Business Management and Entrepreneurship with Placement Year

• Build your creativity, flexibility, innovation and problem-solving skills – on an exciting degree which combines business management with entrepreneurship.
• Achieve a respected Chartered Management Institute (CMI) qualification alongside your degree and set yourself apart as an enterprising business leader of the future
• Develop the skills to scan the business horizon, identify opportunities and progress viable commercial ideas
• Create the ideal platform to launch your own business venture
• Extend your practical experience through work-related learning, live projects, case studies and business simulations
• Enjoy a global perspective of contemporary business and focus on the principles of ethical and responsible management
• You can choose to take a placement year between years two and three of your degree.

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. 

This dynamic degree helps you to seize the initiative, generate business ideas and make them happen.

Professional recognition for your degree

Developed in close consultation with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), this course puts you on the fast track to success. It is one of the few in the country where you’ll graduate with a highly regarded BA (Hons) Business Management as well as the CMI Level 5 Diploma in Management and Leadership.

The Diploma is the benchmark qualification for full CMI membership and takes you a step towards Chartered Manager status. There is no need to take extra exams or coursework to achieve the Diploma: our combined module and CMI assessments give you a smooth route to both qualifications.

An entrepreneuring outlook

Whether you have an idea for a business start-up or want to impress potential employers with your entrepreneurial mindset, this course will stand you in good stead. We have designed specialist modules which enable you to identify business opportunities, assess their potential and translate them into reality.

You will learn how to harness creativity to solve business problems and make better products and services. We explore the pros and cons of freelancing, the challenges of launching a business and how to take an innovative product to market. There is also a focus on how start-up ventures and small businesses can prosper in the global landscape.

Select the pathway to suit you

Flexibility is one of the most distinctive features of our Business Management suite of degrees. All students study the same modules in the first year to gain insights into the major business disciplines.

After your first year, you can choose to follow the specialist pathway in Entrepreneurship or – if you find your interests have changed – you can easily transfer to one of our other pathways in HRM, Marketing, Finance, Business Technology or Supply Chain and Logistics.  Alternatively, you could choose the core Business Management route, drawing on our extensive list of optional modules to develop a broader skillset.

A business mentor to support you

CMI accreditation for our course introduces you to a privileged network of contacts. You’ll have the opportunity to be supported by a CMI mentor at every stage of your degree.

Your mentor will be a senior business person – either a Chartered Manager or Fellow of the CMI with a wealth of experience. From day one, they will advise and coach you from a business perspective, sharing their career insights and demonstrating how management theory can be applied in the workplace.  

Throughout the degree, you will become an affiliate member of the CMI, at no extra cost, with access to networking events, guest lectures, online resources and additional benefits to support your career development and employability.

Test your entrepreneurial skills

Business simulations, topical case studies and business games – all provide practical scenarios in which to test your ideas and hone your enterprise skills.

The course culminates in a live consultancy project with an employer, where you will harness your research and project management skills to improve an organisation’s business performance.

Alongside your studies, you’ll work towards an additional qualification: the Futures Award in Business Work Experience. You’ll gain credits for extra-curricular activities which strengthen your development as a business professional.

Take responsibility in business

One of our priorities is to foster a new generation of responsible business leaders with a strong moral compass. Throughout the course, you will therefore look at the role of business in wider society, exploring issues ranging from environmental sustainability to child labour, ethical governance to responsible innovation.

Widen your networks

You can draw on our contacts with leading business names regionally, nationally and internationally as well as our thriving Network of Entrepreneurs. You’ll hear from people who have made their name in business, including Brett Butcher, our Entrepreneur in Residence and founder of Datapath Ltd, a world-leading innovator in computer graphics, video capture and digital technology.

We pride ourselves on our global student community. This course not only attracts students from all over the world to Derby but is also delivered for our educational partners across Europe and Asia. It means your learning will be enriched by truly international perspectives.

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.

We take a ‘scaffolded’ approach to learning, so you’ll have full support in the early stages of your course and can gradually move towards stronger understanding and greater independence. It’s a smooth transition to ease your way into both university-level study and business management practice.

Through your contact with personal tutors and CMI mentors – as well as your participation in University events – you’ll become more attuned to professional behaviour and will build your skills in critical thinking, creativity and self-reliance before immersing yourself in the wider business community.

The course incorporates formal lectures, sometimes involving guest speakers; tutor-led and student-led seminars; one-to-one and small group tutorials; work experience projects; work-related learning; self-directed study; optional placement and internship opportunities; and video discussions with overseas partner institutions.  By stage three, you are expected to be more in charge of your own learning, with module tutors advising and directing your studies.

How you are assessed

You will benefit from an innovative variety of assessment modes. Assessment is mainly via coursework which can take forms such as traditional essays and reports, group project work, research and consultancy projects, presentations, posters, and design of digital materials. There are also in-class tests and computer-based assessments.

Your qualifications will equip you for a rewarding career in any area of business and management where people with ideas, drive and creativity are valued. Our former students now work in a wide range of organisations such as Severn Trent Water, DHL, JCB, ESG and The Keystone Group.

The skills you gain on this course will also stand you in good stead if you want to launch a business, develop a social enterprise, go self-employed or work on a consultancy basis. One success story is that of Ed Hollands who graduated in 2015 and has formed his own business, The Advert Man. Read Ed's story here.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, we offer a comprehensive range of services – from incubation units to professional mentoring – to help you realise your business ambitions once you’ve graduated.

If you’d like to take your studies to the next level, you can also progress to any business masters programmes and get an alumni discount on your fees.

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 Business Technology BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Human Resource Management BA (Hons)
• Business Management, Supply Chain and Logistics BA (Hons)
• Business Management and Marketing BA (Hons)

Contact us

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