MBA Top up (University of Greater Manchester)
The MBA Top Up qualification is a career development programme designed for individuals with management experience. An MBA Top Up focuses on strategic business challenges and leadership growth across any industry. The programme develops strategic thinking skills, in-depth organisational knowledge, and creative approaches to solving business issues while improving professional practices. An MBA Top Up also equips graduates with highly valued analytical and critical thinking abilities sought after by employers worldwide.
The MBA Top-Up programme provides a supportive postgraduate community for aspiring executives. Experienced staff from business and academia deliver teaching and supervision. Access to a research and study skills module enhances learning. With an MBA Top-Up qualification, graduates can address complex organisational challenges and pursue successful leadership and management careers.
Entry Requirement
You must have both of the following; Significant work experience in a business or management capacity; And a HE Level 7 qualification with at least 100 credits (minimum) in a relevant subject (for instance, Postgraduate Diploma in Management, ATHE Level 7 Diploma, NCC Education Level 7 or Pearson DMS or similar such qualifications from accredited qualification awarding organisations).
If English isn’t your first language you’ll also need IELTS 6.5 with normally no less than 6.0 in any band (or equivalent). You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work. When applying you must include a reference from your current employer, clearly stating how long you have been employed and give a breakdown of your job content and roles and responsibilities.
How Students Study
Learning and teaching methods apply a blended style. This may include lectures, seminars, tutorials and critiques, self-directed learning, e-learning and laboratory/workshop sessions, as well as online sessions and support. Practical skills are acquired through technical introduction and support, workshop sessions, demonstrations and activity-based assignments. Active learning is promoted with a strong practical theme, throughout.
Course Structure
This module provides an opportunity to critically examine leadership and management from social, cultural, political, and economic perspectives, recognising current imperatives in the global context of contemporary business. In the module you will compare and contrast traditional and modern approaches to leadership and management, engaging with management styles and practices from different regions and cultures, and informed by a diversity of examples and case studies. You will also systematically examine and reflect on your leadership disposition, skills, and behaviours. The GAME+ attributes covered in this module are: Influence and Impact; Critical Self-Management and Skills Mastery.
This module directly precedes the dissertation and will enable you to develop a research proposal, a more fully developed version of which will form the first three chapters of your dissertation. You will develop feasible research objectives and an understanding of the research context (towards Chapter One of your dissertation); an appropriate conceptual/analytical framework to analyse your data following a critical review of the appropriate literature (towards chapter Two of your dissertation). This module will allow you to make informed decisions about which research philosophies, strategies and methods are suitable for your research. The subjects of triangulation, reliability, validity and research ethics will be explored and a combination of methods to form a critically robust research design (towards Chapter Three of your dissertation) will emerge. With regards, to academic study skills, this module serves to develop academic study skills with particular emphasis on building your confidence as an independent learner and your academic writing skills. It will provide practice in other academic skills such as referencing, strategies for avoiding plagiarism, the difference between essay and report writing and how to search for relevant information effectively. You will practise using critical thinking skills, formal and informal presentation skills and learn how to get the most out lectures, seminars and tutorials.
The dissertation provides you with the opportunity to undertake an extended and substantial piece of research; to synthesise the academic knowledge acquired from the taught MBA modules and to produce an evaluative and critical discussion of strategic issues relevant to the international management topic under study. The dissertation follows the completion of the research methods module completion of which is a prerequisite for commencement of the dissertation. Following receipt of feedback from the second research methods assignment, you will improve the initial three chapters and in conjunction with your supervisor’s guidance, you will then undertake the data gathering either by fieldwork or desk research or some combination of both, evaluate and synthesise the findings and present them clearly. You will also present a set of conclusions drawn from the findings.
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