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Why choose the Graduate School of Business


Our business and management courses rank 4th overall in their subject field in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey 2024, with top 3 rankings for teaching, student engagement, sense of community and organisation.

Flexible courses designed to accommodate your work and life commitments with block delivery and different entry points through the year.

This MBA pathway includes an academically supervised placement, allowing you to gain experience using your learnt skills to solve real business problems.

About the course

This full-time, 22-month MBA with Placement is designed for early-career professionals, focusing on leadership, strategic management and contemporary business insights. Combining theory and practical experience, it offers insights into effective organisational management and ethical decision-making. Classroom learning is combined with real-world application through projects with leading employers, which you complete with the guidance of our experienced faculty. You also have the opportunity to put learning into practice on an eight-month placement, which is integrated into the curriculum.Ìý

Facilities and specialist equipment

  • Access our state-of-the-art data lab, equipped with top-tier business analytics software and platforms, including Vensim simulation software, allowing hands-on learning and exploration
  • Benefit from a range of learning resources, such as the Harvard Business Review and Oracle OPERA, to support you on your learning journey

Your student experience

Work on live projects with a range of commercial and government organisations, enhancing your learning experience and career opportunities.

Take the opportunity to develop a live project that you can put into operation within your placement organisation, fostering a sense of contribution and achievement.

Focus on active learning via flipped classroom delivery, peer networking, applied practice and 24/7 access to learning resources.

Develop the attributes and skills expected of postgraduates, as recognised by professional and industry bodies such as the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Confederation of British Industry.

Key professional attributes and skills include team-working, negotiation, leadership, confidence and the ability to apply critical and creative thinking to complex and unclear problems, developing innovative solutions.ÌýÌý

What will you study?


Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management

  • Build your understanding of responsible leadership, focusing on ethical decision-making and stakeholder engagement.
  • Explore global challenges to grasp responsible leadership in today’s dynamic business landscape.
  • Integrate insights from business ethics, sustainability, and organizational behaviour for a holistic leadership perspective.
  • Apply theoretical frameworks, case studies, and real-world practices to develop skills for modern organizational challenges.

Management Decision Making

  • Deepen your understanding of data-driven management decisions.
  • Equip you to identify diverse data sources for balanced decision-making.
  • Expand your insight into decision-making in HR, finance, EDI, sustainability, and other workplace contexts.
  • Develop your skills in analysing organizational, quantitative, and qualitative data.
  • Recognize the influence of human judgment, technology, and AI in decision-making.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

  • Foster critical appreciation for continuous innovation and entrepreneurship in a dynamic global context.
  • Enhance practical awareness of personal barriers to creativity and ways to develop creative thinking.
  • Cultivate creative leadership skills by understanding organizational barriers and building a supportive culture.
  • Emphasize the importance of participative approaches in driving continuous innovation and change.

Strategy: Analysis and Practice

  • Gain practical understanding of strategic management through core theories and frameworks.
  • Develop skills to analyse, formulate, and implement effective business strategies.
  • Learn to critically evaluate data sources and industry information for strategic decision-making.
  • Apply relevant tools to make informed strategic choices.
  • Bridge theory and practice through strategic simulations, gaining real-world experience in a controlled setting.

Applied Placement Project

  • Integrate theory and practice to develop a research question and conduct a significant study relevant to your placement and field.
  • Encourage critical reflection and identify areas needing further research.
  • Provide an opportunity for in-depth exploration of a topic, including a comprehensive literature review.
  • Train you to evaluate others' research critically to shape your own study.
  • Build skills in time management, research, project organization, and decision-making.
  • Prompt reflection on your career aspirations and goals within the placement.
  • Encourage reflection on placement-related issues impacting PRME and EDI.

How will you be assessed?


The assessment strategy for this course is designed in a way that will contribute to student development and will help you achieve your goals and enhance your employability. An essential element of this process is that feedback will be provided in due time so it is integrated in the learning process. When group work is required, the marks given will be individual following the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½'s regulatory scheme.

The different kinds of assessment are listed below, and in some cases they will be used in combination making sure, however, that there are no hidden tasks. In addition to the assessment strategies followed in each unit, your knowledge and skills will be also formatively assessed through problem solving sessions or case study discussions in order to ensure that development of your comprehension of the underlying concepts is appropriate to the level of studies and continuously supports your overall achievement. A full list of how each unit will be assessed is presented in the Course Specifications. Please refer to the relevant section of this form regarding academic integrity.

The underpinning philosophy of all assessments is to develop both your knowledge and skills to enter employment as a confident manager with a strong base from which to meet your own aspirations. This requires consideration of your own personal capabilities as well as looking outward at the business world. The aim is for you to become an independent and self-directed lifelong learner. Apart from the formal assessments, there will be an emphasis on self peer and group assessment. Tutors will provide feedback on formative assessments to support your development of good academic practice. All assessments are rooted in authentic and practical workplace scenarios to enable the integration of theory and practice in dynamic real-world work contexts. Exams are kept to a minimum.

To facilitate learning for all students, a range of assessment methods are used throughout the course including:

  • Business Reports to demonstrate contextual insight and professional practice;
  • Project Plans to demonstrate project planning skills;
  • Seminar Papers to develop critical analysis skills;
  • In-class tests of your knowledge of core concepts in context;
  • Project Report integrates learning throughout the course independently applied in practice;
  • Live Case Studies where you demonstrate the impact of your strategic decision making
  • Research Dissertation.

Each block of study has 2 assessment points; the first assessment submission deadline is in week 3 of the block and the second in week 6. Assessments focus primarily on critical discussion of theory and its application in current practice and are designed to provide reassurance of guaranteed student authorship and a true measure of your ability and understanding. The PPP unit requires reflection on performance to date with a focus on action planning for enhanced performance in both forthcoming assessments and personal development. The Business Placement Dissertation Unit is completed once the academic taught studies have been successfully submitted assessed and moderated in accordance with the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ Regulations.

Placement Experience: To qualify for the award designation 'with Placement' your Course Co-ordinator will be required to verify that the activities, hours and learning requirements as specified by the Business Placement Dissertation unit have been fully completed. The focus is on the impact of management education to management practice and later assessments require greater complexity and integration through independent study to support your successful transition into work. This is exemplified by two units at the dissertation stage: Management Practice (for Placement) and the MBA Business Dissertation on placement. These help you to consider your personal and professional development and the complexity of applying management education in practice once in employment.

Careers


Completing an MBA with a placement offers opportunities in management consulting (companies such as McKinsey and Deloitte recruit MBA graduates); finance roles in investment banking, corporate finance and private equity; marketing in areas such as brand management, digital marketing or product strategy; in the operations field in supply chain management or process improvement roles; technology management roles at tech companies or start-ups; and entrepreneurship, using your leadership and management skills to start your own business.

If you wish at a later point in your career you may pursue a doctorate of Business Administration (DBA).

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Entry Requirements

2.2 honours degree or equivalent in a related subject area

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

Fees for this course

UK

The standard fee for the MBA for students starting in the academic year 2025/26 is £15,400. This is the cost of the whole course.

Alternatively if you have any questions around fees and funding, please email admission@beds.ac.uk

International

The 2025/26 academic year standard international fee for an MBA course up to 15 months is £18,000.

For more information on our MBA fees, please see international fees

If you have any questions around international fees and funding, please email international@beds.ac.uk

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