Overview
Our Business Management with Foundation Year provides students with a broad-based view of the business world. You will develop knowledge and skills across key business disciplines, focusing on the study of organisations, management and the changing environment in which they operate.
The aim of the course is to equip students with the introductory and foundational knowledge to confidently progress to degree-level study, and prepare students for a variety of future careers. On your journey with us, you will study various disciplines in business and management, and interact with our strong network of professional bodies, industry specialists and alumni: you'll also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement within an established workplace or with an enterprise start-up.
Why Business Management at LSBU?
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- We are ranked 5th among modern London competitors for Business Management (Complete University Guide, 2022).
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- We are an esteemed member institution of the Business Graduates Association (BGA), sister brand to the AMBA.
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- We hold Centre of Excellence status with the IOEE, recognising our entrepreneurial culture and practice.
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- We offer outstanding facilities and access to the software widely used in industry: Bloomberg, SAGE, FAME, Nvivo and SPSS.
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- You'll have the opportunity to complete an extra year in a paid professional work placement.
Extra curricular activities
Business students benefit from a number of facilities and software available within the School of Business, but are also host to a whole number of extracurricular activities that help prepare students for the world of work.
Below is a list of extracurricular activities which students can get involved in, utilising the facilities which we have available, to make the learning process at LSBU much more practical and hands-on.
- Institute of Directors (IoD) – our close relationship with the IoD results in regular networking events with senior IoD members, entry into the Young Director of the Year award, membership with the IoD, and access to all of their great resources.
- Business Solutions Centre - put skills in to practice as a student advisor in the Business Solutions Centre, whilst making a positive impact in the business community.
- Mentoring – Students have the opportunity to be mentored by a peer or provisional from industry
- LinkedIn Learning - benefit from access to a wide array of courses and materials related to professional and personal development.
- Live Projects – students benefit from live projects with real businesses who present problems and students have to suggest solutions.
- Hackathons – an event, which brings students together to solve a business problem over a short period, you will need to think fast and work as a team to come up with an innovative solution!
- ILX courses – We provide a number of accredited courses, which prepare students for project management, a crucial skill respected within the business sector.
- Learn a language – students will have the opportunity to learn another language, an invaluable skill in a global city. Another language is just another skill we can support you with, supporting you for future career success.
- Speakers Club - improve your presentation skills by working with professional and networking.
Find out about our HEAR programme in the School of Business
ModeFull-time | Duration4 year | Start dateSeptember | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Marketing Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateJanuary | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Marketing Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateSeptember | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Finance Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateSeptember | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Finance Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateJanuary | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Accounting Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateSeptember | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time(Accounting Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateJanuary | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Business Management Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateSeptember | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
ModeFull-time (Business Management Pathway) | Duration4 year | Start dateJanuary | Application codeN20F | Application method UCAS |
Location
London South Bank University student union is located at 103 Borough Rd, London SE1 0AA.
If you are visiting our Southwark Campus, you may wish to use our downloadable campus map (PNG File 466 KB). For information on accessibility, see our DisabledGo access guides. See our location page for more details.
Entry Level Requirements
Want to start your course this September? call 0800 923 8888 for entry requirements.
64 UCAS points
Or equivalent level 3 qualifications.
If you do not meet the entry criteria above we also review any previous skills, knowledge or experience you have gained outside of your education and are happy to talk through any extenuating circumstances you feel relevant.
Visit UCAS for guidance on the tariff.
Choose your country
Select country here:
Missing English and Maths qualifications?
If you do not have the required English and Maths qualifications needed to satisfy the entry requirements for this programme, we have courses available at our partner College that you can take to upskill in these areas. Find out more at South Bank College.
Advanced entry
If you have already completed some studies at another university, we may be able to consider you for advanced entry. Please see our advanced entry page for more information.
United Kingdom
£9535
Tuition fees for home students
International
£17600
Tuition fees for international students
Tuition fees are subject to annual inflationary increases. Find out more about tuition fees for Undergraduate or Postgraduate courses.
For more information, including how and when to pay, see our fees and funding section for undergraduate students.
Please check your fee status and whether you are considered a Home, EU or International student for fee-paying purposes and for our regulatory returns, by reading the UKCISA regulations.
