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Management (Professional Practice) MSc

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Start Dates

21 September 2026

Duration

18 months with placement

Recent Awards For Excellence

AACSB
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About this course

Overview

Why choose Huddersfield for this course?

  • Study at an AACSB-accredited Business School. Globally, fewer than 6% of institutions offering business degrees achieve this accreditation.
  • You'll have the opportunity to gain an additional professional qualification from the CMI which is highly valued by employers.
  • Study at the Times Higher Education Business School of the Year 2023.

Accreditation and Professional Links

Recognised connections to give you an extra edge when you graduate. Read More

Looking to build a strong foundation in management for a successful career in today’s dynamic business environment? Our MSc in Management (Professional Practice) will equip you with the essential skills and knowledge to excel as a strategic leader across various industries.

Designed for international students, this course combines academic excellence with hands-on, practical experience. Alongside your studies, you’ll benefit from a 6-month placement opportunity, allowing you to apply the skills and knowledge gained during your 12-month taught course in a UK business environment.

Whether you aim to advance within a global corporation, lead a team in a startup, or manage complex projects, this course offers a comprehensive understanding of management principles. You’ll explore key areas such as strategic decision-making, organisational behaviour, and project management, enabling you to make well-informed decisions that drive business success.

To enhance your learning experience, you will engage in practical assignments, case studies, and group projects that mirror real-world challenges faced by managers. Our emphasis on critical thinking and innovation prepares you to tackle complex issues in a competitive business landscape. With a focus on both theory and hands-on application, this MSc in Management will make you highly employable and ready to contribute effectively in a variety of management roles.

Who can apply?

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements for Professional Practice courses are normally:

  • An Honours degree (2:1 or above) or equivalent professional qualification, in any subject.
  • Applicants with other appropriate professional qualifications and/or experience will be considered on an individual basis.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 7.0 overall with no element lower than 6.5 (a minimum of TOEFL 550 (Computer Based Toefl 213) score) or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

What will you learn?

Course Details

The Fundamentals of Management module focuses on the fundamentals of why organisations exist and what organisations ‘do’. You'll cover core aspects of the management of a company such as strategic decision making, marketing, accounting and finance, operations and human resource management. The modules provides an opportunity to develop a high-level overview of the landscape of organisations and learn about the skills required by managers in modern organisations.

The Fundamentals of Leadership module focuses on understanding leadership in organisations. You will have an opportunity to develop an appreciation of the ‘softer’ side of business such as people management, communication, leadership skills, diversity and performance management. We will encourage you to reflect on developing your own leadership skills and style and developing your own leadership solutions.

In today’s highly mobile and interconnected world of business, you will undoubtedly find yourself working with culturally diverse teams, partnerships and customer bases. It is therefore essential that you are able to offer future employers, colleagues and other stakeholders an adaptable interculturally aware and responsive approach. In the light of that, this module fosters transferable skills fundamental to global employability. Your professional and personal development will be guided through the application of the eight CIPD Behaviours, University of Huddersfield’s target Graduate Attributes, and key Intercultural Effectiveness skills and mindsets. As you develop professionally through your subject studies you will increase consciousness of your individual cultural make-up and the impact of this on behaviour, relationships and worldview in order to navigate beyond the borders of your own culture. You will develop a conscious approach to effective global practice, responding positively to difference, and constructing strategies to deal with intercultural workplace encounters.

You will also choose three optional module in this year. The current optional modules are:

“The only thing that is constant is change” (Heraclitus). All businesses face a world of ever changing technology and ever increasing customer demands. Throughout your career you undoubtedly be involved in change of some description. This module will facilitate the development of the transferable skills and understanding you will need to face the challenges of near constant change with resilience. Starting with a strategic overview of productivity improvement you will develop the skills needed to lead, as well as take part in, productivity improvement, product development, process improvements, service design, and innovation initiatives.

This module is designed to help you develop a curious and enterprising mindset. It gives emphasis to curiosity, creative thinking, future thinking, vision and imagination – the precursors to identifying and developing opportunities for professional development, innovation and new venture creation. These skills and mindsets are relevant to business set up as well as freelance careers and employability. You'll gain knowledge and aim to develop behaviours and attitudes to help you interpret a range of problem situations and opportunities, leading to creative and innovative responses in the form of doing things differently and/or doing something new.

This module explores the links between people management practices and positive organisational outcomes and how these are achieved in different types of organisational contexts. Focusing on leadership, flexibility and change management, the aim being to help students become effective strategic managers as well as effective HR specialists, managing others fairly and effectively and increasing levels of engagement, commitment and performance.

This module aims to develop specific skills in analysing reward management practices in organisations. It considers how to strategically use reward as a mechanism for improving productivity and engagement. The module looks at contemporary reward management practices including strategic reward management, executive remuneration, equal pay and gender pay disparity.

Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach to pressing global challenges, the module will explore the humanitarian problems raised by challenges such as migration in the Mediterranean, the use of chemical weapons, desertification, global inequality, and issues around (de)development. By interrogating theoretical, practical, and legalistic responses to unfolding humanitarian challenges the module will draw on scholarship in disciplines including law, geography, and economics to provide a critical and engaging study of tested and innovative humanitarian strategies. You will consider and critique how problems of a transnational and global nature are being addressed by reference to a combination of technical, diplomatic, and legal initiatives.

This module will provide a comprehensive understanding of employment relations perspectives and debates, focusing not just on the theoretical, practical and legislative aspects of this constantly evolving subject area but also to manage employment relations strategies and their outcomes on organisational climate, employees and management. Through critical application of activities, knowledge and behavioural competencies learners this module aims to equip you to strategically manage employment relations practices across broad organisational settings e.g. non-union and union environments, to enable the effective management of the employment relationship.

This module provides an introduction into the strategic management theories and its practical application. It will cover: mission and goal formation, stakeholder theories, corporate governance, and business ethics, in addition to these topics, this module will equip you with the strategy toolbox that includes: external and internal analysis, corporate level strategies and business level strategies, strategic decision making and at the end overall evaluation of strategy implementation and evaluation.

Businesses around the globe are becoming more aware of their role in helping to build a more sustainable future. Consequently, this module will aim to provide you with an integrative understanding of the role of business in overcoming the challenges of sustainability. Utilising both theory and practice-based frameworks related to business responsibility, corporate sustainability and sustainable development, you will have the opportunity to identify, and assess the challenges associated with the responsibilities of business. You will also be introduced to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a view towards examining how businesses could collaborate to achieve these.

This module has a twin objective that will introduce you to the new automated, connected, digitised and mobile business arena of the future. On the one hand, it presents selected examples of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) applications from a human factors perspective trying to identify social, economic and environmental impacts and human-machine interaction complexities and concerns. On the other hand, it will cover how digitised and autonomous technology will revolutionise mobility. Transport considerations and the agenda of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles, the prime example of A.I., will underpin the content of the module.

As more and new corporate and trading actors emerge onto the global commercial scene, questions as to the relationship between business and human rights increasingly raise profound and intriguing problems of law and policy. This module, alert to historic developments, and drawing on principles of international law, investigates how national, regional and international initiatives to regulate the ever-changing dynamics of financial and cultural globalisation, are affecting respect for human rights in contemporary society. Your study will focus on some of the key dilemmas and opportunities arising from shifts in power dynamics towards non-state actors, enquiring as to how the UN’s negotiation and legal frameworks are adapting for the purpose of protecting rights and ensuring the viability of trading networks in the 21st century.

EQ (emotional intelligence) is considered to be the ‘soft’ skill which the sharpest leaders use. This module encourages you to enhance your effectiveness in areas of EQ such as self-awareness, self management, mindset, integrity, maturity, empathy, inter- and intrapersonal intelligences, and physical context. All of this is contextualised within a framework for developing effective relationship management in team work and leadership.

The rise in importance and complexity of financial management in an international environment poses a great challenge for financial managers in multinational corporations. The increasing integration of global products and financial markets around the world requires financial managers working for multinational corporations to consider exchange rates, international capital and debt markets, and economic and political risks to achieve shareholder wealth maximization. This module is intended to provide you the tools needed to understand the global financial markets and the challenges and opportunities these bring to the financial managers of the multinational corporations.

This module will introduce you to the theory and practice of financial decision making. You will study the basic blocks of finance and financial management that are of primary concern to financial managers and financial analysts, and the key aspects to make financial decisions. The module builds on the concept of time value of money, risk and return, and capital budgeting aspects of investment decisions.

Digital marketing is central to the contemporary business environment and is emerging as a fundamental aspect of marketing strategy. This module aims to provide you with a strong theoretical and practical understanding of digital marketing strategy, identifying objectives, strategies and tactics relating to digital marketing strategy and planning in the modern business environment. In studying this module, you have an opportunity to develop an understanding of the role of customer insights and enhanced customer engagement, focusing on direct and digital marketing tools and their implementation in the digital domain.

The module will encourage you to develop your entrepreneurial mind-set, and help you understand the challenges and opportunities of starting and running a new venture. Your entrepreneurial skills and abilities will be guided through the application of different entrepreneurial tools and techniques – as well as practical exercises - that should enable you to assess your own entrepreneurial readiness, while preparing for the risky, uncertain and challenging environment of creating new ventures.

‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ It is therefore essential that in today’s ever-increasingly complex work environment, you have a strong foundation of ethical decision-making & communication and deep understanding of the power relationships involved in a complex society. In the real world you will find it challenging to determine right and wrong when it comes to doing business. In this module you will reflect on the roots of (un)ethical behaviour as you explore philosophical, psychological, professional, and intercultural frameworks of ethics related to leadership, followership, and citizenship.

