BA (Hons)

Business and Management

An innovative and accredited business degree that helps shape the next generation of entrepreneurs, managers and leaders.

How to apply Apply through UCAS Book an Open Day Chat to Us

Key Course Details

  • UCAS Code

    N203

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,790*

  • International students

    £16,800*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • UCAS Code

    N201

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,790*

  • International students

    £16,800*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • UCAS Code

    N204

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Pontypridd

  • Campus Code

    A

Fees

  • Home students

    £9,790*

  • International students

    £16,800*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.
Make an Enquiry

Prepare for the realities of modern business, learning alongside real-world organisations while developing your core management knowledge through an ethical, global and digital perspectives.

DESIGNED FOR

If you’re curious about how businesses work and want to build a successful career, this course is designed for you. You’ll develop practical business knowledge and confidence, preparing you for the realities of the professional workplace.

Career paths

  • Business Analyst
  • Human Resource Manager
  • Management Consultant
  • Project Manager
  • Supply Chain Manager

Skills taught

  • Strategic thinking
  • Teamwork
  • Problem-solving
  • Communication
  • People management

The University of South Wales is an IOEE Academy. Students who complete the degree will receive an IOEE Professional Qualification in the Vocational Use of AI. The course is also dual accredited with CMI. Students will receive a Level 5 Certificate in Management and Leadership from CMI.

Course leader sat in front of a red backdrop smiling
An over the shoulder shot of two men in businesswear having a conversation in an office.
A close up of a student laughing at friends whilst sat on beanbags in the accommodation hub.
Two people studying together at a table, surrounded by books and papers.

Course Highlights

Led by professionals

You’ll be taught by staff with experience in a range of business roles.

Informed by industry

Co-designed with local and international industry partners to reflect real workplace needs.

Flexible study pathways

Students can choose to specialise in Creative Industries or Entrepreneurship from year two.

Work experience opportunities

Build real-world experience through optional placements and the opportunity for a UK or overseas sandwich year.

Career-ready skills

Gain leadership, teamwork, decision-making and AI skills to confidently navigate the post-AI business world.

Module Overview

Year One is about finding your feet and finding your voice. You’ll build confidence, explore how businesses work in practice, and develop the skills, curiosity and mindset of a future leader.

Launch your Leadership Journey
Build confidence as a university student and future leader. Develop academic, teamwork and communication skills while exploring ethical leadership, sustainability and the realities of modern business.

Managing People: Harnessing HRM
Explore how workplaces really work. Examine ethics, fairness and wellbeing while learning how people management decisions shape organisations, communities and the future of work.

The Founder’s Playbook: Build Your First Business
Experience the start-up journey from idea to growth. Work with others to solve a challenge set by USW and an industry partner and build the mindset, confidence and skills of an entrepreneur.

The Marketing Mindset
Learn how to make ideas stand out. Apply marketing thinking to real scenarios while building planning skills, creativity and a strong personal brand to support your future career.

Develop your skills, knowledge and confidence across business, finance, marketing and logistics. Apply your learning through a 5-week placement or grand challenge, with the option to choose alternative pathways in creative industries or entrepreneurship.

The Hidden Engine: How Supply Chains Power Sustainable Business
Explore how procurement, logistics and operations drive modern business. Apply carbon literacy and sustainability thinking to optimise supply chains while balancing efficiency, value and global responsibility.

Applied Accounting
Develop financial confidence to interpret, manage and influence business outcomes. Analyse real-world scenarios, make strategic decisions, and understand how finance drives both organisational and societal impact.

Change the World: The Charity Challenge (Optional) 
Work in teams to tackle real societal challenges. Collaborate across courses, solve problems for industry partners, and showcase innovative, practical solutions in a professional setting. 

The Workplace Experience (Optional)
Gain authentic workplace experience through a five-week placement. Apply your learning, develop professional skills, and tackle a real business challenge while building confidence and employability.

System Error: Rebooting Economics 
Understand how economic systems shape business and society. Explore real-world business problems, link theory to practice, and consider how businesses can create sustainable, positive impact.

