School of Continuing and Distance Education

1

DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

The final award of the Diploma in Business Management will be based on the average marks obtained in all course units taken and shall be classified as follows:

Each Ordinary Diploma candidate shall be required to successfully take at least eight (8) approved course units as well as a project paper where specified.  Individual departments shall determine how the eight course units shall be apportioned in terms of core, specialization, and elective clusters.

Each department may identify core, theory and/or methods courses which all Ordinary Diploma candidates within the department shall take, provided that these shall not exceed two (2) course units.  Each candidate shall be entitled to take at least one elective course.

The Ordinary Diploma programme shall consist of lectures, lecture-discussions, class presentations, seminars, demonstrations, fieldwork, student-teacher consultations, supervised independent study, coursework, or any combination of these, as well as written final examinations, and shall run for a minimum of two (2) semesters of fifteen weeks each and a maximum of eight (8) semesters.  However, some departments or programmes may, with prior Senate approval, require a minimum of three semesters, with the third semester being devoted to additional taught courses, semester-long laboratory work, field work, field placement, or project paper.

Except where a semester-long project is required, the minimum load in each semester shall be two (2) course units; while the maximum load shall be four (4) course units per semester.  A semester-long project consisting of laboratory/field work or project paper shall be treated as the equivalent of two course units.

Where a semester-long project paper is not required, one course unit out of the minimum of eight required to graduate may be designed to give candidates the opportunity to develop skills in independent research work and project report-writing.

Candidates shall be free to satisfy the requirements for elective courses in any department within the Faculty of Arts or any other Faculty or equivalent, subject to the prior approval of the department(s) and Faculties concerned.

Students shall undergo continuous assessment in each taught course in each semester.  Such assessment shall take the form of written tests, term paper, oral presentations, field assignment, or any combination of these.

At the end of each semester, during the last class, a time shall be set aside for students registered in each taught course unit to anonymously evaluate the course and lecturer using a questionnaire developed by the Faculty office in consultation with the departments.  Students may otherwise register their views regarding the quality of teaching by any lecturer to the Chair of the Department concerned, or the Dean, at any time during the semester.

The following shall be the minimum entry requirements for the Diploma in Business Management.

• KCSE Mean Grade C or above with C- in Mathematics or commerce, or Economics, or Accounts and C- in English or Kiswahili or a bridging course grade C- in English or Kiswahili or Mathematics from a recognized institution.

• KCE Div. II or above with a pass in Mathematics or Commerce, or Accounts and a pass in English or Kiswahili.

• A level Certificate with at least one principal pass.

• KCSE C-  or KCE Div III with a professional certificate from a recognized Institution.

Individual departments within the Faculty of Arts may set additional requirements specific to their disciplinary mandates, and these shall be subject to Senate approval.

Subject to approval by the Faculty of Arts and the department(s) concerned, a candidate enrolled in any ordinary diploma programme, or equivalent, at the University of Nairobi or any other University recognized by the University of Nairobi Nairobi may register for, attend lectures and be examined in any one or more course units in any equivalent programme of his/her choice within the Faculty of Arts.

Registration for courses by continuing students shall take place before the end of the preceding semester. Where these regulations are silent on any aspect of University admission, existing University of Nairobi regulations shall apply.

1. The examination will be governed by the general examinations regulations of the University of Nairobi

2. For the award of the Diploma in Business management, a candidate will be required to pass in all prescribed courses units taken.

3. Each course unit shall be examined by a two (2) hour written examination at the end of the semester during which the course was offered.

4. The written examination shall constitute 70% of the marks in each course unit while course work constitutes 30%.

5. Course work assessment shall comprise assignment and test.

6. The pass mark shall be 40%

7. A candidate who fails to satisfy the examiners in any unit, with a mark below 40% may on the recommendation of the Board of Examiners and approval of Senate, re-sit the failed examination(s) during the next semester examinations.

