Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Entry requirements

A 2:2 degree. You are also expected to have at least three years of good quality, relevant, professional work experience, post-graduation, at the course start date. When assessing your experience we will look favourably upon evidence you have managed people, projects or budgets, have demonstrated career progression or have been involved in additional entrepreneurial or community focussed activities.

If you are a non-standard applicant (which is typically an applicant who has an undergraduate degree below a 2:2, or an applicant who does not have an undergraduate degree at all) we require at least five years of relevant managerial experience. You will also be required to write an essay (2000 words) outlining a range of business situations that you have experienced and identifying what you have learnt from them.

All MBA applicants must submit an up-to-date CV. For each professional role, your CV should include: company name, job title, dates of employment, details of your role and responsibilities and an outline of the skills required or learnt in the role.

You don’t need to have completed GMAT to apply for the Essex MBA but we particularly welcome applicants with a GMAT score of 600 and above. If you have completed GMAT, please submit your score as it may strengthen your application and your chances of securing a scholarship.

Months of entry

January, October

Course content

The Essex MBA seeks to develop socially responsible entrepreneurs delivering sustainable business. Our students are talented, ambitious and full of energy. They possess an entrepreneurial spirit which will be cultivated at Essex. Our MBAs aspire to achieve lasting positive change for themselves and those around them. We aim to inspire them to create the world they want to live in.

Our course is for business professionals looking to challenge themselves to expand their knowledge and skills, and to advance their career.

You will study a broad range of business functions, which includes strategic marketing, sustainable operations, accounting and finance.

Our Director’s Workshops are integral to The Essex MBA and run as one and two-day workshops at key stages of the programme. The sessions may include company visits, trips to business incubators and presentations from industry practitioners, as well as our specialist academics. The Director’s Workshops give you the opportunity to relate current business issues to content taught in your modules and develop your professional skills. Recent examples include sessions on personal branding, new business creation, business ethics, risk management, big data for small businesses, value proposition development and company visits to the likes of Adnams PLC, Cambridge Science Park and HSBC.

Your course begins with one week of activities to develop your networking, team work and adaptive thinking skills. It ends with a Capstone, where you choose to complete a dissertation, comprehensive business plan or consultancy project that can be tailored to your professional experience or goals.

We hope to foster your entrepreneurial spirit, so you can build sustainable, resilient business models that make sense to shareholders and the environment and respond to economic pressures, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. You explore the impact of internationalisation on businesses, suppliers and customers and gain the skills to lead in increasingly demanding marketplaces.

We offer a range of learning styles to fit around your professional commitments. The MBA is available to study starting in January or October. As well as the year-long full-time MBA, we offer a part-time MBA so you can opt for a two or three-year pathway and complete your MBA alongside your existing employment or own business. We also run an online MBA that gives you complete freedom to study when and where it suits you.

Fees and funding