International Business (with Foundation Year) - BA(Hons)

In the Foundation year (Year zero), the content is designed to develop your academic skills. It also raises awareness of the relevance law, economics, accounting, plus business and management, will play in your future professional lives.

You are encouraged to develop as reflective learners and will gain an understanding of the attributes that graduates of UWE Bristol attain, such as being self-reliant, enterprising, future-facing, collaborative and globally responsible citizens.

Much of the scheduled class time will be spent in rooms equipped for technology-supported work in groups.Teaching methods will be engaging, as staff use the latest techniques and technologies to enhance the learning experience.

The four modules will have three hours of teaching each week (12 hours of scheduled class time in total). On four occasions during the year, the whole 12 hours will be spent team-working on a joint project. One of the weeks will result in an exhibition of assessed group posters and another will produce individual personal development plans.

Foundation Year (Year zero)

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Becoming a Professional
• Introduction to Organisations, Enterprise and Management
• Economics and Accounting for the Real World
• Introduction to Law in a Social, Business and Global Context.

You will study the Foundation year alongside students from other business and law courses and so you may transfer to another course in one of these areas at the end of a successful Foundation year. The normal expectation is that you must pass all Year zero modules before progressing to Year one. Students seeking transfer to BA(Hons) Business (Team Entrepreneurship) would be required to pass an interview process. Transfer to BSc(Hons) Economics (as distinct from BA(Hons) Economics) would require an A level in Mathematics.

Year one

The first year provides a foundation for the development of the knowledge, skills and attributes necessary for your future success.

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Introduction to Management (Business, International and Management)
• Understanding Business and Financial Information (Business, International and Management)
• Understanding the Principles of Marketing (Business, International and Management)
• Business Decision Making for Management
• Contemporary Business Issues
• Understanding Organisations and People (Business, International and Management)
• Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
• International Business Context.

Year two

In the second year, you will study modules relating to the main functional areas of business, alongside specialist international business modules, and you will develop your research and enquiry skills.

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Global Managing People
• Theory and Practice of International Business
• Research Methods for Business
• Global Management Skills
• Managing Business Processes
• Accounting Information for Business
• Introductory Research Project
• Intercultural Communications.

All students are encouraged to spend their third year either working or studying abroad and the curriculum in the second year provides support preparing you for your time overseas.

Final year

The final year will include a major project, modules which require the integration of the knowledge gained in the earlier years of study and a number of advanced international business module options that allow you to develop your specific interests. The final year curriculum also includes a focus on managing change, both in organisational terms and in terms of your own career.

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Learning, Enquiry and Development on Placement OR Learning and Development on Study Year Abroad OR Cross-Cultural Learning and Development
• Managing Organisational Change
• Integrated Business Simulation
• Strategic Management (Business, International and Management)
• Multinationals in the Domestic and Global Context

In addition, you will study one of the following major final year projects*:

• Work-based Enquiry Project
• Critical Business Enquiry Project
• Applied Business Project
• Enterprise Project.

As well as the above, you will study one optional module from the following:

• International HRM
• Doing Business in Asia
• Economics of Developing Countries
• Global Marketing Management
• International Financial Management
• International Business in the Emerging Markets
• Economic Issues in International Business.

*All projects must be in the field of International Business

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved we will inform you.

Lectures, workshops/seminars, group project working and tutoring account for 12 hours of contact per week. However, you will be expected to spend at least as much time again in essential independent study, for example, in preparing for workshops/seminars, reviewing lectures, online working through the university's 'virtual learning environment', reading, conducting research, preparing assessed work and revising for end of module exams.

Our learning and teaching approaches are student focused with the emphasis on helping you to actively find out things for yourself. You will be expected to work with a mix of theory and practice, balancing academic rigour and a practical approach to your work, so that you can appreciate the relevance and application of concepts learnt. To help in doing this, all students are expected to gain high quality work experience, ideally through the 40-week placement but if not then through short-term internships, paid work (e.g. as a Student Ambassador or as a Peer Assisted Learning Leader) or through volunteering.

You will be assessed through a mix of coursework and examinations, all of which aim to assess not only what you know and can do but also develop the graduate attributes that are valued by employers. These attributes include communication and presentation skills, IT and numeracy skills, team work, project and time management skills as well as the intellectual skills of problem solving, critical thinking, analysis and evaluation, creativity and innovation.

Coursework comes in many different forms: essays and reports; business plans and applied research projects; portfolios and weekly notes; assessed group and individual presentations and posters. You will also be required to reflect and comment on your own learning and personal development.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.