Business Administration (with Placement) MBA

University of Bedfordshire

This full-time, 22-month MBA with Placement is designed for early-career professionals, focusing on leadership, strategic management and contemporary business insights. Combining theory and practical experience, it offers insights into effective organisational management and ethical decision-making. Classroom learning is combined with real-world application through projects with leading employers, which you complete with the guidance of our experienced faculty. You also have the opportunity to put learning into practice on an eight-month placement, which is integrated into the curriculum.

What will you study?

Responsible Leadership and Sustainable Management: Build your understanding of responsible leadership, focusing on ethical decision-making and stakeholder engagement. Explore global challenges to grasp responsible leadership in todays dynamic business landscape. Integrate insights from business ethics, sustainability, and organizational behaviour for a holistic leadership perspective. Apply theoretical frameworks, case studies, and real-world practices to develop skills for modern organizational challenges.

Management Decision Making: Deepen your understanding of data-driven management decisions. Equip you to identify diverse data sources for balanced decision-making. Expand your insight into decision-making in HR, finance, EDI, sustainability, and other workplace contexts. Develop your skills in analysing organizational, quantitative, and qualitative data. Recognize the influence of human judgment, technology, and AI in decision-making.

Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Foster critical appreciation for continuous innovation and entrepreneurship in a dynamic global context. Enhance practical awareness of personal barriers to creativity and ways to develop creative thinking. Cultivate creative leadership skills by understanding organizational barriers and building a supportive culture. Emphasize the importance of participative approaches in driving continuous innovation and change.

Strategy: Analysis and Practice: Gain practical understanding of strategic management through core theories and frameworks. Develop skills to analyse, formulate, and implement effective business strategies. Learn to critically evaluate data sources and industry information for strategic decision-making. Apply relevant tools to make informed strategic choices. Bridge theory and practice through strategic simulations, gaining real-world experience in a controlled setting.

Applied Placement Project: Integrate theory and practice to develop a research question and conduct a significant study relevant to your placement and field. Encourage critical reflection and identify areas needing further research. Provide an opportunity for in-depth exploration of a topic, including a comprehensive literature review. Train you to evaluate others' research critically to shape your own study. Build skills in time management, research, project organization, and decision-making. Prompt reflection on your career aspirations and goals within the placement. Encourage reflection on placement-related issues impacting PRME and EDI.

Careers

Completing an MBA with a placement offers opportunities in management consulting (companies such as McKinsey and Deloitte recruit MBA graduates) finance roles in investment banking, corporate finance and private equity marketing in areas such as brand management, digital marketing or product strategy in the operations field in supply chain management or process improvement roles technology management roles at tech companies or start-ups and entrepreneurship, using your leadership and management skills to start your own business. If you wish at a later point in your career you may pursue a doctorate of Business Administration (DBA).