Structure and content
The full-time Stirling MBA combines academic theory with real-life business case study analysis. Successful completion of the eight taught modules leads to the award of the Postgraduate Diploma. Students then progress to the Master's element of the course where you will be required to complete a significant piece of research which relates to an area of personal interest or else on behalf of an external client organisation (otherwise known as a Student Consultancy Project).
Make a difference with a Stirling MBA
The Stirling MBA Personal & Professional Development Programme (P&PDP) offers a unique space for MBA students to focus on their own personal career plans and aspirations. Key components of the course include:
- Self-awareness and personal capability - the P&PDP will help you identify, develop and practice key skills that contribute to a successful managerial career including handling conflict in groups, managing group dynamics, assertiveness, facilitation, critical reasoning and argument building. These skills are fundamental to the instinctive and resilient manager to cope with all situations that you may meet in the future.
- Education means business - Bringing together local businesses, students and business support agencies, to solve real problems that businesses are faced with today. This is a key element of the theory-practice-theory relationship.
- Consultancy Projects - These projects are an alternative to a traditional MBA dissertation where you will undertake a real life business issue on behalf of an external organisation, providing you with a tangible example of how you may for example have helped a business grow. Such rich experiences are likely to help you 'stand-out-from-the-crowd-' during any future interviews that you may have.
- Organised field trips - Gain an insight into the workings of specially selected Scottish companies. Visits will include an overview on the company's history and culture, as well as understanding their approach to strategy development.
- Network with senior executives - Engage and network with senior executives through the range of guest lectures where they will share their expert knowledge and insight into current issues affecting business leaders today.
- Helicopter skills - the ability to understand the detail and the big picture at the same time. The MBA will help you develop greater understanding of the functions within any organisation, for example, marketing, operations, finance etc. as well as how these integrate to create success.
MBA Personal & Professional Programme
Semester 1: you will study four compulsory modules during the first semester which provide you with a foundation for the remainder of the MBA programme:
- Accounting & Finance – providing an introduction to the principles of accounting and corporate finance
- Economics for Business – focusing on micro and macro essentials of economics and how these key economic principles can be applied to decision making in the context of ‘sustainable development’
- Marketing Management – exploring the concepts of marketing and its strategic role as a management function
- People Management – providing an overview of the management of people and the changing role of a human resource manager in a competitive business environment
Semester 2: the second semester builds upon what has previously been covered and introduces some of the key elements which make the Stirling MBA stand out from other similar courses.
- Multinationals, Strategy and Emerging Markets – providing an insight into the required strategies and complexity of doing business on a global scale, with a particular focus on emerging markets
- Responsible Agents in Business Organisations – exploring the impact that strategic business decisions and practice can have on broader society, and emerging strategies associated with sustainable development and responsible business
- Research Project Management – introducing various approaches to researching in the field of business and management, this module prepares students for their in-depth research project
- Elective – students can choose to build upon aspects of the programme studied to date in order to achieve a specialist MBA. Electives are drawn from key Management School disciplines: finance, marketing, leadership, human resource management, retail, environment and project management.
The core module 'Responsible Agents in Business Organisations' discusses the moral, social, economic and environmental responsibilities which business people are faced with. Students are encouraged to be critical enquirers and develop their ethical thinking using a variety of academic and creative resources. Guest-speakers from the not-for-profit and voluntary sectors (for example, Amnesty International, Oxfam, the NHS or more local organisations such as Scottish Women's Aid) are regularly invited to take part in a series of seminars that further expand upon key topics and provide first-hand accounts of ethical issues in contemporary societies.
The details of recent guest-speakers can be found here: BUAP23 Guest Speakers
Summer: students are required to carry out a significant piece of academic work on their own (MBA Project), utilising the skills and knowledge attained throughout the taught elements of the course. This culminates in the submission of a dissertation which will be achieved through one of the following routes:
- Student Consultancy Project – this involves students being embedded in a selected external organisation, carrying out analysis that is relevant and useful to both parties, and that culminates in a written report for the host organisation and for the University. Projects are awarded on a competitive basis to the best performing students. Students have recently embarked on projects with external organisations such as: Scott & Fyfe Ltd, an independent, privately owned manufacturer of innovative industrial textiles and technology; Active Stirling, a non-profit organisation which delivers sport and physical activity throughout the Stirling area; Macrobert Arts Centre, a multi-art-form arts centre offering a huge variety of activities for all ages; Creative Stirling a not for project community interest company who aim to develop a commercially sustainable programme for the local community.
- Primary-Data Dissertation – students select the research question and methodology. The dissertation can be based, for example, on analysis of one or more organisations, typically on a problem or an issue, that involves interaction with the organisation(s) i.e. visits to collect data.
- Secondary Research Dissertation – this piece of work will be based entirely on secondary data sources.
As a not for profit community interest company, Creative Stirling aims to develop a commercially sustainable programme of meaningful cultural activity for the local community as well as offering practical support for the local creative industry infrastructure. We work collaboratively with local partners and are developing new ways of working that provide opportunities for learning, employment and professional development. Our social value and impact on the local community is as important as our success as a small business.
Our plans to be minimally reliant on public funding mean that working closely with the University MBA students and staff, provides not only valuable insight into relatively new ways of working for a cultural organisation but critically important information and indicators of both our economic performance and social progress. It is vital to helping us understand what we do and be able to articulate our story to our funders, supporters and new potential partners.
Their involvement has helped us to create a more complete and relevant picture of what we need to do in order to develop and improve our business model to achieve our commercial and social aims. It has also provided exciting opportunity for students and staff to work together and gain insight and practical experience to complement their studies.
Joe Hall, Director Creative Stirling
Flexibility of choice
During the Semester 2, you will have the opportunity to select a specialism which suits your future career aspirations. Six MBA variant courses are currently available. Elective Modules include:
- Master of Business Administration - Advanced Strategy & Leadership
- MBA (Project Management)- Project Management Fundamentals
- MBA (International Marketing) - International Marketing
- MBA (Human Resource Management) - Contemporary Issues in HRM
- MBA (Finance) - Financial Statement Analysis | International Corporate Finance
- MBA (International Retailing) - International Retailing
- MBA (Climate Change) - Energy Markets & Policy | The Economics of Climate Change
Delivery and assessment
There will be considerable emphasis on active and participative learning, with extensive use of seminars, case studies, role play simulations and workshops, as well as formal lectures. Assessment is by a mixture of examination and coursework, including written assignments, class tests and presentations.
Example timetable
The timetable below is a typical example, but your own timetable may be different.
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| 0900-1000 | Option lecture | Professional and personal development activities. The precise timetable depends on the number of students and the activities undertaken. | |||
| 1000-1100 | Lecture | ||||
| 1100-1200 | Seminar | ||||
| 1200-1300 | Seminar | Option Seminar | |||
| 1300-1400 | Lecture | ||||
| 1400-1500 | Seminar | ||||
| 1500-1600 | |||||
| 1600-1700 | Lecture | ||||
| 1700-1800 |