Curriculum Information

Document Version

QAA Benchmarks

Educational Aim

Learning Outcomes

Course Structure

Level 3 Modules

Level 4 Modules

Level 5 Modules

Level 6 Modules

Teaching and Assessment

Learning and Teaching Methods

Employer Engagement

The course is designed from a starting point of developing employable, enterprising and entrepreneurial graduates, both explicitly and implicitly through the pedagogical approach and course design. 

At an explicit level, these skills are directly taught in the curriculum (as is common in a Business and Management degree) – particularly in the case of entrepreneurship, which is covered in the level 4 module “Build Your First Business” – and developed upon at level 6 for students taking the entrepreneurship pathway. 

However, the main focus of developing entrepreneurship, employability and enterprise is through implicit development of these skills throughout the design of the programme.  Every module on the course has an industry partner, with several large well-known partners in business and finance industry represented throughout the course.  The scope of these partnerships is dependent on the specific module, but includes in-person visits from the industry partner, as well as live briefs, offsite visits to offices for students, awards, promotion of graduate schemes, and co-design of the assessment and modules.  Through these industry partnerships, all students graduating from the course will have a network of local employers and business people they engage with, and will have the confidence and ability to seek roles in these companies. 

The course is dual accredited by a number of PSRBs including CMI, with graduates of all pathways receiving a Level 5 Qualification in Management and Leadership, further developing their employability and graduate networks with CMI.  All students will also have the opportunity to take part in a sandwich year placement, either in the UK or internationally, further building their employability and enterprise awareness.  

Means of Assessment

The assessment strategy for this course includes a mix of individual and group tasks, including a diverse range of tasks, including presentations, debates, pitches, reports, simulations, podcasts, and more.  The assessment tasks are all scaffolded within the module content, and students are supported to develop their assessment literacy through both formative assessment and in-class tasks.  All assessment is mapped to learning outcomes. 

As suggested in the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement, to promote students’ employability the assessment strategy for this course prioritises authentic, real-world tasks that students are likely to encounter in the workplace.   

Assessment on this course is designed not only as assessment of learning, but as a method of learning itself.  This includes learning of content, as well as digital skills.  A range of digital formats are built into the assessment methods for this course, which is designed to build students’ digital literacy throughout their studies, ensuring all students graduate with the digital skills necessary for their future employment.  These digital skills are scaffolded – beginning with basic digital literacies (such as use of Microsoft Office, library searching, and information literacy), before building at each level to include creative digital tools, web design, and analytical software.  Students will be supported in learning these digital skills through explicit classroom sessions, beginning in module 1, and where necessary, including support from the tech team at the university. 

The overall assessment design is also designed to take into account the changing workplace given the advent of GenAI.  Graduates are increasingly expected to be AI-literate, and graduates are now expected to use more analytical and evaluative skills compared to typical jobs in the past – as per Kanbach et al (2023), GenAI is “shifting the human role from content creation to evaluation and editing”. 

Taking this into account, all assessments on this Business and Management degree are placed at level 5 on the USW AI in Assessment Scale, positioning AI as a study skill and core competence that students need in order to produce their work, rather than an academic misconduct issue.  This does not mean that students have to use AI, or are able to submit AI-written work without any effort – indeed, students who submit unrefined AI work will likely fail an assignment – but this is a result of them not showing the analysis/competency required to pass rather than failing because they have used AI.  Instead, students will be encouraged to use AI in the assessment journey, editing and refining the output and in the process learning by doing, and thus developing AI literacy as a key graduate attribute for this course. 

Learning Support

Course Exit Points

Progression Route

Entry Requirements

Admission to the course is typically through the following qualifications:

Inclusive Curriculum Statement

The University of South Wales operates a policy of inclusive learning, teaching and assessment to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to fulfil their educational potential. Course teams will have considered ways of designing out any potentially disadvantageous element of courses during the course design process. However some specific needs may remain, details about how to apply to have your needs assessed can be found at: http://unilife.southwales.ac.uk/pages/3040-disability-and-dyslexia-service/

Addendum for Delivery at a Partner Institution

N/A