MA (Hons) Marketing

Overview

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) accredited MA (Hons) Marketing degree at Heriot-Watt University's Edinburgh Business School is designed to develop key knowledge and skills related to professional marketing practices. Edinburgh Business School ranked 1st in Scotland and 4th in UK for marketing in the National Student Survey 2020.

The courses you take on this degree will provide you with the platform to thrive in both academic study and the professional practice of marketing.

Your learning will focus on three central themes that we believe will be key for future marketing professionals:

• Global marketing
• Digital marketing 
• Sustainable marketing

Teaching on MA (Hons) Marketing is led by our internationally respected faculty who bring marketing theory to life by drawing on their own cutting-edge research and industry experience, and by sharing best practice from business case studies. This approach ensures that everything you learn reflects the current marketing landscape in both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing contexts.

In Year 1 you will study the established suite of courses form Edinburgh Business School's common first year and gain an understanding of important areas of modern business, including Management, Accounting and Finance, and Economics and Marketing.

As your studies progress through Years 2, 3 and 4, you will study an increasing number of specialist marketing courses.

Specialist marketing courses

Leading academics from Edinburgh Business School have worked with business leaders to craft six exciting new marketing courses to ensure your learning is future proofed, and which align with the Chartered Institute of Marketing's accreditation criteria.

Global Strategic Marketing

This course teaches strategic marketing techniques for a global context. You will learn how to conduct competitor analysis, market segmentation, forecasting, and product portfolio analysis.

Marketing Insights

This course will teach you how to conduct and analyse market research, and gain useful insights for specific business situations. You will explore the processes and methods of data collection and understand the techniques and applications used to analyse data and gain insights.

Responsible Marketing

On this course you will assess the tensions and complexities in marketing and consumer behaviour, and examine the current debates around the benefits, harms and unintentional consequences of marketing and consumer actions today, with a core focus on sustainability.

Branding

On this course you will explore the theory of brands and branding You will assess how branding theories are applied in marketing strategies and learn to take a strategic approach to branding. 

Future Issues in Marketing

On this course you will learn to assess and identify emerging global market trends and utilise a toolkit of marketing theory and principles to scrutinise these trends.

Digital Analytics for Marketing 

On this course you will examine how digital analytics inform search engine marketing strategy and website design. We will demonstrate how analytics tools work and how they can be applied to monitor marketing performance. 

Marketing project

As part of this degree, you will spend time working in the marketing industry and put your developing knowledge into practice to gain further understanding that will be beneficial to your future career.

Accreditation

MA Marketing is part of the CIM Graduate Gateway Programme. This degree was developed in line with the CIM professional award criteria and upon completion you will gain a professional CIM accreditation. Students can choose to study for the Certificate and/or Diploma in Professional Marketing or Professional Digital Marketing alongside their degree, and study for five years after graduating.