Masters in Business Administration

Programme Specification Every taught course of study leading to a UAL award is required to have a Programme Specification. This summarises the course aims, learning outcomes, teaching, learning and assessment methods, and course structure. Programme Specifications are developed through course validation and are formally approved by UAL Validation Sub Committee (VSC). They are available to prospective students through the course web page, and must be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure currency of information (for example, following any modifications or local developments). Awarding Body University of the Arts London (UAL) Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body (PSRB) Teaching Institution Final Award Length of Course UCAS code Central Saint Martins and Birkbeck Masters in Business Administration Two years n/a Date of production/revision August 2017 This section is available to provide any introductory information on the course. It might include explanation of the position of courses which form a named pathway within an umbrella programme. Course Aims The aims of the course identify the rationale underlying the student s educational experience and own personal achievement from studying on the course and its affect upon the student s long term achievement and career. This course aims to: Reframe the practices in management and organisation to integrate design thinking and creative methodologies, and prepare professionals for high level and effective impact; 1

Empower students to integrate approaches from business, management and design in order to achieve positive outcomes for society and therefore transformational change; Challenge and enrich students understanding about managing and organising through the co-delivery of robust, evidence-based and research-led knowledge from the Social Sciences, Arts, Design and Humanities and from contemporary practices in business, social innovation, and entrepreneurship; Distinguish itself within the wider field of business management and administration through the provision of specialist collaboration between the University of the Arts, London and the University of London. Course Outcomes The course enables the student to demonstrate the following subject knowledge and understanding, intellectual and academic skills, practical subject skills, key attributes and transferable skills. Each outcome should be detailed below. The outcomes that you will have demonstrated upon completion of the course, are: Analyse an organisation s strategic focus and the inter-relationships between resources, customers, clients, stakeholders and communities in a uncertain operating environment Develop critical reflection, skills, and engagement with different theories to understand and re-imagine existing individual and organisational perspectives and practices Understand the complex inter-relationships between strategy, resources, and capabilities Draw on models and approaches to social and organisational improvement, innovation and change Apply a range of business analysis tools to manage resources and achieve organisational objectives Use high-level communication skills and advocacy to influence stakeholder networks and bring about positive change 2

Demonstrate leadership of innovation and positive transformation as part of strategic development in an organisation Facilitate, lead, and work effectively as a member of teams and networks of people with different specialisms, educational cultural and professional backgrounds Understand the needs of others, and demonstrate empathy and a sensitivity to diversity in people and environments Recognise and address ethical and sustainability issues and exercise corporate social responsibility Demonstrate resilience and tenacity in managing own learning, exercising initiative and making things happen Learning and Teaching Methods: Provide a summary of the relevant learning and teaching methods for the course (i.e. lectures, seminars, independent learning). The MBA is co-located at both institutions, and will utilise team teaching with staff from both institutions throughout the course. This is important, as it reinforces the integrated and holistic philosophy that underpins the course; the team is keen to avoid the tendency toward silo-like division between disciplines, which is a weakness of current provision in the MBA sector. The CSM Birkbeck MBA enables students to achieve learning outcomes through a collaborative, experiential learning journey throughout the course. The following principles underpin the proposed academic programme: Redesigning management education. At the heart of this proposal is an ambition to create new kinds of manager and future leader for organisations that value creativity, in any industry, and of any size. The traditional competences of MBA graduates are analytical, and generally focus specifically on quantitative analytical skills; our research however suggests that a new approach is needed; one which is able to balance metrics-driven models with a more speculative, less-risk averse, and more flexible framework. Similarly, destinations for many MBA graduates large organisations are becoming less hierarchical and top down, and more oriented towards co-creation and co-production of customer experiences, partly in response to challenge from newer, more agile start-ups. 3

