Course Descriptions of Year I (Semester I) Courses
BUS 1340: PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT
This is an elementary Course. It aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to the key elements of an organisation, its environment and the process of Management. Along with an introduction to historical evolution of Management, the Course will facilitate you to gain a basic knowledge of the concepts, models and the theoretical foundations of Management. Therefore, knowledge gained through this Course will be beneficial for you to follow your Degree programme successfully.
DSC 1340: BUSINESS MATHEMATICS
This course, which is the first course in Mathematics, introduces students to basic principles, laws and rules necessary to develop an overview of application capabilities of the subject matter in the field of business and economics. The course covers functions, differentiation of functions, maxima and minima of functions, partial derivatives, integration, and area under curve and between curves and mathematics of finance. The course also includes the applications of differentiation and integration in business and economics. Under the applications of differentiation, topics such as profit maximization, cost minimization, elasticity of demand, and marginal analysis are discussed. The major topics covered under applications of integration include marginal revenue and marginal cost, consumer’s surplus, producers’ surplus, total change in revenue, etc.
ITC 1340: INTRODUCTION TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
This is an introductory level course consisting of both basic theory and practice relating to Information Technology. The theoretical module includes: Introduction to Computers, Computer Hardware, Computer Software, Internet and World Wide Web and network and Internet Security. The practical module provides the knowledge and operational skills on word processing software, spread sheet software which are frequently used in an organizational environment.
PUB 1240: SOCIO-POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
Socio-political environment and profit-oriented business are inter-dependent. In one hand, business are influenced by the socio and political forces while on the other hand, socio-political environment is influenced by the businesses. Accordingly, this introductory course unit is designed for the Management undergraduates to gain fundamental understanding about social and political environment in which every business operates. As prospective professionals and citizens who will interact with the societal and political institutions, it is necessary for an undergraduate to learn civic, social and political dimensions. This course facilitates learners to identify and respond to various social trends and changes in the political milieu, focusing on the substance of culture, socialization, social trends, social institutions, government, democracy, and interactions between different agents in the society. Further, it discusses the government mechanism which is currently being practiced in Sri Lanka.
COM 1240: LEGAL ENVIRONMENT
This course is intended to help undergraduates attain a basic understanding of the concept – Law and legal system in Sri Lanka particularly as it relates to business organisations. Undergraduates must be able to appreciate the very effect of the various areas of law in their work and life. This course prepares them for instances where they would encounter legal issues and in business/commercial formation issues throughout their career.
BCC 1340: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION I
This course aims to help students reach the level of Band 4/5 of the UTEL. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to construct both simple and complex sentences accurately, express their views meaningfully in brief discussions and telephone conversations, obtain required information from auditory texts, read and extract information in texts for a variety of purposes, write short texts and business letters.
Course Descriptions of Year I (Semester II) Courses
HRM 1340: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
An obvious interdependence exists between our society and organizations that produce goods and services in order to fulfill our
needs. The standards of living and even survival of people in society depend on the goods and services of the organization. Thus, any society/nation wants organizations that need people to achieve organizational objectives. Human Resource Management (HRM) is managing these people in organizations. The main objective of this course is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of HRM, both conceptual understanding and job-oriented practical understanding. It focuses on a systematic and scientific approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in HRM with especial reference to the Sri Lankan context. The main areas covered are: Introduction to HRM, organization of the HR Department, job design, job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, hiring and induction, performance evaluation, pay management, training and development, employee movements, management of discipline, safety, health and welfare administration, grievances handling and management of labour relations.
DSC 1341: BUSINESS STATISTICS
This course provides an introduction to the fundamental concepts, principles and methods of Business Statistics. The topics include descriptive techniques, probability theory, probability distributions and inferential techniques. The major topics discussed under descriptive techniques include data collection, presentation and organization and statistical summary measures. Three important theoretical distributions, namely, Binomial, Poisson and Normal distribution are discussed under probability distributions. The major topics under inferential techniques include sampling and sampling distributions, estimation and hypothesis testing.
BEC 1340: MICROECONOMICS
This course is designed to introduce economic theories and tools and methods of analysis that are useful in the study of various economic issues and in business decision-making. It covers intermediate theory of demand and supply, theories of consumer behaviour and production, various market structures, factor market for labour, general equilibrium and welfare.
