Leadership and Management

The 4 Best Business Management Courses to Advance Your Career

Progress your career with a globally recognised leadership management qualification.

Last Reviewed: 14 October 2026 - 3 min read

It’s time to be honest.

We’ll admit that the phrase ‘business management’ doesn’t have the same appeal as other subjects. If you have no idea what it actually is, you’ll probably conjure up images of someone shuffling paper or staring at an incomprehensible spreadsheet whenever you hear the phrase.

In reality, business management is a fulfilling, exciting and interesting field to work in – one where, to use a cliché, no two days are the same. With roles as diverse as management through to project management on offer, business management often does have something for everyone.

If you’re already working in a business management career and you’re looking to develop it further, or you’re contemplating a role in management or project management and you’re looking to get started in the field, studying a professional qualification can really help.

In this blog, we’ll look at some of the best business management courses that you can study to develop and advance your career.

What is Business Management?

Business management is a professional field that covers a huge range of roles that are related to the day-to-day management and running of businesses. This is obviously a broad field and can cover a vast variety of positions. Usually, business management refers specifically to roles where you have line-management responsibility or where you’re responsible for a particular process or procedure. These can include fields like:

Why study a Business Management qualification?

Business management can be a rewarding but challenging field to work in. To perform at your best as a manager, you’ll need to continually enhance your abilities and your knowledge. This will help to give you greater flexibility and capacity when it comes to managing employees, overseeing workflows and improving performance.

Studying a business management qualification can really help to enhance your skillset and deepen your specialist understanding of the area.

The main reasons you might decide to study a business management qualification include things like:

To build your people and project management skills
To enhance your specialist knowledge of business management
To gain a recognised qualification in business management

What Business Management qualifications can I study?

There are a range of business management qualifications that are designed to equip you with the vital skills and expertise that you’ll need to build a sustainable career in the field.

The exact type of courses on offer will vary depending on which learning provider you choose to study with and what they specifically offer when it comes to qualifications.

At ICS Learn, we offer qualifications from two of the most popular and well-respected business management course providers in the UK.

CMI

Established in 1947, the Chartered Management Institute (shortened to CMI) has a long history. It was founded to encourage managers to improve their skills and develop their practices and has grown and developed as the profession has evolved.

Nowadays, CMI specialises in offering management and leadership qualifications that can be studied entirely online. The company aims to improve standards and quality when it comes to the management profession.

Qualifications offered include:

PRINCE2®

PRINCE2® is a project management methodology, originally developed by the UK government. It’s now a renowned project management qualification that is designed to equip you with the relevant skills and specialist knowledge of the framework to apply it to a range of projects.

Boasting over 500,000 graduates since it was first offered, PRINCE2® is used worldwide and can be a practical edition to even the most experienced skillset.

Qualifications offered include:

The best business management course for…

1. People who want to find out if a career in business management is right for them

CMI Level 3 Award in First Line Management & Leadership

Not everyone knows what they want to do for their career straight away. Whilst some people might have a steely focus on the job that’s right for them and where they want their career to go, most of us need to really think about our options.

One of the best ways to work out if a particular area is right for you is to try it out. Whilst you might be able to secure work experience, like shadowing someone in a particular role, for most of us, that option isn’t realistic. But, there is a potential way around this challenge though – studying a short qualification or course in the subject.

Studying a really short qualification can be a good way to test the waters and see if a particular topic interests you. Short, affordable and flexible to study, short qualifications like Awards and Certificates can be a practical way to gain knowledge and experience and give you a chance to work out if a particular business area is for you.

Even if you ultimately don’t decide to go down that route, you’ll still have a qualification that you can add to your CV and skillset.

The CMI Level 3 Award in First Line Management & Leadership is a shorter introduction to management and leadership, making it a good starting point if you want to explore the subject without committing to a larger qualification.

You’ll begin developing practical management knowledge that can help you understand what’s involved in leading others and whether you’d like to take your career further in this direction.

2. People looking to secure their first management role with no prior experience

CMI Level 3 Diploma First Line Management & Leadership

When you’re tackling your very first role as a manager, or you’re looking to break into the field, it’s natural to feel like you need some extra training to really reach your full potential.

Studying an entry-level qualification – one that’s specifically aimed at people looking to enter a particular industry or profession with no prior knowledge or experience – can be a great way to gain a foundation of knowledge that you can build a successful career on.

The CMI Level 3 Diploma in First Line Management & Leadership is perfect for aspiring managers, team leaders and supervisors who want to develop a broad understanding of management and leadership.

As the most comprehensive qualification at this level, the Diploma gives you the opportunity to explore a wider range of management topics. You'll develop practical knowledge to help you:

Understand how to manage people
Communicate effectively
Approach workplace challenges with confidence

3. People learning on a budget

PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner Combined

Probably the qualification to have when it comes to project management, knowledge of how to use and strategically apply the PRINCE2® system to projects is widely sought after by employers around the globe.

Project management is a broad field and can be applied to a huge number of roles. This fact can make PRINCE2® qualifications a particularly attractive choice when it comes to improving the gravity of your CV as a manager.

To become an expert in the PRINCE2® methodology there are two specific qualifications that you can study: the entry-level, PRINCE2® Foundation or the intermediate PRINCE2® Practitioner.

As you’ll soon find out though, studying multiple qualifications can put a bit of a strain on your wallet.

Luckily, PRINCE2® seems to have acknowledged that. They offer the ability to study both qualifications in one go, with the PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner Combined qualification, with a fairly significant saving than if you were to study each qualification separately. This option is great if you plan on studying both qualifications at some point, helping you ultimately save money.

The PRINCE2® Foundation and Practitioner Combined course covers exactly the same content as the separate qualifications, but you’ll just study each in sequence. You’ll still cover all of the PRINCE2® practices, processes and principles, which you can read about in more detail on our PRINCE2® course pages.

4. Existing managers looking to improve their skills

CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice

CMI qualifications are particularly good at helping established managers take their career to the next level by developing their strategic management skills. The suite of CMI qualifications blend theory with practicality in a way that gives them a real versatility – and in a way that can suit a lot of learning styles.

For existing managers who are looking to take their career development to the next level, the CMI Level 7 Certificate in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice can provide a great

On the CMI Level 7 Certificate, you’ll get to choose which topics you study so that you can specialise your career. The potential topics you can choose from include:

Strategic Leadership
Developing Organisational Strategy
Leading Strategic Change
Organisational Design and Development
Strategic Management of Data and Information
Strategic Management Project
Personal and Professional Development for Strategic Leadership

Once they’ve finished studying for this qualification, many managers go on to study the final CMI qualification available, which can potentially lead to prestigious Chartered Manager status – the CMI Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership Practice.

Get started in business management today!

Business management can be a particularly fulfilling career, with a wide range of roles available and clear progression in the overall field.

By investing in a professional qualification, you’ll be able to enhance your skillset and improve your knowledge and expertise. We hope this blog article has given you a good understanding of the study options and qualifications that are available to help you advance your business management career.

Develop your business management career from scratch with an online professional qualification!