Experience Year (Optional)
Spend a full year in the UK or abroad gaining workplace or international experience. Build global perspective, develop professional networks, and reflect on your growth as a future leader.

Continue to develop your chosen specialism in year three. Tackle real-world business problems, apply emerging technologies, explore ethical and sustainable strategies, and gain the confidence to launch your career.

The Impact Ecosystem: Business for Social Good
Tackle complex societal and environmental challenges. Apply business knowledge to ethical, sustainable solutions, engage with stakeholders, and explore how decisions can positively impact people, planet and profit.

Avoiding Business Failure
Discover why businesses fail and how to manage change. Analyse real case studies, identify root causes, and develop data-driven strategies to help organisations survive, grow and thrive in uncertain environments.

Business 4.0: Disrupt or Be Disrupted
Explore how emerging technologies transform industries. Learn to evaluate, adopt, and apply innovations strategically, preparing to disrupt markets or ensure your business thrives amidst disruption.

The Consultancy Challenge
Step into the shoes of a business consultant. Analyse client briefs, solve complex problems, present recommendations, and merge theory with practice to build consultancy and leadership skills.

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

Teaching is industry-informed and student-led, helping you build confidence, independence and professionalism. You’ll learn through interactive sessions where you collaborate, share ideas and apply your learning to real situations. You’ll tackle live briefs, network with industry professionals and develop the skills to make an impact in business.

How you’ll be assessed

Assessments are practical and purposeful, helping you learn by doing. You’ll work on real-world tasks such as pitching to management, developing business reports, creating websites and creating business plans, helping you to develop confidence, critical thinking, and digital skills. The course is designed for a post-Generative AI workplace, so you’ll learn to use AI tools responsibly and effectively, preparing you to succeed in a rapidly changing business environment.

Placements

You’ll have opportunities to gain real-world experience through an optional sandwich year (in the UK or internationally) or a five-week placement in your second year. These options help you apply what you’ve learned in a professional setting, build confidence, and strengthen your employability.

Facilities

Studying Business and Management means learning beyond the classroom. Through the South Wales Business School, you’ll have opportunities to engage with industry partners, including visits to professional workplaces and occasional teaching in real workplaces in Wales. Alongside this, you’ll be supported by expert staff and have access to laptops, on-campus IT facilities and library resources to support your studies.

Student Stories

Student Sumaya Khan sits at a table and smiles at the postgraduate centre in Treforest
Discovering my passion for marketing, refining my skills, and building an international network.

Sumaya Khan

Business student

Business graduate Alicia Smith (right) with her partner Mathew Hunt
Taking inspiration from my course to start a business.

Alicia Smith

Business Graduate

Student Nadifa Saleh sits with their legs crossed on a chair against a red backdrop
Stepping out of my comfort zone and finding my passion.

Nadifa Saleh

Business graduate

Graduate and business owner Shane poses for a photo in his shop
Graduate Shane now runs his own comic book business.

Shane Richard Jordan

Business graduate

Chidinma sits in front of red backdrop smiling at camera
Building Expertise in Sustainable Procurement.

Chidinma Fofah

Procurement student

profile-ug-marketing-humand-resource-management-hassan-raza-50110.jpg
Connections with industry through guest lectures and seminars were a huge benefit.

Hassan Raza

Human Resource Management student

Accredited By

Why USW?

A student smiles at the camera while sitting down and leaning on a table in a meeting room at the Treforest Postgraduate Centre

  • 91% of USW BA (Hons) Business and Management students were satisfied with their course. (NSS 2025)

Why USW?

Top in Wales

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

  • 91% of USW BA (Hons) Business and Management students were satisfied with their course. (NSS 2025)

Careers and Employability

Graduate careers

Our consultancy links with businesses nationwide attract some of the best minds in the country ready to learn all about running an organisation.  Throughout your degree, you'll learn alongside real-world companies, solving challenges for both large and small organisations.  You'll be learning from and solving problems for businesses like Barclays, NatWest Enterprise Hub, and HOOP Recruitment. 
 
