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Management and Business are in the top ten subjects for degree course choices as they combine excellent academic training with good career prospects. The business element of this degree gives you the academic foundation you need for a career in business or management.
Overview
Business Administration
The programme equips you with the fundamental skills and knowledge essential for managing the key areas of organisations: accounting, human resource management, quantitative methods, marketing, strategy, and operations management. In addition, it gives you the choice of following specialist options, such as entrepreneurship, or spending a year working in industry.
Kent Business School students and staff come from a great variety of backgrounds and nationalities, which leads to a multicultural learning environment with a supportive and flexible approach to teaching.
Economics
Economics examines some of the profound issues in our life and times: economic growth and sustainable development, unemployment, inflation, poverty, emerging market economies, financial and monetary crises, environmental and natural resource problems, international trade and aid to poor countries, currencies and the balance of payments, the impact of minimum wages and the problems of global economic change are just some of the areas covered.
Economics at Kent is consistently ranked in the top 10 economics departments in the UK for student satisfaction and teaching quality. Our passion for the subject and research-led approach to teaching helps provide students with a first-class academic experience, as well as building personal skills and enhancing career prospects. Our cosmopolitan academic and student community, coupled with a thriving research culture, creates an inspiring and challenging environment to study economics.
Independent rankings
Economics at Kent was ranked 9th in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2016, and 10th in the National Student Survey 2015, with 93% of our students satisfied with the overall quality of their course.
In the National Student Survey 2015, business studies was ranked 5th in the UK for student satisfaction. In The Complete University Guide 2016, business and management was ranked 2nd in the south-east for overall performance.
Course structure
The course structure below gives a flavour of the modules that will be available to you and provides details of the content of this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation. Most programmes will require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules. You may also have the option to take ‘wild’ modules from other programmes offered by the University in order that you may customise your programme and explore other subject areas of interest to you or that may further enhance your employability.
Year in industry
Students can opt to take a year in industry with any of our single honours programmes, or the Economics and Business joint honours programme, that contributes towards your final degree classification. The year in industry is not available on other joint programmes in Economics or the four-year European Economics programmes.
The year in industry is taken between the second (Stage 2) and third years (Stage 3) of the degree. The placement must be with a suitable employer, but the reference to 'in industry' is intended to cover employers in any service sector as well as in manufacturing.
Students are responsible for finding their placements, but the School offers structured support for the application process in the form of a non-contributory module, 'Preparing for a Placement'.
Students must have passed Stage 2 of their degree before they can embark on the year in industry.
Teaching and assessment
Business Administration
Most modules are taught by a combination of lectures and seminars and you also have regular access to a personal tutor for advice on matters concerning your studies. Modules also involve individual study and sessions in the computer laboratories. In your final year, you take at least one project module, including the possibility of a 30-credit business/management project on a topic of your choice. Modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and exams.
Economics
All of our modules are taught by a combination of lectures and small group sessions, which include seminars, computing practicals, problem sets, debates and role-play games.
The School of Economics is committed to making sure that you leave Kent with much more than just a degree in Economics. We put great emphasis on the development of transferable skills, including numeracy, analytical problem solving, data analysis, and written and oral communication, as well as subject-specific skills for further study at postgraduate level.
The modules are assessed by continuous assessment of coursework throughout the year and an end-of-year exam in the final term. A number of modules at each stage are assessed solely through coursework.
Programme aims
The programme aims to:
- develop understanding of a broad range of management functions and their integration, and the critical examination of management practice
- provide an academic preparation for a career in business and management
- bring critical insights from the social sciences to bear on management issues
- provide a sound academic base from which students may continue to benefit from formal and informal management education and experiential learning
- teach key transferable skills with applications in management
- develop students’ study of chosen aspects of business and management in greater depth through choice of options within the programme.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
You gain knowledge and understanding of:
- organisations, their environments and management, including that of people, operations, finance, marketing and organisational strategy
- social science concepts and theories and the ability to apply them to business and management contexts
- contemporary and pervasive issues, deepening and/or integrating core knowledge
- international and European developments that are relevant to management.
Intellectual skills
You gain the following intellectual abilities:
- critically evaluate arguments and evidence
- apply core numeracy and IT skills to problems
- analyse and draw reasoned conclusions concerning structured and unstructured problems.
Subject-specific skills
You gain subject-specific skills in the following:
- the ability to identify, formulate and solve business/decision-making problems using appropriate qualitative and quantitative tools
- create, evaluate and assess options in a range of business situations, applying concepts and knowledge appropriately
- communicate effectively, orally and in writing, about business issues
- apply core numeracy and IT skills to business problems
- conduct research into business/management issues for project work, using a variety of sources and appropriate methodologies that inform the learning process.
