Entrepreneurship and Business with Foundation Year BA (Hons)
Prepare to take on a Bachelor's degree in entrepreneurship and business, on this foundation year course with a guaranteed place on BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business when you successfully finish.
Key information
UCAS code:
N155
Typical offer:
32 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent
Showing content for section Overview
Overview
Kick start your entrepreneurial ambition and learn the skills you need for modern business. If you've taken a break from study, or want extra support to get uni-ready, then this foundation year course is for you.
You'll study for one year through ICP, right here on campus. You'll get the knowledge and academic skills needed to take on a bachelor's degree, learning how to analyse information, do research, and improve your academic writing.
The skills you'll learn will help you work in teams as well as on your own in culturally diverse workplaces. You'll develop your understanding of new workplaces and environments, and how to adapt to new environments.
When you've finished, you'll be ready to move onto the first year of BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business.
A guaranteed place
Once you’ve successfully completed your foundation year, you'll be ready to progress onto BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business with a guaranteed place.
Course highlights
- ICP is based on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ campus so you'll have access to all facilities, support and societies
- When you finish your foundation year successfully, you get a guaranteed place on BA (Hons) Accounting with Finance
- Get used to how lectures, seminars and tutorials work, so you can move onto your degree ready for success
- Learn how to meet the demands of taking on a bachelor's at university.
Contact information
Contact AdmissionsClearing is open
This course is available through Clearing.
How to apply for accommodation
We have a variety of accommodation options, including studios, en-suites, catered, self-catered and private rental options. See how our housing team can help you find a place to call home.
Clearing FAQs
To work out your UCAS points, use our UCAS Calculator to work out how many UCAS points you have.
The tariff calculator will allow you to see what grades you need to get into your preferred course at ´óÏó´«Ã½.
You can apply through Clearing if:
- You don't meet the conditions of your offer for your firm (first) or insurance (second) choice courses
- Your exam results are better than you expected and you want to change your course or university
- You don't hold any offers
- You've accepted an offer but changed your mind about the course you want to do
- You're applying for the first time after 30 June 2024
After we make you an offer we'll send you a confirmation email. This email will let you know what you need to do next and it will tell you what you need to provide us. In some instances we may ask you to send us copies of certificates or you may need to send us a portfolio.
If you've previously applied through UCAS you'll need to use your UCAS Hub to accept our offer by adding us as your Clearing choice.
If you're having issues, please contact us on +44 (0)23 9284 8090 or admissions@port.ac.uk
Once you've accepted your Clearing course offer, we'll be in touch with details of available accommodation in the area. This will include our latest hall availability and support to find local rented accommodation via
See our accommodation page for more information.
No, it's not too late and you should make your application for student finance as soon as possible. You don't have to wait for your results. You can make your application now and just amend it when you know where you're going to be.
If you've already applied for your student loan, you'll need to log into your account and update details about your new course/university. If you haven't applied for your student loan yet, don't panic. Apply today – it only takes 30 minutes.
Find out more in our Student finance for Clearing guide.
If you're an EU or international student and you need a visa to study here, you need to start the process quickly as visas can take some time to come through. Get in touch with our visa support team if you have a question or problem.
See more on visa advice.
If you would like further information or guidance, please contact our international office or call our International Clearing Hotline on +44(0)23 9284 8785.
Entry requirements
Entrepreneurship and Business with Foundation Year entry requirements
Typical offers
- UCAS points - 32 points to include a minimum of 2 A levels, or equivalent. Other qualifications such as Vocational A levels (AVCE), BTECs and Access courses will also be considered (calculate your UCAS points)
You may need to have studied specific subjects – .
English language requirements
- English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 5.5 with no component score below 5.5.
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We also accept other standard English tests and qualifications, as long as they meet the minimum requirements of your course.
If you don't meet the English language requirements yet, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.
We look at more than just your grades
While we consider your grades when making an offer, we also carefully look at your circumstances and other factors to assess your potential. These include whether you live and work in the region and your personal and family circumstances which we assess using established data.
Facilities and specialist equipment
On your foundation year, you'll have access to all of the incredible facilities and equipment used by students at the ´óÏó´«Ã½.
Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL) room
Our technology enhanced active learning space promotes social learning.
Business Simulation Suite
Experience the boardroom in our replica business suite.
Careers and opportunities
What you'll study
Foundation year
In your foundation year, you'll gain the knowledge you need to move on to the first year of BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business. It will bridge the gap to uni, with the knowledge and academic skills you'll need to start.
