This is a four-year version of our popular BA (Hons) Business and Marketing Management course, with an integrated foundation year. Gain the specialist skills and knowledge to prepare yourself for a career in the exciting field of marketing in this professionally accredited course. Undertake a paid placement. Graduate and embark on a rewarding career.

Overview

BA (Hons) Business and Marketing Management forms part of our suite of business courses. Compared to the core Business and Management course, it has a greater focus on skills and knowledge related to marketing, including marketing management, planning and strategy, marketing communications, consumer behavior and internet marketing. The course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and gives you exemption from its first two levels of study and certain modules at the Professional Diploma level.

The course has a range of employability modules across all years which help you strengthen the six key attributes of being capable, enquiring, creative, enterprising, ethical and global in outlook.

Why Us?

  • ‘World-leading’ research in Business, according to the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF).
  • The Sunderland Business School is a member of ‘The Association of Business Schools’
  • Accredited by The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
  • Available as a sandwich year course where you can engage in a one-year industrial placement.
  • A strongly vocational programme with employability as a key focus with a mix of academic discussion and real world case studies to expand critical thought and discussion.
  • Our undergraduate Business and Management courses are ranked 1st (of 14 institutions, 201 respondents) for Overall Engagement (UKES, 2020).

Course Structure

Throughout the course the focus is on innovative teaching and learning by doing and reflecting. One technique is problem-based learning, where you work in a small team to explore issues or decide how to manage a situation. This helps you to dissect, challenge and debate issues. Other teaching methods include company visits, guest speakers and cutting-edge elearning technologies. These are in addition to a combination of lectures, seminars, debates, tutorials and workshops.

Our assessment methods often include coursework and are designed to help consolidate learning. Other methods include assessed case studies and business simulations, presentations, reports, essays, tests and time-constrained assessments.

The Business and Tourism Integrated Foundation Year includes five modules:

  • Core Modules
  • Contemporary Global Issues in Business and Tourism (20 credits)

Engage with the literature and current debates on some of the major current global issues and trends within Business and Tourism in general. Examples include: wireless communication and technological transformation, universal payment methods, cost of fuel, security/safety and pandemics, political conditions, food security and food waste, rising income inequality, international trade and investment. Investigate a current global issue related to your degree of study via lectures/seminars, workshops and blended learning activities.

  • Essential Study Skills (20 credits)

Bridge the gap between Further Education and Higher Education. Understand the level of work you will be expected to do at university, how to become an independent learner and how to find answers yourself.

  • Founation Project (20 credits)

Investigate a topic area related to your degree program. Projects will vary according to the degree program of study but typically the formats would include: a review paper, a practical project or analysis of data for a report. Utilize the lectures and surgeries and gain specialist input into your proposed project. While the module is based around independent learning, tutors are on hand to guide the process through the use of weekly surgeries.

  • Founation of Business and Tourism (40 credits)

Learn about the main functions of an organization, its various functional areas, and the role and importance of management in the effective co-ordination of those functions. Explore the contemporary global business issues and its impact on international, regional and local market place. Engage with the relevant literature and current debates in relation to your identified areas.

  • Optional Modules (Choose One)
  • Practical Numeracy Skills (20 credits)

Consolidating your numerical skills, see how these can be used in real-life applications, and consider how statistical results are presented, calculated and statistics misrepresented. See how to apply this knowledge in everyday life settings, both at work and at a personal level. Take responsibility for your own learning and ensuring you are able to manage your time and work independently.

OR

  • Practical Statistical Skills (20 credits)

Consolidate your mathematical understanding and awareness and examine how these skills can be applicable in real-life scenarios. Explore the presentation of statistics and how statistics can be misrepresented. Refresh and build on your prior statistical knowledge base. 

Facilities

You’ll be based at The Reg Vardy Centre, at The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s. This is home to the Sunderland Business School and the St Peter’s Library with thousands of books related to business, marketing and strategy, economics, management and human resources.

Entry Requirements

The Integrated Foundation Year is specially designed to support you where you have just missed the grades required for direct entry onto a three-year degree, or if you have relevant work experience and are now looking to broaden your subject knowledge but want more time to develop study skills before starting your degree.

Entry requirements are provided for guidance only and we may offer you an entrance interview which will help us determine your eligibility for your chosen degree. This enables us to consider making you an offer if you are perhaps a mature student who has been out of education for a period of time, or you have gained significant knowledge and skills through employment rather than traditional education.

Eligible Entry Qualifications​

  1. Normally a minimum of three Level 2 qualifications (NVQ, GCSE or equivalent), including Maths and English at grade C or above** and a minimum of 40 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A or AS Levels, BTEC certificates/diplomas, access courses or equivalent)
    OR
  2. Demonstrable evidence of appropriate knowledge and skills acquired from at least three years of post-school work experience.

Find out how many points your qualifications are worth using the UCAS Tariff calculator.

If you are unsure of whether you think you might be suitable for the course, please contact us!

** If you have studied for a GCSE which has a numerical grade then you will need to achieve a grade 4 or above. Equivalent alternative qualifications are also accepted, such as Level 2 Key Skills in Communication and Application of Number. If you have not achieved a grade C in Maths and English we may be able to work with you to ensure that you are able to gain these in the first year of the course, depending on your experience.

If English is not your first language, please see our English language requirements.

For more information about our Integrated Foundation Year courses please see our Help and Advice articles.

Career Ready

Our marketing students graduate with sought-after skills and knowledge across all areas of business and management. You’ll understand how businesses create success, how to manage business operations, how to make informed decisions, and how to lead change in organisations.

The employability focused curriculum of the course has been designed in collaboration with a range of employers including: CDC Wealth Management, Caterpillar, Nissan, Network Rail, NCC Education, NHS, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Uplift Associates, Sedgefield SSP CIC, Castle Howard and NRL Ltd.

Paid Placements

The faculty-based employability team will support you in securing an optional paid work placement to further enhance your employability between your second and final year. It effectively becomes a third year of a four-year course, and you’ll earn an average salary of £14,000-£18,000 a year depending on your location.

Placements are an excellent opportunity to put your learning into practice and understand the context for your new knowledge. The contacts made during placements can also be valuable for future job offers.

Student Business Society

The University supports student-led initiatives that help you gain practical experience of management. The Student Business Society organizes events and guest speakers, as well as attending tours of various companies. With its professional approach, it’s a great way to put into practice the lessons about how to make organizations function effectively. There is something for every student who is studying a subject related to business.

Guet Speakers

Our regular program of guest speakers from industry allows you to listen to people who are already in the type of management position that you may one day hold. Recent speakers include Maurice Duffy, CEO of Global Blackswan, Mike Johnson, CEO of Castrol and Executive Vice President of BP, Uday K. Dholakia, Senior Partner of Global Consulting, Neil Stephenson, CEO of ONYX, James Ramsbotham, CEO of the North East Chamber of Commerce, as well as other representatives from a number of our region’s largest employers.

Top-Up Route

A top-up entry option is available to those who have already successfully completed a Higher National Diploma (HND) or Foundation Degree and wish to progress onto the final year of the honours degree course. Topping up your existing HND or Foundation Degree will take one year of full-time study and may open up future career options to you depending on your chosen career path.

Contact us to find out how you can get credit for your previous learning and top-up your qualification to a range of degrees.

Sunderland Marketing Hub

Launching soon, the Sunderland Marketing Hub gives students – supported by academic staff – an opportunity to address problems presented by local businesses or organizations