Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in International Marketing with Placement Year

at University of Westminster - Marylebone Campus United Kingdom

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.

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.

This exciting programme is designed with input from financial firms, public and private companies. Our aim is to combine theoretical learning content with practice to give you a deep understanding of modern financial theories together with learning about how companies make investment, financing and acquisition decisions. It will prepare you for a career in the dynamic, highly regulated world of financial services. 

Developing core quantitative and analytical skills, you’ll learn how to prepare and interpret financial data and managerial information. This education will enable you to develop your expertise to evaluate financial issues to  confidently make financial decisions. You will gain a broader understanding of the socio-economic, legal and professional environment within which finance operates. Graduates from this programme will be better placed to provide expert guidance to both professionals and non-professionals to solve complex real-world problems – the scope of the subject areas is broad ranging from graduates taking on roles from corporate financial management to highly analytical areas of the field in financial risk and investment management.    

The University is also recognised by the Chartered Financial Institute (CFA) as a University Affiliated Program partner. A fair proportion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge is embedded in this specialist finance degree.  

You’ll be taught by academics with professional experience in investment banking, derivatives, asset pricing, Treasury Management, algorithmic and high frequency trading, pricing and hedge fund trading. Theoretical aspects of your learning are seamlessly blended to develop  practical skills using our state-of-the-art Financial Markets Suite (FMS). The learning resources facility provides  access to a rich source of  financial and market data.

As well as a firm grounding in investment, finance fundamentals and general management, you’ll be able to study a wide variety of specialist finance modules, such as portfolio management and securities analysis. With the City of London's global financial institutions on our doorstep, you’ll begin building your professional network from day one. We also have guest lecturers and industry speakers, from big brokerage firms and asset management companies. 

The course enhances your analytical abilities, together with team-working, problem-solving, communication skills and commercial awareness needed to meet the needs for talent in a changing global financial world. The skills and knowledge you develop will open up a range of careers in the skills necessary for a successful career in the financial services industry, economic consultancy, government departments or in regulatory agencies. With further study, you could also progress to professional finance qualifications from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA) and the CISI. 

Our course was designed with input from a range of industry professionals with expertise in financial markets, institutions and financial regulation. To retain currency and relevance, we receive ongoing feedback from the School of Finance and Accounting’s Employability Advisory Board, whose members include practitioner representatives from Vanguard, JPMorgan and Global Structured Finance, as well as former students now working in the finance industry who provide suggestions on how to improve future employability for students. As much as 70% of the BSc Finance course content is in line with the CFA’s study units’ syllabuses.

Looking for a business management degree with a difference? The opportunity to work in sports management is a dream for anyone with a passion for sport, but you don’t have to be a sports fanatic to take this degree. One of the most exciting industries, sport and leisure in the UK alone employs 580,000 people. In 2019, more than a third of those employed in the field of sport in the EU-27 was aged between 15-29.

Developed in partnership with some of London’s leading sports clubs, agencies and governing bodies, including Queens Park Rangers and the MCC at Lords, our BA includes practical, professional work experience with a sports club or agency to get you work-ready.

Whether you go on to work as a marketing manager for a Premiership club, a sports analyst, sponsorship executive or diversity advisor, the career pathways are varied and rewarding.

Our degree provides an innovative, industry-focused programme that develops your knowledge of contemporary business management within the context of the wider sports industry. You will gain an in-depth knowledge of how the industry works. You will also learn to appreciate the internal and external challenges facing sports organisations, such as sustainability, diversity, and the impact of new technologies on sports marketing, management and customer engagement.

Specialist optional modules allow you to tailor your studies to match your interests. They include marketing and management, entrepreneurial enterprise, event management, sustainability, and social media innovation.

Where better to study than a centre of sports excellence? With 12 professional football teams, two premiership rugby team, and two country cricket sides, London is home to iconic sporting venues such as Wembley Stadium, Twickenham, Lord’s Cricket Ground and the Olympic Park in East London.

Our MSc Finance (International Finance pathway) will equip you with the practical and technical skills needed to work anywhere in the world, as a self-employed financial consultant, financial analyst/manager or venture capitalist in a multinational company, financial institution or government setting.

With its strong analytical focus and emphasis on financial institutions and their markets, this course will be of interest if you already work in the financial markets and are seeking career progression, or if you don’t have a traditional background in finance but wish to change careers. You'll study a common first semester, allowing you to make a more informed choice about your specialist pathway (in International Finance or Banking) for the second semester.

In our state-of-the-art Financial Markets Suite (FMS), you'll receive hands-on training and have access to live and historical news and data, experiencing the same Bloomberg platform used by leading global investment banks. You’ll gain a real-world understanding of assets, indices, currencies, derivatives, stocks, shares and interest rates, better preparing you for the business and finance world that awaits.

