Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Part-Time

Entry requirements

Admission is dependent upon you being:

• In, or about to be in, a supervisory, management or leadership role, or a role with significant management responsibilities throughout the programme.
• At work where you will be able to deploy and reflect upon the material of the programme.
• In possession of an undergraduate degree or equivalent and/or a professional qualification at graduate level in a relevant field followed by at least two years management experience. Or, substantial experience in a management or leadership role, usually in a middle or senior managerial post, where the applicant can demonstrate clear potential to operate at postgraduate level and benefit from the opportunity.

A member of the academic team will consider applications on an individual basis.

Applicants of ‘advanced standing’ resulting in exemption from some modules will be assessed individually through Recognition of Prior learning (RPL), the principal requirements include:

• That your previous postgraduate study is in the field of management or leadership.
• Your level of performance in a previous course is taken into account.
• The maximum remission will accord with the University of Chichester (UoC) Postgraduate Awards policy on advanced standing.

Months of entry

September

Course content

You will work in a group of no more than 20 on this part time course. In the morning you will discuss the theoretical and practical applications of various topics such as strategy, HR, continuous improvement, leadership and so on. You will apply and practice these ideas in the group to develop confidence to begin using them in the workplace. As the course progresses you will develop a greater say in shaping the content and delivery of these sessions.

Afternoons typically begin with a ‘reading club’ where a topical paper or book is discussed in relation to the earlier session. This session aims to develop your confidence in engaging with scholarly material. After this you will undertake group work to discuss practical application of material in the workplace. This typically takes the form of action learning but other group processes will be used as well.

A lot of your learning and assignments will be in the form of projects, which you will often complete at work. It is important to draw a picture of what these might look like, appreciating that clarity will only fully come in the conversations when you are planning these out with the Faculty and work colleagues. It is important to stress that we are not looking for grand or large projects. Learning is better achieved in smaller clearly defined project work where you can explore inter-connected themes at play with, for example, strategy, leadership culture etc. Successful projects have included:

• The introduction of a new spreadsheet in a team to record invoicing.
• Working with a colleague in a different department on a small project to prove a concept.
• Investigating a new market for a product.

In selecting a project, it is important to stress that you will be encouraged to push yourself beyond your own ‘comfort zone’ towards an area of your own development goals. For example, if you work in HR, an HR project with in your existing team is unlikely to be adequately developmental if it is just ‘business as usual’. Whereas if you were working in a different team, or site or stretching your application of knowledge, this would be encouraged.

The final part of the MBA is a live consultancy project. This covers important elements such as working with the client to develop a clear brief, understanding what is already known about the subject (for example a review of the professional and academic literature) and the methods and techniques that might be required to carry out the work.

This is broad brush and accompanies conversations you need to have with the client to agree a project. Thereafter you will be allocated a supervisor when the specific details and techniques of the work can be agreed and put into place.

Assessment