Interested in operations and supply chain management and want to extend your knowledge and skills base for your future career?

The Business and Supply Chain Management BA (Hons) degree has been designed to give you the ideal balance between a broad understanding of business and a more focused emphasis on operations and supply chain management.

Northumbria's Business with Supply Chain Management Learning Experience

You will undertake a balanced 50/50 split between business management content (where you explore business functions such as finance, marketing, and human resources) and operations and supply chain management topics such as International Operations Management, Applied Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Global Logistics and Inventory Management, Strategic and Sustainable Supply Chain Management, and Supply Chain Innovation. The degree will start with a heavy focus on broad business content, becoming gradually more supply chain management focused as you move towards final year.

How does this degree enhance my employability?

The Business and Supply Chain Management course has been designed to prepare you for graduate employment in operations and supply chain management or broader business and is a CILT (UK) Accredited Degree. This degree is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS - UK).

After your second year of studies, you will be encouraged to undertake a work placement, study abroad or combine both. In the final year, you’ll have the option to carry out a group consultancy project in the Business Clinic, a management enquiry project or a dissertation depending on whether you completed a placement. The management enquiry project will allow for working individually to investigate a real business issue, and gaining critical practical experience.

How will I learn during this Business and Supply Chain Management BA course?

The curriculum is based primarily on key aspects of operations and supply chain management studies; this ranges from specific subjects such as Operations Management, Inventory Management, Applied Logistics, Supply Chain Innovation, Strategic and Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Global Supply Network Management to more general business and management input such as financial decision making, business economy and society, digital business, project management, and business analysis, which will provide you with the necessary awareness and knowledge of general business.

You will begin your studies with an introduction to operations and supply chain management principles alongside a significant focus on building your wider business awareness and skills across subjects such as financial decision making and business analysis. As you progress through the degree, the course content will provide a more focused operations and supply chain management curriculum, interjected by modules in associated areas such as Business Research and Analysis Digital Business, and Human Resource Management. Your final year is then heavily operations and supply chain management focused, complemented by the space to develop your project management skills.

How will I be assessed?

There are a wide variety of assessments used across each year of the programme, including written assignments, reports, examinations, individual, and group presentations. In your final year, you will undertake a substantial piece of research work, either in the form of an individual dissertation, management enquiry or a group consultancy project. While assessments are usually individual work, there are various modules across the programme which include group work and thereby give you opportunity to develop skills in teamwork, negotiation, and leadership.

For assignments and portfolio work, you will be supported in your seminars, where tutors will share marking criteria prior to the assignment being handed in. This means that you will have a clear guidance on the expectations of the marker. Tutors will also provide feedback which will give clear guidance on areas of strength and weakness.

Where will I learn during my degree?

At Newcastle Business School you’ll experience a first-class education in a world-class environment. From our social spaces and hub areas to lecture theatres and exhibition spaces, our facilities are exceptional. For example, the 24/7 university library achieves some of the highest levels of student satisfaction in the UK and has held the Cabinet Office accreditation for Customer Service Excellence since 2010.

We’re also committed to helping you make the most of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) by embedding it throughout the course. Tools such as the ‘Blackboard’ eLearning Portal and electronic reading lists are there to help you efficiently and thoroughly prepare for seminars and independent research. Lecture capture software means you can revise previously lectured material online in your time, as well as at your speed.

What’s more, there are plenty of opportunities to put your learning into practice through volunteering, internships, and placements. This includes the Business Clinic that provides student consultancy facilities to work with our clients in response to their business problem. Our clients are drawn from a range of organisations including multinationals, SMEs, not-for-profit charities, and social enterprises from across the region and nationally.

How does this course set me up for my future career?

Making your career happen is at the heart of all our Business courses – with every module designed to reinforce the transferable skills you’ll need in the workplace. We have introduced two dedicated modules focusing on career-development skills: Supply Chain and Operations Study and Consultancy Skills, where you can experience live operations or supply chain management related projects; and Preparing for Professional Practice where you will practice and develop skills necessary to obtain a placement or graduate employment in a supportive environment.

Our programme is also supported by NOVUS, in  partnership with CILT who recognise the need to reinvent the way in which the supply chain profession finds and prepares its future leaders. NOVUS is a long-term, strategic answer to the serious skills gaps and shortfall of graduate talent that is becoming increasingly evident in the supply chain and operations profession today. Here at Northumbria, our researchers and support services are determined to help you develop and enhance your skills, to ensure our graduates are equipped to excel in the industry.

Beyond the classroom, you’ll have opportunities to develop your career through practical experience and wider learning. In your second year, you can spend a semester studying abroad, or take an extra year before your final year studying elsewhere in the EU, or further afield such as the USA, Australia or China.

There’s also the option of a work placement year, where our Internship Programmes are on hand to help you gain hands-on Supply Chain Management experience. And there’s our Business Clinic, offering you the chance to work with real clients to help solve their business challenges.  

If you decide not to take a year/semester out on a work placement or study abroad, there are still plenty of opportunities available. Our extensive network of operations, logistics and supply chain management professionals (including many past graduates of the course) offer you extra opportunities to attend events and meet the associated professional bodies, allowing you to sculpt a truly distinctive CV to use in the graduate marketplace. This network involves working with the key professional bodies, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) and Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS).

After graduating, you may wish to embark on Postgraduate study. And there are a wide range of potential future career areas including Supply Chain or Process analyst, Scheduler, Material Planner, Purchasing Agent, Quality Improvement Consultant, Operations Manager or Analyst, and many more. Your progression into such employment after graduation is supported by our careers service, as well as the skills and knowledge developed throughout the programme.