Business and Public Policy & Management

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.

Public Policy

Government influences many aspects of our lives both directly and indirectly. Public Policy & Management is a multidisciplinary subject that studies the processes of policy making and implementation at global, regional, national and sub-national levels of government and governance. It is not only concerned with the reasons why governments make decisions on key policy areas such as health, education, law and order and the environment, but also looks at the organisations that deliver policy such as schools, hospitals and local authorities. Thus, the subject deals with the rationale behind decisions to go to war in Iraq, lend money to banks, ban smoking in public places and introduce top-up fees for university students to name but a few, as well as focusing on the implementation of such policies.

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.

Public Policy

The Public Policy & Management degree at Aston University will provide you with the opportunity to obtain the knowledge and skills appropriate to a wide range of careers not only in the public sector but also the private and voluntary sectors. Many private sector companies provide services for government organisations or contract with government to build schools, hospitals and maintain essential aspects of infrastructure such as roads, buildings and the environment. Many voluntary organisations are in partnership with government agencies to deliver key services to, for example, children and the elderly. The course offers the opportunity to undertake an optional sandwich year with a relevant placement in public, private or voluntary sectors. This will enhance your prospects in the job market where careers in the European Union, central and local government, a wide range of organisations providing health and social care, education, housing, leisure and environmental protection as well as businesses and charities are typical destinations of Public Policy & Management graduates. The public policy team has strong links with the Business School as well as other academic subject areas within the school of languages and social 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.

Public Policy

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

• lectures, tutorials and seminars

• 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

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.

Public Policy

The professional placement year is an optional part of the Combined Honours degree programmes. The year of paid employment can give you experience of the practical problems of management and lay the foundations for you final year of study. It is highly attractive to potential employers and around 30% of students are offered a job upon graduation.

We have excellent links with over 400 different companies both in the UK and abroad. Around 1000 jobs are advertised to its students each year via its website, with opportunities available in a wide range of institutions, from large multi-national blue-chip companies to small firms in both the private and public sectors.

The dedicated placement office will help you to secure a placement by providing information and guidance in a number of ways: offering workshops in CVs and application forms, interview techniques and passing assessment centre tests.
Students can book mock interviews and the placement office is on hand throughout the year to provide support and advice.

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.

Public Policy

More than 40% of the UK workforce is employed in public service organisations and there are many exciting career opportunities open to public policy graduates, including managerial posts in the civil service and local government, the NHS, the privatised utilities, transport and private sector firms contracting for public services provision.