Diploma of Higher Education in Business Management
How do businesses develop strategies, handle risk and take decisions? What’s involved in functions such as human resources management, marketing, accounting and finance? This innovative diploma is firmly rooted in your own experience. You’ll investigate how organisations think and work, how they’re managed, and the external world in which they operate. You can focus entirely on business management, or choose to specialise within the subject areas of accounting, economics, leadership practice, innovation and enterprise or marketing.
Key features of the course
- Develops your understanding of business organisations and their key elements
- Explores wider considerations such as environments, markets and processes, and how all these work together
- Helps you relate your studies to your own experience
- Offers a choice of specialist routes
- Equips you for a wide range of employment opportunities across all sectors
A nationally recognised qualification in its own right, this diploma of higher education is also equivalent to the first two thirds of the BA (Honours) Business Management (Q91).
Course summary
- Course code
- W51
- Credits
- 240
- How long it takes
- Part-time study – 4 years
- Full-time study – 2 years
- Time limit – 12 years
Diploma
Course details
This business management diploma has two stages, each comprising 120 credits.
You’ll study a 60-credit introductory business and management module. Thereafter, for your remaining 180 credits, you can continue with a broad study of business or choose one from a range of specialist routes.
We regularly review our curriculum; therefore, the qualification described on this page – including its availability, its structure, and available modules – may change over time. If we make changes to this qualification, we’ll update this page as soon as possible. Once you’ve registered or are studying this qualification, where practicable, we’ll inform you in good time of any upcoming changes. If you’d like to know more about the circumstances in which the University might make changes to the curriculum, see our Academic Regulations or contact us. This description was last updated on 18 March 2025.
Accessibility
Our qualifications are as accessible as possible, and we have a comprehensive range of support services. Our Diploma of Higher Education in Business Management uses a variety of study materials and includes the following elements:
- Online study – most modules are online; some have a mix of printed and online material. Online learning resources could include websites, audio/video, and interactive activities
- Pre-determined schedules – we’ll help you to develop your time-management skills
- Feedback – continuous assessment includes feedback from your tutor and using this to improve your performance
- Using and producing diagrams and screenshots
- Finding external/third-party material online
- Specialist software, such as Excel
- Mathematical and scientific expressions, notations and associated techniques
- Online tutorials
- Group-work
- Practical work
Every module has its own Accessibility Statement with more detailed accessibility information – you’ll find these on individual module descriptions. Visit our Disability support page to learn about our services.
Learning outcomes, teaching and assessment
Educational aims
This qualification will provide you with:
- a thorough understanding of the theoretical and work-based knowledge relevant to the application of business management in theory and practice
- the ability to reflect on experience of business management practices to produce and apply new understanding and skills
- an ability to recognise and deal with key individual and stakeholder differences in business management and the issues arising from such diversity
- a thorough understanding of the operations, structures, cultures and functioning of business organisations and the complex nature of their key business functions and processes
- a broad range of important business and graduate skills, which you can bring to your employment in business management more widely
- comprehensive support and guidance to develop as an independent learner.
Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
On completion of this diploma, you will be able to demonstrate:
- knowledge and critical understanding of the main concepts, theories and principles associated with business management, and how they have developed
- an understanding of the scope and defining features of business management; as a subject, including an understanding of some major current issues in the given specialisms: accounting, economics, innovation & enterprise, leadership practice, and marketing.
Cognitive skills
On completion of this diploma, you will be able to:
- apply your knowledge and understanding of a range of professional skills, techniques, practices and/or materials associated with business management, a few of which are specialised or complex
- gather, critically analyse and evaluate information/data in accordance with the theories, concepts and principles of business management.
Practical and/or professional skills
- engage, as appropriate, with practical and professional skills and demonstrate an awareness of relevant responsible and ethical issues in business management.
- use a logical process for developing personal development and career, identifying and researching employment options and associated skills and qualification requirements
- develop career plans identify pathways and begin to reflect on experience and identify transferable principles and concepts.
- plan, monitor and review your progress as an independent learner and understand the relevance of your learning to your career.
Key skills
On completion of this diploma, you will be able to:
- compare critically and use different approaches to issues and problems within business management
- develop formal plan for tasks, some of which are complex, with logically sequenced steps which identify relevant constraints.
- implement actions according to a plan and make adjustments in response to unanticipated issues.
- effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms, using key techniques of business management effectively, in a way which is appropriate to your purpose and audience, including specialists and non-specialists.
- play an active role in group discussion, paying attention to the perspectives of others
- create and share digital content as appropriate to business management, adopting a responsible and ethical approach.
- demonstrate the ability to independently find, critically evaluate and use information, data or tools accurately in a range of business management contexts
- adopt a range of numerical skills and digital practices (including the use of tools/resources), as appropriate to business management.
- consolidate an understanding of academic language and literacy practices in order to effectively engage with the academic knowledge and skills of OU level 2 study.
Teaching, learning and assessment methods
Entry requirements
There are no formal entry requirements to study this qualification.
Within the Diploma of Higher Education in Business Management there is the option to study a mathematics module. Whether that module is right for you will depend on your experience and confidence with mathematics. Visit our Open Mathematics and Statistics website for information and to try some diagnostic quizzes.