Within the complex functions of major construction, IT, manufacturing and retail projects that mark nowadays’ industries, the need for skilled and knowledgeable project managers is crucial. If you seek a role in a project context at any level of complexity, this module aims to provide you with an in-depth understanding of project management theories and practices in addition to operations management and their importance to contemporary businesses.

For more information on when and how we update our modules please see the ‘Legal Information’ section below.

An opportunity to pursue an area that interests you or which you are passionate about comes in your choice of project. You have a choice of three routes: Research Route, Consultancy Route and Entrepreneurship Route (subject to tutor approval). Please note, May starters will only be able to undertake the Research Route.

This module aims to provide you with foundation concepts of research methods to prepare you to conduct your own research. It will introduce you to different types of research approaches available to researchers, how to formulate good research questions, how to review academic literature in the research process, how to select the appropriate data collection techniques, how to carry out the data analysis and write-up. The module should provide a solid basis for you to develop your skills further in your own research project.

The Individual Research Project provides an opportunity to pursue your own interests and engage more deeply with your subject by completing an in-depth piece of research work using relevant research methods. Working autonomously, but under the guidance of a supervisor, you will make choices about the most appropriate methods and then conduct your own research project. Through the Individual Research Project, you will have the opportunity to greatly enhance your own knowledge and skills. The research will be presented in written format using academic conventions recognised in your field.

This module prepares you for the Group Consultancy Project. It introduces the theory underpinning the process of consultancy in organisations. The module will analyse various models of consultancy and you will be given an opportunity to explore different stages in the consultancy cycle including: the purpose of consultancy in business context, project scoping and contracting, information gathering, analysis and report, action planning, implementation, review and exiting.

The Group Consultancy Project provides you with the opportunity to engage in a ‘real world’ live client brief. You will work in small teams and will be expected to engage in the process of scoping the project with the business client, undertake the necessary information gathering, analysing the information and make recommendations to the client. As part of this module, you will also need to evaluate how principles of ethics, sustainability and responsibility influence your professional decision making.

This module aims to provide you with foundation concepts of research methods to prepare you to conduct your own research. It will introduce you to different types of research approaches available to researchers, how to formulate good research questions, how to review academic literature in the research process, how to select the appropriate data collection techniques, how to carry out the data analysis and write-up. The module should provide a solid basis for you to develop your skills further in your own research project.

The module provides you with the opportunity to take the practical steps to initiate a new venture or facilitate growth and innovation in an existing venture. The focus is on developing an understanding of business practicalities through action, reflection and case study. The module encourages you to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes for practice, recognising that you may be at different stages and working on different issues at the same time. Supervision and action learning sets provide flexible support to enable self directed learning to facilitate start up and business development initiatives with existing businesses.

Teaching and Assessment

Discover what to expect from your tutor contact time, assessment methods, and feedback process.

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Interested in a placement?

Placements

This course offers you the chance to undertake a 6 month placement at the end of the taught element. A placement can help you build on the knowledge and skills developed on the course.

The placement is a valuable tool that can enhance your employability and help you to develop as an individual. It is acknowledged that graduates with work experience are generally much more attractive to employers.

Our Employability and Placements Office are available to support you in finding placement opportunities and can provide advice in areas such as interview skills and preparing CVs and covering letters.

Where could this lead you?

Your Career

Previous graduates from courses in this subject area have gone on to work in a variety of roles such as Business Analyst, Supply Chain Manager, Management Consultant, Project Manager, Risk Manager, Business Advisor, Events Manager, Hotel Manager, Human Resource Officer and Sales Executive.*

*Source: Prospects

98%
Percentage of our postgraduate students go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating.

* HESA Graduate Outcomes 2022/23, UK domiciled.

£38.5k
Average salary of our postgraduate students fifteen months after graduating.

* HESA Graduate Outcomes 2022/23, mean salary, UK domiciled, full-time UK employment as main activity.

I chose a management qualification to build on my experience and progress professionally. The course gave me practical skills in evaluation, diplomacy, ethics, and emotional intelligence, which I now apply in my NHS role - benefiting colleagues, patients, and the local community.
Read More

- Craig Dominique-Smith
Management MSc, currently a Dermatology Nurse at Community NHS Services.

How much will it cost?

Fees and Finance

£10,305 per year

This information is for Home students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

From January 2027 the UK government is launching a new student funding system for people starting university education. Read more about the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE).

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/study/fees/

£19,800 per year

This information is for international students applying to study at the University of Huddersfield in the academic year 2026/27.

Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X) and/or Government policy. 

