Overview
What is human resource management? A Human Resource Management degree equips you to strategically manage and develop an organisation's most valuable asset: its people. Skilled HR professionals are in high demand across industries so graduating with a human resources degree will ensure you are career-ready.
UEL's BSc (Hons) Human Resource Management degree will provide you with a thorough understanding of human resource management, focusing on people, processes, and organisational performance.
- You can choose from a range of optional modules
- You will explore specialisms in areas such as International HRM and study in a practical way including a work placement module, working as an HR professional in a real organisation.
- The course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to ensure your skills are relevant and recognised by employers, preparing you for a career in human resource management.
This course is in Clearing
Our LLM course is a top choice
UEL’s LLM programme has been recognised as a top choice in the latest PTES survey, achieving 1st place rankings for satisfaction, teaching and more.
What makes this course different

Highly rated by our students
93% of students surveyed on this course responded positively to questions on “Learning Resources” in the 2024 National Student Survey. (National Student Survey 2024, Results published 10 July 2024)
Read the full NSS survey results
HR rooted in Business Management
The degree teaches you the practical principles of HR, and gives you a broader understanding of business - from marketing to economics - to make you a more rounded and versatile employee.

East London location
East London is the most creative, fastest-growing and demographically diverse region in the country – it’s the best place to be a student for career development.
Accreditation

