MBA Master of Business Administration

Course title:	Master of Business Administration
Apply:	direct to the University
Start (ft):	September/ January
Mode:	full-time
Duration:	12 months full-time (September start)/ 15 months full-time (January start)
Location:	Putteridge Bury campus
Faculty:	The Business School
Department:	Department of Strategy & Human Resource Management

Summary

An MBA is a rigorously designed and intellectually demanding professional education and development programme studied in order to become a more effective and enterprising manager in a knowledge-based global economy.

The MBA programme of the University of Bedfordshire Business School, a member of the UK Association of Business Schools, takes the above as its starting point and prides itself on the important balance of contemporary theory and practice in delivering the programme. MBA students thus learn how to apply models and theories in a critical and creative way to real-life business problems.

The programme combines core MBA disciplines – marketing, operations management, strategy, for example – with innovative subject areas such as Entrepreneurship and e Business Management to provide ‘the Big Picture’ of business life which underpins career success in strategic management and leadership.

Why choose this course?

An internationally recognised degree conforming to QAA guidelines.
Mix with other experienced managers from around the world in a unique environment.
Opportunities to attend high profile business events run by the University’s Knowledge Hub

Career Opportunities

By embarking upon a course of MBA study at the Business School, the student signals to an existing or future employer commitment to taking charge of one’s career and to building strategic skills in readiness for increased management responsibility.

The full-time MBA studentship is highly international and diverse in nature, where participants come from a range of sectors and organisational backgrounds – manufacturing, retail and services; the commercial and public sectors; and from both large and small-medium-sized enterprises. Career progression in all of the above is enhanced by the strategic management knowledge and skills that the MBA develops.

The MBA is also excellent preparation for further applied research-based academic study in the form of a Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).

Teaching/learning methods and strategies

MBA study sessions for each of the modules (four subjects plus an applied project per semester) are focused, lively and interactive and draw on the management experience of all participants, students and staff.

MBA students are expected to read widely, absorb the basics, and to think critically prior to attending face-to-face student-tutor sessions such that the in-class activities and discussions bring real added value.

The full-time programme, normally scheduled over three-four contact days per week to allow substantial individual and group study time, is supplemented by workshops by distinguished visiting professors, by company visits and by careers advice.

An international perspective is maintained in all subject areas through the selection of study materials and in many module assessments by allowing the student to choose the context, organisation or scenario in which to apply management theory.

Assessment

There is a range of assessments across the MBA programme and within each of the modules.

Approximately 20% of the MBA programme assessment is carried out in student groups. The latter also includes oral presentations.

There are some written examinations and tests (Leading and Managing People, Strategic Finance, Strategy for example), but the main assessment vehicle is individual written assignments – reports, case study analysis, business plans – prepared by the student and submitted by a given deadline.

Whatever the form of assessment good student performance will depend on evidence of individual research, wide reading, critical thinking and the creative application of theories to real-life problems.

Dissertation/project and research

There are two MBA applied management projects, one in each semester.

The Executive Development Project is designed to help learning and personal development, and hence career development, through engaging in a process of self-reflection and action.

The follow-on Leadership Project has two assessment points: a critical assessment of a real leader from an academic perspective and a reflective paper setting out individual goals in the form of a personal development plan.

Further details about the course

The University of Bedfordshire MBA Programme consists of the following modules:

e-Business Management
e-Business is rapidly growing in significance and is having a direct impact upon traditional ways of doing business. It requires innovation and planning to make it work, implying commitment and management supported by technology, process and structure. This module introduces the students to the fundamentals of e-Business, highlighting such important issues as the new business environment, business models, internet marketing and implementation.

Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship module provides a sound academic base for the understanding and practice of new venture creation, growth and innovation, entrepreneurial behaviour and policy relating to larger companies and to small and medium-sized enterprises. The module is an innovative academic response to the growing importance of entrepreneurship in both its corporate and SME forms to economic development across the world.

