Modern Language and Business & Management

Combining serious language study with business and management education is a genuinely practical choice for a world in which commercial and professional relationships increasingly cross linguistic and cultural borders. At the University of Manchester, the BA Modern Language and Business and Management (German) programme runs over four years of full-time study and includes a sandwich year in industry, with work placement embedded in the degree. This means you will spend a substantial period gaining professional experience before you graduate, applying both your language skills and your understanding of management in a real organisational context.

The language strand of the programme takes you to a high level of proficiency in German, developing your ability to communicate in professional and academic registers while giving you a deep understanding of the culture, history, and contemporary society of the German-speaking world. Germany is the largest economy in Europe and the fourth largest in the world, and German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union, making proficiency in it genuinely valuable in business contexts. The business and management strand covers the core principles of how organisations are structured, led, and managed, as well as the analytical frameworks used to make decisions about strategy, finance, operations, and marketing.

Together, the two strands develop a graduate who can operate effectively in international business environments in ways that neither a pure languages nor a pure business degree alone would produce.

Graduates of this programme are well placed for careers in international business, European and global firms, management consultancy, financial services, marketing and communications, trade policy, and public administration. The combination of German and business knowledge is particularly valued by firms with significant operations in German-speaking markets. Many graduates go on to professional qualifications or postgraduate study, including master's programmes in international management, European studies, or business administration.

The sandwich year typically translates directly into competitive advantage in the graduate jobs market, providing evidence of professional competence alongside linguistic and analytical skills.