2024/25 entry
MBA Master of Business Administration (full award) PG Cert, PG Dip
About this course
A distinctive qualification which is intellectually-challenging, insightful and grounded in improving practice in the workplace.
- Delivered as block study for extra flexibility to fit around existing commitments
- Benefit from teaching informed by proprietary business research and close links with business
- Study LJMU's dedicated executive postgraduate study facilities in Rodney Street
- Expand your professional network and learn alongside local senior leaders and managers
- Post-experiential MBA designed for participants with at least three years work experience
- All MBA students and alumni benefit from membership of Liverpool Leadership Network
Liverpool Business School offers an MBA that recognises the benefits of peer-to-peer learning, networking and relationship building. With specialised Masterclasses from business leaders, as well as our experienced teaching team, the course will transform your professional practice and enhance career progression prospects.
We recognise the impact that good leaders can have on productivity and performance, yet the UK is lagging behind global competitors when it comes to the education and training of our managers. Businesses are increasingly recognising the importance and value of trained managers and are seeking professionals with recognised qualifications in leadership and management. The MBA is a respected and globally recognised masters level qualification in business, and demonstrates to employers that your professional practice is underpinned by academic knowledge and evidence-based research.
Our MBA programme aims to respond to the evidence-based need for trained senior managers by developing confident, competent, forward-thinking leaders who can balance strategic thinking with excellent operational focus. This is a distinctive MBA, which is intellectually-challenging, insightful and focused on improving practice in the workplace across all areas of management, leadership, and the functions of business.
Modules have been developed in consultation with businesses, who identified the following training themes:
- Your leadership development, strategies for engaging and motivating others
- Exploring strategy
- Operationalising the strategy
- Transforming organisations, change and innovation
The course is dedicated to supporting mature, professional students who may be having their first experience of higher education. We prepare them for work in this challenging and rewarding arena through work-based case studies.
The curriculum covers the broad range of business disciplines that prepares and enables you to work at board level, or in new enterprises. MBAs show a high rate of career progression in early roles post-graduation and we are committed to giving you the next level of knowledge for a higher salaried position.
Liverpool Business School at Liverpool John Moores University is a member of AACSB International — The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
AACSB International is a global association of leaders in education and business dedicated to supporting and advancing quality business education worldwide. Through membership, accreditation, research, thought leadership, professional development, and advocacy, AACSB partners with over 1,500 organizations, from more than 90 countries globally. Membership or participation in the Global Education Alliance does not imply accreditation.
Fees and funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students
Fees
The fees quoted at the top of this page cover registration, tuition, supervision, assessment and examinations as well as:
- library membership with access to printed, multimedia and digital resources
- access to programme-appropriate software
- library and student IT support
- free on-campus wifi via eduroam
Additional costs
Although not all of the following are compulsory/relevant, you should keep in mind the costs of:
- accommodation and living expenditure
- books (should you wish to have your own copies)
- printing, photocopying and stationery
- PC/laptop (should you prefer to purchase your own for independent study and online learning activities)
- mobile phone/tablet (to access online services)
- field trips (travel and activity costs)
- placements (travel expenses and living costs)
- student visas (international students only)
- study abroad opportunities (travel costs, accommodation, visas and immunisations)
- academic conferences (travel costs)
- professional-body membership
- graduation (gown hire etc)
Funding
There are many ways to fund postgraduate study for home and international students. From loans to International Scholarships and subject-specific funding, you’ll find all of the information you need on our specialist postgraduate funding pages.
Please be aware that the UK’s departure from the EU may affect your tuition fees. Learn more about your fee status and which tuition fees are relevant to you.
Employability
Further your career prospects
LJMU has an excellent employability record with 96% (HESA 2018) of our postgraduates in work or further study six months after graduation. Our applied learning techniques and strong industry connections ensure our students are fully prepared for the workplace on graduation and understand how to apply their knowledge in a real world context.
You will see a marked improvement on your day-to-day performance, confidence and learning in the workplace, as well as improvements in your ability to demonstrate new skills learnt during the course of your studies. By combining experience with new management thinking developed over the lifetime of the MBA, you will see improvements in decision making, contributions to idea generation and business improvement.
It is expected that MBA graduates will have an improved career trajectory and be able to move more quickly and with confidence up the career ladder. Importantly, many MBA graduates have used the confidence and skills they have developed on the programme to achieve their aspirations and move across sectors and industry boundaries.
Another benefit of studying for your MBA at the Liverpool Business School is joining a network of senior professionals. This enables alumni and staff to continue building meaningful, long-term relationships beyond the classroom, as part of the Liverpool Leadership Network.
The student experience
Discover life as a postgraduate student at LJMU.
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Core modules
Individual Development and Reflection
10 credits
This module is a integrated and holistic part of the first year of the MBA programme and seeks to facilitate personal and professional growth and act as catalyst for reflection on learning from other first year modules and the wider aspects of the programme.