Executive Development Project
Excellent leaders exhibit self-awareness and engage in decision making with an understanding of their own and others’ capabilities. These abilities enable visionary approaches to problem solving and effective development of others. This module provides an opportunity for participants to reflect upon their personal models of leadership in terms of their individual competence areas. Critical evaluation and reflective observation skills are developed in the context of personal effectiveness that will facilitate critique across a range of leadership issues in business environments

Leadership Project
Leadership is often the main difference between success and failure for organisations but it is not only the CEO who needs to lead. Indeed, good leaders are vital at all levels in the organisation to act as the link between planning and implementation. But while everyone recognises the need for leadership, prescriptions for leadership success are as many as theories. This module recognises the theoretical underpinnings of leadership but engages with leadership development in a more practical way, through a sequence of group and individual activities which build into a portfolio that forms the basis for future executive development.

Leading and Managing People
Effective management of human resources has always been important, but recent changes in the structure of enterprise, employment and organisational form has led to new expectations and new pressures, all of them changing more rapidly than ever before. Managers have to support their staff and colleagues in ways that ensure that the appropriate skills, knowledge, and behaviour are available as environmental demands change and the organisation adjusts to those demands. An understanding of the basic principles of employee behaviour, an informed appreciation of the value of the human resource, and the ability to draw on the former to add to the latter,can optimise employee performance within the organisation.

Marketing Management
This module is about how organisations attempt to survive and prosper in the long term by making products, services and ideas attractive to the individuals and organisations who are willing to pay for them. For organisations some of the key questions are: whom shall I sell my services to; how do potential and actual customers view my offering; how do I make my product or service different; how much shall I charge for it and where and how do I promote it and make it available? All of the above strategic questions are posed in a context of competition and in a political, economic, socio-cultural and technological framework that is constantly evolving. In summary, the Marketing Management module is about ‘satisfying customer needs profitably in a dynamic environment’.

Operations Management
The new global environment for operations demands new ways of thinking about the way we approach the management of our own organisation and those we network with. Global sourcing and relocation are now commonplace for manufacturing and service organisations; public sector organisations are also now contracting on a global scale. The module seeks to provide a fundamental understanding of operations management and procurement. This is then developed into the new ways in which organisations should be managed in the global context.

Strategic Finance
Financial management is fundamental to the success of any business. Choosing the appropriate financial strategy underpins strategic success and value creation. This module will provide students with an insight into the strategic importance and relevance of financial management. They will become familiar with some of the latest and most important techniques in financial analysis and planning. The focus will beat the corporate level and will involve an integrative viewpoint for assessing financial issues rather than a functional one.

Strategy
Strategy forms the spine of the MBA programme and is the framework on which the other disciplines hang. It also provides a distinctive set of theoretically grounded tools and techniques. Strategy is concerned with understanding why some organisations and industries prosper while others do not, as a result of decisions taken, or not taken, by management. It is also concerned with the role and function of general management, including ethics, as well as the decision making and implementation process.

Recommended reading

None prior to the course.

Entry requirements

A good first degree in any discipline.

Students are expected to have a minimum of three years appropriate work experience.

For international students English competence of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent is required.

Attendance

Full-time: each module will comprise two hours of in-class contact per week spread over three or four weekdays, allowing the student substantial individual and group study time outside the classroom.

Accessibility

The Putteridge Bury campus is suitable for wheelchair users.

A Disability assessment and advice service is available.

Find out more

If you need further information about the MBA programme, please contact Tim Priestman, the MBA Programme Director:

E: tim.priestman@beds.ac.uk

or

E: mba-admin@beds.ac.uk
T: +44 (0) 1582 743418
F: +44 (0) 1582 743924

Related Links

• MBA information hub - everything you need to know about our MBA programmes
• The Business School
• Association of Business Schools
• Chartered Management Institute

Related courses

No managerial experience is required for the MSc Business and Management.

• Doctor of Business Administration DBA
• Business and Management MSc

General Enquiries

• www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply for information about standard entry requirements, application routes, open days, fees and funding.
• T: +44 (0)1582 489286 UK/EU Admissions
• T: +44 (0)1582 489326 International Admissions
• Order a prospectus form. Enquire about courses and order a printed undergraduate or postgraduate prospectus.
• T: +44 (0)1234 400 400 University switchboard