Learning outcomes
Knowledge and understanding
On completion of this foundation degree you will have knowledge and understanding of the:
- organisation of the UK financial services industry and the key features of financial services and other businesses
- changing economic, social and business context within which the financial services industry operates
- key concepts and theories relevant to a career in financial services, drawn from finance, economics, business studies, management and personal finance
- financial service industry’s key product types, its regulation and legal and ethical framework, and how the industry interacts with its customers and others.
Cognitive skills
On completion of this foundation degree you will be able to:
- apply key concepts and theories relevant to work in the financial services industry to different situations and circumstances
- apply key concepts related to the processes, resources and activities of businesses and organisations within the financial services industry and their external environment
- evaluate evidence and apply it to relevant work situations
- make use of sources of information and use them to sustain an argument or improve work practice.
Practical and/or professional skills
On completion of this foundation degree you will be able to:
- act in accordance with the legal, ethical and regulatory boundaries of work within the financial services industry and business generally, and recognise and respond appropriately to diversity
- understand and interpret a range of financial information and use the techniques and tools relevant to particular financial products and work in financial services
- use appropriate knowledge to assist in making professional judgements, and be able to interpret future changes in financial services and the business context in the light of understanding gained
- solve problems and exercise management and business skills relevant to the workplace, and successfully communicate information and knowledge about financial services to those outside the sector.
Key skills
On completion of this foundation degree you will be able to:
- communicate ideas, principles and conclusions effectively, including knowing what to communicate and how; essay-writing and report-writing; summarising and synthesising appropriately, and displaying an appropriate standard of literacy
- interpret and use basic forms of statistical presentation (such as graphs, tables, charts) and interpret and use appropriate numerical techniques (such as percentages, interest rates, averages and trends) relevant to work in the financial services industry
- use appropriate learning skills, including those of review, reflection, working to a timetable, meeting appropriate deadlines, using feedback to improve own learning, developing basic skills of research and the ability to become an independent learner
- use information and communication technologies and appropriate software to support work in an appropriate way.
Teaching, learning and assessment methods
You will learn using our method of supported open learning, using the following types of material provided by The Open University: printed teaching texts; multimedia packages, on CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and the Web, including our Virtual Learning Environment; directed readings from textbooks and papers and specialised software tools.
We will support your learning with: self-assessment questions and exercises included in the teaching texts; computer-based tasks and project work; feedback and guidance from a tutor, including, depending on location, support via tutorials, telephone or email; online forums; study and project guides.
We will assess your learning with tutor-marked assignments (TMAs); multiple-choice computer-marked assignments (CMAs), and project reports.
You will develop your cognitive and key skills by engaging with exercises, activities and assessments, some of which will be paper-based (eg those involving analysis and design) and some will be computer-based.
These skills are assessed by questions in the TMAs and the end-of-module assessments that ask for the application of concepts in given situations. You will be asked to provide evidence of using these skills in your place of work (or equivalent) and will be encouraged to reflect on your learning and plan for improvement.
You will be encouraged to draw together the skills you acquire through the module-based units with those you practice in your place of work.
Assessment will mainly be based on the evidence you will provide of applying skills in your everyday working environment.