Human Resource Management with Placement Year

Human resource management is the professional discipline concerned with how organisations attract, develop, manage, and retain their people. It encompasses the full cycle of employment, from workforce planning and recruitment through to training, performance management, reward, employee relations, and the management of change and redundancy. As organisations have come to recognise that their people are their most critical resource, HRM has evolved from an administrative function into a strategic one, and professionals who understand both the human and the commercial dimensions of the discipline are increasingly valued.

The four-year full-time Human Resource Management with Placement Year programme at Brunel University London develops your skills to become an effective and responsible HR professional. You will understand the purpose and key objectives of the HRM function in contemporary organisations, learning how to design and implement sustainable HR strategies across recruitment, training and talent development, employee wellbeing, and performance management, in ways that make a real impact across different types of organisations. The placement year is central to the programme's professional focus: a full year working within an HR function gives you direct experience of how HRM operates in practice, the complexity of real employee relations, and the skills of professional communication and stakeholder management that classroom learning cannot replicate.

With a typical entry tariff of 120 points, the programme is accessible and practically focused. Graduates are well placed for roles in HR generalist practice, talent acquisition, learning and development, employee relations, and HR business partnering across all sectors. Many pursue professional membership of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and some go on to postgraduate study in HRM or organisational behaviour.