Throughout the year, you'll learn to critically engage with information, undertake literature reviews, enhance your academic writing, and gain awareness of different types of research.
When you successfully complete this year, you'll get a guaranteed place on the first year of the BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business degree.
The module introduces candidates to the interesting challenges that ICT presents today and covers many anchor points that may serve as a bridge to their interests and lifestyles.
It also means you understand the value of scholarships, allowing you to move on to postgraduate programs at the ´óÏó´«Ã½.
You'll get the foundational knowledge and skills to get your ready to advance onto the first year of a degree at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. You'll gain an appreciation for the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and operate a business.
Topics covered include the history and fundamental importance of economics, the demand and supply model, elasticity and its applications, different market structures such as perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Additionally, you'll explore the circular flow model involving households, firms, the financial sector, governments, and the foreign sector. The module also covers concepts like the business cycle, unemployment, economic growth, inflation, and international trade.
These include approximation and substitution, estimation and percentages, applications of percentages in financial contexts, ratio and proportion, rules of indices, basic algebra, graphs, and quadratic equations.
You'll gain an appreciation for the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and operate a business. Topics covered include core concepts in business studies, understanding the business environment, different forms of business structures, business strategy and planning, enterprise, innovation, and entrepreneurship. You'll also delve into basic financial statements, key financial ratios, costs, budgeting, an introduction to marketing concepts, and creating marketing plans.
Topics covered include an overview of accounting and financial reporting, basic numerical techniques for accounting, introduction to trading accounts and profit and loss accounts (income statements), understanding the cost of sales, balance sheets, and current assets and liabilities.
You'll recognise the legal aspects and requirements of companies, recall and define the basic principles of contract formation, and become familiar with the content of commercial and consumer contracts, including the use of exclusion clauses. The module will also enable you to define the law regarding the rights of individual employees.
Years 2, 3 and 4
After your first year, you will transfer to BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business. The modules you study in years 2, 3 and 4 (and year 5 if you do a placement year) can be found on the relevant course page.
Optional placement year
On this course, you could do an optional work placement year between your 3rd and 4th years, or after your final year of study. This allows you to get valuable experience working in the industry relevant to your chosen science degree.
We’ll help you secure a work placement that fits your situation and ambitions. You’ll get mentoring and support throughout the year.
100% of graduates from our BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business course are in work or further study 15 months after graduation according to the latest HESA Graduate Outcome Study.
Several of our students set up their own business during the course, or go on to run their own business after graduation. Many others, go on to apply their skills in existing businesses, particularly in the areas of product development and marketing.
Post-Covid the business development skills you'll learn on this course are likely to be more needed than ever. The Harvard Business Review recently wrote that:
"Companies seeking to emerge from the crisis in a stronger position must develop a systematic understanding of changing habits.....they must highlight anomalies and challenge mental models, revamp their business models and invest their capital dynamically."
Ed Adams - BA (Hons) Business Management and Entrepreneurship graduate
Alumnus Ed Adams graduated in 2017 and is now a Director of E-commerce at his own company. Ed discusses building an enterprise society and how the Faculty of Business and Law enabled him to network with alumni in Silicon Valley and helped him to start his own successful business.
My name is Ed Adams and I am the Director of my own company, I'm an Amazon seller.
I sell Amazon FBA, which is fulfilled by Amazon. I see an exciting product that I really want to push onto the Amazon platform and see the success of products.
Finishing A-levels, I really wanted to get a year out and just go and see the world but I was really keen to come back and do an entrepreneurial course and looking around the UK, ´óÏó´«Ã½ just had the perfect course.
In my course of studying business, enterprise and development, I bumped into Zoe Dann, who is the course leader. We're there discussing what I'd like to see in my three years at the ´óÏó´«Ã½.
I said I'd really like to have an enterprise society. She said there was one but it's all kind of come to a close, why don't you start one?
I think it was in that same conversation, she kind of finished it off saying, why don't you build a society and take the society to Silicon Valley?
Then that kind of set the foundations, I guess, to what it became. So there's tons of alumni all over the place.
Using LinkedIn, we were able to link up with those guys in the Silicon Valley area. We made appointments with the guys and that kind of led to structuring these interviews with them. We recorded the interviews with these ´óÏó´«Ã½ Alumni. I looked up to these people. Speaking to ex-Facebook alumni people that have worked pretty much next to Mark Zuckerberg's office and kind of seeing that their journey from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ all the way to Silicon Valley and beyond a passion was lit.