See our Tuition Fees Regulations (PDF File 391 KB) and Refund Policy (PDF File 775 KB).
Possible fee changes
The University reserves the right to increase its fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions.
The fees for international students are reviewed annually and the University reserves the right to increase the tuition fees in line with the RPIX measure of inflation up to 4 per cent.
Scholarships
We offer several types of fee reduction through our scholarships and bursaries. Find the full list and other useful information on our scholarships page.
International students
The course is not currently open to international students.
International (non Home) applicants should follow our international how to apply guide.
Home
Mode Full-time | Duration 4 year | Start date September | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Marketing Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date January | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Marketing Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date September | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Finance Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date September | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Finance Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date January | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Accounting Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date September | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time(Accounting Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date January | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Business Management Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date September | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Mode Full-time (Business Management Pathway) | Duration 4 year | Start date January | Application code N20F | Application method UCAS |
Accommodation
Once we have made you an offer, you can apply for accommodation. You can rent from LSBU and you’ll deal directly with the university, not third party providers. That means we can guarantee you options to suit all budgets, with clear tenancy agreements and all-inclusive rents that include insurance for your personal belongings, internet access in each bedroom and on-site laundry facilities.
Or, if you’d rather rent privately, we can give you a list of landlords – just ask our Accommodation Service.
Read more about applying for accommodation at LSBU.
Finance
You don't need to wait for a confirmed place on a course to start applying for student finance. Read how to pay your fees as an undergraduate student.
Prepare to start
Applicant events
After you’ve received your offer we’ll send you emails about events we run to help you prepare for your course.
Enrolment
Before you start your course we’ll send you information on what you’ll need to do before you arrive and during your first few days on campus. You can read about the process on our Enrolment pages.
The course has been created to combine theory with current industry practice. This way, you can develop an understanding of the relevant knowledge and skills you need to apply for business management roles.
Year 1
- Apps and Applications This module will introduce students to software that can be used in the academic and business environment to support their IT confidence, enhance their IT proficiency and work together in online spaces. The students will develop practical skills enabling them to use software to communicate effectively and collect, manipulate and present information. Further, students should develop a confidence with learning and using new software, preparing them for the changing business environment, and the increasing use of virtual spaces and emerging software.
- Academic Development Academic writing is the foundation upon which student success is built. This module will explore the contextual nature of communication, comparing the features of spoken language with the written word. Further, it will explain the key steps that students will need to undertake to complete a persuasive piece of academic writing, providing students with guidance on how to express opinions and form logical academic arguments underpinned by research.
- Business Communication and Culture This module supports students in their personal and academic development as they transition into business education, ensuring familiarisation with academic processes and resources, and through the development of sustainable communication and effective coaching skills. Furthermore it facilitates the student’s self-development, through the exploration of their core values and beliefs, enabling them to develop their social and cultural capital through individual and group work, networking, social activity, and exposure to the current business environment and the good coaching practice within organisational culture.
- Problem-solving for business This module introduces students to the basic concepts of business research. Students will apply introductory research skills to a real-world problem in the shape of a local project, which will require students to undertake primary and secondary research into an issue facing a local organisation such as a community service, local charity or small business. The students will select a project as a team and then discuss the research problems with the tutor before starting the project. The students will evaluate outcomes of the research undertaken and provide recommendations for tfhe business. The aim of this module is to expose students to the research process so, in instances where companies pull out, students can complete their research using secondary data and addressing the issues they faced in their methodology section. The students will also conduct a short programme of coaching.
- Data-handing for Business and Marketing This module teaches the fundamental statistical and mathematical tools that are the principles of decision-making. From a data perspective, the course provides an idea of infrastructures and types of data. It will provide students with the skills to derive insights from a pool of data for decision making. This will create the appropriate ground for modules on BA Business Management and BA Marketing Extended Degrees. For example, one can get the principles to manage financial data, the business model of e-companies and the fundamentals to process secondary data.
- Introduction to Business Management This module aims to give students an overview of what constitutes a business/organisation, and of the different types of businesses. It illustrates what the component parts are and the way businesses achieve sustainability and success. It encourages the understanding of the domestic and international business environment, and explores aspects of globalisation.