For detailed information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/international/fees-and-funding/

Home

The tuition fee for a placement year is £1000. If you go on work experience or work placement, you will need to fund your own travel and/or accommodation costs to and from the placement.  Please be aware that if your placement is outside of the UK, you will still be responsible for your travel and living expenses and may need to consider issues like health care and insurance costs.

International

The tuition fee for a placement year is £3,300. If you go on work experience or work placement, you will need to fund your own travel and/or accommodation costs to and from the placement.  Please be aware that if your placement is outside of the UK, you will still be responsible for your travel and living expenses and may need to consider issues like health care and insurance costs.

Scholarships and Bursaries

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International

Tuition Fee Loans

Find out more about tuition fee loans available to eligible postgraduate students.

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What’s included in your fee?

We want you to understand exactly what your fees will cover and what additional costs you may need to budget for when you decide to become a student with us.

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If you have any questions about Fees and Finance, please email the Student Finance Team.

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What does the univsersity offer?

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Take a look at the Charles Sikes Building, where your lectures and seminars will take place.

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Charles Sikes Building Exterior

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Dimond Jubilee Lecture Theatre

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The Street

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Breakout space

Students making notes on table

Seminar room

Students speaking across a table

Breakout space on The Street

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'The awards 2023' Huddersfield won Business school of the year

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We were named Business School of the Year in 2023 by Times Higher Education for our clear purpose, regional impact, job creation, and strong engagement benefiting students and the local economy.

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Why Hud

Explore the unique opportunities and resources that make our institution a top choice for students seeking a well-rounded and future-focused education.

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Explore Huddersfield

Make Huddersfield your home. A Yorkshire town, surrounded by beautiful countryside, with easy access to neighbouring cities; Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. You’ll find plenty of places to eat, drink, shop and socialise, there’s ambitious plans for future development. Our campus is situated next to the town centre - making your commute a breeze.

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Your Student Experience

Get involved in great opportunities helping you to make friends from all across the world and create lifelong memories. Join one of over 100 societies with the Students’ Union, experience new cultures through global events, earn whilst you learn and build your skills via our Global Professional Award.

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Budget Friendly

Huddersfield is not only one of the friendliest towns, it also offers you a lower cost of living than most big cities. This means you could have more money to spend, making your uni experience even better. On campus you’ll also find plenty of facilities and services to help you budget and make your money go further.

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Sustainability Matters

We’re committed to sustainability and aim to be carbon neutral by 2030. Our plan includes reducing emissions, enhancing biodiversity, and improving wellbeing through sustainable buildings. We’re investing in digital solutions, low-impact travel, and embedding sustainability into teaching and research, investing over £1m in carbon reduction.

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Committed to Your Future

Since 2015, we’ve invested £198 million to create spaces where you can learn, collaborate and thrive. We’re continuously investing in our campus with your wellbeing in mind—adding features that make our buildings healthier, more supportive and better places for you to succeed.

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Careers support

We know you’re coming to university to study on your chosen subject, meet new people and broaden your horizons. However, we also help you to focus on life after you have graduated to ensure that your hard work pays off and you achieve your ambition.

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Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you’ll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you’ll soon discover that you’re never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey.

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Teaching Excellence

Great teaching is engaging and inspiring — it helps you reach your full potential and prepares you for the future. We don’t just teach well — we excel — and we have the awards and recognition to prove it.

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Inspiring Academics

Our researchers carry out world-leading work that makes a real difference to people’s lives. Staff within the Huddersfield Business School may teach you on this course.

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Research Excellence

You’ll be taught by staff who want to support your learning and share the latest knowledge and research.

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Accommodation

Looking for student accommodation? Huddersfield has you covered. HudLets has a variety of accommodation types to choose from, no matter what your preference. HudLets is the University’s approved accommodation service, run by Huddersfield Students’ Union.

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Further Study

Many of our graduates stay at Huddersfield to complete postgraduate research degrees at Masters or PhD level.

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Legal information

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by our terms and conditions, Handbook of Regulations and associated policies. It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Although we always try and ensure we deliver our courses as described, sometimes we may have to make changes for the following reasons:

Changes to a course you have applied for but are not yet enrolled on

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment. We may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and if you are unhappy with the change we will discuss with you other suitable courses we can transfer your application to. If you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have an equivalent range of options to that advertised for the course. We will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to non-optional modules on a course if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change is a change that substantially changes the outcomes, or a significant part of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum. For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators or a commissioning or accrediting body. We may also make changes to improve the course in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback or to ensure you are being taught current best practice. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff being unable to teach due to illness, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to pandemics, other disasters (such as fire, flood or war) or changes made by the government.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but may happen sooner in an emergency. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will consult with affected groups of students and any changes would only be made in accordance with our regulations. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you let us know before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for any additional tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so and you may be eligible for an exit award depending on how far through your course you are.

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed in accordance with the student protection plan.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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