Bachelor of Science in Growth and Marketing Systems
Marketing has become an engineering and measurement discipline, and the gap between marketers who can run an attribution model and those who cannot is now the gap between a career and a dead end. The region trains marketers for a world of brand slogans while employers need people who can build ...
Employment thesis
What this programme is designed to produce
Forward publishes the destination of every programme before you enrol. If the thesis stops holding, the programme is reviewed and, where necessary, retired. Next review: 2032.
Roles
- Growth marketer
- marketing analyst and data specialist
- digital and performance marketer
- brand and content strategist
- marketing technology specialist
- customer and retention analyst
- product marketing specialist
- technical founder
Employer types
- Technology and consumer firms
- banks
- insurers and mobile money operators
- agencies and marketing firms
- e-commerce and platform businesses
- telecommunications operators
- startups and ventures
- development and social marketing programmes
- consulting firms
- and the graduate's own venture
- incubated through the Forward Venture Studio
Target outcomes we hold ourselves to
- This programme targets strong graduate compensation in a fast growing, remote accessible field and supports ventures. Progression routes include the MSc in Marketing Intelligence and Growth Systems and doctoral study.
Compulsory · The Forward Core
How the Core works →Every Forward programme, including this one, carries the same five cross-cutting requirements. They are graded, not optional.
- AI Fluency
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Ethics and African Context
- Human-Advantage Skills
- Enterprise
Includes 12 months paid work-integrated learning
Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4. Read the co-op commitment
Am I eligible?
Check yourself against the published requirements
7 questions written specifically for Bachelor of Science in Growth and Marketing Systems. Every answer is checked against a requirement Forward has published, and the result tells you which page that requirement comes from. Indicative only, the admissions office decides on your full file.
What is the highest qualification you hold or are completing?
Curriculum structure
The same degree, in both pathways
Every Forward programme is published in both pathways: Path One, the term plan of two six-month terms, and Path Two, the block sequence of twelve four-week blocks. Same competencies, same assessments, same award. Toggle to see this programme in each.
Path One term plan shown
Path One · The Term Model
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 101 | AI Fluency I: How Intelligent Systems Work Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BGMS 110 | Foundations of Marketing and Growth Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 111 | Business Mathematics and Statistics Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 112 | Data and Analytics for Marketing Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| BGMS 113 | Consumer Behaviour and Psychology Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 102 | Quantitative Reasoning and Evidence Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BGMS 130 | Digital Marketing and Channels Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 131 | Brand, Content and Storytelling Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 132 | Marketing Analytics and Attribution Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| BGMS 133 | Growth Systems and Funnels Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| COP 190 | Workplace Immersion (4 weeks, recessterm) Performance | 0 | 0-0-0 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 201 | Ethics, Society and the African Context Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| BGMS 210 | Marketing Technology and Automation Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 211 | Customer Research and Insight Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 212 | Performance and Paid Acquisition Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| BGMS 213 | Retention, Loyalty and Lifecycle Both | 4 | 2-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 202 | Human Advantage: Argument, Writing and Teams Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 290 | Co-operative Education Placement I (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BGMS 230 | Product and Pricing Strategy Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 231 | Intelligent Marketing and Personalisation Performance | 3 | 1-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 301 | AI Fluency II: Building, Evaluating and Auditing Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| FDC 401 | /402 Capability Portfolio, Governance and Day One Block Both | 6 | 2-2-2 |
| BGMS 310 | Marketing Strategy and Management Both | 5 | 3-2-2 |
| BGMS 311 | Marketing Specialisation Elective Performance | 4 | 2-2-4 |
| BGMS 312 | Growth Capstone: Run a Real Growth Campaign Both | 3 | 1-2-2 |
| Code | Course | CU | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDC 302 | Enterprise, Employability and Financial Literacy Both | 4 | 2-2-0 |
| COP 390 | Co-operative Education Placement II (6 months) Performance | 10 | 0-0-0 |
| BGMS 330 | Professional Practice and Marketing Leadership Performance | 8 | 2-2-8 |
Total credit units: 132
Curriculum source
Forward University Curriculum Compendium
Assessment
Assessment follows Part E without variation. Across the programme the aggregate weighting is 35 per cent continuous assessment and built artefacts, 25 per cent authentic performance including practical examination and oral defence, 30 per cent external practitioner assessment in the final year, and not more than 40 per cent written examination in any single course. The capstone is client verified and the Day One Assessment contributes 5 per cent of the final year mark. Assessment principles. Assessment is authentic, criterion referenced and, for every capability claim above Level 2, verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer. There is no compensation between competencies: a student must master each one, and a marginal performance in one cannot be offset by strength in another. Feedback is returned quickly, within seven days of a block closing in the Block Sequence, so that it can inform the next unit. A student who does not yet meet the standard is given a further, structured attempt under Part E rather than being carried forward, which protects the value of the award while supporting progression. Reasonable adjustments for disability are made under Part D without altering the competency standard.