To have my business now and to have it up and running and to see it being successful, I think that's credit to the university for putting me on that path to where I am now.
I think that the ´óÏó´«Ã½ was there and I was able to lean on those resources, and that was always a bit of guidance and they were really willing to help me get what I needed.
The thing that really motivates me is just to be kind of my own boss, to really be an entrepreneur in my own remit and drive my own business forward. It gets me up in the morning. It's my passion. This is my drive.
Placement year opportunities
Once you've completed your foundation year and moved on to your full Bachelor's degree, you'll have the chance to do an optional work placement year to get valuable longer-term work experience in the industry.
Taking a placement year will give you the experience you need to increase your chances of landing your perfect role after graduation.
We'll give you all the support you need to find a placement that prepares you for your career, and we'll continue to mentor you throughout your placement.
Modules
Each module on this course is worth a certain number of credits.
In each year, you need to study modules worth a total of 120 credits. In year 1, each module is worth 20 credits.
What you'll study
Foundation year
In your foundation year, you'll gain the knowledge you need to move on to the first year of BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business. It will bridge the gap to uni, with the knowledge and academic skills you'll need to start.
Throughout the year, you'll learn to critically engage with information, undertake literature reviews, enhance your academic writing, and gain awareness of different types of research.
When you successfully complete this year, you'll get a guaranteed place on the first year of the BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business degree.
Topics covered include an overview of accounting and financial reporting, basic numerical techniques for accounting, introduction to trading accounts and profit and loss accounts (income statements), understanding the cost of sales, balance sheets, and current assets and liabilities.
You'll recognise the legal aspects and requirements of companies, recall and define the basic principles of contract formation, and become familiar with the content of commercial and consumer contracts, including the use of exclusion clauses. The module will also enable you to define the law regarding the rights of individual employees.
You'll get the foundational knowledge and skills to get your ready to advance onto the first year of a degree at the ´óÏó´«Ã½. You'll gain an appreciation for the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and operate a business.
You'll gain an appreciation for the knowledge and skills required to effectively manage and operate a business. Topics covered include core concepts in business studies, understanding the business environment, different forms of business structures, business strategy and planning, enterprise, innovation, and entrepreneurship. You'll also delve into basic financial statements, key financial ratios, costs, budgeting, an introduction to marketing concepts, and creating marketing plans.
Topics covered include the history and fundamental importance of economics, the demand and supply model, elasticity and its applications, different market structures such as perfect competition, monopoly, monopolistic competition, and oligopoly. Additionally, you'll explore the circular flow model involving households, firms, the financial sector, governments, and the foreign sector. The module also covers concepts like the business cycle, unemployment, economic growth, inflation, and international trade.
The module introduces candidates to the interesting challenges that ICT presents today and covers many anchor points that may serve as a bridge to their interests and lifestyles.
It also means you understand the value of scholarships, allowing you to move on to postgraduate programs at the ´óÏó´«Ã½.
These include approximation and substitution, estimation and percentages, applications of percentages in financial contexts, ratio and proportion, rules of indices, basic algebra, graphs, and quadratic equations.
Years 2, 3 and 4
After your first year, you will transfer to BA (Hons) Entrepreneurship and Business. The modules you study in years 2, 3 and 4 (and year 5 if you do a placement year) can be found on the relevant course page.
Changes to course content
We use the best and most current research and professional practice alongside feedback from our students to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry. If a module doesn't run, we'll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative module.
How you're assessed
You’ll be assessed through:
- coursework
- examinations
- presentations
You’ll be able to test your skills and knowledge informally before you do assessments that count towards your final mark.
You can get feedback on all practice and formal assessments so you can improve in the future.
Teaching
Teaching methods on this foundation course include:
- lectures
- seminars
- tutorials
- workshops
You'll be taught by experts that have both industry and research experience.
You can access all teaching resources on Moodle, our virtual learning environment, from anywhere with a Web connection.
How you'll spend your time
One of the main differences between school or college and university is how much control you have over your learning.
We use a blended learning approach to teaching, which means you’ll take part in both face-to-face and online activities during your studies. As well as attending your timetabled classes you'll study independently in your free time, supported by staff and our virtual learning environment, Moodle.
