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BA (Hons)

Business and Management including Foundation Year

This foundation year will help you to build your confidence and lay the foundations for you to successfully complete a full degree in Business and Management.

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Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    N20F

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £5,760*

  • International students

    £15,850*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
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A foundation degree introduces you to university-level academic study. You will explore modules including business, organisational psychology and statistics, giving you the skills and confidence to complete your studies and have a successful career in a wide range of business and management positions.

Designed for

Students who do not currently meet the admissions criteria for direct entry onto a degree course or students returning to education who wish to build confidence and the academic skills needed to progress onto their chosen degree program.

Career paths

  • Manager
  • Entrepreneur
  • Business Advisor
  • Project Manager
  • Management Consultant
  • Business Analyst
  • Business Development
  • Chartered Management Accountant
  • Stockbroker
  • Supply Chain Manager

Skills taught

  • Critical thinking
  • Evaluation skills
  • IT skills
  • Independent learning
  • Communication skills

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

Business and Management student, Samaya Khan, is sat in the postgraduate centre, smiling at the camera.
A man attending a session at the USW Exchange on Treforest campus
A close up of a student laughing at friends whilst sat on beanbags in the accommodation hub.
A student is sat with their elbow on the back of a red sofa looking into the camera.

Course Highlights

Gain key skills

Develop a range of skills and qualities that will enrich your learning in year one and beyond.

Taught by experts

Learn from industry experts with real-world business experience.

Top in Wales

Business Management at USW is top for Teaching Quality in Wales (Guardian University Guide 2025).

Focused on your success

Supportive teaching to help you succeed in your foundation year and beyond.

Module Overview

This foundation year is designed to prepare you for further study at degree level through various modules covering essential academic, business and IT skills. The modules are tailored with study skills and support in mind to build your confidence and have a strong foundation for success in your degree and future career.

Study Skills
This module will teach you the required skills to progress to higher education study whilst developing your academic reading, writing, speaking and examination abilities.

Digital Capability
Develop your confidence using the digital tools required for higher education including blackboard, google scholar and Microsoft.

Investigative Project
You will independently research a topic of your choice before planning, evaluating and presenting your findings.

Organisational Psychology
Understand the key areas of organisational psychology from workplace stress to group dynamics.

Business Administration
Learn about achieving business goals through effective planning and how to deliver excellent customer service through staff management and organisational structure.

Statistics
You will gain the foundational knowledge required to understand and present data in a real-world context.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

You will be taught through a range of methods including traditional lectures and seminars as well as interactive workshops and group work. Our smaller class sizes create a supportive learning environment giving opportunities for meaningful assistance and feedback from lecturers throughout your studies.

Our modules have been designed to be delivered across two days per week, giving you the time and flexibility to learn at a comfortable pace and build on key skills such as time management and independent study over the course. 

Assessments range from examinations and written assignments to oral presentations designed to grow your confidence in university-style assessments and prepare you for the rest of your time studying following completion of the foundation year.

Teaching staff

Our teaching staff are dedicated to creating a supportive, student-centred learning environment and are all qualified academics with experience working in the industry.

Each student is assigned a Personal Academic Coach (PAC) in the foundation year and the first year, so that students can benefit from support and guidance throughout their studies. Students can also choose to be mentored by peers in higher years of the degree. These mentors can provide support with transitioning to university life, dealing with assessments, time management as well as a range of other questions you may have along the way.

Placements and work experience

Our Business and Management degree actively encourages internships so, if you choose to take a sandwich year during your degree, we’ll support you with applications to help you get your foot in the door. Our team will keep an eye on you during your placement, speaking with your employer and visiting your place of work.

Students are also offered 10 weeks in industry during their second year of the undergraduate degree. This is a great opportunity to become part of an organisation, with a range of fantastic employers in the region. It will create experience to bolster your CV, helping you maximise your employability once you graduate.

