International Business and Management MSc

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Course Overview

Attendance

UK Fees £16,500 *
International Fees £17,000 *
Alumni Discount See details
Duration 1 year

* Price per academic year

Course summary

Our exciting Master’s programme provides a practice-driven understanding of the global business environment. You’ll study in the heart of London, one of the world’s major cities and international business hubs.

Our comprehensive curriculum will equip you with the competencies, analytical, professional and problem-solving skills needed to successfully manage operations, tactical activities and direct strategy within organisations that are based overseas or trade globally.

You’ll develop your knowledge of a broad range of business and management disciplines in the context of international cultural perspectives, challenges and global contemporary business and commerce practices. Topics covered include economics, finance, international trade, branding, corporate social responsibility, strategy and sustainability, marketing and digital communication, leadership and managing people. The course is ideally suited for recent graduates and ambitious early-career professionals who may not have a business education background, but who are determined to pursue business and management careers.

Our teaching focuses on experiential learning, integrating theory with practice and real-world problem-solving. You’ll interact directly with businesses and be exposed to ‘live’ business situations through virtual experiences, case studies, business simulations, potential company visits, special talks and seminars given by leading business practitioners.

Top reasons to study with us

  • Wide range of topics covered will greatly enhance your employment opportunities in the global job market
  • Engaging delivery methods, including action-based practical activities and challenges, which may be set by businesses and enterprises, a community or other appropriate partner
  • A truly international business course, with almost three-quarters of participants from outside the UK and European Union
  • Become business-ready through intensive practical experiences and practitioner input
  • Study in central London, one of the world’s major cities and international business hubs

The course maps directly to CMI - Chartered Management Institute modules, giving you an insight into what good management and leadership looks like during your time at University. Benefits include:

  • A CMI L7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership, automatically upon graduation, with no further work or assessment required
  • 'foundation' Chartered Manager status (fCMgr), automatically upon graduation, which is a post-nominal you can use for your LinkedIn profile or CV
  • Affiliate membership of CMI for the life of the degree and 3 months' after, entitling you to become part of CMI's management and leadership community with invites to events and webinars, as well as access to business networking, ManagementDirect, the Career Development Centre, Mentoring, and the Kooth mental health support platform
     

Course structure

Course content reflects the main functional areas of business and management. During the course, you'll take eight core modules and one option module, with 180 credits in total.

Semester 1

We’ll consider the rationale for international trade and legal, financial and political factors encountered. You will gain a deeper insight into the implications of managing in a global context.

Semester 2

As the course develops, we’ll consider the practicalities of international trade, using live projects to explore strategy options, which may include expansion, diversification, technology or targeted marketing, for example. MSc projects are expected to centre on economics, finance, marketing research or leadership, while on the MA, the focus is more likely to be human resource management (HRM), marketing communications or project management. For example, one MSc student recently chose to assess the extent to which the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes’ ‘Consulting Readiness Index’ accurately reflects the maturity of national markets for management consultancy services. His findings are expected to have a significant impact on the consultancy industry.

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

Core modules

This module aims to develop your knowledge and competence of the research process and the application of research methods in the area of Business and Management. It consists of an overview of methodology, literature review, qualitative and quantitative research methods and considers the contexts within which different methods are useful and how they should be applied in practice.  The focus is on research design, data collection and analysis, and the presentation of findings.

This module provides business managers with a comprehensive, practical approach to using financial and accounting techniques and analysis in their business lives. It also looks at the concepts behind the techniques, recent developments in conceptual thinking and academic critiques. It will give students the confidence and expertise to use financial techniques and concepts in business decision making.

This module is concerned with both practice and theories of International trade and finance. It is related to issues such as classical and neo-classical trade theories, intra industry trade, factor input mobility, trade policies, infant industry protection, economic integration, foreign investments, balance of payments, exchange rate regimes and their implications. It is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying reasons for trade, shortcomings of the classical trade theories and some of the more modern trade theories.

This module examines contemporary global marketing issues from an applied and practical perspective. Providing an introduction to essential marketing principles, the module develops a thematic approach to ‘international marketing’ by exploring areas including culture, communication, innovation, distribution and sustainable marketing practices. Planned company visits (which may include field trip to an overseas (European) capital city) will form an integral part of the hands-on approach to teaching and learning where assessment is also largely driven by real-life business scenarios. 