ACC 1340: FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING
This course aims at developing students’ knowledge of accounting standards, and understanding of their application in the preparation and presentation of financial statements of a corporate entity. The areas covered are: overview of financial accounting; overview of accounting standard setting process; conceptual framework for financial reporting; preparation and presentation of financial statements of companies; fair value based measurement; revenue recognition and measurement; accounting for property, plant and equipment and investment property; accounting for intangible assets; impairment of assets; accounting for provisions, and contingent liabilities and assets; accounting for leases; and consolidated financial statements. The Accounting subject of GCE (Advanced Level) will provide the foundation for this course.
BCC 1341: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION II
This course aims to help students reach the level of benchmark Band 5/6 of the UTEL. This course introduces the students to language skills required in different business situations. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to participate in business meetings confidently and effectively, communicate effectively in a variety of situations, take down notes from auditory texts, read and respond to texts for a variety of purposes, write short formal texts and business letters, and use presentation techniques effectively and make brief presentations.
Course Descriptions of Year II (Semester I) Courses
BEC 2340: MACROECONOMICS
This course intends to provide students with the basic understanding of the aggregate economic system: concepts of aggregate demand and supply, national income and product measures, consumption and investment, supply side economics and its applications, the government’s role in an economy, use of fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies to guide the economy, employment and inflation. It also encompasses macroeconomic analysis both in a closed and open economy, income-expenditure, IS-LM model and modern approaches.
FIN 2340: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
This course provides an introductory level understanding of a range of major concepts and techniques in Financial Management. This course is offered to the undergraduates reading for all degrees in the FMSC. The content of the course covers an introduction to financial management, analysis and interpretation of financial statements, financial environment, time value of money, risk and return, security valuation, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, dividend policy and working capital management.
MAR 2340: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
This is an introductory course on basic concepts and theories of marketing management. It familiarizes students with the marketing discipline. The course provides understanding of the nature and scope of marketing which includes marketing philosophies, the theoretical perspective of marketing strategies and analysing marketing opportunities.
DSC 2340: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
This course, which is the first course in Operations Management, introduces the students to key concepts, principles and design techniques that are essential to develop an appreciation of their uses in the field, and their interactions and relationships with parallel management activities in order to cultivate a general understanding of the field as a totality. Major topics include operations strategy and competitiveness, product design and process selection, total quality management, capacity management, layout planning, job design, work measurements, supply chain management, inventory control, business process reengineering and manufacturing and service strategy.
ACC 2340: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
This introductory level course provides basic knowledge and skills in relation to Management Accounting. It will enable students to understand salient principles, concepts and practices in Management Accounting as well as to develop requisite skills. The areas covered are: overview of Management Accounting; cost concepts, classifications and estimation; cost assignment; costing methods; Cost-Volume-Profit (CVP) Analysis; short-term decision making; capital investment decisions; budgeting; and standard costing.
Course Descriptions of Year II (Semester II) Courses
BEC 2343: MATHEMATICAL METHODS FOR ECONOMICS
Mathematical Methods for Economics, apply mathematical methods to investigate economic theories and scrutinize issues in Economics. The course permits formulation and derivation of key relationships in a theory with clarity, generality, rigor, and simplicity. This course covers economic models, linear and nonlinear models, differential calculus, integration, differential equations, matrix algebra, and continuous time models.
BUS 2341: ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
This is a core course in the field of Business Management. It deals with understanding human behaviour in organisations. It analyses and examines individual, group, and organisational processes. It recognises the fact that human beings are complex: The same person’s behaviour changes in different situations. Two people are not alike and often act very differently in the same situation. This complexity limits our ability to make simple predictions of human behaviour. Therefore, a systematic approach is required to understand human behaviour at work. The basis for using the systematic approach to study human behaviour in organisation is the belief that behaviour is not random and that we can offer reasonably accurate explanation and prediction of human behaviour in organisation. With this background, the contents of this Course address the key issues and the dynamics of individual and group behaviour in the organisational context. Thus, the students who follow this Course will be able to gain systematic knowledge and understanding about behaviour of individual and group as well as organisational processes from a broader perspective.