Transferable skills
You gain transferable skills in the following:
- identify and make effective use of information from various sources to assess ideas
- effective self manager of time, to plan and deliver required outputs effectively
- communicate effectively, orally and in writing, using media appropriate to the purpose
- work in groups effectively and apply other inter-personal skills
- apply numeracy and IT skills appropriately.
Careers
Business Administration
Kent Business School equips you with the skills you need to build a successful career. Through your studies, you acquire communication skills, the ability to work in a team and independently, and the ability to express your opinions persuasively and with passion. Through modules on entrepreneurship such as our New Enterprise Start-up module, we give you the confidence and the expertise you need to start your own business and, through our varied contacts in the business world, we give you the opportunity to gain valuable work experience as part of your degree.
Our business graduates work in a variety of careers in management, business analytics, marketing, website management, recruitment and business development for companies such as Hays Consulting, Juniper Networks, Hewlett-Packard, IBM or Microsoft.
Economics
Economics at Kent has a high success rate in the graduate employment market, with past students going on to careers in accountancy, banking, finance, journalism, management consultancy and business. Our range of modules provides the opportunity to tailor your degree to support your particular career choice, giving you a competitive edge in the employment market. Additionally, there are modules that concentrate on preparing you for life as a professional economist.
Our degrees not only provide you with economics training but also with many transferable skills. Most employers are looking for skills such as good communication, initiative and proactiveness, team working, time management, planning and organisation, analysing information and problem solving.
Economics at Kent has been recognised for its excellent employability record in the national league tables:
- 7th for Graduate Prospects (based on 88% of full-time, first degree UK graduates taking up professional level employment or further study within 6 months of graduation) in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016
- 5th for career prospects in the The Guardian University Guide 2016
Recent Economics graduates have gone on to work for Deloitte, the Government Economic Service, HMRC, Citibank, KPMG, PwC, Bank of America, Schroders, Goldman Sachs and Barclays.
Entry requirements
Home/EU students
The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications, typical requirements are listed below, students offering alternative qualifications should contact the Admissions Office for further advice. It is not possible to offer places to all students who meet this typical offer/minimum requirement.
| Qualification | Typical offer/minimum requirement |
|---|---|
| A level | ABB from three full A levels, or BBB if A level Mathematics is included. |
| GCSE | GCSE Mathematics grade B |
| Access to HE Diploma | The University of Kent will not necessarily make conditional offers to all access candidates but will continue to assess them on an individual basis. If an offer is made candidates will be required to obtain/pass the overall Access to Higher Education Diploma and may also be required to obtain a proportion of the total level 3 credits and/or credits in particular subjects at merit grade or above. |
| BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma (formerly BTEC National Diploma) | BTEC National Diploma at DD or BTEC Extended Diploma at DDD plus A level Mathematics at grade B. |
| International Baccalaureate | 34 points overall or 16 points at HL, including Mathematics SL or HL at 4, or Mathematical Studies at 6. |
International students
The University receives applications from over 140 different nationalities and consequently will consider applications from prospective students offering a wide range of international qualifications. Our International Development Office will be happy to advise prospective students on entry requirements. See our International Student website for further information about our country-specific requirements.
Please note that if you need to increase your level of qualification ready for undergraduate study, we offer a number of International Foundation Programmes through Kent International Pathways.
English Language Requirements
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.
General entry requirements
Please also see our general entry requirements.
Fees
The 2016/17 annual tuition fees for this programme are:
| UK/EU | Overseas | |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | ||
| Part-time |
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
The Government has announced changes to allow undergraduate tuition fees to rise in line with inflation from 2017/18.
The University of Kent is currently considering whether to increase its regulated full-time tuition fees for all returning Home and EU undergraduates from £9,000 to £9,250 in September 2017. This would be subject to us satisfying the Government's Teaching Excellence Framework and the access regulator's requirements. The equivalent part-time fees for these courses might also rise by 2.8%.
For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk
UK/EU/International students on an approved Year Abroad for the full 2016/17 academic year pay an annual fee of £1,350 to Kent for that year. Those on an approved Year in Industry pay an annual fee of £865 to Kent for that year. Students studying abroad for less than one academic year will pay full fees according to their fee status.
Funding
Kent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. Details of our proposed funding opportunities for 2016 entry can be found on our funding page.
General scholarships
Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.
The Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence. For 2016 entry, the scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of AAA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications as specified on our scholarships pages. Please review the eligibility criteria on that page.