This module involves strategic thinking that draws together all aspects of business & management. It applies strategic concepts and systems thinking to help students to understand how to manage businesses in a complex global business environment. The module content also apply contemporary strategic management theory and concepts to the critical appraisal of international business scenarios and cases. Students will learn how to develop sustainable business models and solutions in a complex and changing world and to think like business analysts, management consultants & executive decision-makers.

This module explores the development of leaders and managers from a multi-disciplinary perspective in a global context. It takes a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural approach to leadership and management development.  In our complex and interconnected world one needs to be open minded and ready to learn from all regardless of cultural, religious or social backgrounds. It also draws from historic examples and from the wisdom of Eastern and Western traditions. Further it provides a historic and a critical, research based perspective on leadership.  Participants are invited to review their personal views and experiences of leading and managing and explore new concepts and skills to develop appropriate personal competencies.

This module aims to assist students in understanding information management and information systems, assessing the different information needs of organisations, and being able to assess the increasing importance of digital information technology and management of information and at times knowledge in global businesses.

It is expected that the majority of the MSc projects will adopt a focus in Economics, Finance, Marketing Research or Leadership, and be more likely to apply quantitative or mixed methods and involve analysis of ‘hard’ and/or primary data.  However, students are not prevented from applying qualitative data approaches and secondary sources to triangulate their findings.  Also, other types of project are possible, subject to approval, such as a consultancy project. In all cases, the project must demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the appropriate methodology.

Option modules

This module provides students with a thorough understanding of the interplay between international financial markets and national and international agencies; and to enable students to have a critical awareness of how exchange rate movements might affect the position of traders and investors in the international markets, and how to avoid foreign exchange risk by hedging in derivative markets.

This module provides an overview of the essential topics in the field of Finance, including sources of Finance, capital investment strategies, the weighted average cost of capital, capital structure, dividend policy, corporate value, modern portfolio theory and financial instruments.

This module will help you focus on key people management skills for international managers (with elements like cultural differences and the international context considered essential). A strong emphasis will be placed on the need for managers to have a range of skills at their disposal in order to operate in an international, multi-cultural context. You will have the opportunity to focus on the intercultural competencies needed by managers, such as cultural awareness, and evaluate existing frameworks for understanding cross-cultural differences. The module will help you identify your likely future role as an international manager in organisations and the contribution of HR management to organisational objectives.

Sustainability is one of businesses most pressing concerns: it is the key question of our time. Sustainability is a broad concept that goes beyond considering the environmental impact of business to include economic and social issues. The focus of sustainability is the creation of a good quality of life for current and future generations by achieving a balance between economic prosperity, ecosystem viability and social justice. This module focuses on the challenges and opportunities that societal and environmental issues create for organisations. You will explore sustainable management in all its dimensions, learning from real life examples, focussing on examining key problems and developing solutions in order to lead organisations towards sustainable change that aligns businesses long-term goals with the broader expectations of society in a globalised, connected world. To help you understand the systematic and organisational role of sustainability in any organisation, the module will give an overview of major sustainability issues, practices according to the following 3 dimensions; environmental, social and financial.

A significant and growing field in the marketing profession is the use of analytics to inform managerial decision making. Although “analytics” seems to be a catch-phrase that encompasses anything having to do with numbers, marketing analytics comprises the processes that enable marketers to evaluate the success of their marketing initiatives by measuring their performance. Therefore, marketing analytics can offer profound insights into customer preferences and trends. The first part of the course will place more emphasis on analysis using excel and the second part of the module will extend the student’s knowledge of regression analysis using SPSS.

This module will help develop your understanding and use of fundamental statistical and econometric techniques used in economics, namely, the Classical Linear Regression Model, Ordinary Least Squares and introduction to maximum likelihood estimation; testing linear restrictions; Chow test; problems of multicollinearity and misspecification; dummy variables; simultaneous estimation and the identification problem; autocorrelation; heteroscedasticity; time series analysis; stationarity; unit root tests; cointegration; error correction model; volatility modelling and forecasting; value-at-risk forecasting and model evaluation. Computing and econometrics software has seen substantial development during the last decades and you will learn to use these necessary tools.

This module provides comprehensive training in leveraging data for marketing decision-making. It will equips you with essential skills at the MSc level, including learning to collect, process, and analyse data from various sources such as customer interactions, campaigns, and social media. The curriculum covers multivariate analysis using industry-leading software (e.g., SPSS) to uncover complex relationships between variables for predictive modelling. You will explore AI-aided and Python-based techniques like sentiment analysis in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to extract insights from extensive qualitative data, enhancing your ability to derive valuable information from large volumes of unstructured data. Through hands-on exercises, you will gain proficiency in using multivariate analysis software (e.g., SPSS) and AI-aided and Pythons-based techniques for optimising marketing efforts, enhancing customer experiences, and driving business growth in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape and dynamic marketplace.
 

