BPES modules
10 weeks
London, UK
Business and management modules for the scientists and engineers of tomorrow
Open to current Imperial students of science and engineering, the Business for Professionals of Engineering and Science (BPES) modules offered by the Business School bridge the gap between business and STEM. This interdisciplinary approach is vital for driving innovation, economic growth and sustainability as well as equipping students with a broader understanding of the financial, strategic, operational and organisational context in which engineering and science takes place.
By combining studies in your department with modules delivered by the Business School, you stand to graduate with a powerful array of skills such as leadership, communication and decision-making, giving you the flexibility to alter the direction of your career in response to changes in the workplace environment.
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Module content
The BPES modules will introduce you to a range of ideas, concepts and models relevant to working successfully in organisations. If the module you wish to join is assessed by examination, you must ensure you can attend the final exam before selecting a BPES module.
Accounting Online
The aim of this module is to develop certain accounting related skills, by explaining the techniques of financial accounting and management accounting, and examining their relevance to the broader issues of financial decision-making and management control in organisations. The module gives you a basic insight into the way that business performance is measured, and how business decisions can be structured and analysed.
Business Economics
Economics provides a useful set of tools for analysing the world and aiding decision-making by businesses and governments. This module aims to give you an overview of several of these tools and of the insights that can be obtained with them. We will particularly focus on the tools most relevant to businesses. We will pay particular attention to the actions of firms and individuals in the context of market interaction and strategic (game theoretic) interactions in business contexts.
Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying and exploiting a new business opportunity. An entrepreneur must understand the competitive landscape, estimate the potential demand for their products or services, assess risks and returns, and develop and execute the possible ways to deliver their claims to the best set of consumers. The entrepreneur also needs to acquire resources (funding), compile a team, and generate a vision for the fledgling enterprise.
Entrepreneurship Online
The entrepreneurship online module offers you a unique opportunity to build your knowledge, skills, experience and networks for starting up a new venture in any industrial or social domain.
Managerial Economics Online
The purpose of this module is to introduce economic concepts encountered in business contexts and provide a framework for modelling the interaction between consumers and producers. Students will study alternative market structures, ranging from monopoly to perfect competition and identify and analyse strategic interaction between market place participants.
Managing Innovation
The module aims to equip students with the skills to organise and shape the innovation process in firms. Student will develop an understanding of how innovation emerge and gain adoption in the market place and how firms can transform themselves into effective innovators. They will be expected to understand, interpret, and evaluate managerial strategies and structures associated with different types of innovation. They will also learn different ways in which organisations seek to profit from their innovations.
Business Strategy
The goal of this module is to learn the fundamentals of how to manage organisations strategically. Business strategy asks the central question: why do some companies succeed while others fail? The module will provide you with the concepts, principles, frameworks and methodologies necessary to analyse and understand how to formulate and implement the appropriate policies and strategies for a firm. In order to do, you will be taking a general management perspective in this module and will think of how each action, decision or event will affect the firm as a whole.
Corporate Finance Online
This module aims to give an overview of the two key financial instruments: Stocks and Bonds. It will also introduce the key derivatives marketing: Futures and Options. You will be introduced to the concepts of risk and return in financial markers and how diversification influences risk and return. This module will explore the concept of the cost capital and how it can be calculated. You will learn how companies are financed and how to decide between different sources of finance.
Finance & Financial Management
The aim of this module is to enable students to understand of of the core purposed of finance: the setting of prices in a market. The first half of the course works at a market-level, dealing with risk-management and diversification. The second half of the course works at the security-level, thinking about bond, stock, and derivative valuation.
Leading Teams and Organisations
Working with others, leading teams, making unbiased decisions and managing conflict are some of the soft skills that are relevant in the workplace. This module will help you answer a number of questions: Why do some leaders prove effective, while others do not? Is it good to have conflict in teams? How can social networks help organisations or individuals achieve their goals? The module focuses on two aspects of managing and leading organisations.
First, we explore how to influence and motivate others to get cooperation for your own goals. Second, we explore the organisational systems that coordinate individual work to meet business objective and the impact of technology and new business models on how we work.
Project Management
The module provides students with an understanding of project management and it's central role in the modern business organisations. Students will learn about the key concepts, frameworks and models of project management and types of project organisation. Using practical examples, the module will demonstrate how these approaches can be successfully applied in the management of major project and project-based organisations.
Please note, due to shared content, the following modules cannot be taken together:
- Entrepreneurship / Entrepreneurship Online
- Business Economics / Managerial Economics Online
- Finance & Financial Management / Corporate Finance Online
- Leading Teams and Organisations / Organisational Behaviour (Imperial Horizons)
If you are considering a transfer to the Joint Honours or Intercalated BSc in Management programmes, you should not select a BPES module due to overlapping content. You should also not include BPES modules within your iExplore preferences.
Registration
You can register for BPES modules in the following ways:
1. As a ‘non-technical’ optional/elective module
2. As your iExplore module
The modules and enrolment routes available to you will be determined by your home department and the structure and requirements of your degree programme. If you are required to take a BPES module as a core/compulsory part of your programme, you will be registered automatically by your department.
Find out more how to register for BPES as an optional/elective module by downloading our registration instructions.
