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What makes Business and Finance at Worcester special?

Set yourself up for a future career in the well-paid finance sector by developing competence in business finance and general management. This course gives you access to specialist academic staff, business leaders, and the professional financial services network, including exemption from ICAEW.

You’ll gain an insight into general management and access a wide range of optional modules that complement your development as a specialist in financial management. Subject expertise in business and finance (including contemporary issues such as globalisation, global trade, governance and sustainability) signal that you are a numerate, astute and commercially-focused graduate.

Active experience through applied projects, placements and internships will enable you to demonstrate the business knowledge, commercial acumen and professional skills valued by employers. You can also experience international cultures and develop a global mind-set through options to work and study abroad.

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Gain exemption from ICAEW
  • Enhance your employability in business and finance through internships, consultancy projects, a one-year paid placement and integrated coaching
  • Develop your own business idea through our start-up support and access to our network of business mentors
  • Work with qualified finance specialists who have extensive experience in business finance (including with KPMG, Grant Thornton and HM Treasury), consultancy or running their own business
  • Compete for the Hereford & Worcester Chamber of Commerce prize for ‘Outstanding Performance in Accountancy & Finance’
Chartered Management Institute logo

Accreditation

This course has been mapped for dual accreditation with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). You will be awarded a CMI Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership, in addition to your degree, upon the successful completion of the entire degree.

During your studies, you will also benefit from associate membership to the CMI (at no extra cost), inclusive of an interactive induction session hosted by the CMI, as well as access to the CMI's digital library, resources, and employability skills audit.

“Research has indicated that with a CMI Dual Accredited Degree, graduates have the key skills required by 97% of employers. CMI Dual Accreditation also offers a 7%-point employability boost 15 months after graduation, with earnings on average 8% more than non-accredited graduates”.

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Entry requirements

Entry requirements

112
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

112 UCAS tariff points (for example, BBC at A Level)

Applicants with no formal qualifications may be considered for Mature Student Entry Routes

T Levels may be used to meet the entry tariff requirements for this course. Find out more about T levels as UCAS tariff points here.

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from the UCAS website.

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Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Customer Insight and Marketing
  • Generation Digital
  • Financial Management
  • Introduction to Business Management
  • Fundamentals of Personal Effectiveness

Optional

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Management in Organisational Contexts
  • Leadership: Theory and Practice
  • Financial Markets and Investment
  • The Global Economy: Institutions, Trade and FDI

Optional

Optional Placement Year or Year Abroad

Virtually all of our full-time Single Honours degrees in Business or Computing, you have the option to convert your degree to a 4-year sandwich degree by opting for a placement year or third year abroad between your second and final year.

Placement opportunities are available in all business sectors, including marketing, advertising, public relations, human resources, business management, finance, economics, programming, and game design. You will be able to apply to spend your placement year at an organisation of your choice, in the UK or abroad (subject to any visa restrictions).

If you wish to undertake a third year abroad, you have the option to study at one of our partner universities in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, or the USA (subject to any visa restrictions). To find out more about where you can study and the bursaries and travel grants available to support you, please visit our Study Abroad pages.

Year 3

Mandatory

  • International Business Strategy
  • Strategic Financial Management
  • International Banking and Finance

Optional

  • Digital & Social Media Marketing
  • Brand Management
  • International Marketing
  • Customer Relationship Management
  • Spin Doctors, Lobbyists and Other Influencers
  • Advertising and Digital Communications
  • Taxation
  • Applied Economics
  • The Dark Side of Management
  • Strategic Challenges for HRM
  • Intercultural Business Perspectives
  • Digital Business
  • The Next Big Thing
  • Business Intelligence and Analysis
  • Research Project
  • Consultancy Project
  • Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

The University places emphasis on enabling you to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement. A mixture of independent study, teaching, academic support through integrated coaching and the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will enable you to flourish and be successful.

Accreditation

All of our courses and modules have been mapped to take advantage of professional body accreditations: see individual course pages for further details.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars, laboratory practical sessions, fieldwork, practical activities, etc. Interactive workshops take a variety of formats and are intended to enable the application of learning through discussion and small group activities. Seminars enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics covered in lectures, and laboratory practical sessions are focused on developing subject specific skills and applied individual and group project work.

In addition, meetings (both individual and group) with personal academic tutors are scheduled throughout the academic year. There is an opportunity to undertake a year-long placement in the third year of the course, supervised by a work-based mentor and a University tutor. Depending upon the course, there may be an opportunity to study abroad at one of the exchange partner universities.

Contact time

In a typical week there will be at least 12 hours of timetabled teaching in lectures, seminars and small-group work. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected. If the degree requires a Research or Consultancy Project, students will have guided supervision time with a Project Supervisor.

Typically class contact time will be structured around:

  • Information giving, facilitated discussions, small group work, presentations
  • Practical skills - the opportunity to practise group facilitation, presentation, communication and listening skills
  • Visiting speakers and opportunities to visit other settings are regular features of the course

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, full-time students are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week, plus additional preparation for assessments and examinations. Typically, this will involve meeting with individual tutors to discuss progress and feedback, completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online. In addition to this, students will spend time sharing ideas with fellow students, taking part in extra-curricular learning activities and engaging with external employers.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including the Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources as well as our network of employers and entrepreneurs.

