Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Business and Sociology (with integrated placement year)

at Aston University United Kingdom

Prepare for a fast-paced career in financial services. Develop a balanced understanding across finance, economics, accounting and management to help you thrive, whether you’re interested in a career in investment banking, training and research, or working with start-ups.

What you’ll learn
You will unpack many aspects of finance and management throughout the course, from capital markets and derivatives, through to asset pricing and international finance. You’ll also develop excellent financial literature skills, from interpreting small scale to large financial data and apply these to real-world company performance questions.

As well as class-based learning, students on our BSc Finance will enjoy study trips such as the recent visit to the London Stock Exchange. Given the global demand for graduates with finance degrees, you can also study a language alongside your degree as well as explore our study abroad opportunities and double degree route.

Study MSc Business Enterprise Development at Aston University and unleash your entrepreneurial potential. 

Develop entrepreneurial competencies and practice through learning by doing, and working with others to create and run a productive organization.

Supported by a select group of team coaches, including academics, successful entrepreneurs, and prestigious Aston alumni, you will gain valuable experiences and practical learning in a supportive environment.

Study our innovative MSc Business Enterprise Development degree at Aston University to give yourself the best start to learning about how to develop, sustain and grow a business. 

The BSc Human Resources and Business Management course draws on psychology, human resources and general management theory to develop insight into the world of work, preparing students with key skills in communication, negotiation and effective decision-making.

What you’ll learn
During your studies you will have the opportunity to gain real-world experience through your placement. You will develop a deeper understanding of psychological mechanisms that play a role in decision-making and team work, as well as how leaders can strategically bring about change processes, and why individual employees play an important role in organisational productivity. Your placement will also help you to develop key skills in decision-making, negotiation and communicating effectively.

In the first year, you will develop an understanding of the historical context within which work has developed and changed in the last century. This will equip you with an appreciation of how information technology and globalisation have altered business structures. You will also develop knowledge of key elements of business management such as economics, marketing, law and accounting.

The second year shifts focus to a deeper understanding of the issues around individual attitudes and behaviours. You will study modules on ‘Creativity in Organisations’ and the ‘Psychology of Work’, alongside continuing to develop knowledge of the wider business management issues through modules including ‘Employee Resourcing’ and ‘Digital Marketing’. In addition, you will develop skills such as data analysis, contributing to your decision-making and negotiation acumen.

At the end of your second year you begin your placement year, where you will have an opportunity to practice and apply the knowledge and skills you have so far developed.

The final year brings all of your learning together with a study of strategy and management, where the combination of human resources and business management takes focus through modules such as ‘Strategic HR and Leadership’.

You will develop specialised knowledge of employment law and the skills to use evidence to make persuasive arguments. You will draw on your placement experiences to make sense of critical HR issues like productivity, work engagement, burnout and stress at work. All this will prepare you to start either a specialised career in HR or a more general management role within organisations across a range of different sectors. On successful completion of your degree you will be able to apply for Associate CIPD membership.

Study a BSc (Hons) History and English Literature degree course at Aston University to grow your understanding of the world we live in and learn about the past to build a better future for all. Make the most of your potential by combining your studies in global contemporary history with English literature, and completing an integrated placement year for a flying start to your career.

What you’ll learn
Working closely with experienced historians, you’ll have opportunities to study topics such as nationalism, state-building and inter-state relations; the history of war and peace; religious and ethnic conflict; trauma and memory; and issues of globalisation in the present that can only be understood by looking to the past. For example, you’ll learn how the British Empire helped to create the NHS, why Britain voted to stay in the EU in 1975 and why Margaret Thatcher became the first pop star of British international relations.

The Aston MBA will encourage you to think like an entrepreneurial leader from the start, challenging you at every stage, to personally and professionally develop, through a highly practical, experiential approach to learning.

This is not just a course. This is a new perspective to enhance your future career.

You will approach complex challenges through real-world business problems that you will be tasked with solving. You will think like a business leader, working through challenges by understanding how different functions interact in order to identify solutions for both big and small organisations.

This means, you will cover a broad range of business topics through a hands-on learning experience, equipping yourself with an extensive understanding of how businesses operate in today’s fiercely competitive global commercial environment.

You will discover cutting-edge leadership concepts and frameworks, and put them into practice with applied exercises and real-life business projects. You will develop your ability to inspire and lead enterprises, and be a force for positive change within organisations.

Working independently as well as part of a team, you will identify where your skills need to develop in order for you to personally and professionally develop. You will be exposed to team coaching principles, developing your own personal development plan, as well as have plenty of opportunities to network with, and hear from, industry leaders.

Develop your skills in the various methods used to analyze big data sets and build a career in this exciting area where your knowledge and experience will be in high demand. This course also features the opportunity to undertake a professional placement in its second year. 

What you’ll learn 

You’ll gain a thorough grounding in the fundamental concepts to understand the data lifecycle, including problem formulation, data collection and cleaning, exploratory data analysis and visualization, statistical inference, and decision making. A range of methods will be covered including algorithmic and computational modeling and statistical machine learning. 
 
You’ll also undertake a research project on a subject of your choice, where you’ll apply the knowledge you’ve gained to produce high-quality independent work. 

The study of international business is more important than ever. Technological, political and economic developments mean that daily business transactions can be conducted on a global scale, and international managers have added advantages in the employment market.

What you’ll learn

Aston Business School’s International Business and Management BSc will equip you with a solid understanding of strategic management in international business. Discover how differences in culture can influence the way we do business and understand how to operate in challenging environments abroad, both through theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

This degree has been developed in response to demand by alumni and our own advisory panel of international employers. It offers a core strategic management focus within an international business context. You will gain a solid foundation in your first year across a breadth of business topics before shaping your second and final years to concentrate your study on chosen specialisms.

In a globalised environment, economics can unlock answers to some of the biggest questions faced by business and wider society. Combine a theoretical and applied understanding of economics with an international business focus to equip you for a career in any sector.

What you’ll learn
You will understand how businesses work from an international perspective, gain analytical skills to evaluate the international market, and make informed decisions relevant to any business setting.

You will be asked to communicate economic theories from an international business perspective to audiences who do not specialise in this area, giving you the opportunity to develop your verbal and written communication skills.

Your interest and knowledge of international markets will be put into practice in your placement year, which you will do overseas. This helps you to put your learning into practice and also explore the areas of economics and business that you are most interested in. It also provides you with invaluable experience that will stand out on your CV and support your future career prospects.

The MSc Strategy and Analytics will develop your understanding and application of core theories in strategy, and you will learn how to apply the knowledge and skills required for assessing and developing business strategies and operations.

This course will also help you enhance the skills required for assessing, developing, and critically evaluating entrepreneurial strategies. You’ll develop the ability to make strategic decisions by advancing your understanding and application of how business analytics methods can support interventions in the decision-making process of organizations. 

This course aims to provide a program of study that meets your needs if you are a local, national or international student, enabling you to learn by the exchange of experience as well as formal academic study. It is designed for recent graduates and those already in employment. 

This course is part of a suite of MSc programs offering you the opportunity to design your degree to suit your personal and professional career aspirations.