Experiential problem-based learning. Example: A partner sets a project brief agreed with the course team. This poses an organisational problem for students to generate responses to during a three-day residential. They work together to research, develop and explore possible solutions. Then, back home they continue working on the project supported by online collaboration tools and media for example researching how other organisations have responded to similar issues. Finally they present the responses to tutors and to the partner organisation, and to other student teams. Assessment is of project presentations supplemented by a written and illustrated report. Practical projects in traditional management fields. Example: In the accountabilities and impact course element, students learn through readings (text book chapters, journal papers) and guest lectures, the different ways that organisations try to describe their triple bottom line (3BL) i.e. their financial, social and environmental impact. Students then work in teams to gather and use existing data supplied by a partner to produce a 3BL-style analysis of organisational impact. Through online discussion, students and tutors review each other s reports, which are also assessed. Assessment by mixed methods. Assessment evidence and the practices of assessment will be aligned to subject content of each unit, blending methods common within both the business and arts and design traditions. Live projects and synthesised work based learning will be key and require sophisticated assessment schemes. Self- and peer-assessment will also be central to the culture of co-ownership that we wish to create amongst students and staff. The course operates through a blended-learning delivery model, by means of face-to-face and online teaching, in a low-residency 18-month mode of three phases, each of 20 weeks. This mode of learning supports students who are already established in their careers, and who may be travelling from afar to join the course. Peer and collaborative learning is fundamental to this model, and is achieved through a series of lectures, webinars, group tasks and workshops, as well as practice-based project developments, enabling students to create networks that we hope will last well beyond their studies. Units 1 to 3 Study is facilitated through weekly activity briefs and reading tasks, peer and self-evaluation in online group tutorials and individual online tutorial feedback. Group workshops and seminars during the face-to-face study time support student engagement further. To achieve this, the programme of study will typically include: 4

Unit briefing and introduction; Ice-Breaker activity briefs; Group on-line orientation exercise; Reading tasks; Face-to-Face workshops, introducing different ways of locating, interrogating and interpreting a number of theoretical models; Team work; Student presentations to tutors and peers; Peer and external feedback; Tutorial facilitation/evaluation related to team/individual and cohort; Unit 4 Dissertation or Live Project This unit is focused on self-directed learning, as students bring together the various components of the course. Students will be assigned a personal tutor, and they will need to negotiate the form and timing of the engagement with their tutor e.g. face-to-face, digital/virtual interaction or telephone/video conferencing taking account of the allocated learning and teaching hours for this unit. Scheduled Learning and Teaching State the notional learning hours and provide a percentage breakdown of timetabled teaching and learning activities per level. Scheduled Learning and Teaching this is the percentage of your time spent in timetabled learning and teaching. You are expected to study for 1,800 hours over 60 weeks; below is the amount of time which is timetabled activity. The rest of your learning time will be self-directed, independent study. Percentage of time spent in timetabled learning and teaching 40% 5

Assessment Methods: Provide a summary of the relevant assessment methods for the course. Each summative unit assessment will be assessed holistically : Holistic Assessment In holistic assessment students may be asked to submit one or more pieces of work, but tutors will look at all the work for the unit and make a single judgement about students performance against the University s marking criteria. Students will receive a single grade and a single feedback form. Students will need to achieve a grade of D- or above to pass the unit. Unit 1 Holistic Assessment To demonstrate your achievement of the learning outcomes of this unit, you are expected to provide evidence that your practice has been informed by theory and that you have: Actively participated in each of the sprints; Identified and performed a range of roles within the team; Contributed as an individual and as a team member, in line with the requirements of each sprint. This will typically take the form of a documented group presentation and an individual report for each sprint. The work for this unit will be assessed holistically (tutors will look at all the work for the unit and make a single judgement against the marking criteria). Unit 2 Holistic Assessment To evidence your achievement of the learning outcomes of this unit, you are required to submit: Team-led and individual writing tasks and contributions to peer presentations throughout the unit, evidenced in your online interactions in the digital classroom (formatively assessed); An entrepreneurial team pitch (with a tangible outcome), and 6

