Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Business Management (Economics)

at University of Westminster - Marylebone Campus United Kingdom

Economics is more relevant than ever to understand contemporary events in the global economy and provide the tools and techniques for business and governments to analyse and interpret the issues and problems they face. Reflecting the needs of both private and public sector employers, our highly practical MSc prepares you to assess business problems, interpret public policy and effectively communicate the insights that economic analysis can provide.

Aimed at those with a genuine interest in the application of economics to real-world situations, this course aims to provide you with an in-depth knowledge of the latest theories, practices and key concepts in economics that underpin public sector policy and business decision making. This includes the various scenarios where we explore opportunity cost, equilibrium and disequilibrium, strategic interaction, market failure and the related concept of externalities.

The focus is very much on developing the practical skills needed by a working economist – the ability to apply economic techniques to complex, multi-faceted business problems and provide specialist advice. You’ll gain hands-on experience of the industry-standard computing and econometrics software used to analyse and manipulate data.

Career-focused, our degree incorporates general business management as well as the tools, techniques and specialist knowledge to manage human resources (HR) effectively. You will put theory into practice coaching other students, designing assessments, conducting interviews and more. This provides valuable experience and a genuine appreciation of how HR fits within the broader business landscape, preparing you to make a positive impact for your employer from the get-go.

How an organisation manages its people has a direct impact on both their mindset and productivity, making HR Management (HRM) a core function in every business. This course will equip you with the breadth of knowledge, skills and capabilities to develop positive working cultures and respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges, such as change management.

Our emphasis is very much on experiential learning. You will be taught by staff who are or have been HR professionals, bringing their real-life case work into the classroom, showing you how the HR theories, tools and techniques you are learning can be put into practice. You will also hear direct from industry practitioners, such as experienced HR Directors, Heads of HR and HR Consultants. Where possible, we also take you on field trips to see HR strategy in action at a range of different organisations.

Your learning is fully informed by current professional practice and you will be encouraged to act as an HR professional from day one. We will introduce contemporary tools and techniques and give you the chance to gain the practical experience you would in work – sometimes several years into a career – while you study. For example, you will experiment with psychometric tests such as Myers Briggs Type Indicator, participate in mock disciplinary hearings, interview panels, act as a mentor and receive mentoring yourself. In doing so, you also develop valuable transferable skills, such as communicating effectively, team-working and problem-solving skills, thereby enhancing your employability.

Past graduates have found successful employment as an HR advisor, HR operations assistant, career consultant, professional development and training advisor and employee service advisor. They work for major employers including Accenture, Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Trainline, The Body Shop, Waitrose, the Metropolitan Police and the NHS.

Whether you consider yourself an ideas person, innovator or problem-solver, our exciting degree brings together the creative and analytical aspects of marketing to offer a hands-on experience of creating, managing and measuring the impact of an online brand.

Digital marketing is fast becoming one of the most important skills demanded by employers, as business is increasingly conducted online by digital brands and traditional players alike.

Our broad curriculum pulls together the many different strands of digital marketing – understanding user channels, stages of the customer journey, how to engage customers, drive traffic to websites, search engine optimisation, paid advertising, how to build a social media following and increase conversion through email sign-up or sales.

You will have the opportunity to tailor your course by choosing specialist option modules, covering topics like user experience, brand management, mobile and social media.

You’ll learn to build, focus and measure digital marketing messages and content to achieve the greatest effect on behalf of a brand, organisation or cause, using these same skills to manage your own professional presence online. In doing so, you’ll have the opportunity to develop and present your content ideas for campaigns, websites and apps in Switch 23, a collaborative digital marketing lab, which features the same Adobe Creative Cloud applications used in top agencies.

Top reasons to study with us

• Access to our dedicated digital marketing lab, Switch 23, using the same Adobe Creative Cloud applications used in top agencies
• Emphasis on real-world learning – you’ll engage with industry, working on real problems set in partnership with businesses and marketing agencies
• Focus on practice-based assessment with flexible final project of a dissertation or consultancy report that plays to your strengths and interests
• Optional placement or international year to gain valuable work experience. For example, one previous marketing student spent six months working as a podcast assistant for MailOnline, while another worked at IBM
• Hear from experts and mingle with marketing students by joining the student-run Westminster Marketing Society or gain experience working for the student-run Westminster Business Consultants (WBC)

Our design-led Architectural Technology BSc will give you the skills you need to launch your career in design and development. 

From architectural composition and technical analysis to the business and management skills you'll need for contract procurement, we'll teach you how to apply technical decision-making to real-life design challenges.

Learning in our dedicated Architectural Technology studio and working on real design briefs, you’ll develop a sound understanding of the processes of design and construction and the management tools, particularly CAD, for communicating design information.

You'll gain an understanding of the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of the modern construction industry, and will have the chance to work alongside students from all construction courses in Year 1.

Studying the Architectural Technology BSc will give you the framework to practise privately, or — on successful MCIAT chartership — run a business in the architectural and construction industries. 

All of our courses are delivered using an enquiry-based blended learning approach involving workshops, lectures, tutorials and independent study. We assess your learning through a variety of methods including project work, essays and exams.

Our highly flexible business degree is designed for those who want to thrive in a rapidly changing global, cultural and technological business world. You’ll develop the versatility, vision and wisdom that future business leaders and managers need.

With an emphasis on learning through practice, you will develop the breadth of knowledge, skills and capabilities to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary business issues and challenges. A large range of optional modules – covering everything from brands and business ethics to entertainment and sport – means you can tailor your studies each year.

You’ll also hear direct from industry practitioners, who will share their own experience of, for example, incorporating the principles of the circular economy in their businesses.

