Course overview
Develop practical and usable skills for both current and future employment roles with our short online Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) in Business and Management course.
The study is based around specific business-related issues within the context of cross-functional modules that develop communications, presentation, writing, analytical and critical-thinking skills.
This course introduces you to a number of key and practical skills that can form the basis for ongoing career development.
Job outcomes
Careers in:
- Consultancy
- Human Resources Management
- Operations Management
- Marketing
- Finance and Accounting
- General Management
What you'll learn
You’ll learn about the structure and dynamics of different types of organisations, understand different leadership and managerial approaches, become adept at analysing, evaluating and interpreting information and data and discover techniques to solve a range of business problems. You will also gain valuable insights into some key business subjects including Marketing, Human Resource Management and Finance.
Study method
- Online
- Blended
- In-class
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Duration study load
- 16 months – part-time
Entry requirements
We believe that education should be accessible for everyone, so we offer an open entry route that means you do not need any previous academic qualifications to start our CertHE Business and Management course.
You will be allowed to start the CertHE Business and Management course and make an assessment of whether it is right for you during the first three weeks. You must pass your first assignment set during this time in order to continue with your studies.
If English is not your first language, your English ability should be equivalent to an IELTS (academic) score of 6.0.
If you do not hold an IELTS or equivalent qualification, we require students to pass a free online English test.
Pathways
- BA (Hons) Business and Management
- BA (Hons) Business and Marketing
Course features
You are supported throughout your course by a dedicated student adviser and have the opportunity to regularly interact with fellow students and your tutor. To ensure you receive the support you need from your tutor, we cap our class sizes at 20 students.
Assessment
We adopt an assignment-based approach to assessment instead of exams. CertHE Business and Management assignments are based on real-life work experience and assessed by tutors on an ongoing basis.
You are always aware of your current provisional grade right from the start of the programme, allowing you to evaluate the success of your current study methods and clearly identify areas to improve.
We believe that this transparency gives you the information you need to make the most of your course. We achieve this by:
- Showing your marks clearly in your grade book, which can be viewed whenever you log onto the learning platform
- The rapid turnaround of work assessed to ensure that your grade book is always up to date
- Assessing your work throughout the module rather than waiting for the end of year exams
- Ensuring you have regular contact with your student adviser
- The simplicity and transparency in the design of our assessment criteria
We also have a policy of ensuring that the work submitted by students is authentic. As well as the fact that all work is frequently assessed, we use a well-established electronic monitoring system to check for plagiarism.
Delivery
As we are a 100% online university, we utilise a virtual learning environment instead of a traditional campus. The system tracks and manages the learning process in real-time and provides you with immediate access to your learning materials.
This learning platform allows both students and tutors to actively take part in real-time conversations and you can listen to, and view, live lectures and seminars over the internet. All courses are delivered in English only.
Subjects
The CertHE Business and Management is made up of the following modules and, upon completion, is equal to a total of 120 credits.
- Student online learning orientation
- Technical & personal requirements/preparation
- Learning platform organisation and navigation
- Communication in eLearning – Synchronous and Asynchronous
- Online assessments
- Collaborative learning tools – ‘Module resources’
- Intrapersonal development
- Self-awareness, lifelong learning and capability
- Learning styles and personal values
- Managing stress, uncertainty, transition and time
- Project planning, problem-solving and creativity
- Awareness of the world of work and society
- Understanding of citizenship
- Interpersonal development
- Verbal communication, including effective presentations
- Written communication, including effective report-writing
- Study skills
- Apply basic critical reading, writing, and reasoning skills
- Use a variety of personnel management tools and strategies to enhance learning
- Use problem-solving skills to increase academic and professional proficiency
- The role of the middle manager in understanding leadership and management
- Establish effective working teams
- Effective communication and communication process
- Effective feedback and the feedback cycle
- Delegation in the workplace
- Conflict management
- Motivation in the workplace
- The importance of performance management
- Rewarding performance
- The basic concepts underlying marketing, the marketing mix, Concept and Customer Relationship Management
- The marketing environment
- Consumer behaviour and research
- Segmentation and targeting
- Product, branding, and packaging
- Developing and managing goods and services
- Pricing and promotion
- Distribution
- Human Resources management and equal employment opportunity
- Human Resources planning: job design, recruitment, and selection
- Career development and performance appraisals
- Compensation, benefits, and incentives
- Safety, health, and employee rights
- Labour relations and collective bargaining
- Human Resources management: international
- Multicultural workforce issues
- The economic context
- The nature of organisations
- The internal environment
- The role of management and planning
- Overview of the varieties and evolution of management theory
- The nature of the economic problem and identification of the different types of economic systems
- Mixed and market economic systems and the move towards more market orientation of business
- Deregulation and the implications for British business of changes in business organisations
- Changes in UK economic structure. The causes and consequences of structural change
- Macro-economic objectives of government economic policy. Analysis of key macroeconomic problems, theories, policies and solutions
- The international context
- Why do countries trade with each other? (theory of international trade)
- The development of international economic integration theories with particular reference to customs unions, common markets and full economic union
- European integration issues for the UK
- The nature of globalisation and the factors driving it
- Users of accounting statements
- Functions of financial and management accounting
- Sources of finance
- Preparation of the main financial statements
- The application of the accruals concept, matching expenditure to income, depreciation, provisions
- An introduction to management accounting and the role of the management accountant
- Analysis of how cost behaviour patterns can be used for decision-making purposes
- Understanding of absorption costing and accounting for overheads, principles of activity-based costing
- Break-even charts, profit-volume graphs break-even point, the margin of safety and the contribution/sales ratio
- Investment and project appraisal
About University of Essex Online
Online learning is a cost-effective, convenient and flexible way to enhance your career. Our quality-assured distance learning courses allow you to work towards your qualification in a unique virtual learning environment and still have access to all the support and facilities you would expect to receive on campus.
University of Essex Online courses are delivered by Kaplan Open Learning, an experienced online learning provider, part of Kaplan International Pathways. The University and Kaplan have developed their partnership since 2007 in order to offer high-quality online courses.