Executive Leadership Theory and Practice
10 credits
The module aims to provide learners with a comprehensive overview of how to practically apply leadership concepts and theory and will encourage learners to build their own personal leadership brand. The module will explore how wider environmental developments in technology, ethical and sustainability awareness and social and cultural shifts have all impacted the role of the leader within organisations. Learners will consider how the role of the leader has developed over time and will reflect on what the future of leadership looks like in an increasingly digital environment. Learners will use critical reflection to consider how they can develop personally and professionally as a leader within their current organisational context.
Strategic Management
20 credits
The module aims to provide an analysis of the theories, concepts and frameworks associated with strategic management. Learners will develop a detailed knowledge and understanding of the complexities of creating, evaluating and maintaining ethical and sustainable business growth strategies within a dynamic internal and external environment.
The module will encourage learners to consider the wider societal impact of strategic change as well as the role of new technology and digitalisation in organisational transformation. The authentic nature of the assessment enables students to put their learning into effect in the workplace, to apply their understanding to their own organisational context and to develop practical management skills.
Digital Marketing and Communications
10 credits
This module will critically analyse and evaluate strategic marketing and digital communication approaches by: understanding the nature of contemporary integrated marketing communications; understanding the organisational customer and stakeholder; identifying market strategies for managing corporate brand and reputation; considering ethical practice in sustaining responsible customer and stakeholder relationships.
People: Planning and Engagement
10 credits
Learners will critically investigate the developments in ethical leadership and people management and practice in the context of a continuously evolving business context.
Students will critique a wide range of literature which explores the future world of work which will include the advancement in technology, sociodemographic changes, political and economic impact and influences.
Learners will also explore the role of values, behaviours and organisational citizenship and how this can drive business effectiveness and performance.
System and Process Improvement
10 credits
This module provides learners with an understanding of the fundamental principles of systems and process improvement and how these can support management performance in organisations.
It aims to enable learners to examine the use, application, and impact of systems and process improvement within organisational contexts. To achieve this, learners will examine the range of approaches available and explore how organisations might manage and improve processes to support policy, strategy, and stakeholder needs.
In addition, learners will appraise the application of system and process improvement methodologies and tools within an organisational context to impact outcomes, waste, variability, and cost.
Innovation
10 credits
Building on innovation theory and best practice, this module aims to develop your ability to think and act innovatively in a range of organisational contexts. You will learn how to identify, evaluate and exploit opportunities and consider strategies to support and promote innovative practices in your organisation.
Finance, Data and Decision Making
10 credits
The module aims to provide learners with a detailed understanding of how financial management theories, concepts and techniques are used to support transformational business strategy and operations. It will provide learners with a grounding in the financial tools used for decision-making and data analysis and consider how these can be used to meet complex organisational challenges.
Learners will use critical analysis to consider the limitations of financial tools and will evaluate the role of values, ethics and sustainability in creating appropriate financial reporting structures. In the module, learners will critically reflect on their own experience as well as that of their peers to enhance their personal understanding of financial practice.
On completion of this module, students will have developed into more successful, financially literate senior business practitioners and will be able to apply their learning to their current role.
Work-Based Change Project
20 credits
This module will have action learning at its core and learners will take responsibility for convening and managing the action learning process.
Learners will begin the module by identifying a focus for the change project through negotiation with key stakeholders within their organisation and spend time refining the parameters of their project across two semesters using peers to both support and challenge their focus. They will also identify theory and models that will inform their analysis and deploy a suitable research strategy to produce quality results and detailed reporting of their findings.
Tutor support will be provided to monitor progress and refine the parameters of the identified project. Canvas will be used to provide appropriate resources and support materials.
Applied Business Research
10 credits
The module will provide learners with an understanding of how to design and produce applied business research scholarly-practitioner projects. Learners will be provided with the knowledge and tools to be able to effectively design organisational/business/management research projects that apply to their own organisations or organisations which they are familiar with - learners will have a better awareness of how to become 'scholarly practitioners'.
The module will support and provide foundations for the final element of the programme, either the 'Strategic Business Proposal' (for Senior Leader Apprentices) or the MBA/MSc final consultancy project module (for those undertaking master's degree programmes).
Consultancy Business Project
60 credits
Undertaken primarily as an independent self-managed module of study, supported by an academic supervisor with additional guidance provided through the dedicated Canvas site.
Teaching
An insight into teaching on your course
Study hours
The course is taught in a block of three days each month over two semesters, which amounts to approximately 18 full days classroom-based teaching per year. The philosophy of teaching is 'flipped learning' which means students have to commit to background reading and engaging with variety of online resources, so they can attend classes fully prepared to participate in case-study discussions and other learning activities.
Applied learning
At the centre of our philosophy is the notion that we learn best from experience and applying our learning, so action learning and coaching are a key part of our programmes. This approach also encourages strong peer learning groups where you can learn from your peers, in recognition of the fact that management and leadership development is a social and collaborative process. We take learning from the workplace seriously. Consequently, everybody brings their experience from their area of expertise with them and you will be encouraged to share how your learning has been applied and improved practice in your workplace. The programme is personalised to individuals so that you can apply your learning to your own workplace projects and tasks.