Professional accreditation

This course maps directly to CMI - Chartered Management Institute modules, giving you an insight into what good management and leadership looks like during your time at University. These skills give you a clear career differentiator on graduation and boost your employability. The Chartered Management Institute are dedicated to increasing the number of professionally qualified managers and leaders. They work with education providers to inspire students to unleash their potential and become skilled, confident and successful managers and leaders identified by their Chartered status.

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Programme specification

For more details on course structure, modules, teaching and assessment Download the programme specification (PDF).

To request an accessible version please email [email protected]

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Prospectus

Get your copy of the University of Westminster prospectus and browse the range of courses on offer.

Request a prospectus

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Get in touch

Contact us for general course enquiries:

+44 (0)20 7911 5000 EXT 65511
(Mon-Fri, 10am-3pm GMT)

[email protected]

Live chat with us
(Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm GMT)

Open evenings

Join us at an open evening online or on campus. Get a feel for student life at the University of Westminster and talk to course leaders and our support teams.

Careers

This Master’s programme is designed to prepare you for a wide range of roles in general management across all industry sectors and within the international environment. You could choose to specialise in a specific area, such as marketing or accounting management, work with business start-ups or set up your own consultancy.

Employability and career development are an integral part of the student experience. Working on real-life business case studies and challenges will equip you with the practical skills vital for effective business leaders in a fast-changing global business context. Our ultimate goal is to empower you to achieve ‘6Cs’: cross-cultural competence, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and compassion.

Our graduates have developed their careers in a wide range of multinational corporations, management consultancies, financial services, government institutions and also family businesses around the world. Since 2016, three of our students have successfully completed their PhDs with us and are now developing a research-focused career in academia.

With a growing global network of 3,000 employers, our Careers and Employability Service is here to support you to achieve your full potential.

Build connections

Build connections with peers and future business leaders.

Develop your CQ

Develop your cultural intelligence – or ‘CQ’ – studying alongside students and staff representing more than 100 nationalities.

Develop practical skills

Work on real-life business case studies and challenges to develop your practical skills.

Job roles

This course will prepare you for roles such as:

  • Business advisor
  • Communication consultant
  • Corporate travel consultant 
  • Internal auditor 
  • Key account strategist
  • Market intelligence analyst
  • Marketing manager

Graduate employers

Graduates from this course have found employment at organisations including:

  • British American Tobacco
  • Darktrace
  • Deloitte
  • European Commission 
  • Google
  • ING Bank NV
  • JCP - Just Cruzin' Production
  • KPMG UK
  • Samsung Electronics
  • SEB (a leading Nordic Bank)
     

Westminster Employability Award

Employers value graduates who have invested in their personal and professional development – and our Westminster Employability Award gives you the chance to formally document and demonstrate these activities and achievements.

The award is flexible and can be completed in your own time, allowing you to choose from a set of extracurricular activities.

Activities might include gaining experience through a part-time job or placement, signing up to a University-run scheme – such as mentoring or teaching in a school – or completing online exercises.

Read more about our Westminster Employability Award.

Westminster Employability Award

Course Leader

Studying International Business Management with us

Teaching and assessment

Your learning experience is designed to provide both a practical and theoretical understanding of people management approaches and their impact on organisational behaviour. 

To assist the learning experience, we provide reading lists, lecture and seminar materials in advance via Blackboard, our virtual learning environment. Where possible, lectures are recorded using specialist software and similar tools to make sure you can really listen to what is said in class and don’t miss a thing.

How you’ll be taught

Through a variety of teaching methods – from lectures and seminars to case study analysis, business simulations and projects – we encourage active, experiential and reflective learning. You will demonstrate independent learning, critical evaluation, reflection, discussion and debate, as well as the opportunity through the project to research, in significant depth, a relevant business issue.

The emphasis in the classroom is on problem-based learning, blending theory and practice, problem diagnosis and the selection of managerial tools to provide the best fit with the situation. Gaining real-life experience of actual business problems is key. In the past, students have created and marketed their own confectionary products, worked with companies on the redesign and repositioning of products such as organic fruit juices and protein supplements, and worked with companies on specific marketing and branding problems. 