BEC 2344: ADVANCED ECONOMIC THEORY
This course covers advanced theories in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. The section of the course on Microeconomics includes topics in demand and supply, theory of consumer behaviour, theory of factor pricing, asymmetric information and general equilibrium analysis. The section on Macroeconomics covers tools for building and solving macroeconomic models, with applications to growth, fiscal policy, inflation and business cycles. By the end of the course students should have enhanced their ability to understand and critically assess contemporary advanced economic theory across a broad spectrum of microeconomic and macroeconomic topics.
ENT 2341: INTRODUCTION TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMEs
This is an introductory level course on basic concepts and theoretical foundations on the concept of Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs). It discusses the meaning and definitions of entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, the nature characteristics and behaviour of the entrepreneur, entrepreneur’s role as a leader in an enterprise, the role of entrepreneur in the economy, influences on entrepreneurship development. Moreover, the course aims at developing awareness among the students on the specific features of SMEs, especially in the Sri Lankan context. This involves a broad discussion of business environment of SMEs’ in Sri Lanka, problems encountered by Sri Lankan SMEs, overcoming them and current issues in SME sector.
ITC 2340: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS FOR MANAGERS
In today’s business environment, software applications may provide managers with the required knowledge to take swift business decisions. This course builds upon the knowledge disseminated in ITC 1340 course offered in first year to provide the knowledge and skills required to use application software for organizational productivity and decision making. The course focuses on four areas: using spreadsheets as a decision-making tool, using databases for business intelligence, using online applications for information retrieval and information dissemination on the World Wide Web, and using Software Applications for collaboration in the workplace.
Course Descriptions of Year III (Semester I) Courses
DSC 3340: OPERATIONS RESEARCH
This course is designed to give a basic introduction to fundamental concepts, methods and techniques of operations research (OR). The topics include definition of OR, scope of OR, the OR problem solving process, models and modelling in OR, model formulations of linear programming (LP), the graphical method and the Simplex method for solving LP problems, special cases of LP problems, definitions of the dual problem, primal dual relationship, economic interpretation of duality, dual simplex method, sensitivity or post optimal analysis, determination of starting solutions and solution of transportation problems, special cases of transportation problems, Hungarian method and an application of the assignment problem, project scheduling with certain activity time and time/ cost trade off in PERT/ CPM networks.
BEC 3340: MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS
This course provides students with an advanced knowledge on application of economic theory and decision science tools in in-firm managerial decision making. The major subject area includes demand analysis, demand estimation and forecasting, advanced production and cost analysis, market structures, game theory and strategic behaviour, pricing practices, and business and government decision making.
ITC 3340: MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
This is an advanced course that deals with usage and application of information systems. This course covers information systems in global business today; e-business; information systems, organization and strategy; ethics and social issues in information systems; foundations of business intelligence; securing information systems and building information systems.
BEC 3341: MONETARY ECONOMICS
The course focuses on the issues of monetary policy implementation in the context of closed and open economies. It covers topics of money creation and monetary transmission mechanisms, inflation and expectations, neutrality of money. Further, it examines the term structure of the interest rates and extends discussion to the international dimension. The most important topics of open monetary economics are introduced- the interest rate and purchasing power parity conditions, the exchange rates regimes.
BEC 3342/ 4351: DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
The objective of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive knowledge of Development Economics that is useful in policy making and strategic business decisions. It encompasses, inter alia, areas of economic development, characteristics of developing nations, theories of economic development and growth, poverty, and income distribution. The major focus is on the Sri Lankan economy.
Note: BEC 4351: Development Economics is being offered by the department to the students of the Department of Business Administration, Entrepreneurship and Finance in the year IV, semester I.
Course Descriptions of Year III (Semester II) Courses
BEC 3344: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
This course provides the students with advanced knowledge and skills on Project Management in business organizations or entirely project based organizations. This course covers the theoretical foundation of Project Management techniques, software training and practical elements of a real world projects undertaken by the students. At depth, this is the study of nine Project Management knowledge areas: project integration management, scope management, schedule management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, risk management, communication management and procurement management. In addition, the students undergo a thorough training of MS Project software (usually the latest accessible version) to be competent in meeting the challenges in the real business setup under project management.