Facilities

As a Business and Management student, you’ll be studying at our Pontypridd Campus in Treforest, in the heart of the South Wales Valleys. Treforest hosts our South Wales Business Clinic, Legal Advice Clinic, Moot Court Room and Financial Trading Room, which all provide an opportunity for you to put your skills into practice and experience an immersive learning environment.

Why USW?

video-course-business-and-management

Why USW?

Top in Wales

Business Management at USW is top for Teaching Quality in Wales (Guardian University Guide 2025)

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

Graduates from the Business and Management degree go on to have successful careers in a range of business roles from managers to analysts and consultants. Businesses like Network Rail and Velindra have offered previous students positions in their organisations as a result of successful internships and placements during their studies.

Industry Partners

Our teaching staff have incredible links with industry, allowing you to work with businesses on live briefs and case-studies as part of your studies. This collaboration allows students to gain an insight into the challenges that businesses face and develop practical skills that employers value by applying your classroom learning to real-world scenarios.

Many of our industry partners allow students to undertake placements as part of their studies and students have been known to accept full-time employment from their placement company upon graduating.

Careers support

You’ll have access to advice from our careers and employability service throughout your studies and when you graduate. This includes one-to-one appointments with faculty-based career advisers either in person or virtually through video call or email. We also have online resources to help explore career options and ensure you present yourself well to employers. These include psychometric tests, career assessments, a CV builder, an interview simulator, and application help. We also have over 2,000 registered employers targeting business graduates, so we’ll sign you up to receive weekly email alerts for jobs that match your interests too.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 48 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: DD
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Pass Pass Pass or BTEC Diploma Pass Pass
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma with a minimum of 48 UCAS Tariff points
  • T Level: Pass (D or E)

 

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 3 GCSEs including Mathematics and English at Grade C or above, or their equivalent but consideration is given to individual circumstances.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

Foundation Year Tuition Fee

The Tuition Fee for UK students on classroom-based foundation years is £5,760. Fees for subsequent years of the degree course will be charged in line with our standard full-time Home undergraduate fees. Where applicable, the Tuition Fee for international students is £15,850 per year.

Further Information

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

Fees and Funding

Additional Costs

Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of stationery, printing, or equipment during your foundation year.  For costs after you progress to year 1 of your degree programme, please see the list below.

Students are offered the opportunity to complete an internship during their second year of study. Students undertaking an internship may incur costs associated with travel and expected workplace attire and this will vary according to the placement.

Cost: Up to £300

Textbooks are provided via the USW library but students may wish to purchase their own private copies. This cost is optional.

Cost: Up to £300

The University has computers available on campus and laptops for loan. However, it is highly recommended that you have your own personal laptop, which will be capable of running Microsoft Office 365. As a student you will be able to download a free copy of any software relevant to the course.

Cost: Up to £250

Optional professional body registration fees.

Cost: Up to £210

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

How to apply

All applications for full-time undergraduate courses or foundation degrees should be made via UCAS. Take the next step: Apply through UCAS. You can apply to us directly for all part-time undergraduate courses, if you’re seeking advanced entry or you’re an international student. To apply directly, please choose the application form below for your preferred start date and mode of study (full-time or part-time.)

Advanced entry

If you already have a relevant qualification or experience related to the course you're applying for, you may be eligible to start at a later stage of the course. For example, students from partner colleges can ‘top up’ their qualifications to a degree by joining us in Year Two or Year Three of a course. This process is known as ‘advanced entry’, you can apply directly to the University for 'advanced entry' using the application forms provided above.

International admissions

International applicants can apply to us directly. If the University has an in-country team in your region, your application will be assigned to them for assistance.
 

Life at USW

Halls are a big part of your student experience and there’s accommodation at all three of our locations. If you don’t want to live near the campus, there are great transport links to keep you connected.

A student sat smiling and talking to friends off camera in Treforest Student's Union
Student Life
The University's Ty Crawshays building at Treforest, Pontypridd.
Pontypridd Campus, Treforest
A double room at our Pontypridd accommodation featuring a large window.
Accommodation

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