Business and Management MSc (Online)

Our 24-month, part-time postgraduate course in Business and Management is meticulously designed to bolster your practical business skills and self-confidence. It seamlessly merges theoretical knowledge with practical, real-world application, providing a deep dive into the realms of business and management, and paving the way for advanced management roles and opportunities.

What sets this course apart is its design for flexibility, allowing it to be tailored to your individual schedule. This course uniquely combines self-paced learning with live, interactive sessions, offering a holistic educational experience that harmonises the convenience of flexibility with the dynamic engagement of real-time, collaborative learning.

You will delve into key business and management aspects through live online sessions with our faculty and on-demand learning on our virtual platform. Throughout, you will be immersed in a vibrant global community, receiving a multifaceted educational experience. This approach will deepen your practical understanding of the subject matter and furnish you with the skills and mindset essential for continuous learning and adaptability.

Overview

Start date24 June 2024
Duration24 months
DeliveryOnline (live and anytime study)
QualificationMSc
Study typeOnline / Part-time
CampusOnline

Who is it for?

Designed for ambitious learners looking to elevate their career horizon. This course dives deep into crucial business and management concepts, equipping you with advanced skills and knowledge. The broad curriculum prepares you for versatility and adaptability in the dynamic corporate world. With this comprehensive education, you will be ready to make an immediate impact in various professional settings, navigating the complexities of today's business environments with ease.

Those worried about meeting traditional MSc entry requirements. Our stackable 24-month programme is your solution! Regardless of your current qualifications or professional background, you can start your journey with a single 20-credit Postgraduate (PG) Award. This flexible entry point allows you to test the waters before fully committing to the MSc. It’s an opportunity to rediscover your academic potential and pave the way towards a comprehensive master’s degree, tailored to your aspirations and capabilities.

How will you learn?

In this innovative programme, you will engage in a dynamic learning process that combines self-paced, asynchronous online modules with highly interactive live online sessions led by our expert faculty. As you progress through the course, you will earn digital badges, a visible testament to your growing skills and knowledge that you can share with your professional network to showcase your development.

The course structure is divided into three distinct elements, each designed to deepen your understanding and application of business and management principles:

Bronze Level: Available at your convenience, these self-paced modules allow you to explore and comprehend the existing models and frameworks that underpin each component of business and management.
Silver Level: Also self-paced and accessible anytime, these modules take you deeper into the concepts. They encourage you to integrate your personal experiences and reflective practice, enhancing your ability to apply newly acquired skills and knowledge in practical settings.
Gold Level: This is where the programme truly sets itself apart. In live online sessions with our faculty, you will engage directly with real-time business issues. These sessions provide a platform for sharing and critically examining experiences, allowing for a collaborative learning experience with your cohort. You'll delve into theories and concepts, applying them to your own work responsibilities and gaining insights that can be immediately applied to your organisation or beyond.

The culmination of your learning journey is an 80-credit thesis and presentation. This involves crafting a management report that tackles a real-world problem, underpinned by both academic and practitioner literature. Alongside this, you will create a recorded presentation to evaluate the impact of your thesis work.

Course modules

Keeping our courses up-to-date and current requires constant innovation and change. The modules we offer reflect the needs of business and industry and the research interests of our staff and, as a result, may change or be withdrawn due to research developments, legislation changes or for a variety of other reasons. Changes may also be designed to improve the student learning experience or to respond to feedback from students, external examiners, accreditation bodies and industrial advisory panels.

To give you a taster, we have listed the compulsory modules which are currently affiliated with this course. All modules are indicative only, and may be subject to change for your year of entry.

Compulsory award-bearing modules:

Leadership and Organisational Behaviour
Economics and Finance
Strategic Management
Organisational Transformation and Design
Procurement and Supply Chain Management
Strategic Marketing and Sales
Thesis

Compulsory study-supporting modules:

Studying with Impact
Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism
Researching with Impact

As a highly flexible part-time programme, this course is designed to adapt to your schedule, requiring an estimated 12 to 23 hours of study per week over two years.

What makes this programme different?

This programme stands out as an engaging, interactive online course, offering a wealth of support features to maximise your learning experience. These include an Online Community platform, dynamic Impact Accelerator workshops, comprehensive Induction and Orientation modules, and specialised modules tailored to ensure that your study and research have a tangible impact.

Central to the programme is the Learning Community, a vibrant online space fostering ongoing discussions and collaborative learning among like-minded individuals. This community aids in unlocking new levels of understanding upon the completion of each module or component. Online activities like Meet & Greets and Writing Workshops, coordinated by a dedicated Customer Experience Manager in collaboration with the Academic Course Director, promote social learning and deeper engagement with the course content.

The programme is structured around a problem-led 5D framework, designed to cultivate critical thinking skills. This framework – Define, Diagnose, Design, Deliver, Deliberate – encourages a comprehensive understanding of topics, enriching and making your learning journey more memorable. It is an approach that not only prepares you academically but also equips you with the mindset necessary for lifelong learning and adaptability.

Career outcomes

Even though online, your Master’s is assured for both educational quality and online delivery quality.

Additionally, the School of Management is not only one of the elite 1% of business schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation for quality (AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS), but also the Small Business Charter. Your online Master’s from Cranfield will adhere to these strict standards for quality, so you can rest assured that you are benefitting from top-quality teaching led by world-renowned Cranfield faculty - whether studying live online with your cohort, or at your own leisure.

Our students do not always fit traditional academic or career paths. We consider this to be a positive aspect of diversity, not a hurdle. We are looking for a body of professional learners who have a wide range of experiences to share. If you are unsure of your suitability for our Business and Management (Online) MSc, we are happy to review your details and give you feedback before you make a formal application. You can also contact Dr Elmar Kutsch, Course Director, for more information about the course and your application: elmar.kutsch@cranfield.ac.uk

To apply you will need to register to use our online system. Once you have set up an account you will be able to create, save and amend your application form before submitting it.

Once your online application has been submitted together with your supporting documentation, it will be processed by our admissions team. You will then be advised by email if you are successful, unsuccessful, or whether the course director would like to interview you before a decision is made. Applicants based outside of the UK may be interviewed either by telephone or video conference.

Read our Application Guide for a step-by-step explanation of the application process from pre-application through to joining us at Cranfield.