Business Management and Human Resource Management with Placement Year

Business management and human resource management together address both the strategic challenges of running organisations and the people questions that lie at the heart of every enterprise. Business management provides frameworks for understanding strategy, finance, marketing, operations and organisational behaviour, while human resource management focuses specifically on how organisations attract, develop, motivate and retain the people who make everything else possible. Together they equip you to understand businesses as complex social as well as economic entities, and to contribute to their success at both a strategic and an operational level.

At the University of Southampton this four-year, full-time programme develops your understanding of key dimensions of human resource management alongside the broader business skills that employers expect from graduates entering management roles. You will study areas including recruitment, talent development, employment law, reward, organisational design, workplace culture, analytics and strategy, learning to apply evidence-based thinking to the real challenges that HR professionals face. The degree incorporates a placement year, which is built into the four-year structure and gives you direct experience in an organisation where you can apply your learning in a professional context before you graduate.

Southampton's strong business school reputation and connections with employers across sectors mean you benefit from teaching grounded in both research and professional practice.

Graduates of this combined programme pursue careers in human resources, people management, talent acquisition, organisational development, training and development, employment relations, and management consultancy. Many take graduate schemes in HR functions across large corporates, public sector organisations, professional services firms and growing businesses. Some continue to postgraduate study in human resource management, organisational psychology, business administration or related fields.

Professional accreditation routes such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development are a common next step for those committed to a career in HR.