Programme Specifications

Programme summary

1. Programme Aims

• To provide students with an intellectually stimulating environment within which they can develop knowledge, understanding and skills of English and Business management.
• To enhance students’ career and employment prospects by developing a range of transferable skills embedded in the programme.
• To ensure that graduates are trained to think independently, to reason critically, to weigh the importance of alternative arguments and perspectives, and to analyse critically different forms of discourse.

2. Relevant subject benchmark statements and other external reference points used to inform programme outcomes:

• The English Benchmark Statement
• The Benchmark Statement for General Business and Management
• Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ)

3. Programme Learning Outcomes

3.1 Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of this programme students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in the following areas: 

• Substantial knowledge of a range of authors and texts from different periods of literary history, including those before 1800.
• An understanding of the distinctive characteristics of the different literary genres of fiction, poetry and drama, and an appreciation of the structure and functions of the English language.
• An appreciation of the power of imagination in literary creation and an awareness of the range and variety of contemporary approaches to literary study.
• An understanding of theories, principles and practice, developed from study of core management areas of human resources, finance, marketing and organisational behaviour.
• Knowledge of the importance of policy, planning and management in business.
• The behaviour, management and development of people within organisations.

3.2 Skills and other attributes

a. Subject-specific cognitive skills:

On successful completion of the programme students should be able to:

• Appreciate the central role of language in the creation of meaning, and have gained rhetorical skills of effective communication and argument.
• Present bibliographic skills appropriate to the discipline, and be practised in the accurate citation of sources and in the use of scholarly conventions in the presentation of scholarly work.
• Use critical thinking, analysis and syntheses to evaluate and apply concepts and insights from business disciplines, including comprehension of complex scenarios.
• Relate theory to practice.

b. Subject-specific practical skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to: 

• Present cogent and persuasive arguments both in oral and written form
• Critically assess the effectiveness and value of a wide range of oral and written communications
• Demonstrate advanced and effective research skills, including the ability to access and assess electronic data
• Create, evaluate and/or assess a range of options in a business situation, applying ideas and knowledge from a variety of sources.

c. Key transferable skills:

On successful completion of this programme, students should have acquired the following generic skills: 

• Effective communication
• Effective organisational and time-management skills
• Effective use of information technology
• Management of self-development
• Numeracy skills
• Effective team-working skills

4. Programme structure

Part A - Introductory Modules      

Part B - Degree Modules

Students should choose a maximum of 40 optional English Credits across the year. Candidates may choose optional modules so that as few as 50 or as many as 70 credit units are attempted in a semester, provided that 120 credit units are accumulated over the year. Only 10 credits of optional Business modules can be taken in semester two.  All other Business modules at Part B are compulsory.

Part I

Four year Sandwich Programme (DPS) route

Candidates will undertake an approved placement leading to the Diploma in Professional Studies. 

Part C - Degree Modules

Candidates may choose optional modules so that as few as 50 or as many as 70 credit units are attempted in a semester, provided that 120 credit units are accumulated over the year. 

5. Criteria for Progression and Degree Award

In order to progress from Part A to Part B and from Part B to C and to be eligible for the award of an Honours degree, candidates must not only satisfy the minimum credit requirements set out in Regulation XX but also: 

.1   In order to progress from Part A to Part B, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory English modules.

.2   In order to progress from Part B to Part C, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory English modules.

.3   To be eligible for the award of an Honours degree, obtain at least 40% in all compulsory English modules.

Provision will be made in accordance with Regulation XX for candidates who have the right of re-assessment in any part of the Programme to undergo re-assessment in the University’s special assessment period.

6. Relative Weighting of Parts of the Programme for the Purposes of Final Degree Classification

Candidates' final degree classification will be determined on the basis of their performance in degree level Module Assessments in Parts B and C, in accordance with the scheme set out in Regulation XX.  The percentage mark for each Part will be combined in the ratio Part B 40% : Part C 60% to determine the final percentage mark.