Sustainable Land and Business Management BSc Honours

Clearing - How to apply

What is Clearing?

Each year, universities may have spaces left on their courses after the application window has closed in June.

UCAS Clearing is your opportunity to snap up one of these places, even if you didn't apply to the university prior to the June deadline.

It also gives you a second chance to go to university if you didn't get the grades you needed for your firm and insurance offers.

How do I get in touch?

Our Clearing entry requirements may differ from those advertised; contacting our friendly advisers is the best way to find out if you’re eligible for a place.

You can get in touch through live chat or our hotlines. Call us on 0800 073 5050, or if you’re an international student calling from outside the UK, call: +44 191 222 5000.

Not available in Clearing

This course is not available in Clearing 2024.

This means there are no spaces available for Clearing 2024. If you can't find vacancies in your original course or subject area, try exploring other subjects in a related field.

Search our courses in Clearing

Course overview

Your degree integrates elements from a range of subjects such as geography, business and estate management, ecology, law, agriculture, economics, and wildlife conservation and management. Topics include:

• rural development
• environmental and business management
• sustainability
• agriculture and land management

Newcastle is an ideal place to study, combining a city-centre university with access to fantastic countryside for fieldwork.

You can boost your employability and professional skills with an optional placement year in the industry or the commercial sector. You also benefit from:

• access to our two University farms for hands-on experience
• expertise at our Centre for Rural Economy, recipient of the Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2014

Download information about this course as a PDF

Your course and study experience - disclaimers and terms and conditions  
Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our Academic experience page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our terms and conditions and student complaints information, which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Quality and ranking

Professional accreditation and recognition

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body.

Modules and learning

Modules

The information below is intended to provide an example of what you will study.

Most degrees are divided into stages. Each stage lasts for one academic year, and you'll complete modules totalling 120 credits by the end of each stage. 

Our teaching is informed by research. Course content may change periodically to reflect developments in the discipline, the requirements of external bodies and partners, and student feedback.

Optional module availability
Student demand for optional modules may affect availability.

Full details of the modules on offer will be published through the Programme Regulations and Specifications ahead of each academic year. This usually happens in May.

To find out more please see our terms and conditions

You'll be introduced to a range of topics in rural development, sustainability, environmental management, agriculture, economics, business management and plant science. Stage 1 lays the foundations for examining the problems of managing land sustainably.

Modules

Compulsory Modules	Credits
Introduction to Business Management	10
Agri-Food Supply Chains	10
Sustainability in Practice	20
Introduction to Marketing and Consumer Behaviour	20
Introductory Business Economics	10
Academic and Professional Skills	20
Introduction to Sustainability	20

Optional Modules	Credits
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)	10
Plants, Environment, Agriculture	10

You'll cover more specialised topics in sustainable land and business management, wildlife management, land law, research methods, communications skills, management planning and countryside heritage.

You will have a choice of optional modules, such as strategic marketing, field identification, biodiversity conservation, crop production, ecosystem ecology, farm management, and accounting.

Modules

Compulsory Modules	Credits
Law and Land Use	10
Landscape, Culture and Heritage	20
Site Management and Communication Skills	20
Qualitative Research Methods	10
Dissertation and Research Preparation	10
Sustainable Solutions	10

Optional Modules	Credits
Introduction to Non-Specialist Accounting and Finance	20
Arable Crops	10
Farm Business Management	10
Marketing Strategy	20
Sustainable Business Practice	10
Ecosystem Ecology	10
Field Identification Skills	10
Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation	20

You'll study countryside management, sustainability and environmental valuation, and rural planning and politics. You can also choose from optional modules such as applied farm business management, biodiversity science, marketing, ecology, communications and behaviour change.

In Stage 3, you'll undertake a research project. Recent projects have investigated topics such as:

• renewable energy production
• game management
• countryside tourism
• future-proofing rural estates
• agri-environment policy

Modules

Compulsory Modules	Credits
Countryside Management	20
Planning the Global Countryside	20
Dissertation	30
Sustainable Development and Environmental Valuation	10

Optional Modules	Credits
Environmental Law	20
Career Development for final year students	20
Sustainable Business Practice	10
Applied Farm Business Management	20
Your Future - occupational awareness	10
Marketing and Public Policy	10
Communication and Behaviour Change	10
Insight, Innovate, Impact	10
Biodiversity Science and Management	20
Current Research in Ecology	20

Information about these graphs

We base these figures and graphs on the most up-to-date information available to us. They are based on the modules chosen by our students in 2023-24.

Teaching time is made up of:

• scheduled learning and teaching activities. These are timetabled activities with a member of staff present.
• structured guided learning. These are activities developed by staff to support engagement with module learning. Students or groups of students undertake these activities without direct staff participation or supervision

Teaching and assessment

Teaching methods

In Stages 1 and 2, you’ll spend half of your teaching time in classroom-based lectures or seminars.

The rest will include:

• field classes
• computer classes
• practical lab work

In Stage 3, we’ll focus more on project work. This is work towards your final-year project, based on a topic of your choice.

