Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) with French
Course code: WD049

Course Description

Thinking of working in business and have a love of French? The BBS (Honours) with French is the course for you. This four-year full-time degree course (comprising eight semesters) offers you a broad range of business skills combined with the opportunity to improve your skills in written and oral French.  On graduating you will have developed your personal, professional and language skills to give you the confidence to start a successful business career.

Special Features

• The first two years of the programme introduces students to a range of business disciplines plus French, allowing them to make a more informed decision before specialising in one of the elective streams.
• The French modules have been designed, not only, to develop your written, oral and aural skills but also to give you a knowledge of French culture and commerce.
• The French modules have been developed to include a wide range of approaches to teaching, such as multimedia, language diaries and portfolio, games and role-play.
• The first two years of this programme have been designed to ensure a balance of assessment methods in each semester. Modules are examined either by continuous assessment or final exam.
• Students can specialise in Years 3 and 4 in any one of the following streams:
  • Marketing
  • Accounting
  • Human Resource Management
  • Economics and Finance
  • Management
• A unique feature of this programme is the Flexible Semester.  This semester allows students to have different experiences, feel affinity with different peoples and expand their personal horizons.  This facilitates the development of skills in the areas of communication, customer service awareness, decision making, problem solving, teamwork, commercial awareness, creativity, confidence and reflection.  During Semester 6 (Year 3) students will be given an opportunity to participate in one of the following:
  • Study Abroad: Students spend the semester abroad studying in one of our partner colleges. Many of the students studying French will choose to spend the semester studying in France. Past students have spent the semester in European locations including, Nice, Montpellier, Prague, Huelva (Spain), Munich and Brussels and North America and Canada including, Boston, Toronto and Newfoundland.
  • Work Placement: Students spend the semester in appropriate work placement, representative of many business sectors. Past students have spent the semester working in organisations such as, VHI, Zurich, PricewaterhouseCoppers, ESB, Glanbia, State Street and City and County Councils and Credit Unions.  
  • New Venture Initiative: Students set up and run their own business during the semester. They are provided with professional mentoring from the experienced business community in the areas of business planning, marketing and selling, finance and IT. Examples of past initiatives include, novelty and clubs and societies T-shirts, online gaming, student discount brochures.  
  • College and Community Project: There are two strands to this option, Teaching and Community. Students taking the Teaching option spend two days a week in college taking classes related to the practice of teaching. The remaining three days are spent in a school setting (Primary or Secondary) teaching and assisting teachers and students. Students taking the Community option also spend two days a week in college taking relevant classes. They then spend the remaining three days working on a community project. Past students have worked on community projects for the following organisations, Waterford Area Partnership, Grouplink, Simon Community, Kilkenny Arts Festival , and various sporting organisations.
• Graduates with a Bachelor of Business (Honours) award are also entitled to exemptions from many of the leading professional accountancy and management bodies including: ACA (Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland); ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants); CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) & The Marketing Institute of Ireland.
• Students on this programme are entitled to apply for the John Hume Scholarship which is awarded by the combined Waterford Credit Unions to a student of the School of Business. It is awarded to a first year student on the basis of academic and community performance.
• A Certified Public Accountants prize is awarded for the best overall Financial Accounting result in the Accounting Stream.
• Aidan McAvinue Chartered Accountants sponsor an award for the best result in Income Tax in Year 4, Accounting Stream.
• The Granville Hotel, Waterford sponsor an award for the Marketing student of the year from amongst the final year Marketing Stream students. 
• High achieving students in Years 1, 2, and 3 are recognised at the annual Deans List Award ceremony.
• Students on the programme are encouraged to participate in the Junior Achievement Ireland programme, the organisation which runs personal and enterprise development programmes for primary and secondary schools.
• One of the advantages of coming to the School of Business in WIT is our approach to your development. We are engaged in your learning form the word go. Our teaching and learning methodologies will involve you in presentations, role play, business simulations, portfolios, debates and live case studies.

Career Opportunities

A graduate of this degree will be suitable to take up a position at a junior/middle management level in many types of business organisations ranging from small family businesses to multi-national corporations. The degree also prepares graduates for employment in other sectors including the public service and voluntary organisations.
Many graduates pursue further professional qualifications in accounting, finance, marketing and human resource management. Graduates of this course who complete a recognised Higher Diploma in Education may apply for positions as teachers in secondary schools.
As one of Ireland’s longest running BBS programmes, graduates have reached the top of many organisations. Jobs held by graduates include many Chief Executive Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Human Resource and Marketing Directors. Of course, many graduates run their own successful businesses.

