Business and Management via Study Centres BA (Hons)

Develop strong skills and knowledge in all areas of business. Gain a UK degree without leaving your own country. Start a rewarding career in management.

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Overview

Gain a world-class undergraduate degree from a British university without leaving your own country. The content of this course is the same as the Sunderland campus-based course BA (Hons) Business and Management.

BA (Hons) Business and Management is our most popular undergraduate business degree, and will give you a broad foundation in management, marketing, finance, operations, and the world economy.

Please contact your Study Centre for the duration and mode of this course.

Why us?

The Sunderland Business School is a member of ‘The Association of Business Schools’

Course structure

Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, group work, and computer-based learning. You'll be encouraged to develop independent study skills. Throughout the course, the focus is on innovative learning, by doing and reflecting. You'll take part in problem-based learning, where you work within a small team to explore issues or decide how to manage a situation. This helps you to dissect, challenge, and debate issues.

Your progress will be assessed with written coursework, projects, presentations, exams, case studies, assignments, and reports. As well as assessments that count towards your degree, you'll be assessed throughout the course to give you feedback and help you improve your work.

Course modules

Year 1 (national level 4):

Essential Study and Employment Skills (20 credits)

Gain the key study skills that are critical to your academic development and success. Develop your understanding and appreciation of the importance of transferable employability skills, as well as the importance of engaging in opportunities to develop personally at university and beyond.

Introduction to Marketing (20 credits)

Gain an introduction to the concept of marketing and identify the role it plays in our every day lives, whether that be the products and services we use, the price we pay, or how we’re communicated to. Explore how organisations look to build relationships with their customers to ensure mutual satisfaction and value is received.

Introduction to Human Resource Management and Talent Development (20 credits)

Examine how the effective deployment of human resources is essential to an organisation’s survival and growth through the cornerstones of human resource management practice, namely the key aspects of the HR cycle. Explore key concepts of recruiting and selecting, development, motivation, performance, rewards, and retention. Focus is placed on the use of theoretical best practice models and how they translate in reality to the workplace.

Introduction to Accounting and Finance (20 credits)

Explore and investigate the three key areas within the field of accounting and finance including financial accounting, management accounting, and business finance. Learn the role and importance of how financial information can be utilised by managers and external users within the decision-making process. Create and analyse key financial statements, understand the range of account options used by internal managers, and gain knowledge of various financing techniques that can be used to ensure business success.

Introduction to Managing and Leading People (20 credits)

Gain an introduction to the concepts of managing and leading people within an organisational context. Acquire an understanding of the role of managers and leaders in leading and managing the human aspects within the global organisational arena. Explore the key management and leadership activities associated with managing change to impact positively on organisational performance.

Introduction to Business Operations and Services (20 credits)

Explore the key processes and practices within businesses operations and services. Gain knowledge that will help define the nature of business operations and services by considering various aspects of quality, cost, and delivery. Learn how business operations are interrelated to other functions in business, for example, marketing, HR, and finance.

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Year 2 (national level 5):

Personal and Professional Development (20 credits)

Investigate the impact that your behaviour has upon your professional success. Engage with and reflect upon experiences and how they inform understanding of personal qualities that underpin your effectiveness. Use a structured environment to focus upon what it is that you want from the world of work and, just as importantly, to increase your chances of achieving it.

Management Thought and Practice (20 credits)

Explore the functions of management by investigating the systems and processes for planning, organising, controlling, and decision-making. Find out about people management and the role played by communication and motivation. Assess organisational structures, look into the management of innovation and change, and reflect on the impact of ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Quality Management for Organisational Excellence (20 credits)

Develop the ability to apply the concept of excellence in an organisational context. Gaining new knowledge will support you in appraising the EFQM Excellence Framework (European Framework for Quality Management. Developing your ability to recognise the difference in relationships between enablers and results that support identification of underpinning theories of excellence, leading to summarising of how organisations can be assessed using the excellence framework.

Business Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability (20 credits)

Explore the various moral issues and dilemmas facing businesses in an era when people, governments, and media expect them to demonstrate responsible actions, ethical behaviour, and sustainable practices. Review personal values and reflect on how these might apply to businesses. Use case studies to investigate moral issues faced by firms today, examine the diversity of business environments they face, and contemplate the dilemmas they experience when doing business abroad.

Managing Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity (20 credits)

Learn about the theory and practice of entrepreneurship, innovation, creativity, and how to build business models and what skills and tools are required to take an idea from a concept plan to launch or working within an existing organisation as an intrapreneur. Concentrate on an innovative or creative idea and wonder how to protect its intellectual property. Focus on learning how to manage people who are entrepreneurial, innovative, and creative by looking at case studies and empirical research.