An individual evaluative report, showing critical analysis and reflection (this may take the form, for example, of a business plan, or a pitch to stakeholders and/or backers) (summatively assessed). The work for this unit will be assessed holistically (tutors will look at all the work for the unit and make a single judgement against the marking criteria). Unit 3 Holistic Assessment To evidence your achievement of the learning outcomes of this unit, you are expected to submit: Team-led and individual writing tasks and contributions to peer presentations throughout the unit, evidenced in your Reading Room Forum online (formatively assessed), as specified in the sprints; The relevant reports as specified in the sprints (summatively assessed). The work for this unit will be assessed holistically (tutors will look at all the work for the unit and make a single judgement against the marking criteria). Unit 4 Holistic Assessment To evidence your achievement of the learning outcomes of this unit, you are expected to undertake and submit the following: Option A Live Project: an individual practical project, with original research and appropriate documentation totalling 12,500 words, which identifies and puts into practice some of the strategies of social, business and organisational innovation, previously encountered on the course. Option B Dissertation: A 20,000-word dissertation in the form of an in-depth, critical analysis of the theoretical principles and discourses of social, business and organisational innovation. Supported by the Course Team, you are also required to work with your peers in the organisation of an online exhibition of your projects, supervised by a tutor. This exhibition celebrates the achievements of the cohort, and allows you, individually, to present the critical and creative outcomes of your work to a wider audience, in the form of the documentation of your learning journey and personal transformation. 7

Reference Points List any policies, descriptors, initiatives or benchmark statements used in the development of the course. The following reference points were used in designing the course: Benchmark statements statement for Master s Degrees in Business and Management (QAA, June 2015); FHEQ Level Descriptors (Level 7); Association of MBA s (AMBA) accreditation criteria; and External industry advice and guidance Programme Summary Programme structures, features, units, credit and award requirements: List the course details that constitute the agreed student entitlement for this course. This should include unit titles and credit, types of learning, and details of tutorial support. If the course includes a work or study placement (including Dip Professional Studies), the duration and a summary of expectations around arrangements must be highlighted. CSM and Birkbeck propose the development of a joint Masters in Business Administration (MBA) to be offered in flexible mode, using low residency and online delivery, over 18 months. PG Cert and PG Dip exit awards are available at 60 credits and 120 credits (respectively). The MBA award is recognised internationally, as a portable post-graduate degree that gives students an overview of management; across the sector as a whole, there are approximately 12,000 institutions worldwide offering education in business and management (Economist, 2014). Whilst applications to traditional MBAs globally have slowed over the last five years, overall demand for post-graduate business degrees remains very strong, with top business schools reporting significant increases in numbers of applications. As an example, London Business School s MBA (which is not a competitor to the proposed course), reported the most recent application: enrolment ratio of 6:1 (source: meeting with Director of MBA at LBS). 8

The orthodox MBA curriculum is informed by scientific and quantitative models of management and business theory. However, over the past 10 to 15 years, new models have emerged which include: Business schools teaching more design thinking, creativity and in an arts context, usually through electives; MBA courses offered by/taught within design schools (e.g. California College of the Arts; Philadelphia University); Dual degree programmes (e.g. IIT MA/MBA); Executive education (e.g. design thinking modules at Stanford). In this context, CSM and Birkbeck s intention is to offer a different kind of MBA. There is a clear opportunity for a holistic approach combining elements that enable an applied base and performative/experiential components. This approach is open to new forms of social and economic wealth creation, and seeks to bring methodologies and processes that are implicit in creative practice (e.g. design thinking) to the major societal and political challenges of the next 50 years. The new course is being designed with three interrelated strands: Personal transformation and positive change; Developing individual managerial and leadership capacities through experiential and reflective learning and practical involvement in projects that affect positive change. Innovation practice; An approach to teaching and learning that delivers theory through practice, combining thinking and doing, the strengths of an art and design school, and creating confidence in the agency of stakeholders and participants. Managerial competences; Developing knowledge, understanding and skills in core management competences with opportunities to practice and hone these skills in relation to global challenges, live projects and real-world issues. The learning experience will be low residency, combining face-to-face, intensive learning in blocks of on-site attendance, with on-line synchronous and asynchronous learning and independent learning through a secure Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Intensive on-site sessions at both institutions 9

