Project Management (MSc)

Accredited by both the Association of Project Management (APM) and the Project Management Institute (PMI), our Master’s degree recognises that in today’s competitive business environment effective project management is integral to success in all sorts of industries and sectors. 

Project management, as a profession, has undergone rapid transformation in the last 20 years. The ever-growing consumer demand for complex, customised goods and services and the evolution of worldwide competitive markets for their production and distribution have increased the need for agile project managers who understand organisational issues, human behaviour and have the skills to organise the delivery of such products.

Skills in planning, benefits management, quality management, risk control and communication are essential to the smooth running of projects ranging from large-scale operational changes in multinationals to the running of hospitals and universities, government policies, engineering projects or one-off launches by fashion houses, advertising agencies and film productions.

Studying strategic and practical approaches, this course is designed to equip you with a set of tested skills for planning, delegating, monitoring and controlling projects in a traditional and an agile way. The syllabus is informed by APM’s five dimensions of professionalism and PMI’s Talent Triangle®, which are widely accepted as best practice in the area of project management. It will give you the knowledge and tools to help implement strategies for change, in a responsible and sustainable way, in order to influence progress within a company or organisation. You'll also learn the governance framework of running a project and how to handle the associated risks – with the opportunity to attain the much sought-after PRINCE2® Foundation and AgilePM® Foundation certification at no extra cost.

You’ll be taught by a teaching team which combines academic and professional training skills, most of whom either hold a PhD or are accredited professional trainers on such courses as PRINCE2®, AgilePM®, Management of Risk (M_o_R®) and Managing Successful Programmes (MSP®). 

We’ll bring you up-to-date project management practice, trends and issues – in recent months, for example, the coronavirus pandemic has shown how important the profession is in steering the expanding, uncertain, volatile global world we live in. At a time of change, project managers have the skills to ensure this change leads to better, more sustainable, equitable solutions that are beneficial to the widest possible range of stakeholders.

Top reasons to study with us

• Suitable for graduates in business, computing and engineering and those with an affinity for organising or running projects. Taught by staff who are also professionally certified project management trainers
• Opportunity to gain both PRINCE2® Foundation and AgilePM® Foundation certification at no extra cost
• Curriculum informed by best practice: APM’s five dimensions of professionalism and PMI’s Talent Triangle®
• Exposure to project management industry standards, including the APM Body of Knowledge 7th edition and PMI’s PMBOK® Guide – Seventh Edition
• We are an active member of the Responsible Project Management community

Course structure

• This course aims to develop the specialist knowledge, capabilities and technical skills that you require to respond proactively and creatively to contemporary project management practice and the challenges of the global business environment. You'll study six core modules, including the project, and one option module.
• Full-time students study three taught modules in each semester, and one year-long project module. The project module is taught in both semesters, but the bulk of the work is undertaken by students from June to September. 
• In Foundations, we lay the foundations of project management by focusing on the more technical skills of the profession, like planning, monitoring and controlling. In the Practice module, we concentrate more on the behavioural aspects of project management, such as leadership and teamwork. Together, these two modules provide a critical overview of the project management world. 
• Additional project management topics, such as risk management, project finance, strategic alignment, procurement and agile practices, are covered in other modules. 
• To complete your studies, you'll undertake a practical or research project. Past student projects have spanned different activities, sectors and countries – from analysing key project management issues, such as sustainability and success to the use of AI in project management and the communication challenges of virtual teams. Previous students have considered the value of agile project management in the public sector and examined risk management in healthcare projects, while others have focused on practices in Saudi Arabia, India, Latin America and Africa. Some students have set up a business as part of their project.

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course. 

Core modules

• Project Planning and Control
• Project Management in Practice
• Agile Project Management
• Strategic Programme Management
• Project Finance and Procurement
• Project Management Project

Option modules

• Managing International Projects
• Product Management
• Advances in Project Management

Careers

• Projects are one of the most common methods used by organisations and companies in every sector and all over the world to deliver both operational and strategic objectives, which means that having advanced project management skills can open doors to a vast range of career options.
• Our course has been designed to produce ‘hands-on’ professionals with career possibilities in project management, either as project managers in their own right or as members of a programme, portfolio or project office. Our focus on planning, resource management, decision-making, leadership, benefits management, sustainability and responsibility will provide you with essential practical skills that can be applied in a multitude of managerial positions. This opens up broader career opportunities to you as a project planner, risk manager, quality manager or estimator, either directing or managing projects. In addition, there is a large freelance contracting project management community. Should you intend to progress to PhD study, you can use the project module as a vehicle to start your research.
• The majority of our graduates start their career as project team members in a variety of posts from project support office posts to project team management to project management. A few, depending on their background, become programme managers in the UK and the vibrant global project management market. Many work for large UK or international organisations as consultants or project managers, including Transport for London, local councils and global charities.

Job roles
This course will prepare you for roles such as:

• Consultant
• Programme manager
• Project administrator 
• Project coordinator
• Project director 
• Project manager
• Project procurement manager 
• Quality manager
• Risk manager

Graduate employers
Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:

• EY
• GlobalData 
• Local government
• Network Rail
• Security Industry Authority
• Transport for London
• Yoox Net-A-Porter