Assessment methods

You'll be assessed through a combination of:

• 

  Assignments – written or fieldwork

• 

  Dissertation or research project

• 

  Essays

• 

  Examinations – practical or online

• 

  Group work

• 

  Practical sessions

• 

  Presentations

• 

  Projects

Skills and experience

Practical skills

Field trips form an important part of your degree, and give you the opportunity to apply your knowledge in a practical setting. 

With easy access to nearby countryside from our location in North East England, you'll benefit from visits to Northumberland, County Durham and Cumbria to experience the varied landscapes and habitats.

Business skills

In your Sustainable Solutions module, you'll help solve a real-world problem for a real organisation. You'll work as a group during this project.

Our Sustainable Business Practice module will give you the skills to compete in a global business environment. You'll learn to balance conventional business objectives with challenges in:

• net-zero
• ethical supply chain management
• sustainable resource use

Research skills

In your third year, you'll carry out an in-depth research project based on a subject of your choice.

The Newcastle University-based Centre for Rural Economy specialises in interdisciplinary social science and applied policy research. You will have access to the expertise of our award-winning staff from across a range of specialties.

Opportunities

Work placement

Get career ready with a work placement and leave as a confident professional in your field. You can apply to spend 9 to 12 months working in any organisation in the world, and receive University support from our dedicated team to secure your dream placement. Work placements take place between stages 2 and 3.

You'll gain first-hand experience of working in the sector, putting your learning into practice and developing your professional expertise.

If you choose to take a work placement, it will extend your degree by a year. Your degree title will show you have achieved the placement year.  Placements are subject to availability.

Find out more about work placements.

Facilities and environment

Facilities

Land Management is based in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at our city-centre campus. During your studies, you'll have access to two commercial farms near Newcastle.

During your studies, you'll have access to an experimental station, providing field laboratories for evaluation and testing of pesticides and biocontrol agents.

Our University farms, Cockle Park Farm and Nafferton Farm, will give you an insight into how real-world farms operate, so you're prepared for your future. Our farms are used for research, teaching and demonstration.

Support

You'll have the support of an academic member of staff as a personal tutor throughout your degree to help with academic and personal issues.

Peer mentors will help you in your first year. They are fellow students who can help you settle in and answer any questions you have when starting university.

There's also a staff-student committee, to give you an opportunity to have a say in how your degree works.

Your future

Many of our graduates have found employment in a range of organisations, including:

• national park authorities
• the European Parliament
• Met Office
• National Trust
• UK wildlife organisations

Our Countryside Management and Rural Studies graduates most commonly end up in land-based and environmental careers such as chartered surveying, as a rights of way officer or part of a local conservation team working for charities and pressure groups.

Additionally, government organisations and private firms provide openings for agricultural or environmental advisers.

Graduates with an environmental science background find employment with conservation bodies such as Natural England, the Environment Agency, water companies, local government environmental health departments and other environmental protection agencies, undertaking roles as varied as environmental consultancy and environmental engineering.

Enterprising students

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Careers support

Our Enterprise Challenge gives students the opportunity to work with industry on a project that tackles real-world issues. Watch the above video to find out more.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Recognition of professional qualifications outside of the UK

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Tuition fees and scholarships

Tuition fees for 2025 entry (per year)

The 2025 home fees have not yet been confirmed (see ‘Home Fee Students’ information below).

Qualification: BSc Honours
Home students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) Not set
International students full time 3 years	Tuition fees (per year) 30600

Home Fee Students

Home students starting in 2024 entry
£9,250 is the maximum fee that we are currently permitted to charge for home fee-paying students. This is set by the UK government.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Home students starting in 2025 entry
The 2025 home fees have not yet been confirmed. In November 2024 the government increased the maximum fee level to £9,535 for 2025/26. We expect to confirm our Undergraduate Home fees for 2025/26 in December 2024.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

International Fee Students

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Read more about fees and funding

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our undergraduate scholarship page for more information.

Year abroad and additional costs

For programmes where you can spend a year on a work placement or studying abroad, you will receive a significant fee reduction for that year. 

Some of our degrees involve additional costs which are not covered by your tuition fees.

Scholarships

Find out more about:

• scholarships for UK, EU and international students
• Student Loans and Government financial support for UK and EU students

How to apply

Apply through UCAS

To apply for undergraduate study at Newcastle University, you must use the online application system managed by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). All UK schools and colleges, and a small number of EU and international establishments, are registered with UCAS. You will need:

• the UCAS name and institution codes for Newcastle University (NEWC/N21)
• the UCAS code for the course you want to apply for
• the UCAS 'buzzword' for your school or college

If you are applying independently, or are applying from a school or college which is not registered to manage applications, you will still use the Apply system. You will not need a buzzword.

Apply through UCAS

Apply through an agent

International students often apply to us through an agent. Have a look at our recommended agents and get in touch with them.

Visit our International pages