Information Technology Management for Business (Strategy and Economics) Industrial with Experience (4 Years) [BSc]

Bachelor's degree

In Manchester

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    Manchester

  • Start date

    Different dates available

Course overview Focus on the challenging middle ground between business and IT alongside the study of strategy and economics. Include a work placement in your penultimate year of study. Earn a salary, gain increased responsibility and independence and develop a real-world attitude to business.

Facilities

Location

Start date

Manchester (Greater Manchester)
See map
Oxford Road, M13 9PL

Start date

Different dates availableEnrolment now open

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Subjects

  • Business Strategy
  • Management
  • Mentoring
  • IT
  • Design
  • Economics
  • International
  • Global
  • University
  • School
  • Project
  • Systems
  • Technology
  • Government
  • Business Intelligence
  • Team Training
  • Business School
  • IT Development
  • IT Management
  • Skills and Training

Course programme

Course description

Developed in collaboration with the Tech Partnership and leading global blue-chip employers, Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) aims to create `the ideal graduate' whose skills cover the challenging middle ground between business and IT. This particular ITMB course includes the opportunity to specialise in strategy and economics alongside IT and business as well as a work placement in your penultimate year.

Our flexible ITMB degree courses share a common first year before allowing you to focus on your chosen specialism to enhance your career prospects. Since these degrees are identical in the first year, transfer between them is straightforward, so you should apply for only one of them.

The uniqueness of the course is recognised by over 60 employers who maintain its quality and relevance to their sectors. Accenture, BBC, BT, Credit Suisse, Deloitte, IBM, Unilever and many other companies help to deliver the course through project work, guru lectures, student mentoring and a range of professional development activities.

Aims

This course aims to provide you with a broad background of business operations, procedures and culture applicable to a career in IT. You will gain sufficient technical knowledge to play a key role in an IT environment and develop problem-solving and modelling skills appropriate to IT-related business operations.

You will also develop entrepreneurial and management skills appropriate to IT projects and lifelong learning skills allowing you to keep abreast of developments in a rapidly changing business environment.

Special features

  • Includes a work placement in your penultimate year of study - earn a salary, gain increased responsibility and independence and develop a real-world attitude to business.
  • Complete team projects set by employers such as Jaguar Land Rover and SAS, the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market.
  • Bi-annual on-campus ITMB showcase and recruitment events - present your project work to the likes of Accenture, IBM, Credit Suisse, Northgate and Procter & Gamble. Visit our YouTube channel  to watch a short film about the employer showcase events.
  • Bi-annual Tech Partnership north and south events include business challenges, competitions, graduate and placement student panels, 'meet the employers' sessions and drop-in careers clinics with support from employers such as Capgemini, Logica, HP, Asda and Shell.
  • Employer mentoring scheme - current mentors include the BBC, BT, Deloitte and IBM.
  • Guru lectures and skills workshops provided by BT, CSC, Deloitte, Accenture, Teach First, and Unilever.

Teaching and learning

You will normally study four or five course units per semester. Each week there are usually two hours of lectures for each course unit and a one hour workshop in alternate weeks, although this varies slightly. You are expected to double this in private study. Group work and group or individual presentations will form a regular part of your assignments.

Coursework and assessment

Essays, multiple choice tests, project reports and presentations, in-class tests and weekly assignments constitute the coursework component of assessment, although the nature and proportion of coursework varies across course units. The remainder of assessment is by unseen examination. Depending on the degree course, in your final year you can choose to do a research-based dissertation or project. We aim to strike a balance between examinations and assessed coursework as well as providing opportunities for feedback on progress through non-assessed work.

Course content for year 1

Project work integrates business and IT throughout your course. Our current first-year team projects are supported by Jaguar Land Rover and involve designing and building a new dealership ordering website. By the end of semester one, you will have presented your first team project to employers, met with your business mentors and participated in interactive skills sessions delivered by leading companies such as Accenture, BT and Deloitte.

You will study course units in Human Computer Interaction, Business Database Design and Development, Microeconomics, Financial Reporting, Marketing Foundations, Management Accounting, Information Systems in Business, Introduction to Enterprise Systems and Business Application Design and Development.

You will also benefit from a series of 'guru' lectures from guest speakers throughout your first year; previous lectures have included `A day in the life of a project manager' by Procter & Gamble', `Using cloud computing to increase value' by Barclays and `Cyber security - the challenge for UK government during times of austerity' by Capgemini.

Course content for year 2

Your second year provides you with an opportunity to further develop application and database design skills and to build a deeper understanding of information systems in organisations. You will study Business Process Modelling, Business Intelligence and Research Methodology.

The second-year Business Team Project focuses on providing a more advanced solution to a business problem and includes an international component collaborating with students in partner overseas universities. Our current second-year team projects are supported by SAS, the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market, and involve exploring the impact of IT provision on the University's carbon footprint.

Strategy and economics specialists will study core course units in International Business Environment and Technology, Strategy and Innovation and either Macroeconomics or Managerial Economics as well as 20 credits of optional course units.