BEC 3345: ECONOMIC THOUGHT
The primary goal of this course is to provide an insight into economic thought in order to understand the evolution of Economics. The subject concentrates on different thinkers and, at the same time traces the development of economic theories and ideas from the earliest times to the present while examining major contributions made to the field of Economics during the main periods in the history of Economics namely Pre-classical, Classical, Marginal Revolution, Neoclassical, Keynesian Revolution and Formalist economist. By the end of this course, students should be able to develop an overview of the main approaches which contribute to the historical development of economic thought and also analyse, synthesize and make a critique on economic principles and theories.
BEC 3346: FINANCIAL ECONOMICS
This course provides the students with an understanding of the principles and applications of financial markets. Further, it aims to provide comprehensive knowledge of financial markets and it is useful in business decision-making. It takes into analysis the financial system, behaviour of interest rates, risk and term structure, theories of term structures, foreign exchange market, monetary policy, interest rate risk, and exchange rate risk with an emphasis on financial institutions.
BEC 3347: LABOUR ECONOMICS
Labour Economics is a combination of both theoretical and empirical analysis of labour market dynamics, wage setting and employment determination. The specific topics to be analysed include labour force trends, education and training, wage and employment setting at the company level, unions, discrimination, labour productivity and real wages, government policy and technological change.
FIN 3343: BUSINESS VALUATION THEORY AND APPLICATIONS
This is an advanced course in the theory and practice of valuation of business and equities. The major areas to be covered include free cash ow valuation, dividend discount based valuation, economic profit valuation, adjusted present value method, relative valuation and contingent claim valuation. It focuses on reorganizing financial statements, analysing business performance and competitive position together with their forecasts in order to use for different purposes such as investments, acquisitions and takeovers.
BEC 3348: ASIAN ECONOMICS
Asia, especially in political and economic aspects, has been one of the most important parts of the world today that makes a considerable contribution to the world economy. Therefore, this subject emphasizes the social contributions of Asian economies to world development process. The teaching and learning process include lectures, discussions, video sessions and examinations. At the end of this course, students should be able to understand the practice and trends of the development of Asia.
FIN 3346: BANK MANAGEMENT
This is an advanced course that deals with the concepts and techniques related to the management of a commercial bank. It covers the current structure of banking regulations, understanding bank financial statements, evaluation of bank performance, asset and liability management, managing the loan portfolio, interest margin and sensitivity management, measuring and managing different exposures faced by a bank. At the end of the course, students are required to analyze the performance of a selected commercial bank in Sri Lanka as a case study and provide a report as a group on their analysis.
Course Descriptions of Year IV (Semester I) Courses
BEC 4340: ECONOMETRICS
This course provides students with an introduction to the theory and practice of Econometrics, and experience in estimating econometric models with actual data. The course mainly focuses on techniques for estimating regression models, on problems commonly encountered in estimating such models, and on interpreting the estimates from such models. It covers the basic econometric concepts, simple and multiple regression analysis, basic econometric problems, simultaneous-equation models, panel data regression models, and time series econometrics. The course will be taught through lectures, practical sessions and tutorials. Software packages will be used in practical sessions.
BEC 4341: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This course introduces a complete set of techniques and concepts in conducting a scientific enquiry. This subject is inclusive of the planning of social surveys, coverage of surveys, basic ideas of sampling, type of sample design, experiments and investigations, methods of collecting information, questionnaires, scaling methods, response errors, processing of the data, analysis, interpretation and presentation as major areas.
BUS 4340: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
This is an advanced and capstone course that draws upon knowledge of previous courses delivered at elementary and intermediary levels of the Degree Programme. The purpose of this course is to deliver a holistic understanding of corporate and business strategy that ties previous disciplines together at a strategic level, in determining the strategic direction of organisations in the context of the broad general and immediate competitive environment and how successfully these strategies could be executed to ensure long term business survival and growth.
