Introduction
Business Management and French at Aberdeen brings international opportunities to your solid grounding in business skills, with the competitive edge of a modern European language, cultural perspective and experience – and a fast track to a career in European and international organisations and business.
Study Information
At a Glance
- Learning Mode
- On Campus Learning
- Degree Qualification
- MA
- Duration
- 48 months
- Study Mode
- Full Time
- Start Month
- September
- UCAS Code
- NR21
French & Francophone Studies at Aberdeen has a long-standing reputation for teaching and research. The programme explores the diversity of French and Francophone culture and the complex global influence of France and the French language over the centuries. You will add to your growing language skills with diverse courses in contemporary society and politics, philosophy and history, film and visual culture, advanced translation skills, and literature from the Renaissance to the present day.
What You'll Study
- Year 1
-
Year 1: Compulsory Courses
Academic and Professional Skills for Business (MS1511)
- Academic Writing for Language & Literature (AW1008)
-
This compulsory evaluation is designed to find out if your academic writing is of a sufficient standard to enable you to succeed at university and, if you need it, to provide support to improve. It is completed on-line via MyAberdeen with clear instructions to guide you through it. If you pass the evaluation at the first assessment it will not take much of your time. If you do not, you will be provided with resources to help you improve. This evaluation does not carry credits but if you do not complete it this will be recorded on your degree transcript.
- Getting Started at the 51cg (PD1002)
-
This course, which is prescribed for level 1 undergraduate students and articulating students who are in their first year at the University, is studied entirely online, takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across the first 4 weeks of term.
Topics include University orientation overview, equality & diversity, MySkills, health, safety and cyber security, and academic integrity.
Successful completion of this course will be recorded on your Transcript as ‘Achieved’.
- The Economics of Business and Society (EC1006)
-
15 Credit Points
This course is an introductory course in microeconomics where we study the decision making of individual actors (consumers, employees, firms, governments, etc.) in an economy. Actors must make decisions about behaviours because they face scarce resources, but often they find that trading with other actors in markets can increase the wellbeing of all parties. This course models and examines the nature of these interactions, highlighting when they work well and when they fail to increase wellbeing and what might be the solution to these failures.
- Managing Organisations (MS1009)
-
15 Credit Points
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the fundamentals of management, the internal structure and processes of organisations. Students will understand the main functions of management, what management is, what managers do and the factors that influence behaviour and performance of managers and other employees within an organisation.
The course will introduce a range of theories, research and real-life illustrations of a diverse range of management practices and organisational behaviour. The course will cover areas of: Staffing, Groups and Teams, Leadership and Management, Human Resource Management, Organisational Structure, Culture and Change, Communication, Marketing, Branding and Organisational Processes.
- Accounting and Entrepreneurship (AC1517)
-
15 Credit Points
The course provides an understanding of how organisations, particularly small businesses, capture, create and use accounting information both to guide their own activities and to communicate their financial performance and financial position to parties external to themselves. It develops knowledge and understanding of accounting, accounting techniques and accounting information, so that students become informed users of accounting data and information, not creators of that data and information.
Year 1: Optional Courses
FRENCH BEGINNER
EITHER:
FR1031French Culture and Society: From Occupation to Decolonisation
FR1028 Beginners French Language 1
AND/OR:
LA1501The Global City
FR1528 Beginners French Language 2
Plus further credit points from courses of choice to gain a total of 120 credits.
FRENCH QUALIFIED
EITHER:
FR1031 French Culture and Society: From Occupation to Decolonisation
FR1029 Qualified French Language 1
AND/OR:
LA1501 The Global City
FR1529 Qualified French Language 2
- Beginners French Language 1 (FR1028)
-
15 Credit Points
This intensive language course is designed for students with limited or no previous knowledge of French, whether or not they intend to complete a degree in French.
The aim of the course is to introduce the fundamentals of French grammar and a basic working vocabulary and to give extensive practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If they choose to do so, students who take this course and the follow-on Term 2 course, FR1528, will have sufficient knowledge of French to proceed to study at Level 2 and beyond.
