Skip to main content

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

2026-27

How to apply Order a prospectus Postgraduate Open Days
This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.
This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.
{{menu.previous.name}}
{{menu.center.name}}
{{menu.next.name}}

Overview

Looking to become a more effective and responsible leader?

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) - a globally recognised qualification - can help you realise your ambitions, providing you with a strategic, global management perspective and the communication skills needed to thrive in today’s dynamic business environment.

Whether you’re looking to advance in your current role, climb the career ladder, or redefine your career direction, studying our MBA can open doors to new opportunities and help you achieve your personal and professional goals.

Our MBA will equip you with a strategic, global management perspective and the communication skills to succeed in today’s complex business landscape. With a strong emphasis on responsible leadership, encouraging you to consider the needs of multiple stakeholders. Through this course, you’ll gain an integrated and critically aware understanding of responsible management, along with the skills needed to navigate leadership roles effectively.

The course is built around four key areas

  • Professional development as a responsible leader
  • Leadership and people management within an organisation
  • Leadership in an evolving environmental and societal context
  • Strategic development and innovation to fulfil value propositions.

You’ll get exposure to cutting-edge management theories and will have the opportunity to collaborate with other talented students. These experiences will prepare you for senior management roles and help you make a meaningful impact within your organisation.

Key Information

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • You should have an Honours degree (2:2 or above) in any subject or an equivalent professional qualification.
  • In addition you would need at least three years' relevant postgraduate work or managerial experience.
  • Applicants with other professional qualifications and/or experience will be considered individually.
  • Advanced entry onto the programme would be possible for suitably qualified applicants. In such cases the University’s standard regulations and processes for accreditation of prior learning (APL) will apply.

Offers will be subject to an interview.

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 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

Start dates

21 September 2026

Duration

1 year full-time
2 years part-time

Course Detail

Responsible Leadership and People Engagement

In this module you will demonstrate the knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with ethical and value-based leadership. You will learn how to develop effective stakeholder engagement and talent management strategies and you will learn how to build a high-performance inclusive culture that gets the best from people and enables the delivery of results.

Strategy and Innovation

This module will support you to demonstrate knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with shaping organisational mission, values and strategic direction. It encompasses organisational mission, culture and values, horizon scanning, and responsible decision-making. By completing this module you will have the knowledge and ability to set direction, vision, governance and provide a clear sense of purpose for your area of responsibility.

Operational Systems, Processes and Decision Making

This module will support you to demonstrate knowledge, skills and behaviours associated with effective operational management and decision making. The module covers financial governance and accountability, knowledge and data management, risk management and procurement. You will learn how to use data from internal and external sources in order to identify longer-term opportunities and risks.

The Responsible Consultant

This module will prepare you for the Strategic Consultancy Project. The module will analyse various models of consultancy and you will explore different stages in the consultancy cycle including: the purpose of consultancy in business contexts, project scoping and contracting, information gathering, analysis and reporting, action planning, implementation, review and exiting. The module introduces ethical and responsible consultancy and research methods for applied projects. You will also evaluate your consultancy competency skills and identify development needs.

Emerging Issues in Management

This module will examine pertinent issues facing contemporary management and business. Given the global challenges facing business, the module will provide you with the opportunity to explore the changing internal and external contextual landscape and evaluate the impact of contemporary issues on economies, business and management, and suggest critical solutions.

Applied Business Project

This module provides you with the opportunity to get involved in a project, that is normally within a business of your choice. It is intended to achieve business objectives and suggest new implementation systems based on the client’s business requirements. Moreover, the Business-research project aims to provide solutions to a commissioned business problem. You will be expected to engage in the process of scoping the project, undertake the necessary information gathering, adopting responsible leadership in analysing the information and make recommendations on the basis of your findings. The nature of the task will vary according to the nature of the issue that is needed to be investigated; it may be strategic or operational.

This course has modules making up 180 credits over the 1* year, with each credit being 10 hours of study (1800 hours in total).

An average of approximately** 11% (200 hours) of the study time on this course is spent with your tutors face to face in lectures, seminars, tutorials, practicals and workshops.

The remainder of the time will be spent on independent study. Assessments take place through a variety of exams, coursework, etc.*

*Subject to mode of study.

**Based on current core modules.

Calculated using data from the academic year 2024/25, as of November 2024.

Further information

The teaching year for most courses normally starts in September with breaks at Christmas and Easter, finishing with a main examination/assessment period around May/June. Teaching on other courses including professional courses, postgraduate taught, research, distance learning and apprenticeship may have other start dates including January and May. All start dates can be found on each course page and term dates are also available. Students on a full-time course may have to attend every day of the week. Timetables are normally available one month before registration.

Our courses are taught at our University campus and you can expect that your lectures and seminars will be held face to face, except in cases of emergency or if specifically stated otherwise in the module description.

Students who choose to study a full-time course on a part-time basis will generally attend modules at the same time as our full-time students.

Feedback (usually written) is normally provided on all coursework submissions within three term time weeks – unless the submission was made towards the end of the session in which case feedback would be available on request after the formal publication of results. Feedback on exam performance/final coursework is available on request after the publication of results.

You may progress to the next stage of your course or research degree, subject to meeting University assessment criteria and professional, statutory or regulatory body guidelines.

  1. Our teaching staff rank first in England for the proportion with higher degrees and teaching qualifications, as well as being top five for those holding doctorates (HESA 2025). So you’ll learn from some of the best, helping you to be the best.

  2. We are second in the country for National Teaching Fellowships, which mark the UK’s best lecturers in Higher Education, winning a total of 24 since 2008 (2025 data).

  3. We won the first Global Teaching Excellence Award, recognising the University’s commitment to world-class teaching and its success in developing students as independent learners and critical thinkers (Higher Education Academy, 2017).

Visit ‘Our experts’ page where you’ll find in-depth profiles of all our academic staff

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up to date with the latest developments in their field, which means they can help you to develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant.

Find out more about our research staff and centres.

Diamond Jubilee Lecture Theatre
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
Executive Education Suite

Discover more about the course

Your Career

Discover the job roles our graduates are working in now.

Professional links and accreditation

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

Inspiring Graduate

Get inspired by real students and their careers.

Careers advice

Check out the personalised guidance we offer you.

Student Support

Discover all the support available so you can thrive.

Further Study

Learn about pursuing a Master’s or PhD at Huddersfield.

Research Excellence

See how our innovative research shapes what you'll learn.

Important 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.

You may also be interested in...

Management MSc

Full-time

Postgraduate

Enhance your career with the University of Huddersfield’s Management MSc. Master key management areas, enhance your leadership skills, and prepare for diverse roles in a dynamic business environment.

Find out more How to apply

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Part-time

Postgraduate

Enhance your leadership and management skills with Huddersfield's MPA. Tailored for professionals, this course equips you for high-level roles in public service, policy-making, and strategic governance.

Find out more How to apply
View more courses