8. A candidate who fails in the re-sit examinations(s) shall be required to repeat failed units.

9. A candidate shall only be allowed to repeat a course unit for three semesters.

10. The project will be marked out of 100%. The pass mark shall be 40%. The project will be graded by the appointed supervisor.

11. A candidate who fails to satisfy the examiner in the project with a mark below 40% may on the recommendation of the board of examiners and approval of senate re-do the project.

12. A candidate shall be allowed to re-do the project for a maximum of three semesters.

13. A candidate shall only be allowed to repeat a maximum of three course units in a semester.

14. Any candidate who fails in more than three units in a semester shall be discontinued.

Applicants who have undertaken equivalent courses recognized by senate may, on the recommendation of Faculty and approval of the Senate, be exempted up to a maximum of one-third of courses offered in the programme.  A student desiring to be exempted for any prior course work will need to make a formal request giving the following information.

• A list of the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />university of Nairobi courses which the student is interested in being exempted.

• Official transcripts indicating courses that may be equivalent.

• Description of syllabus/outline for the courses which the applicant seeks transfer for credit.

The Faculty of External Studies proposes to offer a Diploma in Business management. The course will be offered initially in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies and therefore it will be available all over the country.

The Diploma in Business management aims at:-

• Developing the human resources base needed for industrialization.

• Giving skills for efficient management of business

• Creating a base for the graduates to proceed to higher business management professional courses in the university.

The purpose of Diploma in Business management is to train persons who wish to purse career in business management.  As a result of stiff competition in the market, all forms of business require professional management.  While the public universities have concentrated in providing degrees in this area, a real gap has been noticed at the Diploma level.  Before the temporary closure of most of the programmes in the Department of Extra-Mural studies in 1988, many useful courses were offered to the general public.  The Public has continued to ask for more courses that are taught and examined by the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />University of Nairobi.  The extra mural departmnet offers a special connection in training, to the university and the general public.

This course, which is both theoretical and practical, gives the university the opportunity to enter this field and provide business training throughout the country.  It aims at filling the gaps identified above and is orientated to meet real needs of the labour market.

Personnel Management And Industrial Relations Description
.Overview of personnel management; the personnel department; organizational structure; aids to effective personnel management; recruitment; selection, induction; training and development; counseling; resignation and retirement; remunerations; personnel records management; health, safety and welfare; dismissal and redundancy.

Fundamentals Of Accounting Description
.Introduction

Computer Applications Description
.Introduction to computers; computer hardware; computer software; computer languages; data processing; management information system; the disk operating systems word processing with word perfect; introduction to spreadsheet; dos files; directory structure; ms-word; desktops publishing; database management.

Introduction To Research Methods Description
.Introduction to research; research design and techniques; identification of research problems; sources of data; measurement and reliability of measure; scale construction techniques; data collection; sampling techniques; sampling errors; data presentation techniques; data analysis; research report writing format.

Marketing Management Description
.Overview of marketing management; marketing philosophies; marketing environment; development of a marketing research and information systems; products decisions; distributions decisions; pricing decisions; promotion; the marketing environment; international marketing; marketing of services; marketing planning; direct marketing; internet marking

Quantitative Methods Description
.Fundamentals of mathematics and statistics; data collection and presentation; measures of central tendency; measures of dispersion; correlation and regression; elements of probability and test of hypothesis; network analysis; inventory control models; introduction to linear programming

Introduction To Insurance And Banking Description
.INSURANCE The nature and importance of insurance; elements of insurance (principle of insurance) types of insurance; type of insurance protection and coverage; procedure of effecting a policy. BANKING: Development of money and banking functions of banks and other financial institutions; Functions of Central Bank.

Financial Management Description
.Introduction to financial management; analysis of current position; long-run investment decision; short-run decision making; sources of finance; budgets; planning and control; analysis and interpretation of accounts; managing working capital, variance analysis; controlling the outcome of marketing activities.