- Finance and the Economy Introduces students to a range of economic and financial topics and shows how these can be applied to understand the world around us. The module develops students understanding of the external environment businesses face, and aspects of finance relevant to the business context.
- Principles of Marketing Aims to provide students with an introduction to the nature and scope of marketing. It provides them with an understanding of the fundamentals within the marketing discipline and to be introduced to the understanding of marketing as a management tool. Students will also be introduced to the role of marketing within the general marketplace and society.
- LSBU Discovery Project In this module students will be utilising business project frameworks, problem solving skills and ideas generation techniques that will support them through the key stages required to complete a business small business project from concept to delivery. Throughout the stages of their project, and by incorporating a facilitated coaching process, students will be supported to develop key skills vital to successful leadership and management.
- Data for Decision Making The module examines a range of ways of handling, analysing and presenting quantitative information. The underlying theme is to look at data in a variety of forms, to determine the ‘story’ that this data is telling, and to use that ‘story’ to justify decisions.
- Management and Organisations This module introduces students to the basic concepts of management in organisations. It provides students an appreciation of the complexities of organisations that affect employee behaviour within them. It introduces them to human resource management strategies to manage people in organisations. The module incorporates key management, organisational behaviour and people management theories and practices.
- Principles of Strategy This module aims to equip students with the knowledge of skills of basic strategic analysis. Students will be exposed to the use of simple strategic tools to evaluate the business and its wider environment. They will also be able to identify creative strategic solutions to simple organisational issues. The module further aims to develop students’ ability to make decisions between different strategic alternatives.
- The Business Professional
This module provides comprehensive insights into graduate employability and career development for Business Management students. It teaches students essential techniques of self-awareness building, career exploration, job search, succeeding in recruitment and selection processes and teamwork, enabling them to secure employment and thrive in the world of work. - Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management
This module demonstrates the importance of operations, logistics and the supply chain while also considering procurement and negotiation strategies and techniques within business services, retail and manufacturing environments. Students will analyse best practice in logistics and supply chain management and the effects of disruptive technological and communication developments on business operations. - Effective Business Negotiations
Negotiation is a core business skill integral to some degree in the vast majority of commercial and even non-commercial business activities. Successful negotiation is a process that involves a number of essential soft skills including effective questioning, effective listening, critical thinking and empathy. In addition, planning, situational analysis and the ability to recognise and evaluate the shared, differing and conflicting interests of the parties involved is key. - Responsible Business
The corporate responsibility agenda of the 90s was about ticking boxes. Now, companies are more progressive with a shift in focus towards social value, and understanding that responsibility is a commercial imperative, embedded in strategy to provide a competitive advantage. This module outlines some of the resources and strategies adapted from management and leadership across industries. With a focus on sustainable development the module introduces students to sustainability narratives and challenges stemming from the scarcity of resources, and the inherent concerns from the complexity of the leadership issues involved towards an adaptive and assimilated sustainability planning. - Digital Transformation
This module introduces students to the basic theory, concepts, and techniques of digital business transformation. It focuses on developing the thought processes and practical skills needed to identify, analyse, evaluate and apply digital technologies in order to address real-world business problems. - The Digital Economy
- Entrepreneurial Mindset: Business Discovery and Development
- Finance in a Digital World
- Learning and Talent Development
- Media Relations
- Fundamentals of Project Management
- Practical Analytics
- Leadership, Strategy and Change
This module examines the scope and nature of leadership, strategic management and change and approaches to establishing organisational objectives. It demonstrates the link between strategy, resources, markets, innovation, technology and finances available. The impact of the size and structure of organisations as well as external factors impacting strategy including globalization and sustainability are also considered. - Comparative International Management
In an ever broadening set of interdependent relationships among countries, the need to recognise the opportunities and restrictions presented by different world markets has gained significance. This module is designed to impart students with the analytical skills to assess the socio-economic differences between countries, and to identify how these differences impact business and management behaviour across countries through comparative studies. It is based on the rationale that students understanding as managers will be expected to analyse and compare market and business environments in different countries to attain business success. The module develops students’ understanding of business practice in different regions and acquaints students to apply analytical management tools and qualitative research methodologies to critically evaluate and gain an understanding of comparative international management practices. - Small Business Management
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a large share of our economies and a leading force in economic development. This module focuses on such enterprises and explores the distinctive features of management in the SME environment. The module covers the fundamentals of managing SMEs and family owned small businesses in relation to leadership, strategy implementation, product development, innovation management, domestic growth and internationalisation strategies. Students will develop an understanding of the theoretical foundations of entrepreneurship. Students will also look at the roles and contributions of entrepreneurs and SMEs to economies, and will consider debates around the provision of hard and soft government support for entrepreneurship and SMEs. The module examines the application of entrepreneurship across different domains, including the role of women, family businesses, ethnic minority businesses, and corporate ventures. - Research Project
This final year module allows students to consolidate their learning over the whole of their degree by undertaking an independent small-scale research project, with a business or management focus. - Applied Project
This final year module allows students returning from their undergraduate placement year to consolidate their learning on their degree and industrial experience by undertaking an applied project. - Business Intelligence
- New Technology Innovations
- Global Finance and Technology
- Contemporary Issues in HR
- Strategic Market Channels
- PRINCE2® - Methodologies for Project Management
- Retail Boutiques and Shopper Behaviour
- Volunteering
Year 2
Year 3
Plus options from:
Year 4
Plus options from:
Careers
Employability Service
We are University of the Year for Graduate Employment for the second year in a row - The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018, 2019.