Course content for year 3If successful, you will spend your third year on a paid work placement. Completing a placement will enable you to put theory into practice, further develop important transferable skills and gain a real insight into your chosen profession.Course content for year 4

Your final year provides an in-depth view of systems implementation and change, IT architectures and operations management. You will gain practical skills in the design and application of a business IT architecture through a core unit developed with IBM UK which uses IBM developed techniques in real case studies from the global technology giant. You will benefit from lectures, study materials and support from IBM staff.

You will take core course units in Information Management & Business Analytics, Business IT Architecture, Business Modelling & Simulation and IT in Business Strategy.

You will write your own final year project proposal - the development of an IT solution to a business problem through investigation, requirements, analysis, design, implementation, testing and evaluation. Previous ITMB students have studied how IBM uses technology to manage teams across geographic locations and time zones, investigated ICT provision in the treatment of diabetes in the NHS and considered the implications of the rise in social networking on management. You will also choose 60 credits of optional course units. Your project must have significant focus towards your chosen specialism.

As a strategy and economics specialist, you will select 30 credits from the following course units: Global Management, People & the Digital Divide (20), Globalisation, the World Economy and Multinational Enterprises (10), Industrial Organisation and Business Strategy (20), International Competitiveness and Innovation (20), The Economics of Sport (10) and Behavioural Strategy (10). Finally, you will choose 20 credits of optional course units. Additional course fee information Tuition fees for home/EU students commencing their studies in September 2016 will be £9,000 per annum. Tuition fees for international students will be £20,000 per annum. For general information please see the  undergraduate fees  pages. Scholarships and bursaries

The Manchester Bursary is available to any student who is registered on an eligible first undergraduate degree course at Manchester and who has had a full financial assessment carried out by Student Finance. Visit our student finance pages for more detailed information.

In addition to this support, Alliance Manchester Business School will be awarding five Undergraduate Scholarships for Social Responsibility worth £2,000 p.a. across three years of study to UK students achieving AAA at A-level (or equivalent) who are able to demonstrate a significant contribution and commitment to social responsibility. We will also be awarding this scholarship to an international (non-EU) student. Find out more about our Undergraduate Scholarships for Social Responsibility .

Course collaborators

The distinctive feature of this group of programmes is the strategic involvement of world-class firms within the IT sector who partner with Alliance Manchester Business School to provide input to the course, in the form of prestigious `guru' lectures, real business problems or projects, and mentoring.

The degree has been introduced and directly supported by business and commercial input, with the UK government's Department for Education (DfE) and the Tech Partnership leading the course. Recognised by government as the Industrial Partnership for the Information Economy, the Tech Partnership is central to government industrial strategy - it is the skills arm of the Information Economy Council.

What our students say

'I chose my course because although I loved information technology, I wasn't one of the programming type. I also loved business so the combination of the two was perfect. Manchester Business School offers additional opportunities to aid you such as workshops and providing you with an employer for guidance from companies such as IMB and Deloitte - mine's been really helpful.'

- Olivia Potts

'I am general secretary of the ITMB society, as well as taking part in many competitions run by universities and companies across the country. An example would be the IBM university business challenge, which places competitors as directors of a company across several rounds, and requires you to make decisions about how much to produce and spend on marketing for example. This really improves your business acumen, and puts much of the theory learnt at university into practice.'

- Thomas Anderson

More current students share their experience of studying BSc (Hons) IT Management for Business on our YouTube channel

Facilities

John Rylands University Library is renowned as one of the most extensive libraries in the world. This is complemented by our specialist business and management Precinct Library which provides a dedicated service to Alliance MBS undergraduates. There is increasing provision of information via various web-based services and much of your reading material will be available through e-journals. These and other standard computing services, such as access to the internet and word processing, are available through computer clusters across campus in departmental buildings, libraries and halls of residence. Many buildings in and around the campus are also equipped with free wifi access.

Personal development plans

PDPs are aimed at helping you develop awareness of generic transferable and subject-specific skills, improve independent learning and provide a record of your academic learning and achievement.

Academic advisors

All new Alliance MBS students are allocated an academic advisor who you will meet in regular sessions as part of a first-year course unit. Where possible, you will keep the same academic advisor throughout your time here. Your advisor will support you throughout your studies on matters of an academic nature, from providing feedback on a practice essay in preparation for your `formal' assessment at the end of each semester to discussing your PDP or writing you a reference. We also have a dedicated undergraduate assessment and student support centre within the School, who will be your first point of contact for any ill health or other personal problems which are affecting your work.

Student mentoring

We operate a peer mentoring scheme which aims to provide you with a second or final year 'mentor' to provide practical assistance with orientation and induction as well as advice and information on any aspect of student life.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email:  dass@manchester.ac.uk

Additional information

Career opportunitiesWhen you graduate, you will apply technology-based solutions to strategic problems, presenting your ideas with confidence and managing their implementation. What jobs do our ITMB graduates go into? Examples of jobs recent ITMB graduates have gone onto include: IT consultant, trainee marketing manager, technical analyst, IT first line analyst and finance test analyst. Who employs them? A wide range of companies including Credit Suisse, eBay, Bank of New York Mellon and IBM. All examples are taken from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education...

Information Technology Management for Business (Strategy and Economics) Industrial with Experience (4 Years) [BSc]

Price on request