Individual cases will be considered, however, it is recommended that:
- Students who have no or limited experience of French register for FR1028: Beginners French Language 1
- Students who have studied French up to a Higher at grade B (or equivalent) register for FR1028: Beginners French Language 1
- Students who have studied French to a Higher at grade A (or equivalent) or above, register for FR1029: Qualified French Language 1
- Students who wish to discuss their individual situation should e-mail: llmvc.enquiries@abdn.ac.uk or speak directly to relevant staff members as soon as possible and ahead of the deadline for changing courses (Friday of teaching week 2)
- Beginners French Language 2 (FR1528)
-
15 Credit Points
This course is intended for students who have successfully completed and passed FR1028 – Beginners French Language 1.
The course builds on the work done in FR1028, extending students’ knowledge of the fundamentals of French grammar and continuing to build their vocabulary and communication skills. This will enable students to consolidate and further develop the core language skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, working towards a level equivalent to CERF Intermediate A2/B1. The course is open to all students with the relevant experience, whether or not they intend to complete a degree in French. If they choose to do so, students who complete and pass this course will have an adequate command of French to proceed to study at Level 2 and beyond.
- French Culture and Society: from Occupation to Decolonisation (FR1031)
-
15 Credit Points
This course introduces students to twentieth and early twenty first century French and Francophone culture and society, focusing on the occupation of France during World War II, gender issues, and the impact and aftermath of colonialism and decolonisation. Students will explore the socio-historical and socio-political context by engaging with literature, film, writing from the period and visual materials. Texts will be available in translation for those with limited or no knowledge of French.
- The Global City in Text and Film (LA1501)
-
15 Credit Points
Focusing on major cities in Europe and the Americas, this course unit uses a range of texts, including films, poetry and fiction, to investigate urban spaces as sites of promise, power and loss. Representations of global cities, and experiences of urban dwellers, highlight themes such as empire, identity, leisure, labour and love. Set amid glittering facades and gritty back streets, the texts studied in this course explore the many meanings of the urban experience across place and time. These urban encounters also provide a way of understanding key social, political and cultural moments in the past and present.
- Year 2
-
Year 2: Compulsory Courses
Contemporary Issues in Business (MS2007)
Human Resource Management (MS2512)- Operations Management (MS2511)
-
15 Credit Points
Operations is the part of management that considers processes rather than people and focuses on the organisation rather than its environment.
We study processes and process types: when we produce goods or provide services through projects, jobs, batches or by mass production or mass services. We study layout–how facilities are arranged–, capacity and inventory–how much we can make and when to store–, supply chains, project management, quality and improvement.
The course considers theories such as lean and just-in-time but also practice. You will need a calculator besides the ability to write reports.
- Marketing (MS2006)
-
15 Credit Points
This course provides students with an overview of the underpinning concepts of marketing, and the requirements for the development of a market oriented organisation. Specifically introduces the basic concepts of buyer behaviour, market research, the marketing mix and the strategic context of marketing. The linkages between marketing and other key functional areas of management, notably operations and human resource management are highlighted by this course, encouraging the adoption of a systems perspective.
Year 2: Optional Courses
FRENCH EX-BEGINNER
PLUS
FR2016 Revolution and Revolt in Modern and Contemporary France
FR2517 Decentering France: Social Movements and Cultural Transformation
Plus 15 credit points from courses of choice.
FRENCH QUALIFIED
PLUS
FR2016 Revolution and Revolt in Modern and Contemporary France
FR2517 Decentering France: Social Movements and Cultural Transformation
Plus 15 credit points from courses of choice.
- (De)centering France: Social Movements and Cultural Transformation (FR2017)
-
15 Credit Points
The course introduces students to the history, culture and identity of contemporary France by examining key moments and themes in the development of France as a political and cultural entity from the Early Modern period to the present.