At LSBU, we want to set you up for a successful career. During your studies – and for two years after you graduate – you’ll have access to our Employability Service, which includes:
- An online board where you can see a wide range of placements: part-time, full-time or voluntary. You can also drop in to see our Job Shop advisers, who are always available to help you take the next step in your search.
- Our Careers Gym offering group workshops on CVs, interview techniques and finding work experience, as well as regular presentations from employers across a range of sectors.
Our Student Enterprise team can also help you start your own business and develop valuable entrepreneurial skills.
Our integrated foundation year provides you with a solid foundation in academic skills and business-related disciplines; instilling knowledge and practical skills that will prepare you for an LSBU Business School degree which can add value to any company or organisation. You will specifically develop practical and research skills in the Problem Solving for Business module but all modules will require you to engage in practical tasks which will enhance your employability.
LSBU Business School is an esteemed member institution of the Business Graduates Association (BGA), an international membership and quality assurance body of world-leading and high-potential Business Schools who share a commitment for responsible management practices and lifelong learning, and are looking to provide positive impact on their students, communities, and the economy as a whole. BGA is the sister brand to the Association of MBAs (AMBA), the world's impartial authority on postgraduate management education.
As a BGA member institution, students of LSBU Business School are able to access BGA's individual membership, which offers a range of tools and resources designed to support the professional and personal development of business students and graduates, free of charge. This includes CV building services, a job search function, skill assessments, thought-leadership, partner discounts and much more.
Teaching and Assessment
The academic team is made up of a range of lecturers from research, industry and charity backgrounds with subject specialisms in Economics, Enterprise, Management Information Systems, Marketing, and Mathematics.
Where possible, guest speakers from business and academia will bring specialisms and real world contextualisation. Interactive seminars and workshops will support the lectures and have a strong focus on small group activities and application of knowledge to business case studies and real life. Examples of activities students will engage with during seminars are: question practice and case study analysis to reinforce and contextualise key lecture topics, debate and discussion. Processes and techniques are demonstrated during lectures and are then developed and applied to questions and exercises during seminars to reinforce learning.
Examples of the range of assessment types are: Business Reports, Case Study Analysis, Closed Book Exam, Multiple choice test, Individual Reflections, Essays, E-poster, Social Media Presence Development, Individual Portfolio, Excel Assignment, Coaching Diary, and Group Presentation.
Personal Tutoring
Personal tutoring and pastoral care will be provided through a dedicated team of personal tutors. As part of the Academic Development, students will meet in groups to discuss and identify their own individual SMART objectives related to the current course of study and career objectives. From this they will then work alongside their Personal Tutor to develop the Personal Development Plan for the coming semester and to be developed in all modules and finalised in the Problem Solving for Business module.
At the end of Semester 1 / beginning of Semester 2 students will meet to review their semester one results and develop their plan. In Semester 2 the personal development will focus on extra curricula opportunities for students to increase student engagement. The division will work closely with support services and societies and the student to ensure opportunities for personal development are supported.