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1st for Marketing and PR
The Guardian University Guide (2023)
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5th for Student satisfaction for Marketing
The Complete University Guide (2023)
91% of graduates in a graduate level job or further study after 6 months (Guardian 2023)
BSc Marketing Management brings a strategic focus and emphasis to marketing. This degree helps to shape you as a future marketing leader. A year in industry is central to your learning experience, while the course’s flexibility means that the programme adapts to you and your evolving strengths and interests.
Continuous changes in global markets and technology mean marketing managers need the skills to adapt to a marketing landscape in constant flux. Today’s chief marketing officers need to develop not just short-term marketing plans but longer-term future strategies.
We provide an all-round understanding of marketing, studying key areas including Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Communications and Global Markets. You will study all aspects of Market Research, and gain a practical understanding of how marketing and advertising work in an organisational context. In addition, you will have the option of studying various modules from other departments in the Management School to develop your wider management knowledge and acumen. You are supported throughout by an academic tutor – offering support on academic work and time management.
You will experience a broad range of learning opportunities, with a strong emphasis on collaborative working, that support your personal development as well as your academic skills. You will take two modules designed to help prepare you for and reflect on your industry placement.
Your placement in your third year is designed to improve your understanding of marketing and management in practice. Previous students have worked with multinational companies such as The Walt Disney Company, Boots and Nike; others have secured roles with marketing agencies, charities and local organisations.
Your final year allows you to build on your real-world experience and develop a portfolio of work to impress at any job interview.
Our careers team includes a dedicated departmental careers coach who works with you from day one, challenging you to think about where you want to work after graduation, and helping you build and develop your CV with the experience it needs to secure a successful graduate position in a sector and company of your choosing.
The University will support you to find a suitable placement for your studies. While a placement role may not be available in a field or organisation that is directly related to your academic studies or career aspirations, all placement roles offer valuable experience of working at a graduate level and gaining a range of professional skills.
If you are unsuccessful in securing a suitable placement for your third year, you will be able to transfer to the equivalent non-placement degree scheme and continue with your studies at Lancaster, finishing your degree after your third year. The University offers a range of shorter placement and internship opportunities for which you will be welcome to apply.
This is a career-focused programme that equips you with the marketing and management skills required to lead in a marketing-led business environment. The broad range of modules available throughout this programme allows you to build a degree that makes the most of your strengths and interests, setting you apart from the competition and giving you a real point of difference at interviews.
Find out what it's like to study Marketing Management at Lancaster University Management School.
This is a wide-ranging, flexible degree that can lead to a fulfilling and rewarding career. There is a lot to take in and we would love you to get in touch to find out more, but if you take away anything from your visit today it should be these three things:
As part of our accreditation, students who study on this course will also gain exemptions from professional CIM qualifications. You would only need to pass one module to complete the CIM Certificate in Professional Marketing or Professional Digital Marketing or two modules to complete the CIM Diploma in Professional Marketing or Professional Digital Marketing. This gives you the chance to further stand out in the job market with a professional qualification alongside your degree.
Learn more about the CIM accredited degree accreditationOur degree courses produce high-calibre graduates who go on to work in marketing functions for some of the UK’s most prestigious employers. Typically, more than 90% of our students move into graduate marketing jobs with blue chip advertising and marketing services agencies, or secure marketing positions in corporations such as Cadbury, Mattel, Johnson & Johnson, Marks & Spencer, IBM, Unilever and Sainsbury's.
Past graduates have gone on to positions as marketing executives, assistant brand managers and management and marketing Officers.
Other graduates have diversified into sales, recruitment and finance; some are studying for professional marketing qualifications while working and some have decided to continue their studies to MSc level, at Lancaster and other universities.
Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, you also graduate with the relevant life and work-based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability awareness, career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Careers section for full details.
Lancaster Management School has an award-winning careers team to provide a dedicated careers and placement service offering a range of innovative services for management school students. Our high reputation means we attract a wide range of leading global employers to campus offering you the opportunity to interact with graduate recruiters from day 1 of your degree.
A Level AAB
GCSE English Language grade B or 5
IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.
International Baccalaureate 35 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects
BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Distinction
We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.
Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk
Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and others which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme to complement your main specialism. We divide academic study into two sections - Part 1 (Year 1) and Part 2 (Year 2, 3 and sometimes 4). For most programmes Part 1 requires you to study 120 credits spread over at least three modules which, depending upon your programme, will be drawn from one, two or three different academic subjects. A higher degree of specialisation then develops in subsequent years. For more information about our teaching methods at Lancaster please visit our Teaching and Learning section.
The following courses do not offer modules outside of the subject area due to the structured nature of the programmes: Architecture, Law, Physics, Engineering, Medicine, Sports and Exercise Science, Biochemistry, Biology, Biomedicine and Biomedical Science.
Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research.
This module is designed to give you a broad and critical introduction to the subject of marketing through a series of lectures and seminars. A comprehensive range of topics is taught at foundational level which you will then explore further in your second and final years. Subject areas that you will study include Understanding Markets, which examines how markets are created and sustained, Consumer Behaviour, Marketing Communications, Marketing Research and Innovation.
Throughout the year, you will be asked to consider how theory works in practice, by examining your own experience of marketing as well as current stories from the press and marketing media. Assessment consists of coursework including an individual essay and a group-based business report, and a summer exam which is largely essay-based. As part of your studies on this module, we will help you to develop all of the necessary academic skills to succeed in your first year at university and throughout your degree.
This module is all about personal development and is taken by all students in the Marketing department. It is designed to help you develop academic skills to support your studies at University, and employability skills to help you achieve your future career goals.
During this Preparation for Placement module, you will learn about the competitive recruitment processes in the UK and the skills and expertise employers expect you to evidence; how to produce excellent CVs and cover letters; how to make an impact on application forms, what to expect at interviews and assessment centres.
You will get to hear from final year students about their placement experience and a chance for you to learn about the placement opportunities on offer from graduate employers. You will be offered the opportunity to experience a mock interview with a real employer and attend a mock assessment centre. You will be shown the range of resources and support we offer in LUMS Careers and how that will continue throughout the placement programme, in order to seek a suitable year in industry placement.
Students compete with others nationally to secure placements and we also offer exclusive opportunities with employers, however, we cannot guarantee that all students will progress on to a year in industry placement.
The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of consumer behaviour from both managers' and consumers' perspectives, building on current research in consumer behaviour and the social sciences generally. The lectures initially focus on consumers as individuals and then consider more closely the influence of our social experiences on behaviour. The workshops provide a chance to focus on a specialist topic within the field, focusing upon improving academic reading and analysis skills.
This module runs alongside your academic studies to help you with academic and employability skills.
This module introduces the key concepts and techniques in marketing research and the analysis of marketing problems. The main aim is to prepare you for future roles as marketing, product, brand and advertising managers by giving you the skills needed to commission, manage, interpret and use marketing information. It will also prepare you for practical market or advertising research projects conducted in your final year (e.g. MKTG310 & MKTG331). The module covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as how to run and manage research projects. For the quantitative part of the unit, you will be introduced to SPSS.
The Marketing Simulation gives an integrated overview of the concepts, techniques and skills used in marketing management. This is done via a computer simulation exercise known as “Markstrat”. The objective of the course is to allow participants to develop skills in applying marketing knowledge, running an analysis and planning system, and dealing with the problems arising from working in groups and managing a business under conditions of uncertainty.
In this module, you will learn about the decisions, actors and actions involved in transforming a product from its raw state to one desired by consumers, and how brand owners work with retailers to ensure shoppers’ access to the product.
This understanding is important to all marketers since it allows marketers to communicate with other areas of the organisation (such as manufacturing or logistics) over issues such as new product launches and promotional initiatives.
We will focus on the retail end of the route to market and how brand owners coordinate with retail (possibly also wholesale) actors to ensure optimal product placement and communication at the point of purchase, using real-life examples.
You will gain vital understanding and perspectives to equip you for entry-level jobs in areas such as trade marketing, customer marketing, shopper marketing, category management and areas of retail. In many companies, graduate entry-level jobs in these areas are the only route to a career in brand management. The thinking is “if you can’t manage retail partners, you can’t manage brands”.
Throughout the module, we will consider the international contexts of routes to market, ethical questions in routes to market, modern techniques and shopping behaviour and ICT use in routes to market.
