Business and Management Studies (with a professional placement year) BSc (Hons)

Join the next generation of business leaders driving positive change. Develop your business and management skills and gain the confidence to succeed.

Select your start date

This course will be available in Clearing.

Key information

Why choose this course at Sussex?

  • Develop critical thinking skills to evaluate and solve business and management problems, and prepare for your career with a placement.
  • Learn about responsible and sustainable business management, and gain the confidence to drive positive change in the workplace.
  • Get access to a global mentoring programme, alumni network, industry speakers, and the support of the Careers and Entrepreneurship team.

Effective business leaders need to navigate global markets and communicate across cultures. This course will give you an international outlook while you learn how to drive strategic growth and innovation.

As a student, you’ll join a Business School of leading academics who are shaping policy and practice. We follow the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME). This means we incorporate sustainability and social responsibility into our teaching and research. We’ll prepare you to work in organisations where profitability is balanced with sustainable business practices and corporate social responsibility.

You’ll benefit from our culture of research excellence in areas such as the future of work, the digital workplace and sustainability. You’ll also have access to our established industry connections, state-of-the-art facilities and enhanced careers support.

By studying at Sussex, you will:

  • establish a foundation for success in diverse, inclusive, and global environments
  • develop your understanding of business within a broader societal context
  • explore themes ranging from sustainability to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
  • gain expertise in digital transformation, business analytics and people management
  • develop digital and data skills.

You can also strengthen your academic skills with the support of an academic success adviser, and expand your horizons through study abroad opportunities. You’ll also have the opportunity to apply for a professional placement year.

You’ll graduate with the expertise to pursue generalist or specialist management roles. You could choose fields such as marketing, social enterprise or human resources. You might also explore entrepreneurship and launch your own business venture.

Accreditation

You’ll join the EQUIS and AMBA-accredited University of Sussex Business School. Find out more

  • Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) for the purpose of exemption from some professional examinations through the Accredited degree accelerated route. Find out more

Your optional placement

To help you gain experience and increase your employability, you can apply for an optional placement as part of your course. This can be a fantastic opportunity to gain real-life insight into industry as well as skills valued by employers. You’ll be responsible for applying for and securing your placement. Our dedicated careers team can help you:

  • find an employer
  • draft an application
  • prepare for interviews.

Don’t worry if you’re not successful, you’ll simply transfer to a non-placement version of your course.

University is an incredible opportunity to develop as a person and discover potential career paths. And, completing a professional placement year opens up many possibilities for early careers.” Matt Chapelle
Business and Management Studies (with a professional placement year) BSc

Campus tours

Join a campus tour this summer and get a feel for life at Sussex. With award-winning campus food, a National Park setting and buzzing Brighton on our doorstep, our location and facilities are hard to beat.

Book your visit

On campus - in person

You’ll study for this degree on our campus, joining our academics and fellow students. With in-person contact time, digitally supported educational resources, library collections and independent study, this course is designed to give you an inclusive education. Your learning experience may also include work placements, field trips, studying abroad and internationalisation experiences.

Find out about our beautiful campus

Virtual tour

Want to learn more about life at Sussex?

Our 360° virtual tour has been designed to introduce you to life in our diverse, supportive and inclusive community. Join our students for an immersive experience as they reveal why Sussex offers a space to follow your passions, find your voice, and discover people and places that will inspire you.

Begin your tour

ResearchPlus

As a founding partner of ResearchPlus, a collaboration of research-focused universities, we engage with government, industry and civil society to support economic growth, prosperity and wellbeing across the whole of the UK.

Find out more

Modules

This is a single-honours course, allowing you to focus in depth on your core subject. Find out more from our guide to undergraduate study

Customise your course

Study what inspires you

At Sussex, we collaborate across disciplines to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world. And – different to other universities – we invite you to be part of this from the moment you arrive.

Regardless of your background or chosen degree, you’ll have the opportunity to engage with issues across disciplines – from the humanities to the sciences, and social sciences.

In the first term, you choose one of three new flagship electives, each of which focuses on our transformation themes of Digital and Data Futures, Environmental Sustainability, and Human Flourishing:

Alternatively, you may choose to study a language from Arabic, British Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. Or you can choose to study English Language Teaching. You’ll develop your language skills while also exploring connections across disciplines and cultures.

After the first term, you can choose from across our Progressive Futures electives. Alternatively, you may choose to study – or continue to learn – a language. This gives you the opportunity to customise your course and study what inspires you.

Check out all our electives below. Each elective lasts for one term.

On this course, you’ll have the opportunity to explore four electives – two in Year 1 and two in Year 2.

These electives are designed to help you explore key global challenges with world-leading experts from across the University and beyond.

Whichever path you take, you’ll develop key skills to tackle the complexity of contemporary challenges. This will help improve your employment prospects and help you contribute to creating progressive futures for all.

Spirit of Sussex Award

Feel involved in life at the University, make friends and enrich your experience with us – the Spirit of Sussex Award is our way of recognising your extracurricular and voluntary achievements.

Find out more about the Spirit of Sussex Award

  • Video transcript

    Hi everyone! As I'm sure you've all heard by now, the Spirit of Sussex Award is now live.

    Students across the Sussex community are already earning their points

    What will you do to earn yours?

