Masters Foundation programme

Alternatively, you may also be eligible for one of our Pre-Masters courses. These are pathway programmes designed specifically for students who require additional support to meet the entry requirements of their chosen Masters degree.

Pre-Sessional English and Study Skills

If you have IELTS 5.5 – 6.0, you may be eligible to join our Pre-Sessional English before starting this programme. This programme will help you develop language skills in a content-based approach to learning involving critical thinking, questioning, discussion, reflection and analysis.

This module is aimed at those with little or no prior business and management subject experience. The module introduces the main business functions – Finance, Marketing, HRM, Operations, Strategy – and shows how each contributes to a business’s competitive advantage, enabling firms to achieve strategic objectives.

This module engages you in personal and professional development in order that you develop and hone your team working, management and leadership skills, capabilities and attributes, and in so doing, enhance your employability. On this module, you will not only prepare for your first job after you graduate but also kick-start your commitment to life-long personal and professional learning.

In the first part of the module, you will be supported in self-analysis by a range of activities, including the completion of self-administered toolkits to demonstrate an increased self-awareness and self-understanding. A key outcome of this process is how you will be able to exploit this development in order to lead and manage, more effectively in your future careers.

The second part of the module contains activities that enable you to build on your self-analysis and explore further your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the context of your career development plans. This will also include the development of knowledge into the global graduate market, (including routes such as self-employment and developing your career with an existing employer) drawing upon local, national and international examples.

This module will provide you with essential knowledge and analytics skills needed for you to complete a high-quality Masters’ Dissertation or Consultancy Project. By undertaking and reflecting on practical research-based activities you will understand the process of designing and carrying out a research study, also you will engage in activities that involve an understanding of data and analysis of data. This will place you in a strong position to undertake your own Masters’ level research or Consultancy Project. At the end of the module you will write a research proposal, this will be assessed and will contribute to your final mark. In the dissertation you will work under the supervision of a member of the academic staff and your proposal will also help to ensure you get the most from this relationship.

Globalisation is the worldwide trend of businesses expanding beyond their domestic borders. To compete in today’s global economy managers need to be able to apply management principles across countries and cultures with suitable adaptation in the process. Adopting a truly global perspective of management, this module presents current thinking in international business theory and practice.

You will be exposed to the environment of International Business and Multinational Corporations (MNC). It will cover topics such as international trade and investment theories, country environments (e.g. political, legal, financial and economic contexts), culture, foreign direct investment, international strategy, corporate governance and market studies.

Have you ever wondered how brands make their products and services available in four corners of the world? How companies coordinate their multi-million pound advertising campaigns across national TV networks and time zones? Even how consumers in different parts of the world think about products and brands in a world dominated by digital media?

Global Consumers and Marketplaces will explore such questions and provide you with a thorough appreciation of how the marketing function supports businesses in doing business internationally. You will explore global consumer trends, assess suitable market entry strategies and how international marketers make decisions on products, prices and promotion.

Through a practical piece of assessment, you will develop skills in identifying market opportunities in other countries, collating research to support your ideas and presenting a professional standard business plan to outline your ideas.

The aim of this module is to support your study, language and communication skills for academic purposes in the study in your chosen discipline at the postgraduate level. The module is designed to enable you to become an advanced independent learner. The module is supported by a teaching and learning plan which outlines the formal sessions. Interactive workshops will be tailored to address some of the specific issues that you meet within your discipline. You may also be asked to complete some preparation tasks for some seminars but these will be kept to a minimum. You will be expected to identify those skills which you need within your postgraduate programme, and to develop these independently through a range of learning activities that might include extended reading and reflection.

Students completing the Advanced Practice Masters programme can choose to complete a 12-15 week internship, worth 60 credits. This internship can be sourced by the student or by the university. It may be paid or unpaid. Most internships are unpaid. Students will be supported in the process of applying for an internship during their first year of study and equipped with the necessary internship application and selection skills, e.g. CV writing, interview technique. All internships will be approved by the university to ensure they are providing an appropriate learning experience and working environment. Students will be allocated an internship tutor who will work with them throughout the internship period. This will include visits and support in completing the internship assessment.

