International Business Management with Foundation Year BSc (Hons) - 2026/7

Other information

In conjunction with receiving departments, the Foundation Year programme is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Digital Capabilities, Employability, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Resourcefulness and Resilience, and Sustainability. This programme is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Global and cultural capabilities

Globalisation and culture have deep impacts in very many areas of business, economics or hospitality and tourism management. The programme is designed to cater for students from a varied range of educational backgrounds and is taught in an interactive and collaborative way. Students are encouraged to engage with, and learn from, diverse perspectives through interaction and teamwork.

Through analysis of relevant case studies and theory, students have opportunities to recognise the value of diversity in education and employment, and to adapt attitudes and practices accordingly. The choice of topic focus available to students in many of the coursework assessments means that those with particular interests in global and cultural themes have ample opportunity to explore these through the lens of their chosen questions.

Digital capabilities

Digital literacy is a vital skill in todays world and the Foundation Year programme aims to ensure that students enter the first year of their degree programmes equipped with understanding and competency in applying a range of digital skills to their work, with awareness of digital wellbeing and responsible digital citizenship.

In particular, students have opportunities to develop:

digital content creation and communication skills;

a critical approach to navigating the mass of information available to all on the World Wide Web;
competencies in identifying and evaluating relevant sources available to them via the Internet, the university library (with its digital first policy), and the electronic tools and databases available through the library portal.

Digital tools, including Artificial Intelligence, are under increasing scrutiny in todays world: the programme also looks at the potential of a range of digital tools in helping students progress towards their study goals, whilst maintaining academic integrity.

Employability

The Foundation Year programme has been designed with a strong emphasis on employability in mind.¿ This comes in part from the guided opportunities provided to students to develop their knowledge and understanding of core business, management and economics subject-specific content; from participating in activities and undertaking assessments which foster a critical approach within the subject area, with application of theory to practical contexts; and in the supported development of specific skills and attributes relevant to employment and self-employment. Visiting speakers from industry add varied perspectives to the programme, helping to clarify students expectations of real-life employment situations.

Through in-class, out of class and online activities, the programme strongly emphasises the development of effective teamworking skills which will be relevant to the workplace. This is accompanied by a range of authentic assessments, i.e. those which allow rehearsal of real-life skills and task fulfilment.

Individual skills are no less important in preparing students for employment. The programme fosters verbal and written communication skills, research skills, data analysis and the time management skills required to manage complex tasks independently over extended periods. The ability to reflect critically on individual performance and learn from feedback are also sound preparation for the world of work.

Resourcefulness and resilience

The heavy reliance on independent work and the very wide range of choice that are central to the curriculum pose challenges to students beyond which most have previously encountered in education contexts. Foundation Year students often show low levels of confidence in their academic abilities when beginning the programme. Across the Foundation Year however, scaffolded approaches to learning support students in further developing both their resourcefulness and resilience necessary to meet these new challenges, thereby nurturing skills and attributes which will underpin independence at higher levels of study and in future employment.

Individual support from the teaching team is structured into the programme for all students, both within modules and via their Personal Tutor, with students encouraged to take up further support and guidance on request.

Formative (i.e. practice tasks, not for credit) and some low stakes summative (i.e. credit-bearing) assessments are designed to allow students to learn from work in progress and make effective use of feedback. Importantly, the programme provides opportunities to create a personalised learning schedule and to derive the confidence from using that to develop strong sustainable study habits.

Sustainability

Through analysis of relevant case studies, students have opportunities to develop their abilities to recognise the extent to which decisions made by practitioners, including visiting speakers, in their own areas of business, management or economics may impact widely across society and on the environment. The programme enables students to improve their critical thinking skills in ways that will allow them to apply problem-solving strategies to sustainability challenges, such as excessive consumption or climate change.

In the nature of this programme, students with a particular interest in sustainability will have opportunities to choose topics for further investigation that encompass themes related to sustainability, and to examine this in the context of its relevance to their chosen area of business, economics or hospitality and tourism management.