FR2017 explores the history, culture and identity of modern France and its place in the Francophone world through topics such as:
- The French Revolution (1789-1799)
- The Dreyfus Affair (1894 to 1906)
- Feminisms in Modern and Contemporary France (1970s to present day)
- The legacies of colonialism (post-World War II to present-day)
- The role of the French language in the contemporary world
- World - Changing Protests: History, Culture, Politics (LA2501)
-
15 Credit Points
The course will span a century of protests across Europe, the Americas and North Africa, with causes including peace, democracy, human rights, anti-racism, labour rights, equality for women and LGBTI+ communities, climate change and decolonisation. Students will learn about the history, culture and politics of the countries where protests erupt, including of the social movements that lead protests. Approaches will include history, literary, film and media analysis, material and visual culture, music and social science methods.
- Year 3
-
Year 3: Compulsory Courses
Second half session to be spent in a French Speaking Country studying OR working
Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (MS3056)
Year 3: Optional Courses
EITHER
FR35ST Term 2 to be spent in a French Speaking Country -Studying
OR
Term 2 to be spent in a French Speaking Country - Working
FR3597 Work Experience: Employability Skills Development
Term 2 will be spent in a French Speaking country.
Plus 60 credit points from level 3 course(s) in Business Management (to be taken in the Term 1).
MS3056: Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
MS3058: New Venture Development
MS3551: Understanding the Consumer
MS3553: Research Methods for Business
MS3554: Human Resource Management
- Year 4
-
Year 4: Compulsory Courses
Students must take their dissertation in French because it will not be possible to complete the Business Management pre-requisite course, MS 3553 Research Methods for Business, as the Term 2 of level 3 will be spent abroad.
Plus a further 30 credit points from Business Management Honours courses:
- Level 3 French Language (FR3027)
-
30 Credit Points
This course will improve French language skills in all four areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing, whilst increasing grammatical and lexical knowledge, as well as sensitivity to linguistic variety.
- Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (MS3056)
-
30 Credit Points
What is Business Ethics and why should we care? There is an impression amongst many that Business and Ethics are opposed ideas. This course seeks to address these issues. Exploring Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility, tracing its historical origins through to current practice within organizations and the impact on the wider world. The course covers the fundamental question of what ethics is, granting a context for wider discussion. It looks at why ethics is relevant in the business world today and does so through traditional lectures and interactive learning such as the debates that have proven popular with students.
- Research Methods for Business (MS3553)
-
30 Credit Points
This course introduces students to what is involved in undertaking research into business phenomena. It introduces philosophical issues in the theory of knowledge, ethical issues in research conduct, and considers quantitative and qualitative methods in turn, addressing issues in sampling and design, details of specific approaches, and considerations in data analysis. The course is taught through weekly lectures and an extended two hour tutorial every fortnight, with two pieces of coursework. The emphasis throughout is on understanding the conceptual underpinning of different methods, and their strengths and limitations in research.
Year 4: Optional Courses
Senior Honours French Language
Plus 15 credit points from level 4 French to gain a total of 60 credits in the discipline.
Plus a further 30 credit points from Business Management Honours courses:
We will endeavour to make all course options available. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page. In exceptional circumstances there may be additional fees associated with specialist courses, for example field trips.
How You'll Study
Learning Methods
- Individual Projects
- Lectures
- Research
- Tutorials
Assessment Methods
Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods:
- Coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course.
- Practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course.
- Written examinations at the end of each course.
The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.
Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.
Why Study Business Management and French?
- Business Management at Aberdeen provides an opportunity to study Management on its own or alongside one of a large number of the other disciplines taught at the University.
- Aberdeen is known as being the oil and gas capital of Europe and the industry has a high demand for Business Management graduates. The University's close links to international companies will improve your career prospects.
- We offer language courses both for students with qualifications in French and for beginners or near beginners.
- The discipline has an international reputation for research, covering not just France, but Francophone Africa and Caribbean and the wide range of our research interests is reflected in the Honours options courses we offer.
- We are a medium-sized, friendly department, and the student-run French Society organises a range of social events.
Interested in this programme?
Entry Requirements
Qualifications
The information below is provided as a guide only and does not guarantee entry to the 51cg.
General Entry Requirements
- 2026 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants that present with BBBB will usually receive an unconditional offer.
Where we have more applicants than places we may need to ask for more than the minimum so continued engagement in school is recommended.