You will develop practical knowledge, expertise and valuable insights from visiting professionals from a wide range of industries. For example, students recently heard about sustainability and the challenges of ‘green’ marketing from the founder and owner of Alara Wholefoods, one of the world’s most sustainable suppliers of breakfast cereals, the first cereal company to be certified organic and the first to be licensed by Coeliac UK.

In the following graph you'll find examples of how study time has been distributed in the past (data from the academic year 2023/24). Changes to division of study time may be made in response to feedback and in accordance with our terms and conditions. Learning typically falls into three broad categories:

  • Scheduled hours: examples include lectures, seminars, practical classes, workshops, supervised time in a studio
  • Placement: placement hours normally include placement opportunities, but may also include live projects or virtual activity involving employers
  • Independent study: non-scheduled time in which students are expected to study independently. This may include preparation for scheduled sessions, follow-up work, wider reading or practice, completion of assessment tasks, or revision
Year
1
17%83%
Scheduled hoursIndependent study

How you’ll be assessed

Using a wide range of techniques, you can expect to be assessed on the learning outcomes of your course in core modules through coursework in the form of essays, reports, presentations, case studies as well as time-constrained in-class tests and exams. We try to make assessments as practical and relevant as possible, incorporating the type of work required by future employers.

In the following graph you'll find an indication of what you can expect (data from the academic year 2023/24). Changes to assessment weights may be made in response to feedback and in accordance with our terms and conditions. Assessments typically fall into three broad categories:

  • Practical: examples include presentations, podcasts, blogs
  • Written exams: end of semester exams
  • Coursework: examples include essays, in-class tests, portfolios, dissertation
Year
1
15%85%
PracticalCoursework

Why study this course?

Develop presentation skills

Boost your communication skills with experience presenting to real senior management teams.

Combine theory and practice

Link theory to global practice through real-life case studies, problem-solving and live business projects.

Gain business insight

Strengthen business insight through interaction with businesses and discussions about current market challenges.

Open evenings

Find out more about the University by visiting us at one of our open evenings, either online or on campus.

 

Visit our open days page

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Entry Requirements

A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2). Relevant degree disciplines include business studies, economics, geography, management, and operations research. However, students with qualifications in other disciplines such as engineering, environmental sciences, the humanities and languages are also encouraged to apply. Alternative professional qualifications with at least three years’ relevant professional experience will also be considered.

If your first language is not English, you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.5 in writing and no element below 6.0.

Applicants are required to submit one reference.

View more information about our entry requirements and the application process

A minimum of a lower second class honours degree (2:2). Relevant degree disciplines include business studies, economics, geography, management, and operations research. However, students with qualifications in other disciplines such as engineering, environmental sciences, the humanities and languages are also encouraged to apply. Alternative professional qualifications with at least three years’ relevant professional experience will also be considered.

If your first language is not English, you should have an IELTS 6.5 with at least 6.5 in writing and no element below 6.0.

Applicants are required to submit one reference.

More information

University preparation courses

Our partner college, Kaplan International College London, offers Pre-Master’s courses that may help you gain a place on a postgraduate degree at Westminster.

To find out more, visit University preparation courses.

What Our Students Say

Giammarco Spinozzi

Giammarco Spinozzi

International Business and Management MSc - 2019

The field trip to Tashkent helped me understand how corporate life works, considering different stakeholder expectations, complex corporate systems and how to meet the expectation of a board of directors when presenting a complex project which may affect the success of a company. Thanks to extracurricular activities and project that included the use and deep understanding of digital tools, I decided that I wanted to specialise in this area. The following September after graduation, I was hired by the tech giant Oracle Corporation in the EMEA HQ and recently won the 'Top Innovator Consultant' award.

Mille Marlo

Mille Marlo

International Business and Management MSc - 2020

This course is a unique opportunity to challenge yourself at a personal and academic level. The course provided problem-based learning, blending theory and practice in a multicultural environment. Furthermore, the university provides a range of clubs and societies. Personally, I joined Westminster Business Consultants which, along with my field of study, enhanced my employability skills and prepared me for a full-time position in the consultancy industry after finishing my studies.

Oliver Kewitz

Oliver Kewitz

International Business and Management MSc

This course is definitely one of the biggest opportunities in a student's life. It's not only about developing your academic skills in order to succeed; the biggest focus is getting out of your comfort zone, mixing with a multicultural cohort, questioning the status quo and thinking critically.

