Typical Entry Requirements
Relevant Foundation Degree
These individuals must have enhanced business, marketing and management skills and a high level of technical knowledge to complement their practical experience. Consultation with industry stakeholders such as Promar, Genus, United Utilities and several prominent and progressive farmers has highlighted the importance of these skills.
The BSc (Hons) top-up in Agricultural Business Management degree programme aims to produce graduates with high levels of professional, agricultural and management skills in order to meet the skills gap identified by several industry commentators. In its comprehensive “Future of Farming” review DEFRA identified the need for skilled entrants who understand the demands of the global marketplace and have business and management training. This had been echoed by our industry stakeholders drawn from major national organisations, processors and primary producers.
Relevant Foundation Degree
September 2018
September 2019
Full-time: 1 year
This course aims to use a variety of techniques to develop and enhance team management and leadership techniques while delivering a high level of scientific and technical understanding. It introduces new and innovative business management techniques which will help businesses become more efficient by embedding the principle of continuous improvement in all areas.
You will gain a high level technical and scientific knowledge relevant to our forward thinking agricultural industry, while also being introduced to innovative business management techniques that could be implemented to benefit your business.
The course is broken down into the modules set out below which are completed over 1 year.
Classroom sessions are timetabled over one day.
7 modules at Level 6 (all at 15 credits with the exception of the dissertation module which is a double credit module at 30 credits) include:
All modules will run unless changes are made to the course as a whole.
Overall workload
Your overall workload consists of class contact hours, independent learning and assessment activity, plus field trips. Your actual contact hours may depend on which optional modules you select, but the following information gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities at each year of the course:
Year 1: 16% of your time is spent in timetabled teaching and learning activity
Teaching, Learning and Assessment: 189 hours
Independent Study: 1011 hours
Class sizes normally range from 3 to 10.
Percentage of course assessed by coursework
The balance of assessment by examination and assessment by coursework depends to some extent on the optional modules you choose. The approximate percentage of the course assessed by coursework is as follows:
Year 1
77% coursework
21% written exams
1% Practical
Feedback is supplied via Turnitin or directly from the module tutor. The majority of submissions are made via Turnitin and feedback for coursework is provided four working weeks after the submission date. If for unforeseen reasons this is not possible, the reasons will be communicated to the students within 2 weeks and the feedback prioritised within the department.
Written feedback will be supported verbally should the student require clarification. Formative assessment feedback will be provided at the time of completion where possible, with more detailed summative feedback for reports.
A range in specialist knowledge and experience allow us to offer a significant number of secondary qualifications to all students at reduced costs. These include:
You can expect to receive your timetable in induction week/the first week of teaching for returning students, a copy will also be be found on the Agriculture HE Moodle page.
Sessions are timetabled for Thursday and Friday of each week in semester 1 and 2.
During the top-up year of the BSc, no formal modules require a work placement element. However to apply and practice the skills acquired in theory sessions it is strongly advised that students complete a relevant amount of work based practice.
Tutors in the department are well placed to help students locate a suitable working opportunity but cannot supervise the work directly.
Tuition Fees
As a Higher Education student you will have two main costs to meet; your tuition fees and living costs.
Our part-time tuition fees for UK and EU students entering University in either 2017/18 or 2018/19 are £4,625. These fees are charged for each academic year of a course and are set by the college annually.
If you are an international student or for the latest information on tuition fees visit the student finance page on our website.
Additional Costs
All books for the course reading lists can be sourced from the library, however if the students do wish to purchase perhaps 6 key books then they would range from £20 to £150 approximately. Learning materials similar to any other university course are essential.
No specialist equipment is required on the course, just the usual farm based PPE which the students will need to acquire for future work placements anyway. This would include overalls, steel-toe-capped wellingtons and boots. General outdoor clothing is normally required on a weekly basis.
Occasionally shows or field trips are included as visits on the course which may carry an admission cost of approximately £10-£20. But these are fairly rare and obviously not obligatory.
Students will also have the option to join an Agriculture department run study tour, some run to areas of the UK and some abroad so costs can vary widely, £300-£1500. Again obviously optional.
University Centre Reaseheath is committed to providing additional financial support to those who need it. To find out about the bursary schemes available visit the additional financial support pages on our website.
All Higher Education students are given the opportunity to apply for residential accommodation. First year students are guaranteed accommodation and this offer is made to all applicants who live more than a reasonable daily travelling distance from Reaseheath and who apply before the 31st July 2018. For full details on our halls of residence visit the accommodation pages.
We have a team of dedicated professionals on hand to offer you support when and if you need it during your time with us. These include our Student Services team, Higher Education Support Team (HEST), Library and Learning Resources and the Reaseheath Careers Service. You will find more information on the support provided at Reaseheath here.
Before you apply you can come and visit us at one of our HE Open Events to see what we have to offer. Once we have received your application we will invite you to attend an Offer Holder Day.
Applications for full-time Degrees and Foundation Degrees are made through UCAS. Applications for all other full-time courses such as Access to HE and Level 4 Diplomas should be made directly to Reaseheath via the online application form. You can find out more here.
For students to get the best out of their time at University Centre Reaseheath, we must both recognise that we owe obligations to each other. These obligations are set out in our Higher Education Student Contract. Before you accept an offer of a place at University Centre Reaseheath, it is important that you read these contract conditions. If you are going to be living in Halls of Residence, you will also need to read the Student Accommodation Licence Conditions. Both of these contracts can be found here.
Click here to view the University Centre Reaseheath Student Protection Plan.
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University Centre Reaseheath – Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 6DF
Tel: 01270 613284 | Email: UCR@reaseheath.ac.uk