International Marketing with Consumer Psychology

Overview

The MSc International Marketing with Consumer Psychology provides you with detailed knowledge of contemporary marketing concepts and in-depth insight into the boundaries of how international marketing and consumer psychology affect everyday life. The programme has been specifically designed to meet the current and emerging demands of industry, by exploring the impact and added value marketing has for various kinds of stakeholders, to ensure you are highly sought after upon graduation.

During the master’s programme, you’ll develop knowledge to define and explain key marketing, consumer psychology, and international marketing terms and parameters and become aware of the range of marketing theories and models available for supporting and understanding a range of international marketing and consumer psychology issues and problems. You’ll critically evaluate the role of marketing and consumer psychology within both national and international contexts, including the exploration of how policies, programmes, strategies, and resources are selected and implemented. You’ll develop problem-solving skills to various marketing, consumer psychology and international marketing scenarios and generate strategic options for resolving such problems.

Each course will equip you with highly employable expertise and skills across marketing and consumer psychology. You’ll have the opportunity to choose an optional course – from sustainable marketing, social media marketing, contemporary business technology, and heritage and cultural marketing – to customise your learning and develop your specific marketing interests. Your international marketing with consumer psychology dissertation will allow you to engage in an independent in-depth critical examination of a particular marketing or consumer psychology topic, which is of interest to you.

You’ll benefit from the industry relevance of the programme, which will set you up for life after graduation. Upon completion, you’ll be able to use a significant range of professional skills, techniques, practices and materials to develop original, creative and practical responses to commercial and digital marketing problems and issues. You’ll gain the skills to deal with complex issues and make judgements in situations in the absence of complete or consistent data, as encountered in real-life international marketing environments. Beyond the subject-specific knowledge and skills, you’ll be given the opportunity to learn and practice transferrable skills such as presentation, communication, analytical, teamwork and ICT skills.

Our Expertise

Your learning will be informed by the expertise of our research-active academics whose work covers four key areas:

Your learning environment

The MSc International Marketing with Consumer Psychology programme is taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials and group work allowing you to get to know and build relationships with your peers, the teaching staff and academics. You will be assessed by independent work and coursework and will receive support and feedback throughout the programme.

Outside of the classroom, you can join Heriot-Watt’s Marketing Society which holds regular social events, hosts speakers from industries, and provides networking opportunities and insights into marketing career opportunities by working closely with the support of the academic tutors.

Customise your learning

You’ll learn from the core seven courses on the syllabus, five marketing-based and two psychology-based, with the choice of an optional course to focus on the area of international marketing with consumer psychology that interests you the most. This gives you the opportunity to customise your degree to match your specific interests or career pathway by selecting a specialist course option.

In semester three, you’ll explore your chosen area of international marketing and consumer psychology through your dissertation. You will be required to demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by developing new insight from the analysis of valuable primary research.

You can choose whether to study the programme full-time, part-time, or by course. This flexibility allows you to fit your postgraduate studies around your lifestyle. You can begin the programme either in January or September, based on your availability, and the full-time course will last 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time. If you decide to study part-time, you register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of your second year.

You may have the opportunity to Go Global on our Inter-Campus Transfer. Opportunities for postgraduate study abroad are assessed on a case-by-case basis and if you are interested in studying at our Dubai campus or Malaysia campus for a semester or longer, you should contact the Go Global Team.

Industry

We work closely with industry to ensure our course content is up-to-date and reflects the current and emerging needs of industry and employers. You’ll gain the right blend of knowledge, practical skills, and soft skills to set you up for life after graduation.

An understanding of consumer psychology is important for many marketing roles including consumer research, online behaviour analysis, and persuasive marketing for social causes. Employers recognise that competitive benefits are gained from accurately interpreting the motivations and characteristics that drive customer behaviour. Upon graduation, MSc International Marketing with Consumer Psychology graduates have progressed to careers in marketing in the UK and overseas, working for companies including JP Morgan and Chase, and Del Decus Enterprises. The degree will provide you with the crucial blend of international marketing and consumer psychology expertise and professional skills that employers so desperately seek. You’ll gain experience in online collaborative working, business communications, and synthesising diverse information sources, which is highly valued by employers worldwide.

Accreditation

The MSc is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) within the Graduate Gateway programmes. You’ll gain a credit for prior learning upon completion of your degree or have the option to self-study for a CIM qualification during your programme of study. To gain your CIM certificate, you will need to register one additional CIM training course, and to gain your CIM diploma, you will need to register two additional courses.