Undergraduate

BA (Hons) Business Management (Graduate Apprenticeship)

Our Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) allows you to ‘work, earn and learn’ by studying for a degree when continuing in your employment. It is a practical and integrated way to launch a new career or develop expertise with your current employer, who will benefit from having a more highly skilled, more motivated and ambitious employee.

This page is designed for students interested in QMU's BA (Hons) Business Management (Graduate Apprenticeship), if you are an employer interested in the benifits of a Graduate Apprenticeship partnership then visit 'Graduate Apprenticeship For Employers'.

Why QMU?

  • Learn the higher-level management skills that tomorrow’s companies will need, and consolidate that knowledge with real-life work experience.
  • We offer a friendly and supportive learning environment at our purpose-built campus that has superb facilities for learning, teaching, living and fun.
  • We use a range of innovative teaching methods from work-based learning to an online virtual learning environment, which will support the GA course.
  • Your learning fits around your work commitments.

Rewarding for you as a student

A Graduate Apprenticeship enables you to study for a degree whilst in employment. This course is a practical and integrated way to launch a new career or develop expertise with your current employer, who will benefit from a more highly skilled, more motivated and ambitious employee.

How can the businesses of tomorrow function better? What is the best way for organisations to manage their resources and break into new markets? How important is the business manager in driving this success? Whatever industry you work in, and no matter how experienced you are, a Graduate Apprenticeship degree in Business Management at QMU will equip you with the skills and expertise you need to meet these challenges – and more.

Rewarding for employers

The Graduate Apprenticeship scheme has great benefits for employers as well as students. Find out more about the benefits of the Graduate Apprenticeships scheme in our video below.

On this course you will:

  • Study while continuing in employment.
  • Boost your professional development and employability.
  • Study the same core modules as full-time Business Management students, covering core management areas such as marketing, business law, digital business and strategy.
  • Study work-based learning modules throughout your degree, allowing you to complete projects designed to support your employer’s business goals and objectives.
  • Benefit from guidance, mentoring and one-to-one supervision provided by our academic staff in support with your employer mentor.
  • Benefit from learning alongside other GAs, who will come from very different organisations and have a range of experience. This provides a stimulating and rewarding stage in your professional and personal development, and a unique networking opportunity.

Interview with Stuart Burnside

Structure

You can opt to study for an honours degree over four years or an ordinary degree over three years. You will complete a range of modules each year as outlined.

Teaching, learning and assessment

You will be taught in lectures, seminars and practical workshops. Outside these timetabled sessions you will be expected to continue learning through self-study. You will be assessed by a range of methods such as written exams, reports, business plans, live pitch, group presentations and negotiation role play.

You will have the iterative support of Academic Development (AD) throughout your course to enable you confidently to manage the purely academic challenges of your study, and address the diverse technical requirements of your assignments. AD will be available not only as a regular taught component of your study timetable, but in the form of self-study materials available via your module hubs/websites etc. and as ad-hoc one-to-one or small group sessions, which can usually be arranged at short notice.

Year One

You will:

  • Develop a foundational understanding of key areas of Business Management, including leadership, finance, marketing and digital business
  • Focus on your personal development through enhancing self-reflection and creative thinking skills

Modules

  • Work-Based Learning One
  • Introduction to Management and Leadership
  • Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
  • Introduction to Finance and Accounting
  • Digital Business and Innovation

Year Two

You will:

  • Focus on operational aspects of managing businesses in an ethical and fair manner across a range of business environments
  • Develop your analytical and data visualisation skills using analytical methods and software valued by employers

Modules

  • Work-Based Learning Two
  • Human Resource Management
  • Operations Management
  • Digital Marketing and E-Commerce Management
  • Business Law

Year Three

You will:

  • Examine business and management themes at a more strategic level, choosing electives from a range of modules on offer.
  • Develop valuable project management skills and experience in the application of project management techniques through a client brief
  • Create a fully costed business plan for a new business venture.

Modules

  • Work-Based Learning Three
  • Project Management
  • One elective
  • Leading and Managing Change
  • New Enterprise Start-up

Year Four

You will:

  • Deepen your understanding, and awareness, of contemporary issues and challenges facing organisations at a strategic level
  • Complete an independent piece of research through a consultancy project
  • Develop a range of practical skills necessary for management roles such as negotiation, collaboration, conflict resolution and influencing skills.

Modules

  • Work-Based Learning Four
  • Strategy
  • Negotiation Theory and Practice
  • Organisational Behaviour
  • Consultancy Project

Placements

You will continue to work in your current role while you study. This will help you develop your learning into practical, real-world business expertise.

Careers

You will already be employed, so you won’t suddenly hit the job market like most graduates do. You will be able to take the theoretical understanding you have learnt in your degree and apply it directly to challenges in your workplace. From there, your goal will be to use your new skills to step your career up to the next level..

Entry requirements and application

Scottish Higher: BBBC

The BA/BA (Hons) Business Management (Graduate Apprenticeship) is available if you are currently living and working in Scotland and working on a full-time or part-time basis. You can apply if you are aged 16 or over and there is no maximum age limit. If you have already completed a degree with SAAS funding, you could still do a GA, particularly if it is a career change to something new.

Typically, we would expect a minimum of four Scottish Highers (or equivalent). Your application will be assessed on an individual basis, taking into account any previous industry experience you may have. If you have already completed a Foundation or Modern Apprenticeship in a related subject, this will also contribute towards meeting the entry requirements.


Am I a Widening Access student?: We apply the minimum entry criteria to applicants who meet one or more contextual factor. To see if this would apply to you, please refer to the access and application page.

Your application will be assessed on an individual basis, taking into account any previous industry experience you may have. If you have already completed a Foundation or Modern Apprenticeship in a related subject, this will also contribute towards meeting the entry requirements.

How to apply

If you are a school leaver or not in employment but think that a GA could be for you, you can apply the same way you would apply for a job. The vacancies are advertised on the Apprenticeships Scotland website.

Before applying for this course, please email GA@qmu.ac.uk in the first instance to discuss your application. We just need to make sure you meet the criteria and that your employer is happy for you to apply to be a Graduate Apprentice.

Teaching staff, class sizes and timetables

For more information, please visit ‘How we teach and how you’ll learn’.

Awarding body

QMU

Fees

Graduate Apprenticeship students apply to SAAS for their fees to be paid.

Please note:

  • The modules listed here are correct at time of posting (Feb 2022) but may differ slightly to those offered in 2023. Please check back here for any updates.
  • The delivery of this course is subject to the terms and conditions set out in our 2023/24 Entry Terms and Conditions (Undergraduate).
  • Teaching staff may be subject to change.

 

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Course Overview

Delivery
Participants will spend one day per week on campus and four days per week in the workplace.
Duration
3 or 4 years
Start Date
September 2023
Study Abroad
No
Fees & Funding
UCAS Code
N/A
SCQF Level
10

Student Story

Gabriella Pricop "My top tips for students would be to embrace every opportunity, as they might not come up again. Don’t be afraid of mistakes, as someone who hasn’t made a mistake has probably never tried something new."

Find out more about Gabriella's Story