Our careers service team is dedicated to helping you find relevant placements for work experience or a job after graduation. We also have an employability development team who runs a programme called Grad Edge, and an enterprise team focused on new business ideas and entrepreneurship.

Industry partners

Strong industry connections sit at the heart of the course, with partners including Barclays, HOOP Recruitment and the NatWest Enterprise Hub shaping learning through live briefs, workshops and workplace visits. These connections offer real insight into professional practice, build confidence and grow your network.  

Careers support

Careers support is embedded throughout your degree, helping you prepare for life after university. You’ll take part in interview practice, assessment centre activities and employer-focused tasks within your modules, alongside access to one-to-one careers advice, digital tools and employer networks to support your progression. Support from the USW Careers and Employability service remains available even after you graduate.

Learn more about sandwich years

Sandwich years

A sandwich year enables you to apply the knowledge gained during your degree to real-world work situations. You’ll equip yourself with a transferable skillset and gain invaluable work experience that will help you to stand out to potential employers in future job applications. A sandwich year also provides a fantastic opportunity to network and, if you impress your employer, you may even find you have a job waiting for you when you graduate. Many employers like to take on dedicated employees as showcased via a sandwich year placement scheme.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

UCAS points: 96 (or above)

Typical qualification requirements:

  • A Level: CCC 
  • Welsh BACC: Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales Grade C and CC at A Level
  • BTEC: BTEC Extended Diploma Merit Merit Merit 
  • Access to HE: Pass the Access to HE Diploma and obtain a minimum of 96 UCAS tariff points
  • T Level: Pass (C and above)

Additional requirements include:

The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics/Numeracy and English at Grade C or Grade 4 or above, or their equivalent, but consideration is given to individual circumstances

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 4 overall and a minimum of 4 in each component 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.

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.

 

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

UK Full-time Fee

£9,790

per year*
UK Full-time Fee

£9,790

per year*
UK Full-time Fee

£9,790

per year*
UK Full-time Fee

£9,790

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,800

per year*

Further Information

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).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

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 Scholarships and Bursaries Cost of Living Support

ADDITIONAL COSTS

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. 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 travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment. 

*Obligatory.

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

Text books are provided via the USW library but students may wish to purchase their own private copies.

Cost: Up to £400

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

Work, earn and learn!

This course is also available through Network75, a combined work and study route.

Learn more

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.

“I CARRIED OUT MY INDUSTRY PLACEMENT AS A BUSINESS OFFICER WORKING WITHIN THE PUBLIC SECTOR. IT WAS GREAT BEING ABLE TO GAIN THIS EXPOSURE AND COMPARE IT TO THE PRIVATE/VOLUNTARY SECTOR WHICH I HAD PREVIOUSLY WORKED IN.”

Nadifa Saleh

“ONE OF THE BEST ASPECTS OF STUDYING BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT IS HOW BROAD IT IS SO YOU GET THE CHANCE TO TRY A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING.”

Sumaya Khan

“I KNEW I WANTED TO START MY OWN BUSINESS. IT WAS THEN I DECIDED TO GO TO UNIVERSITY AND GAIN A BUSINESS DEGREE. I WORKED OUT A BUSINESS PLAN AND THINGS WENT FROM THERE.”

Shane Richard Jordan

“I HAD MY INTERNSHIP WITH THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES, SO I WAS REALLY PROUD OF MYSELF. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT I WOULD BE GOING TO THE OPENING CEREMONY OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST SPORTING EVENTS?”

Aakshi Sharma

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

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.

Applicants accepted through advanced entry may study a different combination of modules to those advertised, as they will be joining a course already in progress. You will be contacted and advised about these modules once your application has been processed and an offer made.

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.
 

Related courses

Business and Management (Creative Industries) - BA (Hons) Learn more
Business and Management (Entrepreneurship) - BA (Hons) Learn more

Next Steps

How to apply
Apply Through UCAS
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