Assessment

The precise assessment requirements in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken. The assessment strategy has been designed so that:

  • All modules have both formative and summative assessment elements. Formative assessment allows tutors and students to recognise strengths and weaknesses in learning and to address those issues immediately. Summative assessments are graded and count towards the final module grade, and they are assessed against the specific module learning outcomes
  • Typically 15 credit/one semester modules will have one assessment item; 30 credit/two semester modules will have 2-3 assessments
  • Across each individual year and cumulatively across all three years the concept of continuous assessment and/or building up expertise in different assessment types applies. A variety of assessment types (reports, portfolios, presentations, essays and a final year research or consultancy project) are designed to suit different learning styles
  • There may be some specialisation by subject: e.g. exams are more common in Accounting, Finance and Economics modules because the professional bodies prefer this method of assessment for exemption/accreditation purposes and many of our modules are linked to those bodies in order to obtain such exemption/accreditation
  • Different types of employability skills are embedded in all modules

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal coursework assessments. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader.

Feedback is intended to support learning by indicating how you can improve in future assignments and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors to help support personal and academic development and enhance employability skills.

Feedback on formal course work assessments is normally provided within 20 working days of hand-in.

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the Business and Finance course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course. The team includes senior academics, professional practitioners with industry experience and business leaders and employers.

Teaching is informed by research and consultancy, and many lectures are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy. Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy work carried out by staff and staff profiles can be view at the WBS Staff Profile Page.

jamie-wells

Jamie Wells

Jamie's areas of teaching expertise are financial management and auditing. She also has a particular interest in accounting education research, developing research on the use of simulations in the teaching of auditing.

Before working at Worcester, Jamie spent three years in practice for a large professional services firm specialising in forensic accounting and assurance. She also spent time working for HM Treasury within the Welfare to Work Team.

Simon Quigley

Simon trained with a large firm of Chartered Accountants in the areas of audit, accounts preparation, taxation and insolvency. Working in industry, his roles ranged from Group accountant, Project accountant and Treasury.  

Since the move to lecturing, Simon has taught on a range of provisions, including ACCA, CIMA CIPD, AAT, HND as well as undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

boyd-hargreaves

Boyd Hargreaves

Prior to taking up a position at the University of Worcester, Boyd was an assistant principle (Head of Sixth Form) in a large 11-18 school. He also worked for 3 years at Trinity and All Saints College (University of Leeds) lecturing on undergraduate management programmes and worked as a PGCE mentor and sessional lecturer at Huddersfield University. He has over 25 years teaching experience in the economics and business studies field on both undergraduate and post graduate courses.

Rachel Cooper

Rachel Cooper

Rachel has been working in higher education since 2006. Before working in education, Rachel spent several years working as a management accountant in the aerospace industry with a focus on cost management, project planning and performance reporting.

jane-keenan

Jane Keenan

Jane is an experienced academic having taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels for over 24 years.

Her subject areas include finance, accounting and economics. Jane tries to use real-life scenarios and examples during her lectures and seminars to bring the subject material to life.


Careers

Careers

Employability

  • Benefit from integrated career coaching throughout your course, where we will support you with preparation of your CV and interview technique
  • Develop the knowledge, skills and capabilities needed to make an immediate impact in your chosen organisation
  • Develop strategic insight in your chosen specialism so that you can deliver long term value for your chosen organisation
  • Gain professional body accreditation, exemptions and recognition
  • Create a portfolio of direct business finance experience through a one-year paid placement, internships, consultancy projects and company visits
  • Build your own professional network in business and finance
  • Develop your own business idea through our start-up support and access to our network of business mentors
Two students are walking next to each other and smiling

Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential
Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £9,535 per year for new and continuing students. 

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2025/26 academic year is £16,700 per year.

For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The Government has announced that it will increase tuition fees and maintenance loans by 3.1% from the 2025/26 academic cycle. Subject to approval, the University intends to increase our tuition fees in line with this and as per our terms and conditions. This means that from September 2025 the tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees will be £1,190.83 per 15-credit module, £1,587.77 per 20-credit module, £2,381.66 per 30-credit module, £3,175.55 per 40-credit module, £3,572.50 per 45-credit module and £4,763.32 per 60 credit module for new and continuing students.

For more details on course pages, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If you decide to take up the optional placement year accommodation and travel costs may be incurred dependent on the location of placement. As placements are paid by the employer, these costs can be covered by the student's wage. During this year you will pay 10% of normal academic fees to the University. You are provided with a placement tutor, and have access to the advice of the full placement team, as well as all University student support and services. You may need to pay for a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check for your placement.

There are also occasional trips which may require you to incur travel costs.

There will be a charge for membership of the professional bodies.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Traditional Halls' at £131 per week to 'Ensuite Premium Halls' at £228 per week (2025/26 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.
How to apply

How to apply

Applying through UCAS

Business & Finance BA (Hons) – N1N3
Business & Finance BA (Hons) – With Placement Year – NN31

UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for entry onto full-time undergraduate courses in Higher Education in the UK.

Read our How to apply pages for more information on applying and to find out what happens to your application.

UCAS code N1N3

Apply for BUSINESS & FINANCE via UCAS

UCAS code NN31

Apply for BUSINESS & FINANCE (PLACEMENT YEAR) via UCAS

Get in touch

If you have any questions, please get in touch. We're here to help you every step of the way.

Admissions Office

admissions@worc.ac.uk
01905 855111

Isabel Clarke

Admissions tutor
i.clarke@worc.ac.uk
01905 542837

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