Follow on Study

• Master of Business – Internationalisation
• Master of Business in Accounting
• Master of Business
  • Master of Business (Marketing)
  • Master of Business (Economics and Finance)
  • Master of Business (Human Resource Management)
  • Master of Business (Management)
• Master by research

Course outline

Year 1
Semester 1	Semester 2
Principles of Microeconomics Introduction to Statistics ICT Skills 1 Basic Financial Accounting Introduction to Management French	Microeconomics Business & Financial Maths ICT for Business Financial Accounting Organisational Behaviour French
Year 2
Semester 3	Semester 4
Principles of Macroeconomics Introduction to Marketing Human Resource Mgt 1 Cost Accounting Introduction to Business Law French	Probability and Ops Management French Plus 4 of the folowing: Macroeconmics Marketing Mix Human Resource Management 2 Management Accounting Techniques Business Law
Year 3
From Year 3, students specialise in one of the following areas: Marketing, Human Resource Management, Economics and Finance, Management or Accounting.
Semester 5	Semester 6
Mandatory Modules all streams: French Quantitative Techniques Business Finance/Financial Management Marketing: Consumer Behaviour Integrated Marketing Communications Marketing Research Theory Human Resource Management: Design and Deliver Training Principles of Employment Law Employment Resourcing Economics and Finance: Corporate Investment Analysis International Trade & Policy Managerial Economics Management: Principles of Organisational Design Quality Management Leadership in Organisations Accounting: Enterprise Software Skills Financial Reporting Company Law 1	Work Placement Study Abroad New Venture Inititive College and Community
Year 4
Semester 7	Semester 8
Mandatory Modules all streams: French MIS and eBusiness Business Strategy Marketing: Project - minor dissertation Services Marketing International Marketing Human Resource Management: Project - minor dissertation Employee Relations Employment and Equality Law Economics and Financ: Capital Markets Economic Policy Issues Financial Economics Management: Project - minor dissertation Conflicts and Teams Processes of Organisational Design Accounting: Decision Making Applied Financial Reporting Income Tax General Stream: Processes of Organisational Design Conflicts and Teams Services Marketing	Mandatory Module all streams: French Corporate Strategy Marketing: Project - Minor dissertation Global Strategic Marketing Advertising Management Business Marketing Human Resource Management: Project - minor dissertation Employee Relations Skills Performance Management Strategic HRM Economics & Finance: Open Economy Macroeconomics Investments International Risk Management Research Project (E/F) Financial Data Analysis Management: Project - minor dissertation Team Building & Negotiation Developing LeadershipSkills Organisations of the Future Accounting: Performance Measurement Advanced Financial Reporting Applied Finance Taxation General Stream: Team Building & Negotiation Employee Relations Skills Organisations of the Future Global Stategic Marketing

 In your first year, we start “from the beginning” assuming that you have no previous knowledge of any business subject. Year one modules are intended to provide you with an introduction to core business subjects such as Economics, Accounting, Statistics and Mathematics, Information Technology and Management.  During your first year you will get an opportunity to work in groups, make presentations, write reports and develop important professional and French language skills.

In your second year, you will expand your knowledge of Economics, Accounting and develop your mathematical skills. You will be introduced to Marketing, Human Resource Management and Business Law.  You will also have the opportunity to further develop your French language skills.

In your third year, you will be in college for the first semester. During this semester you will study two core modules plus three modulees from your specialised stream plus French. The second semester in Year 3 is where the Flexible Semester takes place, this is an exciting highlight of the degree programme which you will enjoy and benefit greatly from.

In your fourth year, you will address many of the more strategic issues facing business through the core modules of Business Strategy, Corporate Strategy and MIS and eBusiness. At this stage you will further develop your specialist knowledge through the seven stream modules. You will also study French in each semester.

Course Facts

Course Title: Bachelor of Business (Honours) with French
Course Code: WD049
Course Level: 8
Duration: 4 years

Course Entry

Leaving Certificate:

• Total number of subjects at grade D or better: 6
• Number of subjects at higher level grade C or better: 2

Required Subjects:

• English/Irish: OD3/HD3
• Mathematics: OC3/HD3
• French: OB3/HD3

For further information

Course Leader: Dermot Moore

Email: dmoore@wit.ie

Recent Entry Points

Year	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Minimum Points	320	345	405	355	320

See also

• WIT Admissions Office