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Business and Supply Chain Management at University of Portsmouth - UCAS

Course options

There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Course summary

This is a Connected Degree Portsmouth is the only University in the UK with the flexibility to choose when to do an optional paid placement or self-employed year. Either take a placement in your third year, or finish your studies first and complete a placement in your fourth year. You can decide if and when to take a placement after you've started your course. Overview Supply chain management contributes to every aspect of business, not to mention everyday life. Recent events like Covid and Brexit have shown how important supply chains are. Ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time — and at the right cost — is vital to life as we know it. So is ensuring those supply chains are sustainable safe for the environment. On this degree you'll investigate risk and strategic management, logistics management, and learn how to procure goods and manage supply lines. You'll use professional industry software, systems and tools to help you explore the ethics and sustainability of global supply chains. With a focus on global procurement and the sourcing and purchasing of goods, you’ll graduate with more than just an understanding of logistics and the movement of goods. You’ll build your specialist knowledge and understanding of business in general so that you graduate with a set of management and specific skills that are in demand in the workplace. You can boost your employability and apply you degree knowledge with a paid industry placement year before or after your third year. As Portsmouth is a vital supply chain hub there are great local opportunities to do a placement year with companies like IBM and Boeing, as well as other roles across the UK. Course highlights

  • Stand out in the employment market with your knowledge of procurement and a valued skill set
Practise your skills through our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) immersive simulation game, where you'll use real SAP reports
  • Choose from specialist module options including business analytics and data modelling — skills that are in-demand in the industry
  • Gain core management skills such as risk management and leadership alongside your specialist supply chain skills
  • Benefit from the support of our dedicated Placement Team to help you secure a paid placement year
  • Improve your global employability by spending a year abroad at a partner university in Europe, Asia, Australia or North America
  • Learn from academics who have supply chain industry experience and research expertise in data driven supply chains
Careers and opportunities Supply chain management is needed everywhere and there's a great shortage of supply chain skills in the UK. You could work in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, shipping and freight, charities or the public sector - the choice is yours. Pay is good; the average salary for all UK procurement and supply chain professionals is £47,435 (CIPS Salary Guide 2021) and there are many varied routes for career progression, including working overseas. Roles you can go on to with this degree include:
  • supply chain management
  • purchasing and procurement
  • procurement management
  • logistics analysis
  • distribution management
  • supply coordination
Previous graduates have gone on to work for companies such as:
  • Marks and Spencer
  • Apple
  • Amazon
  • DHL
  • UPS
  • Automotive (RR)
  • Procter and Gamble (P&G)
Alternatively you could go on to specialist postgraduate study, or set up your own business with the help and support of the University.

Modules

Year 1 Core modules in this year include:

  • Business Accounting
  • Business Operations and Systems Management
  • Economics For Business
  • Managing People in Organisations
  • Marketing Principles and Practice
  • Introduction to Business Analytics
  • Discovering the Supply Chain Professional
There are no optional modules in this year. Year 2 Core modules in this year include:
  • Business Logistics Management
  • Leadership, Ethics, Governance and Sustainability
  • Risk Management and Supply Chain Vulnerability
  • Legal Issues in Procurement and Supply
  • Procurement and Supply
Options to choose from in this year currently include:
  • Business Analytics in Practice
  • Electronic and Mobile Commerce
  • Financial Decision Making and Control
  • International Business
Placement year (optional) On this course, you can do an optional work placement year between your 2nd and 3rd years to get valuable experience working in industry. We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You’ll get mentoring and support throughout the year. Year 3 Core modules in this year include:
  • Business Improvement & Creativity
  • Operations Strategy and the Supply Chain
Options to choose from in this year currently include:
  • Dissertation - Operations and Systems Management
  • Business Consultancy Project
  • Critical Leadership: Theory and Practice
  • Cross Cultural Awareness For Business
  • Strategic and International Management
  • Critical Leadership: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives
  • Project Management For Enterprise
  • Responsible and Sustainable Business
  • Strategic Management
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies. Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional modules may not run every year. If a module doesn’t run, we’ll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.

Assessment method

You’ll be assessed through: essays presentations projects exams reflective work computer-based assignments You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark. You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future. The way you’re assessed may depend on the modules you select. As a guide, students on this course last year were typically assessed as follows: Year 1 students: 58% by written exams and 42% by coursework Year 2 students: 27% by written exams, 17% by practical exams and 56% by coursework Year 3 students: 48% by written exams, 5% by practical exams and 47% by coursework

Professional bodies

Professionally accredited courses provide industry-wide recognition of the quality of your qualification.

  • Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

How to apply

Application codes

Please select a course option – you will then see the application code you need to use to apply for the course.

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1
  • Year 2

Entry requirements for advanced entry (i.e. into Year 2 and beyond)

We welcome applications for advanced entry. If you’d like to apply for advanced entry, you need to select the required year when you complete your UCAS application.

Entry requirements

Qualification requirements


English language requirements

TestGradeAdditional details
IELTS (Academic)6English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.0 with no component score below 5.5.
Cambridge English AdvancedCambridge English: Advanced (CAE) (taken after January 2015). An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162.
Cambridge English ProficiencyCambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) (taken after January 2015). An overall score of 169 with no component score less than 162.
PTE Academic62An overall score of 62 with a minimum of 59 in each skill.
TOEFL (iBT)7979 with a minimum of 18 in Reading, 17 in Listening, 20 in Speaking and 17 in Writing.
Trinity ISEPassTrinity College Integrated Skills in English (ISE) Level III with a Pass in all 4 components.

Student Outcomes

Operated by the Office for Students
60%
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
80%
Go onto work and study

The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

EU £9535 Year 1
England £9535 Year 1
Northern Ireland £9535 Year 1
Scotland £9535 Year 1
Wales £9535 Year 1
Channel Islands £9535 Year 1
Republic of Ireland £9535 Year 1
International £17200 Year 1

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .

Additional fee information

Students who are resident in EU countries: please note that the net fee is inclusive of the Transition Scholarship Placement Year and Year abroad (at the time of publishing for 2024/25): UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £1,385 EU – £1,385 (including Transition Scholarship) International (Non-EU) – £2,875. Fees are accurate at the time of publishing and are subject to change at any time without notice. All fees are subject to annual increase. For more information about fees, go to port.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/undergraduate-fees-and-student-finance/tuition-fees-living-costs-and-other-study-costs
Business and Supply Chain Management at University of Portsmouth - UCAS