Widening Access: BBC
Applicants who meet one or more of our widening access metrics and present with BBC, are guaranteed an unconditional offer.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
Note: We do not double count a Higher and Advanced Higher in the same subject, but we do consider that a B grade at Advanced Higher is equivalent to an A grade at Higher.
National 5 English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C or above.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Widening Access: CCC
GCSE English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C/4 or above.
BTEC LEVEL 3 EXTENDED DIPLOMA
DMM in related subjects.
Note: BTEC Level 3 Extended Certificate (Subsidiary Diploma) achieved at Distinction level, is normally acceptable in lieu of one A Level at grade B.)
GCSE English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C/4 or above. GCSE Mathematics at Grade C/4 is also required for Accountancy, Economics and Finance programmes.
IRISH LEAVING CERTIFICATE
Five subjects at Higher at H3.
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
32 points including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
SL in English is also required.
- 2027 Entry
-
SQA Highers
Standard: BBBB
Applicants that present with BBBB will usually receive an unconditional offer.
Where we have more applicants than places we may need to ask for more than the minimum so continued engagement in school is recommended.
Widening Access: BBC
Applicants who meet one or more of our widening access metrics and present with BBC, are guaranteed an unconditional offer.
Foundation Apprenticeship: One FA is equivalent to a Higher at A. It cannot replace any required subjects.
Note: We do not double count a Higher and Advanced Higher in the same subject, but we do consider that a B grade at Advanced Higher is equivalent to an A grade at Higher.
National 5 English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C or above.
A LEVELS
Standard: BBC
Widening Access: CCC
GCSE English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C/4 or above.
BTEC LEVEL 3 EXTENDED DIPLOMA
DMM in related subjects.
Note: BTEC Level 3 Extended Certificate (Subsidiary Diploma) achieved at Distinction level, is normally acceptable in lieu of one A Level at grade B.)
GCSE English (or equivalent) is required at Grade C/4 or above. GCSE Mathematics at Grade C/4 is also required for Accountancy, Economics and Finance programmes.
IRISH LEAVING CERTIFICATE
Five subjects at Higher at H3.
INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE
32 points including 5, 5, 5 at HL.
SL in English is also required.
The information displayed in this section shows a shortened summary of our entry requirements. For more information, or for full entry requirements for Arts and Social Sciences degrees, see our .
Fees and Funding
You will be classified as one of the fee categories below.
- EU / International students
-
- Tuition Fees for 2026/27 Academic Year
- £20,800
- Tuition Fees for 2026/27 Academic Year (Self-funded Students *)
- £14,800
-
The above fee includes the £6,000 Aberdeen Global Scholarship provided to self-funded international students. Full terms and conditions apply.
- Home Students
-
- Tuition Fees for 2026/27 Academic Year
- £1,820
- England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland
-
- Tuition Fees for 2026/27 Academic Year
- £9,790
-
The UK Government has confirmed that the RUK fee cap will continue to increase each year to reflect inflation. Tuition fees will increase in line with the Government fee cap each year, and this should be taken into account when budgeting.
Scholarships and Funding
UK Scholarship
Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland, who pay tuition fees may be eligible for specific scholarships allowing them to receive additional funding. These are designed to provide assistance to help students support themselves during their time at Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Global Scholarship
The 51cg is delighted to offer eligible self-funded international on-campus undergraduate students a £6,000 scholarship for every year of their programme. More about this funding opportunity.
Funding Database
View all funding options in our Funding Database.
Careers
A career in Business Management allows you to problem solve strategic issues at top level in HR, product, accountancy, logistics, marketing, sales and systems. The French component to your degree can enable you to work multinationally within companies in France, French companies within the world or UK companies with French production or logistics operations.
Our Experts
Information 51cg Staff Changes
You will be taught by a range of experts including professors, lecturers, teaching fellows and postgraduate tutors. However, these may be subject to change - see our Student Terms and Conditions page.
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Get in Touch
Contact Details
- Address
-
Student Recruitment & Admissions
51cg
University Office
Regent Walk
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX