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Business courses at university are probably the most popular degrees in terms of both student demand and provision.

 

All but the very specialist universities will have a programme that falls under the general heading of 'business', although the titles of the programmes vary considerably across different institutions. If you look in a prospectus or course guide, you may have to look under business management science, commerce, administration or economics before you find the course available. Many business courses also may suggest a more specialist focus, such as finance, marketing, retail management, tourism management or international business. So it can be very confusing and you need to be very careful how you interpret the title or you may find that the programme is not quite what you expected!

In addition to this complicated situation you may also find that business courses form part of a hybrid programme where business combines with another subject (such as law, engineering, international studies, computing), to form what is in effect a joint degree. Such degrees enable you to gain knowledge in differing disciplines so that you can develop yourself in a way that suits your interests and aspirations. You can see therefore that although there are many business courses, each institution will seek to create a course which differs to a greater or lesser extent from other business programmes.

A business degree tends to have certain common features although, as with most things, there are exceptions. Business, by its very nature, is a multidisciplinary affair, and so most courses will have at least an element of what can be regarded as key business functions such as finance, marketing and human resource management. Some will also have functions such as operations management, supply chain management, production management, all of which are vital in modern global business but are not always available on every programme. Business graduates must be numerate so most degrees will have courses in quantitative methods and statistics.

In today's world, information technology is all around us. Many of you will no doubt be familiar with computers, the Internet, World Wide Web and so on, but a business course should develop the ability to harness the technology for the benefit of the business. You should think very carefully before embarking on a business course which does not give adequate support in this area, as most employers will expect their graduate employees to be proficient in using computers. One final area that should appear in business programmes is a core course in business policy or business strategy. This takes a strategic view of business and develops the ability to take a multidisciplinary approach to managing a business and resolving problems and issues. This discipline provides the 'glue' that binds all the other business disciplines together.

There are of course other disciplines which might be considered. Most universities will have a Law School and so law will often feature in business courses. One can argue that modern business needs to be aware of legal rights and duties and how these might affect business decisions, and this is a powerful argument. Equally, however, there is so much to be learnt within the functions mentioned earlier that there is a danger of degrees becoming overcrowded with subject matter. Similarly economics is a valuable discipline in its own right, and there are many excellent degree programmes in economics. Whilst business degrees need to have some economics input into their programmes you have to strike the right balance. If you want to do a programme with a significant element of economics, you might prefer to consider courses like business economics, which still retain a business focus, but from the perspective of economics.