In this first of three work-based learning modules, you will begin your reflective learning process. During the workshops, you will be tasked with creating reflective tools to support the development of your assignment. You will be assessed on a short written reflection that enables them to prepare for your continued professional development during your industrial placement.
The overall aim of this module is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the fast-moving and multi-faceted world of advertising from both a theoretical and managerial perspective.
We will focus on advertising within the private sector and cover a number of contemporary issues in advertising, including social and ethical issues, international advertising and advertising regulation. On completion of this module, you should be able to demonstrate a clear understanding of advertising theory, strategy and execution.
The module gives you a unique opportunity to engage with the key academic and industry-led questions at the forefront of digital marketing practice. It will stimulate your understanding around the following questions:
As well as engaging with academic perspectives, you will practice real-life integrated digital campaign planning using industry-leading global data from Similarweb. An external industry expert session ensures that you also gain further insight into relevant careers and the practice of digital marketing.
This module gives you the chance to explore various forms of social media in the context of digital marketing and online consumer culture. You will develop awareness and gain insights into a diverse range of topics such as:
As part of the module, you will also explore current and potential trends in the digital environment.
This module supports you with your professional development whilst you are away on placement. You will consciously consider your learning opportunities and actively engage in reflective practice.
In the final year this module focusses primarily on perfecting your employability skills to get the graduate job you want.
In year 4, you will be expected to utilise the knowledge you have gained through The Management of Marketing module and the digital learning materials of the Marketing Management in Practice module. You will also have the opportunity to choose from a range of related optional modules which will contribute to your understanding of domestic and/or international marketing matters. You will attend module support sessions, and group report progress meetings with the module leader, with opportunities to discuss and receive formative (i.e. non-assessed) feedback on the progress of your group report. The learning materials in year 4 will cover the following themes:
In this module, we explore how marketing activities are managed in businesses, organisations and markets. Our focus is on three levels- namely, individuals, organisations and market place. Our understandings of marketing management are to a large extent shaped by theories and evidence on consumer behaviour in various markets. With this module, we turn our attention to managers and how they should make sense of and take action towards creating values for consumers and clients, their own businesses and organisations, and society at large. We approach this management question from multiple theoretical perspectives- namely, organisational and institutional theory, behavioural sciences, and marketing. We critically review these perspectives to understand how they construct and study the tasks of judgement and decision-making for marketing managers. We then employ these perspectives to identify and evaluate the opportunities and challenges contemporary marketing managers face within businesses, organisations, markets and society. These relate to technological advances and innovation, globalisation and its discontents, the inclusivity and exclusivity of consumption, marketing ethics, sustainability and climate change.
On return from placement for the final year of your degree, you will engage in group discussions to reflect on your work-based learning experience and draw out relationships between theory and practice. You will complete a Portfolio of Professional Practice to showcase your developed skills and abilities, and write a critically reflective essay on your placement experience to further the connections made between theory and practice.
This module aims to provide you with the opportunity to critically review existing research and theory as it relates to a number of current consumer research specialist topics. You will apply and adapt existing theoretical frameworks to real consumer contexts, and engage with the research interests of the marketing department staff.
The module adopts a topic-based model; a typical syllabus would include:
This module will provide you with a managerial and critical understanding of how brand strategy must integrate and balance a variety of perspectives such as the social, symbolic, and material dimensions of contemporary consumer culture with the managerial and economic determinants of organisations.
You will master the language of brand strategy, discover how the brand function fits with the other functions of an organisation, and learn how this knowledge can be applied in real marketplace contexts. We will also critically evaluate the role of branding in society and we will trace the history of “the modern brand”. A range of theories, concepts, strategies and practices designed to build, evolve and sustain brands will be addressed across a range of categories, product types and industries. You will be encouraged to think for yourself about the possible future brands and the necessity of branding in a changing world.
In this module, we bring to the forefront this often less visible but vast area of marketing to help you develop a more holistic understanding of how markets work and how they are created and shaped. We explore marketing concepts familiar to you as a marketer but broaden them by looking at the multiplicity of actors involved in marketing and in market making. Specifically, we unpack the activities in which organisations are involved and deployed to engage in markets. The module considers marketing in a range of contexts and critically discusses contemporary trends in B2B marketing practice and theory.