Work-integrated learning
Students complete COP 190 Workplace Immersion in the Year 1 recess term, COP 290 Co-operative Education Placement I (six months, paid, assessed) and COP 390 Co-operative Education Placement II (six months, paid, assessed), totalling not fewer than twelve months. Placement hosts are contracted by the Co-operative Education Office. The employer completes a structured capability assessment carrying 40 to 50 per cent of the placement mark and signs the capability claims that enter the Capability Passport. Online students are placed with accredited hosts in their own city or country under remote academic supervision, or have their existing employment accredited as the placement site under Part D4.
Your week at Forward
A typical week on Bachelor of Science in Growth and Marketing Systems
Path One, the Term Model: your own pace across a six-month term, one live session a week, short flexible lessons, and assessment on demand.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Curriculum explorer
Drill into the degree, step by step
Choose a study path, then a year, then a term or block, then a course. Credit totals add up as you go, and every course shows what comes before it and what it unlocks.
Step 1, choose a year
Step 2, choose a term
TERM 1 (SIX MONTHS) | FORMERLY YEAR 1, SEMESTER 1 | YEAR 1 | 22
Year 1 · this step is worth 22 CU
Cumulative
22
Programme total
132
22 CU of 132 CU completed by the end of this step (17%)
Step 3, choose a course
Pick a course to see the detail
Credits, assessment, prerequisites and what each course unlocks later.
The twelve Forward capabilities
What this programme develops in you
Every Forward degree develops the same twelve cross-cutting capabilities. The profile below is the level this programme is designed to develop and verify by graduation, on the four-level scale in Part B2 of the Curriculum Compendium. Every claim above Level 2 is verified by someone other than the teaching lecturer.
- C1Intelligent Systems FluencyLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C2Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C3Ethical and Contextual JudgementLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C4Communication and Persuasion CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C5Disciplinary MasteryLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C6Technical Production and Craft CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C7Problem Framing and Systems ThinkingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C8Collaboration and Multidisciplinary TeamingLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C9Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy CriticalLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C10Professional Conduct and Workplace PerformanceLevel 3 of 4, Independent
- C11Learning to Learn and Adaptive CapacityLevel 4 of 4, Leading
- C12Stewardship and Public ContributionLevel 3 of 4, Independent
Critical capabilities for this programme: Quantitative and Evidential Reasoning · Communication and Persuasion · Technical Production and Craft · Enterprise, Value and Commercial Literacy. A graduate cannot pass out of this programme below the stated level on any capability marked critical.
Programme Learning Outcomes
What you will be able to do
Each outcome is assessed, and each is tagged with the Forward capabilities it is verified against.
- PLO 1Design and run a measurable growth system across acquisition and retention.
- PLO 2Analyse marketing data and attribution honestly to guide spend.
- PLO 3Build the marketing technology stack and use it.
- PLO 4Create brand, content and campaigns that perform and can be measured.
- PLO 5Understand customers with research and behavioural evidence.
- PLO 6Apply intelligent systems to marketing and growth.
- PLO 7Manage a marketing budget and defend its return.
- PLO 8Work across product, C3, sales and marketing as a system.
- PLO 9Cost, pitch and defend a C8 growth strategy or venture to a decision maker.
- PLO 10Acquire and demonstrate C10 a new capability without formal instruction, evidenced in the Capability Passport.
Why this programme exists
Marketing has become an engineering and measurement discipline, and the gap between marketers who can run an attribution model and those who cannot is now the gap between a career and a dead end. The region trains marketers for a world of brand slogans while employers need people who can build measurable growth systems: acquisition, retention, analytics and the technology stack underneath them. This programme rebuilds marketing as growth engineering, with real campaigns, real data and real measurement from Year 1, and the creative and the quantitative held together.
Admission requirements
Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education with two principal passes; plus Uganda Certificate of Education with five passes including Mathematics and English. Applicants sit a structured reasoning task scored against Capabilities C2 and C4. All applicants must demonstrate competence in English, the language of instruction, through their qualifications or an approved proficiency test under Part A. International and non standard qualifications are assessed for equivalence against the profile above under the Credential Portability provisions, so that a suitably prepared applicant may enter from anywhere in the world. Selection considers the whole application, including the structured admission task, and is conducted without discrimination under the University's admissions policy. Alternative pathways: Foundation Year, diploma entry with advanced standing, mature age entry and recognition of prior learning, all governed by Part A5 and Part G. Online applicants additionally complete the compulsory Digital Readiness orientation under Part D6.
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