Business Management with Placement Year

Let's do business

You'll learn about organisations, their management and the global environments in which they operate. You’ll learn new ways of thinking as well as a host of practical skills.

And you'll be challenged to apply these to real-world business and management scenarios through projects, placements and internships. On this course, everyone gets to do business as well as learn about business. 

We’ll help you prepare for a career in a global business environment that is rapidly changing. We'll support you to become more agile, innovative and resilient. You will also develop self-learning and team-working skills, both crucial to success in the professional sphere.

Importantly, you will also learn to see things differently, by working with students from many other countries - both in your classes and online through joint projects with our overseas partner universities. You will see how people from different cultures tackle the same business issue. And you'll discover that who we are and where we are affect how we do business.

Boost your employability with a placement year

You’ll have the opportunity to take a placement year to put the skills you’ve learned into practice in a real-world environment. We'll support you to find your placement and throughout your year in industry. Placements allow you to gain valuable experience to add to your CV, make industry contacts and help you to narrow down what kind of role you may be interested in after graduation. 

Professionally approved

Chartered Management Institute accreditation means the CMI has independently assessed that the course meets its own high standards and priorities. The CMI is a UK professional body dedicated to promoting excellence in management and leadership. CMI accreditation is, therefore, a sign of a high-quality degree. 

And, because the course is 'dual accredited', you will also automatically receive a CMI professional qualification when you graduate, on top of your BA (Hons) from us! Find out more about the benefits of CMI accreditation.

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

Our teaching methods will be varied, interactive and engaging. You will take part in:

• Formal lectures
• Tutor-led and student-led seminars
• One-to-one and small group tutorials
• Work experience and consultancy projects
• Self-directed study
• Optional placement and internship opportunities
• Joint projects with overseas students

Business Consultancy Project

In your final year, you will undertake one of the most important parts of the course: the Business Consultancy Project. After learning the project management and research skills that are essential to any business professional, you will then apply these to solve a real problem for a business.

This is a fantastic opportunity to put to use all your newly-acquired knowledge and skills and prove what you can do. Not only will you gain valuable experience, but you will also become much more confident in your abilities. 

Optional placement year or internships

You can choose to take a placement year between years two and three of your degree, which would super-charge your employability and improve your prospects after graduation. We can help you to find a placement and provide support throughout your year away. If that's not for you, you can choose to complete internships during the summer breaks instead. 

How you are assessed

We mostly assess you through practical coursework assignments — the sort of tasks you might undertake in a workplace. Sometimes these will be individual tasks and at other times, you will need to work in a group. Assignments could include:

• business reports
• research and consultancy projects
• presentations
• design of digital materials such as videos, blogs or augmented reality posters
• computer-based assessments. 

You’ll graduate with not only a degree in Business Management, but with an extra professional qualification (the CMI Diploma) and a host of real-world experience, so you’ll already have a head start in the careers market.

Because this is such a broad degree, lots of different job roles will be open to you, in areas such as:

• Project management
• Analysis
• Consultancy
• Accountancy
• Operations
• Human resource management
• Marketing
• Sales
• Logistics
• Finance

Previous students have gone on to work for prominent employers — including Deloitte, PwC, Capita, the BBC, DHL, Barclays, Tata, Mott MacDonald and IBM — while others have set up their own businesses. 

Our Careers and Employment Service will provide you with support from day one of your course to ensure you leave Derby as a ‘work-ready’ graduate – industry aware, motivated and enterprising. Throughout your studies, you’ll also benefit from our Personal Development Planning (PDP) scheme which enables you to reflect on your learning and develop your career ambitions. 

The support continues once you’ve completed your course too: you are entitled to further help and guidance from the Careers and Employment Service for up to three years after leaving our University.

Further study

You could continue your studies with one of our masters programmes, including the MBA Global and MBA Global Finance or MSc International Business.

2025 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2025 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional costs and optional extras

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.

Other courses you might like

• Business Management BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Entrepreneurship BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Finance BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Human Resource Management BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Marketing BA (Hons)

Contact us

If you need any more information from us, eg on courses, accommodation, applying, car parking, fees or funding, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help you.