Financial economics is all about managing financial assets such as trade and share prices, interest rates and exchange rates. You’ll not only be introduced to financial economics, but also gain a solid foundation in general economic concepts, principles, analysis, techniques and knowledge.

Learning how to predict and advise on the impact of economic, social and public policy issues on monetary activities, you’ll develop your analytical and decision-making abilities, expanding your skills in data gathering, handling and interpretation, quantitative analysis and forecasting.

In our state-of-the-art Bloomberg virtual trading room, you will use industry-standard software, including Bloomberg, SAGE, FAME, Excel and other statistical packages, to analyse data, build models and produce forecasts. You will also develop key soft skills such as communicating complex economic ideas to a non-expert, presentation skills and teamwork.

We enjoy strong links with employers, including the Government Economic Service and Society of Professional Economists, which was relaunched here at Westminster Business School in 2018. Membership of the Society is offered to all final-year economic students and there are opportunities to attend their monthly meetings, conferences and continuous professional development courses.

Our Interior Architecture MA promotes a conceptual and speculative approach to the design of interior environments. In doing so, it places and emphasis on research that seeks to expand the boundaries of the discipline as well as challenge standardised processes and traditional methodologies. The programme affords multiple avenues of creative engagement giving you the opportunity to pursue your particular issues of interest in interior architecture, or specialist areas of three-dimensional design, through in-depth and focused studies, under the guidance of research-active and industry-experienced staff. Over the years, the course has continued to grow and is now an internationally sought-after Master’s programme that sits within the School of Architecture and Cities, based at our well-equipped Central London Campus.

Our course covers a range of specialist areas, both theoretical and practical. The curriculum is delivered through a diverse set of taught core modules including design and theory subjects, as well as the student-led thesis project. We also deliver specialist modules which promote the use of digital technologies to expand the students’ skill set. With a critical pedagogical agenda, we’ll challenge you to strive for a rich, mature synthesis of your learning from these modules, a process aimed to prepare you towards the challenges and opportunities of the complex professional world.

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)

The expansion of new media technologies and sophisticated customer profiling – covering everything from media consumption to recreational preferences – have increased the choice and importance of creative decisions in marketing strategy. Developed with input from current ‘marcomms’ practitioners, our professionally-focused degree will equip you with the creative and specialist knowledge, skills and capabilities to select the right media channels and craft the most effective messages.

You can also boost your employability by gaining additional qualifications with the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) and/or the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). Our status as a CIM Graduate Gateway institution entitles you to apply for exemptions from modules on its professional qualifications, while you can gain IDM’s Award in Digital Marketing during the Digital Marketing Essentials module.

Top reasons to study with us

• Professionally-focused course with chance to gain additional professional qualifications from the Institute of Data and Marketing (IDM) and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)
• Digital Marketing Essentials module incorporates content for IDM Award in Digital Marketing and the final-year Direct and Interactive Marketing module provides opportunity to gain the IDM Diploma in Digital Marketing
• Marketing degrees share a common first year, giving greater flexibility when choosing your specialism
• Option to spend one semester or one year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions, gain valuable work experience, or a combination of both. For example, one previous student worked as a marketing executive for ICG Medical
• Opportunity to study a foreign language as an optional module in each year of study
• 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
• Optional placement year to gain valuable work experience, for example, one of our previous students spent six months working as a podcast assistant for MailOnline, while another worked at IBM
• Guest lectures from industry practitioners have previously included speakers on Google analytics and from organisations such as IBM, Tableau, Coca Cola and LinkedIn
• Programmes are delivered by a multicultural and international teaching body, who come from professional practice and/or regularly publish in top international journals

With momentum around the United Nation’s (UN) sustainable development goals and the rise of a collaborative effort to reduce or eliminate poverty in developing countries, never has there been a more exciting time to get involved with international development.

Whether your future lies in practical aid, emergency response, fundraising, research, education or policy development, this Master’s degree will build your knowledge and expertise in a range of development disciplines. It will give you a firm understanding of development theory in an international context, with a particular focus on how to bring theory into practice deriving solutions to issues or problems for developing nations. That’s one of many reasons why we attract students from countries around the world including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Brazil, Columbia and the Philippines.

Experienced field practitioners working in international development organisations and NGOs contribute regularly to course content. You will learn from examples across the globe, studying real-life case studies, using official project materials and survey data from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other development agencies. You also have a unique opportunity to participate in a study visit to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, where you will hear from experts and discuss topics, such as international trade policy, migration and poverty reduction.