The module is assessed by a 4,000-word reflective portfolio which is focussed on your development from the perspective of gaining particular skills relating to employability and being employment prepared, engagement in further self-development from the perspective of employment potential in a new or international context and further demonstration of cultural and ethical awareness through the broader experience of working in culturally diverse groups and teams via this employment opportunity.

You will design a research project of 15000 words while working under the supervision of a member of academic staff who will give you appropriate guidance and support throughout the dissertation process whilst encouraging learner autonomy: this is your dissertation and you will have responsibility for decision making as the dissertation proceeds. You will use appropriate research methodologies and data collection methods to critically synthesise a body of knowledge relevant to the taught programme.

For successful completion of this module, you will conduct research and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn.  You will demonstrate this by identifying a topic, critically selecting and applying an appropriate research methodology and data collection method(s) to your chosen research topic, demonstrating a rigorous understanding of the relevant theory and literature and showing how these link to the research method(s).  You will also critically reflect on how your research contributes to the understanding of the topic area.

The module aims to provide you as a postgraduate student with experiential learning activities in a work-based context that utilises skills and knowledge acquired during the taught part of your study programme, i.e. in year one of the two-year Advanced Practice programme suite. The module recognises that you may have limited prior experience of real-world management investigations.

Through your work-based experience, you will develop abilities as a problem solver with valued investigative, theoretical and practical business skills. This work-based experience will last the length of the semester and involve the examination of a complex organisational problem or commercial opportunity. By undertaking this module, you will have enhanced your individual skills, knowledge, effectiveness and employability by locating learning and development within a work-based context and will have critically reflected and evaluated upon organisational practices and the relation with academic theory.

Assessment will be both formative and summative and incorporate self, peer, and tutor evaluation. You will present your work-based findings to the host organisation (oral presentation) and an interim report written on behalf of the host organisation or sponsoring project client. In the follow-up module, you will provide a substantial management investigation report on the business-related issue emerging from this placement or consultancy, alongside a personal reflective statement.

This follows your group consultancy project during the first semester of your second year of Masters’ study.

In this module, you will take the skills you developed as a problem solver of a work-based project and develop a client-focused management report and presentation alongside an individual literature review and personal reflection.

The content of the management report will be unique. The nature and scope of the area of your investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation you worked with on the group consultancy project and your University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations
• Identifying researchable questions
• Consultancy and project management skills
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills
• Analysing findings
• Writing recommendations and action plans
• Reflecting on work-based experiential learning.

In undertaking this project-based module, you will critically reflect and evaluate upon organisational practices and their relation with academic theory, and in doing so, provide practical and actionable recommendations through an investigative management report.

The assessment for your module consists of a Group Consultancy Report (7,000 words) and Final Client Presentation, weighted at 60%, alongside an Individual Assignment comprising a Literature Review (4,000 words) and a Reflective Learning Statement (2,000 words), weighted at 40%.

You will design a research project, assessed through a proposal and will then work under the supervision of a member of academic staff to use and extend the knowledge and skills that you have acquired during your programme of study to complete a dissertation. You will use appropriate research methodologies and data collection methods to critically synthesise a body of knowledge relevant to the taught programme.

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to conduct research and organise the findings into a comprehensive and explicit structure that is critically assessed and is linked to the conclusions drawn. You will demonstrate this ability by identifying an appropriate research topic, critically selecting and applying an appropriate research methodology and data collection method(s) to your chosen research topic, demonstrating a rigorous understanding of the theory and literature relevant to the issues under investigation, and showing how these link to the research method(s). You will also critically reflect on how their research contributes to the understanding of the topic area.

Some students may choose to base their topic on their internship or consultancy project.