This course uses a mix of teaching methods, including software and practical workshops, lectures, tutorials, individual coursework and groupwork. You’ll learn through experiential learning and through live business projects and field trips. Knowledge is enhanced through engagement with the wider Hertfordshire Business School (HBS) research community. Study includes blended learning materials, such as online modules and recorded lectures to enable flexibility for students’ learning needs.  

You’ll be assessed through a wide variety of assessment types designed with employability and academic skills in mind. There will be a wide mix of assessments including the production of digital artefacts, projects, portfolios, pitches, and opinion pieces, as well as the more traditional essays, reports, and exams.   

Your first year focuses on understanding the basic Principles of Marketing, and an Introduction to Marketing Communications. Core business studies include Accounting for Managers, Economics for Business, Quantitative Methods for Business and The Global Business Environment.  Study will be underpinned with Essential Skills in Marketing and you’ll start to plan your career through Preparing for Professional Success. 

In the second year you’ll deepen your critical and analytical skills in marketing through studying Marketing, Insight, Analysis and Planning and Consumer Behaviour. Core business management modules include Exploring Business Ethics, Project Planning and Control, and Cross-cultural Management. You’ll be introduced to entrepreneurship through Innovation and Business Model Design.  Employability skills will be further enhanced through proactively Working in Industry and learning about Managing People.  

Work placement/study abroad option: Between your second and final year, you’ll have the option to study abroad or do a work placement for up to a year. Not only will this give you an amazing experience to talk about but will also give your CV a boost. The University actively encourages and supports students through the Careers and Placements Office and the Hertfordshire Business School Employability team.  Students who gain experience through an Internship, may also have the opportunity to have this recognised in their degree title. If you’d rather go straight to your final year, that’s absolutely fine too.   

In the final year you’ll develop your strategic thinking through Branding and Communications Strategy, Business Strategy and Global Marketing.  You will develop a deeper understanding of the Digital Economy, and Leadership and Organisations. At this level you will enhance your Business and Commercial Awareness, whilst learning how to make Data Driven Marketing Decisions.  Whether you want to work in industry, not-for-profit organisations or set up your own business, you’ll benefit from the latest contemporary thinking in The Future of Marketing.  

Work placement

Graduate with invaluable work experience alongside your degree and stand out from the crowd.  

This course offers you the opportunity to enhance your study and CV with a work placement sandwich year. It’s a chance to explore career possibilities, make valuable contacts and gain sought after professional skills.  

Our dedicated Careers and Employment team are here to help guide you through the process.

If you take up a work placement between your second and third year of study, at the University of Hertfordshire you’ll pay no tuition fee for this year. We’ll ask you to make your decision in your second year, so there is plenty of time to think about it. 

What's next for my career?

Studying business will make you an attractive candidate in today’s competitive job market, particularly when combined with another subject.

The flexibility of this course leaves graduates in a position to take on various business roles within both the public and private sectors or to go on to run their own businesses. Our graduates have gone on to work at Amazon UK, Jaguar Land Rover, Hewlett Packard and the Royal Bank of Scotland.