For those who have never studied at a UK university, knowing where to start can be daunting. In this blog, Birkbeck Access Officer Ali Sheldrick discusses the taster courses available at Birkbeck and demonstrates how the courses are run by explaining the recent Management taster course.  

Applying to university can be a confusing and unsettling process. Deciding which course to take, which university to study at, whether to study part-time or full-time, or in-person or online, can easily overwhelm students. And this is especially true for those who are thinking about going to university for the first time. To help with this, Birkbeck’s Access and Engagement department have created a series of free taster courses to provide a way for potential students to try out a university level course in an easily accessible way.  

Our ‘Get Started’ taster courses are a free programme of classes which aim to give people without experience of studying at a UK university an opportunity to sample evening study at Birkbeck. We run each course in collaboration with Birkbeck lecturers, with a two-hour evening class running once a week over four or five weeks.  The courses also include access to a series of pre-recorded lectures and a Birkbeck site packed with free resources and readings which students can access in their own time. 

“The pre work was amazing and very insightful… it was a useful taster for what studying Management will be like at university”
Management taster course attendee

 Management taster course 

Our Management taster course ran for the first time between November and December 2021, and followed the success of courses in Law, Psychology for Education, History and Archaeology, and Community Leadership in the 2020-21 academic year.  

The pre-recorded lectures and first four classes were delivered by Dr Ian Harrison and Dr Mary Otiotio, both lecturers in the Department of Management at Birkbeck. The classes were delivered online using Microsoft Teams to a cohort of around 30 learners, many of whom were engaging with a university and online study for the first time.  

The course content revolved around some of the foundational questions in Management studies; asking attendees to consider ‘What is management?’, ‘What role does management play in organisations?’, ‘Who are managers?’ and ‘What do managers do?’. These broad questions were brought to life through case studies featuring Apple, Tesco and the NHS, and attendees contributed to classes by discussing experiences from their own places of work. Discussions even included thought experiments involving broccoli and Marmite! Here’s what we covered each week:  

Week 1: Managing in organisations  

In the first session we considered the role of management in organisations, what management is and what it involves, who managers are and what they do. 

Week 2: Models of management  

We introduced theories and models of management and how they have shaped management thinking and influenced approaches to managing in organisations. 

Week 3: Leadership and motivation  

We considered a specific but integral aspect of management: leadership. We looked into what leadership means, what it involves and how it influences other workers in organisations.  

Week 4: People management and diversity  

We focussed on the key resource of any organisation: its people. How we manage, inspire and empower a diverse workforce to achieve individual and organisational goals.  

Week 5: Emotional intelligence for managers and continuing your learning 

In the first part of this class, we explored the importance of emotional intelligence to managers, what it involves and what we can do to increase our own emotional intelligence. The second part of the session provided attendees with an opportunity to talk with current students and reflect on what they learned during the course. We finished the course by exploring potential next steps for attendees’ learning journeys. 

“The course exceeded my expectations. I came with no knowledge prior to the sessions and I feel enlightened.”
Management taster course attendee

The Access and Engagement department will be running a second free taster course in Law starting on Monday 28 February 2022 – sign up here to register your place! 

We will also be delivering a taster course in Psychology in Education in May 2022 (date tbc) and a wider programme of outreach activity with both current and prospective students across the academic year, including ‘Is University for Me?’ events in February and May 2022, plus much more!  

For more information about our work and how to get involved, please email getstarted@bbk.ac.uk or explore our webpage.