A typical week
We recommend you spend at least 35 hours a week studying for your degree. In your first year, you’ll be in timetabled teaching activities such as lectures, seminars and practical classes for about 15 hours a week. The rest of the time you’ll do independent study such as research, reading, coursework and project work, alone or in a group with others from your course. You'll probably do more independent study and have less scheduled teaching in further years, depending on what science degree you choose at the end of your foundation year.
Most timetabled teaching takes place during the day, Monday to Friday. You may occasionally need to go to University and course events in the evenings and at weekends.
Term dates
The academic year runs from September to June. There are breaks at Christmas and Easter.
Supporting you
The amount of timetabled teaching you'll get on your degree might be less than what you're used to at school or college, but you'll also get support via video, phone and face-to-face from teaching and support staff to enhance your learning experience and help you succeed. You can build your personalised network of support from the following people and services:
Types of support
Your personal tutor helps you make the transition to independent study and gives you academic and personal support throughout your time at university.
As well as regular scheduled meetings with your personal tutor, they're also available at set times during the week if you want to chat with them about anything that can't wait until your next meeting.
In addition to the support you get from your personal tutor, you'll also have access to our student engagement officers. They can give you confidential, impartial advice on anything to do with your studies and personal wellbeing, and refer you to specialist support services if you need extra help or support.
The Maths Cafe offers free advice and help with maths skills in a friendly, informal environment. You can come to our daily drop-in sessions, develop your maths skills at a workshop, or use our online resources.
You'll have help from a team of study support tutors. Based within the Faculty of Business and Law, these tutors are familiar with the specific requirements your assignments and work closely with faculty academics. This means they can give you focused support with the specific study skills you need to be successful on your course. They're available face-to-face, by phone, email, and by video call.
They can help with:
- academic writing (for example, essays, reports, dissertations, projects and literature reviews)
- reflective writing skills
- critical thinking skills
- delivering presentations (including observing and filming presentations)
- understanding and using assignment feedback
- managing your time and workload
- revision and exam techniques
If you're a mature student, specialist support to help you return to learning is available.
During term time, Faculty Academic Skills Tutors (AST) are available for bookable 1-to-1 sessions, small group sessions and online sessions. These sessions are tailored to your needs.
Support is available for skills including:
- University study
- Getting into the right study mindset
- Note-taking and note-making skills
- Referencing
- Presentation skills
- Time management, planning, and goal setting
- Critical thinking
- Avoiding plagiarism
If you have a disability or need extra support, the Additional Support and Disability Centre (ASDAC) will give you help, support and advice.
Library staff are available in person or by email, phone, or online chat to help you make the most of the University’s library resources. You can also request one-to-one appointments and get support from a librarian who specialises in your subject area.
The library is open 24 hours a day, every day, in term time.
Our online will help you plan for managing the challenges of learning and student life, so you can fulfil your potential and have a great student experience.
You can get personal, emotional and mental health support from our Student Wellbeing Service, in person and online. This includes 1–2–1 support as well as courses and workshops that help you better manage stress, anxiety or depression.
If you require extra support because of a disability or additional learning need our specialist team can help you.
They'll help you to
- discuss and agree on reasonable adjustments
- liaise with other University services and facilities, such as the library
- access specialist study skills and strategies tutors, and assistive technology tutors, on a 1-to-1 basis or in groups
- liaise with external services
If English isn't your first language, you can do one of our English language courses to improve your written and spoken English language skills before starting your degree. Once you're here, you can take part in our free In-Sessional English (ISE) programme to improve your English further.
Course costs and funding
Tuition fees
- UK/Channel Islands and Isle of Man students – £9,250 per year (may be subject to annual increase)
This course isn't currently open to EU or International students.
Funding your studies
Find out how to fund your studies, including the scholarships and bursaries you could get. You can also find more about tuition fees and living costs, including what your tuition fees cover.
Apply
Ready to apply?
To start this course in 2025, apply through UCAS. You'll need:
- the UCAS course code – N155
- our institution code – P80
If you'd prefer to apply directly, use our online application form:
- .
You can also sign up to an Open Day to:
- Tour our campus, facilities and halls of residence
- Speak with lecturers and chat with our students
- Get information about where to live, how to fund your studies and which clubs and societies to join
If you're new to the application process, read our guide on applying for an undergraduate course.
This course isn't currently open to EU or International students.
Admissions terms and conditions
When you accept an offer to study at the ´óÏó´«Ã½, you also agree to abide by our Student Contract (which includes the University's relevant policies, rules and regulations). You should read and consider these before you apply.