CIPD Accredited
The BSc Human Resource Management is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, ensuring you learn the professional skills that employers really need.
Course modules
In the foundation year of the BSc Human Resource Management degree, the modules equip you with critical skills for a successful career in human resource management. Modules like Mental Wealth: Employability in a Changing World focus on securing and retaining employment in dynamic environments while Developing Academic Skills for Business and Developing Academic Literacy provide tools for academic success.
This human resource management degree course covers a wide range of topics, rooting fundamental HR principles in a contemporary business context. You'll learn about the core functions of a business alongside specific HR themes such as recruitment, professional development, ethics, employee relations, and employment law. The degree will provide you with a thorough understanding of human resource management while allowing you to choose from a range of options. You'll explore specialisms in different areas such as International HRM and study in a highly practical way through the work placement module – HRM Work-Based Reflective Practice. In the first year, you'll study some general business management topics (fundamentals of economics and business accounting, foundation in marketing, business statistics, and data analysis) and receive an introduction to the basics of people management. This will help you understand the role of HR within the larger function of a business, connecting staff management to the successful running of an organisation.
In the second year, you will further develop your understanding of HR in a practical setting. You'll learn about coordinating the HR function within a business as well as rewarding and incentivising staff, employment law, resourcing and talent management, and employment law for HR professionals. There are also several optional modules to choose from in the second year. You can either opt for learning and development or International HRM or HRM work-based reflective practice.
In the final year of your HRM degree, you will look at strategic human resource management and leadership in organisations, and business ethics, and develop extra skills in business research. These will be fantastic for your employability prospects and career development in HR. You will study employee engagement, employee relations, and human resource information systems. You will undertake an applied project in HR. These HRM-tailored modules will give you the knowledge that is needed in the global world of work.
NOTE: Modules are subject to change. For those studying part time courses the modules may vary.
Download course specification
Your future career
We offer dedicated careers support, and further opportunities to thrive, such as volunteering and industry networking. Our human resource management course is created in collaboration with employers and industry to ensure it accurately reflects the real-life practices of your future career and provides you with the essential skills needed. You can focus on building interpersonal skills through group work and benefit from our investment in the latest cutting-edge technologies and facilities.
There’s a fantastic opportunity to travel abroad, where you'll work on a social enterprise project with fellow students from other countries. In previous years, our students have travelled to Bahrain, China, the United States, and Thailand, to name a few.
Industry links
Our course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to ensure your skills will be relevant and recognised by employers. Our courses offer hands-on experience, leveraging our state-of-the-art facilities. You will network with professionals, learn from guest speakers, and have the chance to take a work placement module. These links will ensure you graduate with the diverse skills needed to be an HR professional.
Graduate employers
Our human resource management alumni have taken on a variety of HR roles in organisations like Acas, East London NHS, Hall Aitken, and Tower Hamlets Council.
Job roles
Our alumni currently work in roles such as human resource and organisational development manager, HR business partner and payroll administrator, to name a few. With a human resource management degree, you could become a recruiter, trainer, employee relations advisor, or even move into management consultancy or occupational psychology, which we offer as a degree at UEL.
Explore the different career options you can pursue with this degree and see the median salaries of the HR sector on our Career Coach portal.
Further study
You could further develop in your HR career by studying for an
- MSc Human Resource Management
- MSc International Business Management
- MSc Marketing
- MSc Occupational and Organisational Psychology
These masters degrees will enable you to transition into leadership roles or become an HR specialist.
How you'll learn
We use a range of teaching methods to help you develop new skills and techniques as well as the specialist HR knowledge you'll need in your career. We care about your employability, so our staff provide exceptional support throughout your degree, equipping you with the communication and interpersonal skills you need to be an HR professional.
There’s a fantastic opportunity to travel abroad, where you'll work on a social enterprise project with fellow students from other countries. In previous years, our students have travelled to Bahrain, China, the United States, and Thailand, to name a few.
You'll develop key business and strategic HR skills in every module you take and we'll also support you with the latest thinking from our business research centres.
Guided independent study
When not attending timetabled lectures or workshops, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. This will typically involve skills development through online study, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects and preparing coursework assignments and presentations.
Your independent learning is supported by a range of excellent facilities including online resources, and specialist facilities, such as edit suites, the library, the full Microsoft Office software, including MS Teams, and Moodle: our Virtual Learning Environment.
Academic support
Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support.
Dedicated personal tutor
When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of the academic course team who will provide academic guidance, be a support throughout your time at UEL and who will show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer.
Workload
Here are some of the ways you'll learn throughout the course:
- Lectures, seminars, tutorials, and workshops.
- Role-plays: e.g. playing the role of employer/trade union in a mock negotiation. This may be filmed to enable you to reflect and receive feedback. This practical work will prepare you for real-life HR negotiations.
- Practical tasks: e.g. designing, delivering, and evaluating some training, or writing a job description and person specification. Independent study, supported by our specialist business library and a selection of digital materials, handbooks, notes, and other resources.
- Working in a team to share ideas and insights. Guest speakers representing a cross-section of business and HR expertise will share their experience in the field of human resource management.
Your timetable
Your individualised timetable is normally available within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student-friendly as possible, scheduled teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9.00am and 6.00pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.
Class sizes
The size of classes can vary depending on the nature of the course, module and activity. This can range from large groups in a lecture theatre setting, to smaller groups taking part in seminars and collaborative work.
How you'll be assessed
Assessment will be based on practical and vocational skills as well as theoretical knowledge. As a result, you will be assessed through a variety of methods, ensuring different aspects of your skill set are acknowledged and rewarded – these methods include; coursework, essays, examinations, industry-related practice, presentations, project work, practical reports, portfolio development, and group work.
The variety of assessment techniques also ensures you are exposed to different ways of working that will be useful in your future career; keeping a portfolio and working on projects are natural ways of working in the industry that will be encouraged during your studies.
- Foundation year: 100% coursework
Campus and facilities
Our campus and the surrounding area
University Square Stratford is one of London's most modern and well-equipped campuses. It serves 3,400 students and is the base for our courses in law and criminology, dance and performing arts, and the Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Modern facilities include: performing arts spaces; three performance studios; the Harvard lecture theatre, with live lecture capture technology; the multimedia Weston Learning Centre; a dedicated MBA suite and teaching space; a 300-seat specialised tiered lecture; and a simulated courtroom for mooting experience.
The campus is close to Stratford developments such as Westfield Stratford City and the Theatre Royal. You can be in Canary Wharf in 20 minutes, the English National Ballet in 15 minutes and Sadler's Wells East in 8 minutes.
Who teaches this course
This course is delivered by Royal Docks School of Business and Law
The teaching team includes qualified academics, practitioners and industry experts as guest speakers. Full details of the academics will be provided in the student handbook and module guides.
What our students and staff say

UEL is a diverse, multicultural and inclusive place to work, where our passion for learning and sharing lights the path to knowledge and future success."
Dr Alina Vaduva
Lecturer and Interim Associate Director - RDSBL