Learning approaches include:
- Recognising the workplace as an important place to learn: Learners will apply ideas in the workplace, improving their skills through a range of workplace activities and then reflecting and reviewing this practice with peer on the programme. All the assessments are applied and related to the individuals own workplace.
- Self-development planning: Organisational processes can be applied to ensure that individuals plan to develop their own strengths in line with business competencies and values, and to recognise their own personal needs.
- A 'flipped learning approach: This reverses the conventional process of teaching by providing the content prior to the teaching and learning session using a virtual learning environment, so that the focus of the workshop becomes about active learning and application of theory to practice.
- Action learning: This will be adopted as a supportive and collaborative approach to learning to manage. Action learning will be used to support personal development, where issues and challenges from the workplace can be discussed. This approach to management learning provides a forum to bring ideas, thoughts and issues and allow a collaborative learning process to develop ideas for action.
- Work-based assignments: All assignments will relate to the workplace, giving you the opportunity to apply your learning to your organisational context. The final project dissertation is the opportunity to design an in-company project to ensure that business needs are met. It presents an opportunity for knowledge and skills to be applied to practice by delivering something of value to your organisation.
- Masterclasses: Key note speakers address current issues, emerging practice and thought leadership. The intent is to foster the need to be continually updating and engaging with the ways in which management in organisation is changing.
Assessment
How learning is monitored on your programme
To cater for the wide-ranging content of our courses and the varied learning preferences of our students, we offer a range of assessment methods on each programme.
All assignments on this course are submitted electronically and assessed against the key marking criteria set out in the programme handbook. There are no exams on this programme, assessments are by written assignment and / or presentation.
Course tutors
Our staff are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning
Victoria McCall
Programme Leader
Victoria is Programme Leader for the MBA and Executive Education programmes at Liverpool Business School and currently leads the MBA, MBA Scale-Up, MSc Leadership and Organisational Management, and the associated Senior Leader Apprenticeship Programmes as well as the CMDA. Victoria is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and teaches in the areas of Executive Leadership, Strategy and Digital Marketing.
Undertaking the MBA is a transformative experience and understanding of your own individual personal development is key. Delivering this knowledge and seeing it cultivate in students, through professional growth and business success, makes it all worthwhile.
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Lecturer/Senior Lecturer
School facilities
What you can expect from your School
The School is based in the Redmonds Building, in the heart of the bustling Mount Pleasant Campus and Liverpool's growing Knowledge Quarter. The building is home to high quality lecture theatres and seminar rooms, social spaces, and a café. It is only a short walk from LJMU's Aldham Robarts Library, which contains all the resources you will require for your studies, and is open seven days a week.
Liverpool Business School also has a dedicated Management Development Suite, based in a listed building in the historic Georgian Quarter of Liverpool and a short walk from the Redmonds Building. The building has recently undergone £1.2 million investment to provide a professional learning space.
Entry requirements
You will need:
Qualification requirements
Undergraduate degree
A bachelor’s degree with a 2.2 (hons) is required and at least three years’ relevant strategic management or leadership experience. Alternatively, a minimum of five years’ relevant strategic management or leadership experience would be considered if no prior degree is held.
Alternative qualifications considered
: If you do not meet the admissions criteria above, the course team has a strong commitment to widening participation and positively welcomes non-standard applicants. Candidates with some management experience or those who are about to enter a managerial role and have a demonstrated aptitude for study may still be considered dependant on circumstances and this can be discussed with the Programme Leader prior to application.
Additional requirements
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Relevant work experience
Applicants should be employed in a job role in which they contribute to strategic leadership/ management relating to their area of responsibility within the organisation.
International requirements
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IELTS
Where English is not your first language, or your first degree was not taught and assessed wholly in English, an IELTS score of 6.5 must be achieved, with no individual score of less than 5.5. The programme complies fully with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010
Further information
- Extra Requirements
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RPL
Credits may be awarded for learning already undertaken in the University or elsewhere for which you have received qualifications or certificates and you may submit a claim for recognition of unaccredited prior learning (RP(E)L). This may be for work you have accomplished in a professional, paid, or voluntary capacity. This must be submitted via an RPL form with supporting evidence. You will also be liable to pay an administration fee and charge per credit. All RP(E)L claims must be applied for at the point of admission and cannot be considered at a later stage.
Application and selection
Securing your place at LJMU
To apply for this programme, you are required to complete an LJMU online application form. You will need to provide details of previous qualifications and a personal statement outlining why you wish to study this programme.
The University reserves the right to withdraw or make alterations to a course and facilities if necessary; this may be because such changes are deemed to be beneficial to students, are minor in nature and unlikely to impact negatively upon students or become necessary due to circumstances beyond the control of the University. Where this does happen, the University operates a policy of consultation, advice and support to all enrolled students affected by the proposed change to their course or module.