“Foundation Year courses are a brilliant opportunity for students to fulfil their potential while they’re learning the skills required by a top university like Sussex.”
Chantal Irtelli English and A-Level Academic Leader
By starting your studies at Sussex on our Foundation Year, you develop a wide-ranging understanding of the ways in which businesses work, as well as essential mathematical skills.
The Foundation Year prepares you to continue your undergraduate studies in the specialism of your choice – business and management, marketing, accounting, finance or economics. Our experienced staff help you to develop the academic knowledge and practical skills you’ll need to succeed throughout your degree and in your future career.
Successfully completing your Foundation Year guarantees that you'll be able to continue onto your choice of degree from a wide range of subjects in the University of Sussex Business School.
Accreditation
You’ll join the EQUIS and AMBA-accredited University of Sussex Business School. Learn more about all of our course accreditations here. Find out more
We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision. We’ll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities described in this prospectus. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to government or regulatory requirements, or unanticipated staff changes, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.
Meeting students on the Foundation Year helped me ease into university. I had a chance to understand the standard of work and organisation needed. This will give me an advantage throughout my university studies.”KADIJA KHATUN
Business, Management and Economics (with a foundation year) BSc, now on the Business and Management Studies BSc
Open Days and virtual visits
Meet us on campus or online
Entry requirements
Is a Foundation Year for you?
We welcome students with a broad range of backgrounds and experiences, including:
- those who aren’t sure which subject, or branch of a subject, they’d like to specialise in
- those who don’t have the right combination of subjects for direct entry into Year 1
- those who don’t meet the expected requirements for direct entry into Year 1
- those who are returning to education after some time away.
You will need to demonstrate your potential to do well on a demanding degree, including the potential to succeed in your chosen discipline.
The following sets out some of the most common academic qualifications. However, each application is reviewed on its individual strengths and merits.
Entry requirements for this course are currently under review – please check back in early March 2024.
Modules
Find out about our types of undergraduate degrees, their structure, modules and credits
Core modules
Core modules are taken by all students on the course. They give you a solid grounding in your chosen subject and prepare you to explore the topics that interest you most.
- Academic Development for Business and Economics 1
- Business in Society
- Quantitative Methods for Business and Economics: Maths
Autumn teaching
Spring teaching
Options
Alongside your core modules, you can choose options to broaden your horizons and tailor your course to your interests. This list gives you a flavour of our options, which are kept under review and may change, for example in response to student feedback or the latest research.
While it’s our aim for students to take their preferred combinations of options, this can’t be guaranteed and will be subject to timetabling. Options may be grouped and if so, students will be able to choose a set number of options from the selection available in any particular group.
- Analysing Media, Film and Music
- Arabic Beginners A
- British Sign Language and Deaf Culture 1A
- Chinese Beginners A
- Cradle to the Grave A: welfare and wellbeing across the lifecourse
- Foundation Mathematics A
- Foundations in Clinical Psychology
- Foundations in Psychology: Applied Psychology
- French Beginners A
- German Beginners A
- Introduction to Product Design 1: Process
- Italian Beginners A
- Japanese Beginners A
- Leading Social Change: Communication and Activism
- Local Lives: Identifying Global Studies
- Making History A
- Order and Disorder A: Understanding Law, Politics and Sociology
- Reading Literature 1
- Spanish Beginners A
- Approaching Drama, Theatre and Performance
- Arabic Beginners B
- British Sign Language and Deaf Culture 1B
- Chinese Beginners B
- Cradle to the Grave B: Welfare and Wellbeing Across the Lifecourse
- Foundation Mathematics B
- Foundations in Health Psychology
- Foundations in Psychology: Social Psychology
- French Beginners B
- German Beginners B
- Global Issues: Researching the Global
- Introduction to Product Design 2: Practice
- Italian Beginners B
- Japanese Beginners B
- Leading Social Change: Taking Action
- Making History B
- Order and Disorder B: Understanding Law, Politics and Sociology
- Practicing Media, Film and Music
- Reading Literature 2
- Spanish Beginners B
Autumn teaching
Spring teaching
We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum. We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.
We’ll do our best to provide as much optional choice as we can, but timetabling constraints mean it may not be possible to take some module combinations. The structure of a small number of courses means that the order of modules or the streams you choose may determine whether modules are core or optional. This means that your core modules or options may differ from what’s shown here.
Check back in January 2025 for more details of the modules running in the academic year 2025/26.
Our students develop an understanding of business and management that will make them the leaders of tomorrow.”Dr Dagmara Weckowska
Convenor of Business and Management Studies
Silver
The student experience and student outcomes are typically very high quality.
This rating was awarded in 2023, for four years.
(Teaching Excellence Framework 2023)
Find out more about our approach to teaching and supporting you to thrive
Fees
Fees are not yet set for the academic year 2025/26 – please check back in September 2024. Note that your fees, once they’re set, may be subject to an increase on an annual basis.
Find out about typical living costs for studying at Sussex
Find out about our terms and conditions
Scholarships
Details of our scholarships are not yet set for entry in the academic year 2025/26.
Please note: Foundation Year courses are not eligible for USA federal Direct Loan funds. Find out more about American Student Loans and Federal Student Aid
Next steps
Successfully completing your Foundation Year means you’re able to take a range of degrees at Sussex. The current list of courses available is:
- Accounting and Finance (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Accounting and Finance BSc (Hons)
- Banking and Digital Finance (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Banking and Digital Finance BSc (Hons)
- Business and Management Studies (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Business and Management Studies BSc (Hons)
- Economics (with a professional placement year) BA (Hons)
- Economics (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Economics and Finance BSc (Hons)
- Economics and International Development BA (Hons)
- Economics and Management Studies BSc (Hons)
- Economics BA (Hons)
- Economics BSc (Hons)
- Finance and Business (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Finance and Business BSc (Hons)
- Finance and Technology (FinTech) (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Finance and Technology (FinTech) BSc (Hons)
- International Business (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- International Business BSc (Hons)
- Marketing and Management (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Marketing and Management BSc (Hons)
- Marketing and Management with Psychology (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)
- Marketing and Management with Psychology BSc (Hons)
Contact us
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Enquiries
Contact us with any questions about your course.
+44 (0)1273 876787
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