Business Level 3 (Extended Diploma)

Our Extended Diploma in Business will give you a solid grounding in business skills and events management, whether you wish to start your own business, progress into higher education or enter employment in the industry.

What will I study?

You will study 7 mandatory units and 6 optional units, over the 2 years, covering the below areas:
- exploring the business environment
- developing a marketing campaign
- personal and business finance
- managing an event
- international business
- principles of management
- business decision making

You will have the opportunity to combine all of these units to manage your own event, including planning, considering costs and developing a marketing plan.

Examples of what you'll learn in a couple of our units can be found below:

Exploring the Business Environment

You'll learn about the structure of business organisations and the processes involved in planning, setting up, running and closing a business venture, the role of the entrepreneur and the importance of innovation and creativity in business. You could, for example, develop an idea for a new product or service, draw up a business start-up and implementation plan, present it to investors, sell your product or service and then close the business.

Developing a Marketing Campaign

You will explore how different types of organisations use marketing principles to meet the needs of customers and achieve their organisational objectives. You will also study the laws which govern the activities of marketers and protect consumers. You will also look at the targeting and segmentation of customers, which are key marketing techniques.

Assessment is through a combination of external and internal assessments and includes one exam, for the Business and Personal Finance module. There are opportunities to retake assessments to improve grades, which will be agreed with your tutors. In the first year, you will work towards the Foundation Diploma in Business and complete the full Extended Diploma in Business by the end of the second year.

How many UCAS points will I achieve on this course?

Our level 3 vocational courses qualify for UCAS tariff points to apply for university in the same way as A-Levels. This course is an extended diploma which is delivered over two years and you could achieve up to 168 UCAS points (which is equivalent to three A* grades at A-Level).

BTEC extended diplomas are graded as a pass, merit, distinction or distinction star (with distinction star being the highest grade) with the overall grade being a combination of three grades which represent an aggregation of your performance on mandatory and optional units on the course.

The following table gives some examples on the amount of UCAS points you can achieve on a BTEC extended diploma:

| BTEC grade | UCAS Points |
| --- | --- |
| 3x D| 168 |
| 2x D, D| 160 |
| D*DD | 152 |
| DDD | 144 |
| DDM | 128 |
| DMM | 112 |
| MMM | 96 |
| MMP | 80 |
| MPP | 64 |
| PPP | 48 |

Depending on your circumstances, you may study a smaller qualification, such as a subsidiary diploma (for example, if you only complete one year) or general diploma which may carry less UCAS tariff points.

You can find more details and examples on the UCAS tariff points calculator here.

You will need:

• 5 GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including English & maths

Or:

• A full level 2 qualification in business at Distinction standard studied at CWA or another further education provider. This does not include level 2 courses studied at school alongside GCSEs.
• A grade 4 at English or maths

This course is only funded and available for those aged 16-18. However, our equivalent level 3 course, Access to Higher Education - Business is designed specifically for adults.