Self-registration to select a BPES module as your optional/elective 2024/25 has now closed, however if you have missed the deadline you can still email bpes@imperial.ac.uk to enquire about module availability for 2024/25.
Self-registration to select a BPES module as your optional/elective for 2025/26 will open from Thursday 15 May 2025 to Thursday 29 May 2025.
If you need any support or have questions about the BPES modules, please feel free to contact us.
BPES timetable for 2024-25 modules
Before selecting a BPES module, please ensure that you can attend the final exam.
Students who are completing a work placement as part of their degree or are undertaking an internship are responsible for ensuring that they are available during the BPES examination week. Examinations cannot be rescheduled to accommodate specific students’ availability.
Autumn Term (7 October – 13 December 2024)
Code |
Module |
Iterations |
Times |
Provisional Exam Week |
---|---|---|---|---|
BUSI60037 |
Accounting Online |
N/A - Online module |
Optional live classes |
Tuesday 7 January 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60038 |
Business Economics |
Monday or Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
Wednesday 8 January 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60041 |
Entrepreneurship |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
N/A |
BUSI60042 |
Entrepreneurship Online* |
N/A - Online module |
Optional live classes |
N/A |
BUSI60044 |
Managerial Economics Online |
N/A - Online module |
Optional live classes |
Wednesday 8 January 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60045 |
Managing Innovation |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
Thursday 9 January 2025 14.30-15.30 |
Spring Term (13 January – 21 March 2025)
Code |
Module |
Iterations |
Times |
Provisional Exam Week |
---|---|---|---|---|
BUSI60022 |
Leading Teams and Organisations** |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
N/A |
BUSI60043 |
Finance & Financial Management |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
Thursday 1 May 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60040 |
Corporate Finance Online |
N/A - Online module |
Optional live classes |
Thursday 1 May 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60039 |
Business Strategy |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14.30-16.30 |
BUSI60046 |
Project Management |
Thursday |
16.00-18.00 |
Wednesday 30 April 2025 14.30-16.30 |
*Final coursework for this module may be due outside of term on the week commencing 13 January.
**Final coursework for this module may be due outside of term on the week commencing 24 March.
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Frequently asked questions
BPES stands for Business for Professionals of Engineering and Science. Our offering comprises of stand-alone modules covering different business and management-related subjects, delivered in various formats over a period of 10 weeks.
This is dependent on your home department and programme of study. Some students will need to take BPES modules as a core/compulsory part of their degree, in these cases you will be enrolled onto the relevant modules automatically. You may also include BPES modules within your selection of preferences for your iExplore module. Please see the iExplore FAQs for further information.
Yes, four of the BPES modules are delivered online and asynchronously, giving students the freedom to learn in their own time. These online modules are delivered via our online learning environment, the Hub. Your learning will be supported by occasional live tutorials, which will take place via Zoom.
No, students are only able to register for BPES as for-credit options; this includes any BPES module you may take as your iExplore requirement.
Your home department usually decides which modules you can take, dependent on the programme you are studying. Students who are planning to take the Joint Honours year in Management degree programme are not permitted to register for BPES, due to overlapping content.
Please note that students who wish to select a BPES module as their iExplore option will instead need to register via a separate iExplore module selection system.
More information about iExplore can be found on their webpages.
Registration to take a BPES module as an elective option is completed via the Departmental Student System (DSS) within the dates published on our website. Students are advised to sign up at the earliest opportunity to secure their place. Once modules are at capacity, students who attempt to register thereafter will be added to a waiting list.
Students who wish to select a BPES module as their iExplore option will instead need to register via a separate iExplore module selection system.
You can check the status of your elective/optional BPES modules via the Departmental Student System (DSS).
- If 'My Status' is ‘selected’, this shows that you have successfully registered for the module
- If 'My Status' is ‘waitlisted’, this indicates that the module is currently full and you have been placed on a waiting list
For BPES modules taken on an optional/elective basis, a confirmation of place email will be sent out once the online registration period has closed, in approximately mid-June. Students who are allocated to a module with us to satisfy their iExplore requirement will receive a notification of this from the iExplore team.
Your calendar will be updated by BPES team shortly before the BPES term starts. For the most accurate information, please use the Celcat Calendar.
For our face-to-face modules, most teaching will take place Thursdays 16.00-18.00, in either the autumn or spring terms. You can see the BPES timetable page on our website for more information. Live tutorials for BPES online modules will be scheduled according to the availability of our teaching staff; these sessions will be confirmed nearer the time.
Attendance is expected for face-to-face modules and will be monitored for the first two lectures. Any students who fail to attend both lectures will be withdrawn from the module. Any students undertaking online BPES modules will also be monitored to ensure that they are making steady progress through the materials.
BPES, like the rest of Imperial College Business School, uses the Hub rather than Blackboard to deliver all module content. All module information such as materials, live lectures, module outlines, grades etc. can be found on the Hub.
Yes, live lectures are recorded by Panopto and available online via the Hub. Please note, however, that Panopto recordings are only designed to supplement and not replace your BPES studies.
The provisional BPES exam timetable is available on our website in advance of the DSS registration. Autumn exams will fall in the first week of spring term (mid-January) and spring exams in the first week of summer term, at the end of April/beginning of May. Please make sure you can attend the final exams before selecting BPES modules during DSS registration. For any questions, please contact BPES Team.