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.

Psychology and Management
Psychology allows us to understand how people think and behave, while management utilises this understanding to improve our working lives. This combined discipline allows you to develop the skills and knowledge for a fulfilling and rewarding career.

The key to good management is an ability to understand people and why they behave the way they do. Bringing together the expertise of two specialist departments: Organisation, Work and Technology; and Psychology, our programme has been designed to provide you with specialist skills, knowledge and experience from the two disciplines.

This degree is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS), providing the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership with the Society, which is essential if you wish to pursue a career in professional psychology, and follows the main themes of modern psychology:

• Brain and Behaviour: how neural disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease affect behaviour
• Cognitive Psychology: our reactions to colours, smells, speech and music
• Developmental Psychology: the ways in which infants perceive space, patterns, objects and events
• Social Psychology: how our thoughts, emotions and behaviours are shaped by the presence of others

You will learn from passionate academics, all of whom are active researchers and world leaders in their field, which allows you to benefit from their insight, expertise and cutting-edge research.

In the first year, you will gain an in depth overview of the main study themes through our Understanding Psychology module. You will explore the theories underpinning these areas, learn to evaluate scientific journals, and develop your ability to construct formal arguments. Running parallel to this, you will also undertake the Investigating Psychology module, which will equip you with important practical skills for conducting research in psychology, such as data analysis and report writing.

Alongside these, you will also gain an introduction into key issues and debates related to management, organisation and work; and will develop a broad critical understanding of management and organisational behaviour.

During the second year of your degree, you revisit the key themes covered in Year 1 in greater detail. You will study specialist modules on topics such as cognitive, developmental and social psychology; deepening your understanding and testing your knowledge. This year, you will also focus in on how psychology guides the organisation of work, and the role of psychology in the development of people management techniques and practices. The knowledge and skills gained from this module will be valuable for your career progression and will be highly sought after by employers.

In addition to these themes, Research Methods and Statistics modules will be covered this year. These will expand your knowledge of research methods, develop key skills and enable you to gain a detailed understanding of analysis and reporting.

In third year, you will further develop your knowledge and understanding of the core aspects of modern psychology, taking modules in Brain and Behaviour; and Personality and Individual Differences. You will also study two management modules which both explore change; how you manage it and how you manage the people experiencing it. You will enhance and apply your psychology knowledge by examining management, social and behavioural science as you relate ideas to real-world workplace events.

In addition to these core modules, you will also carry out your own research project under the supervision of an experienced researcher, and undertake a variety of optional modules.