    There's so many ways to get involved.

    Head over to the website to start your Spirit of Sussex journey.

    Text: The Spirit of Sussex Award is an exciting new programme designed to recognise and celebrate the things you do outside your course.

    Participating in the Award makes it easy and fun for you to get involved and make the most of university life.

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 2026/27. 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.

The Business School offered a lot of support in terms of having one-to-one sessions with Careers and Employability or placement students.Jimeet Romen Shah
Business and Management Studies BSc student

Our experts

This degree inspires you with comprehensive and integrative knowledge of key business subjects and technologies to innovate and create next generation competitive, sustainable, ethical and human-centred international best practices.”Professor Amany Elbanna
Professor in Information Systems and Digital Transformation

Careers

  • 86% of Sussex undergraduates have completed work experience by the end of their course (University of Sussex Career Readiness data at point of graduation 2023/24)

When you join the University of Sussex Business School you'll benefit from extensive career support and business connections, including mentoring by employers, networking, guest lecturers and development of essential workplace skills. 

Outside the classroom you can join our StartUp Sussex programme where you benefit from workshops from consultants in Sussex Innovation, guidance on developing business ideas, and the chance to win StartUp funding. You can also join the Business Society and join like-minded students who have an interest in business.

When you graduate, you’ll be prepared for a career as a business professional who can effectively operate in organisations that balance profit with corporate responsibility.

With their comprehensive integrated knowledge of business and management subjects and technologies, our graduates can successfully fulfil a wide range of roles including:

  • project managers
  • HR managers
  • business analyst
  • social media professional
  • recruitment specialist
  • consultant
  • IT project manager
  • change manager
  • innovation manager
  • operations manager
  • sales specialist
  • data analyst.

Where do our graduates work now?

Surveyed 15 months after finishing their courses, our recent graduates from the Department of Management worked for employers including:

(Graduate Outcomes Survey 2017-2022)

Working while you study

Our Careers and Entrepreneurship team can help you find part-time work while you study. Find out more about career development and part-time work

Having a placement has been a great start to my career and given me the opportunity to stand out from other individuals. I look forward to continuing my career with a clearer direction.” Danielle Aitken
Business and Management Studies (with a professional placement year) BSc

Design your future at Sussex

Taking the next step in your career can feel daunting, but we’ll help you to explore, connect and flourish throughout your studies and beyond.

As a Sussex student, you’ll learn how to tackle real-world challenges and have access to tailored programmes of careers support:

  • our Career Lab helps you to explore your options, build key skills and connect with employers. Take part in internships, community consultancy projects and insight visits, where you can learn about life at organisations such as Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, the Knepp Rewilding Project, and fashion brand Puig
  • one-to-one appointments with your Faculty Careers Consultant can enable you to identify your career goals, write an effective CV and prepare for future interviews
  • entrepreneurship initiatives like StartUp Sussex and Ideas Lab can empower you to turn your concepts into reality.

Explore how our Careers and Entrepreneurship team can support you

Entry requirements

Find your place in Clearing

This course will be available in Clearing. Explore your options at Sussex – right here, right now.

Fees

Note that your fees, once they’re set, may be subject to an increase on an annual basis. Find details on our Tuition fees page.

Home students

£9,790 per year

Channel Islands and Isle of Man students

£9,790 per year

On 19 March 2026 the UK Parliament set out that the tuition fee cap for 2026 entry will be £9,790. As the University of Sussex keeps fees for Home students and Channel Islands and Isle of Man students in line with UK Government-approved levels, fees will be £9,790 in 2026. In line with our terms and conditions, the University charges fees at the maximum levels set by the UK Government.

International students

£23,500 per year

Placement

Find out about tuition fees for placements

Additional costs

Note about additional costs

Additional costs to your tuition fees may include field trips, equipment, materials, bench fees or studio hire. These costs are best estimates based on current market values which we review each year. These costs may be subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances where the University has limited control such as a change in a service provider or government guidance. We will let you know at the earliest opportunity if there is any change to these costs. We will also tell you if these costs are mandatory for passing your course or optional. Find out how to budget for student life.

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)

Successful completion of the course grants some exemptions to full membership. Students who choose to pursue full membership will need to pay for associated costs, such as membership fees and completion of the remaining modules, after successful completion of their degree. Please refer to the CIMA website for full details.

Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

Students may opt for membership of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). The University pays for membership while students are taking the course and there are no other exam or book fees for the student.

Placement

This course offers you the opportunity to apply for a placement. Find out about placement fees at Tuition fees. You’ll need to pay for your own travel costs to and from your placement.

Living costs

We know the rising cost of living is on everyone’s mind, and affects us all in different ways. Our guide to living costs has been designed to help you plan and budget for life as a Sussex student.

Learn more about typical living costs

Scholarships

Our goal is to ensure that every student who wants to study with us is able to regardless of financial barriers, so that we continue to attract talented and unique people.

Contact us

Ask a student

Chat to Sussex students online via the UniBuddy chat platform.

Enquiries

Contact us with any questions about your course:

+44 (0)1273 876787
Ask us a question

Find out more about the Department of Management

Legal information

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.

Find out about our terms and conditions, including the student code of conduct and your cancellation rights

Find out about our complaints and appeals process

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