BEC 4342: INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
The aim of this unit is to provide students with an understanding of the principles and applications of International Economics, so that students will be prepared to face the future complexities of the world economy. The unit is divided into two parts International Trade and International Finance. Part one examines reasons for and consequences of international trade. This will cover the law of comparative advantage, the gains from trade, the Ricardian Model, the Heckscher-Ohlin Theory, the standard and new trade theories, tariff and non-tariff barriers and economic integration. Part two, International Finance, focuses on foreign exchange market, fixed and flexible exchange rates, balance of payments and adjustment policies, international capital mobility and international macroeconomic policy coordination.
BEC 4343: ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
Environmental Economics will consider market failure (particularly externalities and common property resources), and the economic valuation of environmental amenities such as clean air, wilderness and ecological systems. This course aims at equipping students with economic methods and tools to analyze basic environmental issues. This course combines theoretical analysis with discussions on specific environmental policies as applied to water, air pollution, energy, climate change and human health issues. In addition, the concepts of sustainability, microeconomic analysis of environmental regulation, the problem of social cost, policy instrument choice, and estimating costs and benefits of environmental improvements will be delivered.
FIN 4352: RISK MANAGEMENT AND INSURANCE
This is an advanced course in the theory and practice of risk management and insurance. The objective of this course is to provide an understanding of risk management techniques and the importance of insurance as a risk management technique. This includes four main areas, namely, an overview of risk management, risk assessment methods, techniques of risk management and the role of insurance institutions. This course further provides an introduction to the insurance industry, insurance regulations and financial assessment, pricing of insurance and legal aspects of insurance contracts.
Course Descriptions of Year IV (Semester II) Courses
BEC 4645: INDEPENDENT STUDY ON BUSINESS ECONOMICS
The objective of this compulsory course is to guide the students to apply the underlying principles in research methodology in Business Economics at individual, group and institutional levels. This research is an independent study carried out by an undergraduate under the supervision of an academic member or a person nominated by the Department. At the end, the undergraduates should submit the final report on or before the deadline declared by the Department.
BEC 4646: PRACTICAL TRAINING
This course intends to make the undergraduates aware of the current economic and business trends in the country and in the world, to improve professional skills, and to strengthen them with exposure to real world business. The students are encouraged to gain this training experience at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the Colombo Stock Exchange, Asian Development Bank, and other institutions that are directly related to the economy of the country. Additionally, training opportunities are available at different private sector organizations as well. The students are able to find training opportunities at such institutions through the established network of the Department. The evaluation scheme of this course is designed to test the ability of the students to apply theoretical and conceptual knowledge in the real work environments and to what extent they have added values to their lives through this practical training programme.
BEC 4647: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
This course unit requires the students to carry out a rigorous and a comprehensive individual project which addresses a contemporary national economic issue. The projects are supervised and if required funding arrangements are made by the Department depending on the availability of such funds. This course unit covers six credits and is expected to develop the intellectual and analytical skills of the students.
Note: BEC 4646: Practical Training and BEC 4647: Social Development Project are two elective courses between which the students can select one according to their preference.
BEC 4348: MONEY AND BANKING
The course unit, Money and Banking, is designed to provide an advanced knowledge of the economic principles applied to the monetary policy analysis and to the banking system. It also examines the impact of the monetary policy on any economy with special emphasis on Sri Lanka. It covers the nature and functions of money, credit and financial markets in modern economy, central banking and effects of the interest and foreign exchange rates on the real economy.
BEC 4349: REGIONAL ECONOMICS
This course explores the importance of location in everyday choices we make from the optics of Economics: how economic activity is spread across space and implications of space in economic decision making. The course extends the traditional theoretical bases of economic analysis by introducing the regional aspects to supply, demand, and market forces. First the course will try to answer general questions such as, why do cities exist? why do people live in cities? how do firms decide where to locate? what determines the location, growth and size of a city? which policies can modify the shape of a city? Having discussed why we live in cities, the course will analyse the economic problems of living in cities. Regional and urban economies in Asia will be used as practical case studies to test the real-world potential of the theoretical bases of economics of location.
Departments offering Courses
ACC: Department of Accounting
BEC: Department of Business Economics
BUS: Department of Business Administration
COM: Department of Commerce (Legal Unit)
DSC: Department of Decision Sciences
ENT: Department of Entrepreneurship
FIN: Department of Finance
HRM: Department of Human Resource Management
ITC: Department of Information Technology
MAR: Department of Marketing Management
PUB: Department of Public Administration