Business Policy And Strategic Planning Description
.Introduction and definition of major concepts and terms; strategy, tactics, goals, objectives, policies, procedures; strategic management elements; the Chief Executive Officers role, corporate level strategies; formulating organization strategy, company mission, business objectives, environmental analysis, SWOT analysis; social responsibility, corporate resource audit and gap analysis; same general alternative strategies, combination strategies; some specific alternative strategies; generic strategies, the adaptive model and the related strategies, BCGS PORTFLIO mix; functional strategies and policies-marketing, finance/accounting production, Human Resource Management, R & D; implementation and management; strategy evaluation and central criteria for evaluation, corrective action.

Commercial Law Description
.The law of contract - definition, nature and its essentials; capacity of parties to contract; considerations, free consent of parties, and legality objects; the agreements declared void; contingent contracts, and performance of contract; Agency - definition of agent and principal; the essentials of relationship of agency; the relationship between principal and third party; rights and duties of agent; Sale of goods - definition of sale and its essentials; agreement to sell, differences between "sale" and agreement to sell; distinction between condition and warranty; time of transfer of ownership from seller to buyer; international contracts; Partnership - definition, formation of partnership; essential of elements of partnership; rights and duties of partners; mode of dissolution of partnership; partnership property; Law o insurance - meaning and terms used in the law of insurance business; types of insurance and the principles; The hire purchase contracts - contract of guarantee; contract of bailment; Bankruptcy - commercial arbitration; negotiable instruments; The law of property and the aspects of consumer protection.

Material Production,control And Management Description
.The concept of management - explanation of management; principles of management; management schools of thought; Historical development of production and material management - the production function and decision making; the production system; analytical methods in production; Production development and production of new products - production design; production process; process planning; standardization; specialization; diversification; automation; Determination of output or sales - meaning; research and development - production design; importance; methods; disadvantages and limitations; Production planning unit control - gathering information; process layout; instruction sheet; Gantt chart; critical Path analysis (CPA); Production control - scheduling; machine an labour utilization; manufacturing order control; stock control; dispatching; progressing; Materials planning and control; Analysis of information systems - Electronic data Processing (EDP) for production management.

Purchasing And Supplies Description
.The purchasing department - Internal organization; centralization; decentralization; relationship with other departments; the procurement function - procurement process; sourcing; supplier appraisal; Stocks and stock control - reasons for holding stock; control of stock; The price and the right time to buy - importance of price; pricing tools; pricing of issues; Payment procedures - documents used for payments for goods; methods of payment for goods; Ethics in Purchasing - obligation of a buyer to the employee; obligations of buyer to supplier; Warehousing - need for storage; safety; Stores layout - stock location systems classification and coding; storage and preservation; Issuing and dispatch of stock; Supplier appraisal and selection; Special purchases sub-contracting; Quality determination and specification.

Human Resource Management Description
.Introduction; definition of Human Resource Management; differences between Human Resource Management and Personnel management; functions; scope of Human Resource Management role of Human Resource Management; the organizational context of Human Resource Management; Human Resource Managers; Human Resource Management, department and structure; Human Resource Management objectives; personnel policy; organizational analysis, structure, design, culture, change, development; Human Resource Management, planning; job analysis; recruitment and selection; employment policy; contract, promotions, transfer, demotion, dismissal, registration; redundancy; staff performance and appraisal; wages and salaries administration; health and safety; staff training and development; industrial relations; personal policy.

Market,planning And Control Description
.Introduction to marketing planning; stages in the evolution of formal planning; strategic planning; strategic marketing process theory; marketing objectives and strategies; marketing plan development theory; production of the market budget and the marketing plan theory; marketing, audit and control.

Project Description
.A student will be expected to carry out a research project in purchasing and supplies management field. The student will be assigned a supervisor by the department. The research project must be completed before the end of the semester in which the student registers for the project. The project will be marked and graded by the appointed Supervisor