Business and Management (Law)

Following our law pathway on the Business and Management degree, you'll develop specialist skills in the legal area of business. You'll also develop an understanding of:

• Contract, Tort, Consumer Protection and Employment Law
• White collar crimes such as fraud, insider trading, money laundering and identity theft
• Business property including Intellectual Property.

We'll help you develop as a person to achieve your potential through teaching you about law. We aim to give you the skills to apply your knowledge in a wide range of situations in any sector.

You'll also gain a toolkit of key business skills that will enable you to work in different business settings and give you solid grounding to achieve your potential, whatever your aims.

Year one
Year one ensures that you have a broad and grounded knowledge of business today, giving a platform to develop specialised knowledge as you progress through the course. You'll explore how organisations work, how they’re managed and how they interact with the business environment. You'll gain an understanding of economic thinking, develop management skills alongside skills in gathering and assessing information and data, in making and communicating decisions and in evaluating their effect.

Year two
In year two you'll specialise in law as well as learning about the functions of a business and how these interrelate. You’ll start to form opinions about how businesses manage the challenges that are presented to them on a daily basis. You'll have the opportunity to work on projects and to use business techniques to solve problems, and you’ll start to develop your employability skills before seeking a placement at the end of this study year.

At the end of Year two you have the option to choose a ten-month placement or a shorter ten-week placement in a business. This is an invaluable chance to apply your legal knowledge and business skills in the real world, making you even more attractive to employers.

Year three
In your final year, when you finish your placement, you'll practice, develop, challenge and explore all your business learning, and examine management as an integrating activity. In your law-related dissertation you'll explore in depth a topic related to law or regulation that really interests you. You’ll also have the opportunity to work individually or with colleagues to develop and set up a business, and you’ll study a specialist law option.

You'll be assessed in a wide range of ways that will test your business knowledge and management skills. These could include presentations, work related projects, group-work, computer based simulations, podcasts, examinations, essays, videos and business reports.

We offer variety in the way we teach: sometimes we’ll set you problems so that you can find the answers for yourself; sometimes we’ll lecture. Most modules use a mix of lectures and small group seminars. There’s a good blend of online activities using our Virtual Learning Environment. We invite business leaders to Bath Spa to talk about their experience and we arrange visits to local businesses. All of our teaching methods facilitate your development as a self-directed learner.

You’ll be given personal support in your study – we’re a friendly team of academics who are committed to helping you achieve your goals.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

We give you the opportunity to work with regional and national businesses. You’ll be working on live project briefs to help organisations find creative solutions to their business issues.

Depending on your pathway and the modules you study, you can gain accreditation by professional bodies and get exemption from professional exams.

In addition to the business community projects described above, you’ll have fantastic opportunities to work closely with business and industry through placements, projects and internships.

Employers such as Logica, NHS, Liberty, Ocado, IBM, Marks and Spencer, American Express, Sky and Numatic International have recruited graduates from this course. As a graduate of Business and Management (Law), you’ll be well-equipped for roles and areas such as:

• Health and safety
• Intellectual property
• HR/employment law
• Criminal justice system
• Contract law
• Law conversion courses
• Banking
• Financial regulation.

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

The Professional Placement Year (PPY) provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your PPY, you'll work to identify roles of interest and secure a placement. The Placements Team will support through timetabled sessions and 1:1 appointments.

As well as completing a minimum of 900 placement hours, you will complete two assessments demonstrating your skill development, growth in professional behaviours and how the PPY has impacted your future career aspirations.

Aiming to make work experience more accessible, we have introduced the PPY Bursary. Students undertaking a PPY can receive between £500 and £1,500 to be used towards placement costs such as travel, food, workwear or accommodation.

For more information and details of eligibility criteria, please visit the PPY Bursary webpage.

You'll have access to excellent facilities at our Newton Park campus and city centre studios as well as online resources. These include:

• Commons building
• Newton Park library
• Academic Skills support (ASk)
• Specialist resources and subject librarian
• Our Virtual Learning Environment
• Free access to courses via LinkedIn Learning
• Support from the English Language Unit if English isn't your first language
• The Studio in Bath

Our libraries offer a wide range of business resources, including a wealth of online material that can be accessed on- and off-campus, enabling you to work at times that suit you.