Business and Spanish

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.

Spanish

Spanish is spoken by 400 million people worldwide and is the official language in 23 countries. The use of Spanish in Latin America and in the US is increasing rapidly. This, and the growing study of Spanish as a second language, is producing a significant, vibrant, global Spanish-speaking population.

Spanish history and culture are recognised for their distinctive character as being amongst the most fascinating in the world. Both Spain and Latin America have produced rich varieties of literature, art and cinema.

The Spanish economy has seen unprecedented growth since the country's entry into the EU. This, coupled with the resources of Latin America and Spanish investment in that region, means that the Spanish language is very important in terms of commercial exchanges and careers in business.

The Spanish programme at Aston is designed to equip our students with the tools, skills and knowledge necessary to operate effectively in a multilingual and multicultural world. Like with all our language programmes, we are committed to the study of Spanish in context. We believe that languages are products of social, historical, political, cultural and economic processes. This means that along with near native proficiency in written and spoken Spanish, students also graduate with in depth understanding of Spanish culture and society

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.

Spanish

Our Spanish programme is contemporary, applied and intellectually stimulating. It is based on an understanding of contemporary Spanish (history, politics and culture) and the acquisition of a high level of proficiency in the Spanish language.

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.

Spanish

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

Spanish

The placement year at Aston has an enviable reputation. It provides the opportunity to develop professional skills by spending a year in paid employment in a Spanish speaking country. Through gaining first-hand experience, the students raises levels of fluency, accuracy and confidence and increases knowledge, awareness and understanding of the society and its language.

Students can choose from three options for a full year placement; work placement, university study, teaching assistant-this is particularly interesting if a student is interested in working with young people and is considering a career in teaching.

Inter-disciplinary students are encouraged to seek university or work placements to involve their expertise in their other subject. However, support and assessment for the year abroad is linked to the programme of Spanish studies.

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

Spanish in combination with other Inter-disciplinary subjects provides a good basis for a wide variety of work.

Graduates with native-speaker language competence are much sought after in today's competitive global environment, for their intercultural awareness , excellent communication skills and analytical thinking. As a global language spoken by some 400 million speakers, Spanish is a vital asset to a graduate profile.

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.

Spanish

Graduates with native-speaker language competence are much sought after in today's competitive global environment, for their intercultural awareness, excellent communication skills and analytical thinking. As a global language spoken by some 400 million speakers, Spanish is a vital asset to a graduate profile.