will be scheduled to take place over weekends, which will serve to attract a broader profile of students to engage with postgraduate study than has been possible to date with conventional post-graduate study. With a October start date, the course will align with the UAL PG Framework, and be structured in three phases, each lasting six months: Phase 1/Unit 1: 60 credits (with a PG Cert exit award) Phase 2/Units 2 and 3: 20 plus 40 credits (with a PG Dip exit award) Phase 3/Unit 4: 60 credits. The Exam Board will award a Masters Degree Classification based on the letter grades achieved for all units successfully completed, weighted according to the credit-rating of each unit. The curriculum in Phase 1 will be based on a group project, undertaken in short sprints and tasks (element-based assessment), with a tool-box approach to content. Topics are likely to cover global challenges; uncertainty; networks; and existing and alternative business models and finance systems. Specific skill-based teaching, such as principles of finance, will be timetabled at critical points in the development of this project, and will be delivered on an as-needed basis, only at the specific point at which they become directly relevant to the overall group task in hand. In this way, the curriculum will be driven by making a difference, rather than the acquisition of skills and tools for its own sake. Phase 2 moves from one overarching group project to issue-, opportunity- or theme-based projects, in which smaller groups will self-define according to interest. Content will continue to be timetabled according to need and pace of the projects, and, in the last two months of this phase, will be tailored as much as possible to support individual needs and interests, as proposals for the final phase start to take shape. Phase 2 also offers a 40-credit unit in which students will be encouraged to collaborate with external partners, whom they have the responsibility of finding and approaching. In this way, students can put into practice networking skills developed during the first phase. Phase 3 is about making change happen. The emphasis on discrete skills of the first phase, together with the focus on collaborative working and creative approaches to larger issues and opportunities in the second, will build to create a level of confidence and independence, enabling students to tackle individual projects. Outcomes are flexible and may include conventional 10

academic dissertations, or a portfolio of work, including scoping and opportunity reports, proposals, business plans and costings etc. Distinctive features of the course: Identify and list those characteristics that distinguish your course from other, similar courses. Refer to both the student experience on the course and future possible career opportunities. The key distinguishing feature of the MBA is the integration of an experiential pedagogy within the delivery of material from management and creative arts subject areas. The joint degree will combine the practical with the evidence-based research and domain knowledge, both of which are necessary to develop uniquely qualified, future creative leaders. The joint degree will be delivered through a combination of blended distance learning and weekend intensive workshops. In summary, the joint MBA will have a unique pedagogy, delivery mode, and stakeholder network. The aim of the proposed course is to create a unique, high-quality, specialist MBA that combines creativity with analytical thinking and management knowledge with innovation. It seeks to be distinctive and disruptive in the existing MBA market sector. It will equip its students with relevant knowledge bases and skill sets to provide leadership, and a sound basis for sustainable and creative management, in a complex international and digital world. It is aimed at those who have the ambition to be managers, leaders and entrepreneurs, and who want to engage constructively and confidently with complex challenges and high levels of ambiguity and uncertainty about the future. In addition, the focus on the creative and design industries offer an exciting bridgehead into entirely new areas of research which Birkbeck anticipates developing. In the context of current MBA provision, it offers a unique experiential, problembased approach to learning, utilising an amalgam of the cognitive processes of creativity from the arts and design school tradition, action research and conceptual prototyping and iteration, analytical skills from business and management, and the contextual experience of key external partners. The partner institutions (CSM and Birkbeck) each bring a wealth of experience and knowledge in the content areas, as well as innovation in pedagogy, curriculum design and an enhanced student experience. Fundamentally, the new course has the ambition to explore alternative value systems, to engage actively with the major economic, cultural, and societal challenges facing the world, and to affect positive change. This is an MBA which 11

