Program Overview

An International Foundation Year at our International Study Centre prepares you for your degree at Lancaster University. You will focus on English language, university-level study skills, and academic modules that relate to your degree subject.

Supporting your progression to the University
At the International Study Centre, we take every measure to ensure you are supported in your academic journey. Our programmes allow for increased time spent learning, researching and developing your skills. By studying with us, you will benefit from:

• Formal assessments at the end of each term.
• An improved English language module, Academic English Skills, providing greater opportunity for informal assessments and feedback.
• Combining and reducing the number of module assessments allowing more time to prepare.
• A personal tutorial system with a focus on your academic progress at key points of the academic year, creating action plans based on your performance and progession options.

Business and Management Studies
An International Foundation Year in Business and Management Studies leads to a choice of degrees at Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) – one of the top 100 business schools in the world. To prepare for your degree, you will study subject modules and core English language modules. Degree options include Accounting, Business Studies, and International Business Management.
You will learn how businesses operate, and how to prepare and interpret financial accounts. Other areas of study include economic policies, and international trade. Throughout the course, you will develop analysis and evaluation skills, and apply your knowledge to real-world situations.

Management and Entrepreneurship (Industry)
In an unpredictable world, innovative minds have the edge. Thinking and acting entrepreneurially is as valuable in a large organisation as it is to a new venture. Both leading companies and start-ups must develop new ideas, products and services that create value. That’s why they look for graduates with an entrepreneurial mindset, someone comfortable with change and challenge.

Entrepreneurs are trailblazers who relish the challenge of change. Connecting the needs for profitability with an understanding of the increasing pressures that the world is facing, the entrepreneurs of tomorrow will be those who are able to identify new opportunities that create value for customers, society and business. Do you want to feel empowered to make things happen, to be resilient to change? This could be the right degree for you.

This is no typical management programme. We are at the forefront of entrepreneurial education, drawing on world-leading theories. Our approach encompasses all elements of the entrepreneurial process, including creativity, opportunity recognition, sales, finance, entrepreneurial leadership and effective communication. It is also complemented through a focus on the development of the entrepreneurial self – you. Our programme will inspire and motivate you to make change, at the same time as building resilience to the many challenges you might face.  

Our entrepreneurs-in-residence act as sounding boards for your ideas, participate in your lectures and are available for regular working lunches. Our focus is on practice, skills and understanding. You will be asked to come up with ideas, gather resources and deliver solutions that solve real-world, global and local problems and challenges.

Your third year is spent in industry. Supported by our Careers and Internships team in the Management School, you will enter into the job hunting arena: getting an internship really is getting a job, and the experience will prove invaluable for when you move on as a graduate into the world of work. Students returning from a year in industry invariably have an enhanced motivation for their final year, accompanied by – often for the first time – a true sense of career orientation. Your predecessors will have worked across industry, and the Management and Entrepreneurship degree is often a real door-opener, providing rich experience to discuss with potential employers, whether for a year in industry or as you near graduation.

This degree helps you understand the complexities of the real world and how to do business within it. Whether you join a graduate programme with a bank, or start your own business, this degree gives you the tools to succeed.

The University will use all reasonable effort to 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 would 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 would be welcome to apply.