Innovation Management (20 credits)

Gain a critical, research, and practitioner perspective on innovation management. Strengthen your employability skills to bridge the gap between innovation management theory and practice. Systematically explore cutting edge themes and business practices concerning innovation and management techniques that seek to embed innovation within a commercial organisation.

Management Accounting for Business (20 credits)*

Understand the importance of decision-making by a manager around the subject of management accounting issues, ensuring that you as a future manager have the information you need to plan and control the direction of your organisation. Explore how management accounting information can be used within a business to improve the quality of a manager’s decisions by examining the nature and purpose of a business. Explore a variety of topics related to management accounting within the concept of decision-making by managers.

*Please note, MDIS students will take Management Accounting for Business rather than Innovation Management.

Optional 48-week placement:

Applied Professional Practice (120 credits)

Gain a strong understanding of a business including the identification and examination of an organisational issue, initiative or process. Examine areas of value to the host organisation. Develop the relevant practical knowledge and skills under the guidance and supervision of an academic mentor and host business.

Year 3 (national level 6):

Strategic Management (20 credits)

Examine the concepts and underpinning theory of strategic management within organisations. Explore the many theoretical schools of strategic management with reference to those that address the formulation and development of strategy within the organisation. Contrast various theoretical models and modes of thinking around strategising and develop a robust set of tools to apply to real-world management problems. Examine ethical and practical issues facing business in modern global marketplaces.

Developing the Reflexive Practitioner (20 credits)

Consider, diagnose, and express your professional behaviours and values as an aspiring manager and leader in finance, marketing, human resources, or management. Examine the module leader’s research which includes the ‘Developing the Reflexive Practitioner’ toolkit, a web-based guide for developing as professionals in the increasingly complex world of management. Present your reflections as podcasts or vlogs, or as digital reflections.

Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation (20 credits)

Research, innovate, identify, design, plan, undertake, manage, and exploit an entrepreneurial and innovation opportunity. Learn how to bring to market and co-create sustainable entrepreneurial, innovative, creative ideas and solutions which impact our world. Develop a critical understanding of global entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability issues and challenges, where you can write an academic article, blog, vlog, or give a TED Talk. Work in groups co-creating ideas and solutions via a micro-enterprise concept or venture. Critically reflect on the entrepreneurship and innovation theories, concepts, and techniques.

Strategic Corporate Finance (20 credits)

Develop a critical understanding of the role and importance of strategic corporate finance within the modern-day international business organisation. Gain a robust understanding of various corporate finance concepts and theories including market efficiency, different forms of debt and equity, investment appraisal, dividend policy, capital structure, and mergers and acquisitions. Expand your analytical and evaluative skills through and investigation and application of how relevant corporate finance techniques can be deployed strategically by financial managers to ensure future business success.

Managing and Leading Change (20 credits)

Develop the ability to analyse an organisation with particular emphasis on understanding contemporary issues in organisational change. Learn about managing and leading the process and human resource factors associated with identifying, planning, and implementing organisational change. Cover content shaped by challenges currently faced by organisations operating in a range of local, national, and international contexts, as well as relevant practitioner-based and academic literature.

Marketing in a Digital World (20 credits)

Examine some of the challenges faced by marketers in the digital era. Develop a critical understanding of transformations in marketing practices that are occurring in response to changes in the technological and social environments. Drawing on extant theory and case studies to illuminate current practices, you’ll develop a critical understanding of the need for organisations to adopt and integrative approach to marketing strategy.

Facilities

This course is taught in Study Centres around the world. Contact the centre directly for more information about the location and facilities available.

Entry requirements

We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.

Please contact the study centre for more information on their specific requirements and equivalent qualifications from outside the UK.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

Please contact the relevant study centre for information about tuition fees and scholarships.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Student in the Sunderland Futures department

Career ready

When you graduate from this course, you'll have excellent skills and knowledge in all areas of business and management. You'll understand how businesses create success, how to manage business operations, how to make informed decisions, and how to lead change in organisations.

You'll be ready to step into a leadership or management role in a wide variety of industries across the world. Some of the sectors which employ our graduates include technology (Microsoft, IBM), consumer goods (P&G, Nike, Adidas), banking (Lloyds Bank), hospitality (Marriott Hotels, Starbucks), and government departments and agencies.

Related courses

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

BA (Hons) Business and Management via Study Centres - programme spec (.pdf)

Page last updated: 03 September 2025

We aim to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective and current students. We continuously review and enhance course content in consultation with our students and the information provided on our website is the latest available. If you have received an offer from us to start a course, we will communicate any important changes to you in writing. We will always seek to ensure that our prospective students are fully aware of the basis on which they are accepting an offer.