The module concerns the communications strategies and techniques used by new social movements, brands and people. We will study a spectrum of tools and media of communications, such as lobbying, design, sustainable communications (and greenwashing).
You will use action learning to develop a campaign strategy and creative work for a major UK government campaign. We will examine how protesters and social activists use communications, and you will be encouraged to think critically about how communications shape societies and human values.
As marketing activities become more internationally focused, firms are increasingly looking for prospective employees with the knowledge and skills to address the new challenges and opportunities associated with globalisation. This module combines the latest research in the field of international marketing; providing insights, theories, concepts and tools that enable students to navigate the global market. Students will take part in interactive lectures and assessment-centred seminars to examine trends in global marketing management. The module will also pay special attention to emerging markets and the roles they play in invigorating marketing theories and practice.
This module introduces theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence of contemporary innovations in markets and an exploration of marketing activities that support them. You will be given time and opportunity to reflect on your learning and to discuss your emergent understanding. You will have the opportunity to explore challenges faced by managers of innovation, as well as comparing potential outcomes of marketing management decisions in real-world scenarios.
The module begins by identifying marketing innovations, followed by exploring the issues of why firms are thought to either typically succeed or fail in business. From here you will be encouraged to explore the changing business environments within which firms must survive.
The module is organised around six themes:
We see how Social Innovation, Innovations for Emerging Markets and Sustainability-led Innovation are emerged and contribute to the global markets.
This module aims to equip you for a career in strategic marketing management in various industries, which may include among others fast moving consumer goods and retailing, automotive, consulting services or the luxury sector.
It is essential for students to obtain a solid understanding of various perspectives on strategy and to develop the ability to evaluate, design and implement sustainable and profitable marketing strategy. The module combines a critical academic perspective on strategy research with applied and practicable models and frameworks essential to developing strong marketing plans. The module aims to stimulate the student's thinking around such questions as:
The key theme of this module is to learn how to negotiate and make sustainable business deals. Strategic negotiations are highly relevant in today’s interconnected business landscape. Companies need to negotiate with multiple stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, agencies, governments and authorities to be able to access the resources that they need. A strategic deal that companies would need is not a fixed entity but rather the outcome of long and time-consuming negotiations that affect further negotiations.
The module will examine:
We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2024/25 entry fees have not yet been set.
As a guide, our fees in 2023/24 were:
| UK | International |
|---|---|
| £9,250 | £22,310 |
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small college membership fee which supports the running of college events and activities.
For students starting in 2022 and 2023, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Fees for students starting in 2024 have not yet been set.
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
In addition to travel and accommodation costs, while you are studying abroad, you will need to have a passport and, depending on the country, there may be other costs such as travel documents (e.g. VISA or work permit) and any tests and vaccines that are required at the time of travel. Some countries may require proof of funds.
In addition to possible commuting costs during your placement, you may need to buy clothing that is suitable for your workplace and you may have accommodation costs. Depending on the employer and your job, you may have other costs such as copies of personal documents required by your employer for example.
Details of our scholarships and bursaries for 2024-entry study are not yet available, but you can use our opportunities for 2023-entry applicants as guidance.
Check our current list of scholarships and bursaries.
In her blog, recent graduate Keyleigh Packer shares her thoughts on her degree and placement year. 'This course has not only delivered the theories, strategies and key skill essential to gaining my degree, but also the priceless opportunity to put learning into practice'.
Read Keyleigh's BlogIn his blog, recent graduate Chris Chomsoonthorn shares his thoughts on his degree and the first year of his career." To sum up - my university experience has been essential in my development. I’m grateful for the learning experience at Lancaster, have enjoyed the first year of my career, and am excited for what is yet to come!"
Read Chris' BlogIn her blog, Rebecca Pipes shares her top tips on how to make the most of your marketing degree and develop a compelling CV. "University is the most exhilarating and eye-opening experience, but it goes too quickly. I believe the key to making the most of your marketing degree is to stand out from the crowd and this starts with saying yes to amazing opportunities."
Read Rebecca's blog
BSc Marketing Management , 2018
Would not be where I am without my experience at Lancaster, for many reasons.
BSc Marketing Management, 2021
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Undergraduate Open DaysThe information on this site relates primarily to 2024/2025 entry to the University and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
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