Also, the study trip incorporating real life business challenges was a once in a lifetime experience.

What our students say

Sayalee Mahadani

International Business and Management MSc

International Marketing and Communications Management and Leading and Managing in a Global Context were my favourite modules. The modules were all well structured and the academic team was very supportive throughout the course.

Student work

‘Sustainability’ has become one of the by-words of contemporary management, which is why students were given the opportunity to work with Kings Cross based enterprise, Alara Wholefoods. As part of their marketing assessment, they worked with Alara in a ‘live’ case study to investigate new export opportunities in one of three countries with no existing market presence, namely France, India and Uzbekistan.

Module Leader, Richard West, explains: “Gaining real-life experience of actual business problems is a key part of the International and Business Management MA/MSc. Alara Wholefoods is an excellent company to be involved with, because of the way they challenge conventional business thinking. The students will learn a lot about sustainability and the challenges of ‘green’ marketing from this experience."

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Learn new skills

Tackle business challenges

On business challenges, you’ll experience cross-cultural communication, teamwork, creative and critical thinking, leadership and working under pressure.

Develop critical thinking skills

Learn to critically evaluate the strategies that managers use to help organisations adapt in an uncertain or complex environment.

Achieve '6Cs'

Achieve ‘6Cs’: cross-cultural competence, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and compassion.

Fees and Funding

UK tuition fee: £16,500 (Price per academic year)

When you have enrolled with us, your annual tuition fees will remain the same throughout your studies with us. We do not increase your tuition fees each year.

Find out how we set our tuition fees.

Paying your fees

If you don't wish to pay the whole amount of your fees at once, you may be able to pay by instalments. This opportunity is available if you have a personal tuition fee liability of £2,000 or more and if you are self-funded or funded by the Student Loans Company.

Find out more about paying your fees.

Alumni discount

This course is eligible for an alumni discount. Find out if you are eligible and how to apply by visiting our Alumni discounts page.

Funding

There is a range of funding available that may help you fund your studies, including Student Finance England (SFE).

Find out more about postgraduate student funding options.

Scholarships

The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible postgraduate students.

Find out if you qualify for one of our scholarships.

International tuition fee: £17,000 (Price per academic year)

When you have enrolled with us, your annual tuition fees will remain the same throughout your studies with us. We do not increase your tuition fees each year.

Find out how we set our tuition fees.

Paying your fees

If you don't wish to pay the whole amount of your fees at once, you may be able to pay by instalments. This opportunity is available if you have a personal tuition fee liability of £2,000 or more and if you are self-funded or funded by the Student Loans Company.

Find out more about paying your fees.

Alumni discount

This course is eligible for an alumni discount. Find out if you are eligible and how to apply by visiting our Alumni discounts page.

Funding

There are a number of funding schemes available to help you fund your studies with us.

Find out more about funding for international students.

Scholarships

The University is dedicated to supporting ambitious and outstanding students and we offer a variety of scholarships to eligible postgraduate students.

Find out if you qualify for one of our scholarships.

Westminster Business School blog

Read our blog and get an insight into life and studies at Westminster Business School.

Visit the WBS blog

Facilities

Supporting you

Our Student Hub is where you’ll find out about the services and support we offer, helping you get the best out of your time with us.

  • Study support — workshops, 1-2-1 support and online resources to help improve your academic and research skills
  • Personal tutors — support you in fulfilling your academic and personal potential
  • Student advice team — provide specialist advice on a range of issues including funding, benefits and visas
  • Extra-curricular activities — volunteering opportunities, sports and fitness activities, student events and more

Visit our student hub

Course Location

Our Marylebone Campus has benefitted from a multi-million-pound refurbishment resulting in new workshops, digital studios and development of the Marylebone Library. The campus is home to Westminster Business School and our award-winning Architecture, Planning and Tourism courses. For more details, visit our Marylebone Campus page.

Westminster Business School

Based in the heart of London's political, media and financial services, Westminster Business School has excellent industry links and a strong commitment to social enterprise.

Our courses are accredited by professional bodies including the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Our practical teaching relates learning to the real world, and we develop graduates who are ready to respond to contemporary business challenges.

Find out moreGo to Westminster Business School page

Westminster Business School Marylebone Campus

Contact us

Call our dedicated team on:

+44 (0)20 7911 5000 ext 65511

Opening hours (GMT): 10am–4pm Monday to Friday

[email protected]

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Opening hours (GMT): 10am–4pm Monday to Friday

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