies both in the UK and abroad. Around two thousand jobs are advertised to students each year via the Placement Office website. Opportunities are available in a wide range of institutions, from large multi-national blue chip companies to small firms and charities.

The Placement Office will help you to secure a placement by providing information and guidance in a number of ways. It offers workshops on interview techniques, assessment centre tests, writing CVs and completing application forms. Students can also undertake mock interviews.

In the final year, students have the opportunity to specialise in areas of particular interest and relevance to their chosen career path.

The Business programme aims to prepare you for managerial positions and will develop your skills as a problem solver, planner and leader. You will have the opportunity to develop the skills to deploy key resources such as people, time and money efficiently and effectively.

French

The placement year at Aston has an enviable reputation. This year provides the opportunity to not only develop professional skills by spending a year in paid employment it will allow students to develop fluency in French by spending their year in a French speaking country.

Students may choose to work in a well-known and established company, as a Teaching Assistant in a school abroad, or follow a university programme at one of our ERASMUS partner institutions.

The School of Languages and Social Sciences has a full-time placement Officer, who is dedicated in assisting students with finding and obtaining suitable placements. In recent years, students have had places in the European Parliament as assistants to MEP's for example and with European business organisations as well as in UK-based institutions working on European issues and programmes.

Aston has one of the best records for graduate employment in the UK. The course ensures that students gain academic knowledge as well as developing a wide range of skills that are valued by employers.

Aston's French graduates offer potential employers strong communication and problem solving skills and have a proven record of securing lucrative, varied and stimulating positions after completing their studies at Aston University.

Career prospects

Business

Combined Honours Business graduates have a consistently excellent track record in finding graduate jobs in the private and public sectors. Recent graduates have entered the job market in management positions for leading and well-established companies.

Examples include Marketing Officer for the Co-Op bank, Commercial manager for Marks and Spencer, Accountants for KPMG, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Baker Tilly and Deloitte and Touche.

French

Britain's increased involvement with the European Union has led to an ever-increasing demand for top-quality graduates with practical, near-native language skills and an in-depth knowledge of other countries and their business and communication cultures. They require an expertise in contemporary, social, economic and political issues as well as the ability to work comfortably and competently in a variety of media. As one of our graduates you will match these criteria fully. Recent graduates have entered careers in UK and international business/marketing, the languages and communications professions, education, European institutions and research.

Objectives

Programme Aims

Aston is committed to the study of language in use in a wide range of contexts. Develop near-native proficiency and a high level of communicative skills (written and spoken) through your study of the history, politics, culture and economics of contemporary France and French-speaking countries.

• To equip the international communicators of the future.

• To enable students to communicate effectively in French, by instilling a deeper understanding of the French language, institutions and cultural affairs and therefore a fuller appreciation of how the French-speaking community lives and functions.