You will be encouraged to adopt an enquiring and critical approach to ideas and issues, developing the graduate attributes that employers value. For example, when learning how to evaluate company performance in sustainability, you will be tasked with investigating the big picture through news and contemporary journals, rather than relying solely on a company’s PR. You’ll also gain hands-on experience of common business computing and software, including Tableau Data Visualisation, FAME and the Microsoft Office suite.

All of this will help develop the necessary confidence and business acumen to set up your own business or contribute proactively to private business, public or ‘third’ sector organisations. Past graduates have found successful employment as management, marketing and advertising trainees, as trainee accountants and brand managers, recruitment consultants, retail managers and as assistants in market research, PR and global brand.

Responsive to trends and issues in global financial services industries, our MSc Finance (Banking pathway) degree aims to equip you with the advanced skills to pursue careers in retail, commercial and private banking as a loan officer, private banker, private wealth consultant or to work within the back and middle offices of an investment bank, in risk management, administrative or support services. It combines a broad range of topics, including finance, economics, quantitative methods and big data analysis.

Study with us and, on successful completion, Finance (Banking) MSc students will receive Associate Chartered Banker status with the Chartered Banker Institute. This is the first step on the ladder for professional recognition as Chartered Banker, the gold standard for professionals working in the banking sector.

You'll study a common first semester providing a solid introduction to financial markets, institutions and intermediaries, and the function of banks in relation to these. This allows you to make a more informed choice about your specialist pathway (in Banking or International Finance) for the second semester, where you delve more into retail and investment banking, choosing options according to your interests, for example, in banking technology, compliance or behavioural finance.

The world of marketing has been transformed by digital technology, making it easier and cheaper to target customers and track buyer behaviour online. Employers need graduates ready to work in data analysis, marketing automation, user experience and content creation, some of the key skills you’ll learn on the Digital Marketing Management MSc.

Whether you are already a marketer seeking to specialise in this fast-changing area or perhaps graduated in a different discipline and are now looking to change careers, this exciting course explores the theory, skills and attributes to prepare you for a career in digital marketing management.

A digital marketing bootcamp during induction helps to bring everyone up to speed with key media, marketing tools and emerging trends in areas such as content marketing, machine learning and AI, before studying the psychology of the digital consumer, exploring customer journeys and experiences and taking disruptive innovative approaches.

Do you have the ideas, imagination and creativity to spot market opportunities, predict the next big thing and develop engaging communications that cut across the thousands of marketing messages that bombard us 24/7? As advancements in technology generate new marketing channels and trends, businesses are increasingly turning to marketing experts for answers, which is why you’ll find marketing and advertising on almost every list of the fastest growing industries worldwide.

Long gone are the days when traditional marketing was dominated by sales and advertising linked to traditional print and broadcast media. Today’s modern marketing relies on market research and consumer insights, databases and information systems, digital communications, advanced geo-demographic segmentation and a deep understanding of buyer psychology and behaviour. That’s why you’ll find all this and more on our exciting degree, which is continually reviewed to keep up with the fast pace of change in this field.

You’ll cover every aspect of marketing, from costing campaigns and managing marketing budgets to creating a new business, generating market intelligence or developing a new product development strategy. Acknowledging the importance of digital techniques and social media marketing, you’ll have access to our new digital marketing lab, Switch 23, which is set up to mimic a creative agency. It features a large touch screen and individual workstations that students can connect to, using laptops and mobile phones to present their campaigns.

You’ll also relate your learning to real-world marketing practice during a range of exciting field trips and project-based work. Past students have studied tourism marketing in Paris, the most popular city in France, while closer to home, others were tasked with creating a marketing campaign to promote the Tower of London. Expect to be given tasks based on real-life projects, such as developing the marketing plan to launch a small, independent hotel, as an example.

Past graduates within the Business School have found successful employment as management, marketing and advertising trainees, as trainee accountants and brand managers, recruitment consultants, retail managers and as assistants in market research, PR and global brand.

Our course was designed with input from a range of industry professionals from industry sectors including– retail, public relations, marketing, pharmaceuticals, government and the NHS.

Our Tourism and Events Management BA explores the relationship between tourism, events and the wider environment, developing the skills you need to successfully evaluate and manage tourism and stage events in host destinations. The course is designed for students who have an interest in the tourism sector generally and are keen to focus on the dynamic field of events management. The course is designed to provide a combination of the practical elements of events management with an in-depth understanding of the potential impacts of events and their role in developing destination product and destination image. The course takes an international perspective and includes a field trip in each year of study. 

The course provides a thorough grounding in the subject and the theoretical principles that underpin tourism and event policy and management, but also has a strong emphasis on skills development for the workplace, including presentation skills, research, data analysis, budgeting, negotiation and content planning. Each student is allocated a personal tutor for academic guidance and pastoral care.

Informed by our extensive commercial and professional partnerships within the property sector, this practical Master’s course will prepare you to adapt and excel within the complex and ever-changing real estate market – from valuation and appraisal to the strategic management and development of commercial and residential property assets.

Accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), it aims to provide a challenging, stimulating and professionally relevant course of study that is directly related to the valuation, management and development of real estate property. Capitalising on our excellent industry contacts, course content is informed by leading firms such as Barratt Homes and British Land, as well as Savills and Cushman and Wakefield, who regularly send their own staff to train with us.

Taught by staff who will share their own experiences as surveyors and planners, you'll gain a detailed understanding of the property development and appraisal process, encompassing the financial, physical, legal and social aspects. You’ll also develop the latest management skills and techniques to successfully deliver projects to meet client expectations taking account of any external constraints.