seeks to broaden the scope of conventional measures of individual and organisational success: increased profit, market penetration, competitive advantage, and shareholder value. To these it adds further quantifiable metrics, such as Triple Bottom-Line (an accounting framework that includes financial, social and environmental performance measures), Corporate Social Responsibility (organisational self-regulation, usually by means of benchmarks). It will also engage with more qualitative models of transformation, such as social capital formation, tacking scarcity, societal cohesion, social mobility and exclusion, and happiness as a political project. Recruitment and Admissions Selection Criteria The criteria used to make a decision on selection must be fully listed. It must be clear how an applicant s suitability to study on the course as demonstrated at the pre-selection and/or interview stage will be judged (good practice examples are available through the Programme Specification Guidance). Procedures for selection must adhere to the Equal Opportunities Policy of UAL. The CSM Birkbeck MBA will be a highly distinctive course, and is explicitly intended as being disruptive within the existing MBA market. It is likely to appeal to a range of potential students, some of whom will be non-traditional business school applicants, and who may be keen to bring about fundamental innovation and systemic change rather than incremental refinement. The emphasis on positive transformation, and a socially-motivated desire to change the world, is perhaps more common in the humanities and in creative practice-based courses than in business education. Alongside this, however, is the fact that the MBA remains a powerful brand and a signifier of personal ambition in the employment market; this, together with the esteem in which the two institutions are held in their respective fields, means that there is likely to be demand from students who have more conventional motivations relating to skills acquisition and career progression. In any case, the course will require at least three years post-graduate experience; it will not recruit end-on students directly from undergraduate courses. With this in mind, and with the benefit of the wealth of data from MBA graduates and prospective students gathered during the preliminary research project, we anticipate that the course will recruit from the following broad categories of applicant: creative professionals who need to scale up and have 12

greater impact; future change agents ; candidates motivated by the prospect of career advancement that the MBA offers; and finally, business professionals who want to switch to the arts/creative sector. As prospective entrepreneurs and leaders, applicants will need to demonstrate: that they are comfortable with taking risks; they can learn from failure; they are inclusive and understand the need to embrace diversity Applicants should: have the ability to think in abstract terms about planning, management, and resources; have excellent communication skills; be numerate, and display some experience and understanding of logistics and strategic thinking; be team players and builders, not competitive individualists; demonstrate a collaborative mindset and an ability to negotiate roles within multidisciplinary and cross-cultural teams; have a basic level of computer literacy and access to computing equipment as follows: o use a web browser to search the web; o send an email with an attachment; o use Skype in a video call; o post a reply in a discussion forum; o have some experience use text editing software such as Microsoft Word; 13

o save an image from an external device (e.g. smartphone, scanner, digital camera) into a computer Although applicants will be expected to learn and use some aspects of Web 2.0 such as blogging and use social media, the course is not designed to teach students how to use a computer. Because of the online delivery mode, applicants will need to be able to have access to: a recent computer with an up-to-date operating system and web browser (smartphones and tablets can also be used, but are subject to some restrictions during the live classes); a reliable, fast broadband connection (slow internet connection can affect the learner experience, especially during a live session in a virtual classroom); a microphone (e.g. integrated to a laptop); a webcam (e.g. integrated to a laptop); headphones (a headset with microphone is highly recommended) Entry Requirements List the academic entry requirements relevant to the course, noting any requirements that are above the UAL minimum, or any course specific grade requirements. Language requirements such as IELTS must also be provided. Entry requirements will constitute the standard, conditional offer for the course. The course will recruit only post-experience candidates who have graduate level qualifications and a minimum of three years work experience. The course will not recruit end-on students (i.e. those progressing directly from undergraduate degrees). Applicants must have an English language proficiency of IELTS 7 and a minimum score of 6.0 in all papers. Applicants are likely to come from the profiles outlined in the previous section. Applicants wishing to transfer onto the course on the basis of Advanced Learning 14

are only able to do so up to the point of 120 credits being achieved. Course Diagram Insert a course diagram which includes; units and their credit values, plus credit values per year/level, category of units (i.e. core or specialist), progression routes, years/levels of the course, any other relevant characteristics that distinguishes the course See below 15

Start of term End of term Start of term End of term Start of term End of term Start of term End of term Start of term End of term Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Phase one (PG Cert) Phase two (PG Dip) Phase three (MBA) Unit 1 (60 credits) Provocation and enquiry Unit 2 Collaborative unit (20 credits) Unit 4 (60 credits) Live Project or Dissertation Unit 3 (40 credits) Effecting change: collaboration in practice Assignment hand-in, assessment, and feedback 16

Assignment hand-in is typically at the end of the penultimate week of each unit, with feedback for units in Phases 1 and 2 normally in the second week following the end of the unit (excluding weekends; bank holidays; the week before and after Christmas Day; and the week before and after Easter Day). Unit 4 feedback is normally within eight weeks of the final board of examiners (which is typically in the final week of the unit). Dates of face-to-face sessions are confirmed on an annual basis, those listed in course diagram are representative only. 17