Business and Human Resource Management with a Year in Industry

Business management and human resource management are naturally complementary disciplines. Business management provides the strategic and operational frameworks through which organisations function, while human resource management focuses on the people dimension: how organisations recruit, develop, motivate, reward, manage and retain the talent their performance depends upon. Together they offer a rounded education in how organisations actually work, with a particular depth in one of the most important and complex elements of any business, its people.

At the University of East Anglia, this four-year programme includes a year in industry, giving you the opportunity to spend an extended period working within a business before completing your final year of study. This professional experience significantly strengthens your employability and your ability to contextualise academic learning within real organisational practice. You will cover the core disciplines of business management, including strategy, marketing, finance, operations and entrepreneurship, alongside a substantial strand in HRM covering employment law, organisational behaviour, learning and development, talent management, reward systems and diversity and inclusion.

The typical entry tariff is 136 UCAS points.

Graduates move into HR generalist and specialist roles across all sectors, including graduate HR schemes in major organisations, alongside management trainee programmes, consultancy and roles in organisational development. The CIPD, which is the professional body for HR practitioners, provides a clear framework for professional development, and many graduates pursue CIPD qualifications alongside or after their degree. The year in industry experience is consistently cited by employers as a differentiating factor for UEA graduates.

Others move into management consultancy, operations, talent acquisition or start-up environments where HR and business skills are both required.