Upskilling Scotland Scholarship

Learn the skills to utilise data analytics in a business context, including the analysis and assessment of big data, along with quantitative skills for information extraction and interpretation. Develop an understanding of relevant technologies like cloud computing, AI, and the Internet of Things, alongside practical knowledge of tools and systems used in big data analytics. Learn how to solve business-related big data problems using various methods, tools, and techniques, and critically review analytical approaches and learn to select suitable methods. Gain the ability to use and to communicate several quantitative methods for data mining, analysis and interpretation for making efficient business decisions.  

Topics include: 

• Introduction to big data and internet of things   
• Big data trends and strategies    
• Frameworks for big data analytics   
• Data mining architecture and techniques   
• Neural and Bayesian networks    
• Optimisation techniques   
• Innovation and trends in internet of things    
• Implications of distributed intelligence on organisations 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Business Analytics programme. 

Be able to select the most suitable analytical methods, tools and techniques to evaluate a business process or problem. Demonstrate the application of a range of big data analysis techniques using real organisational data. Be able to analyse and evaluate the most suitable analytical methods to address a business process or problem. Understand the practical limitations of various tools and techniques, Demonstrate the application of a range of analytical techniques using real company data. 

Topics include: 

• Descriptive Analytics: Measure what is happening using Data Visualisation; Descriptive Statistics and Probability    
• Diagnostic Analytics: Understand why it is happening by applying root cause analysis; 5Whys; SPIN; Correlation; Regression analysis and Hypothesis tests    
• Predictive Analytics: Understand what is likely to happen in the future by applying time series analysis; Trend analysis; Projective forecasting; Simulation modelling    
• Prescriptive Analytics: What should we do/change in the future? Explore decision analysis methods and criteria, Optimisation methods, Simulation modelling    
• Introduction to Big Data   

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online  MSc Business Analytics programme. 

Understand types of change in organisations and the cultural implications for behavioural and attitudinal change, and consultancy models and practices  

Topics include: 

• Define, explain and critically evaluate comparative performance in different sectors  
• Learn how to search for, collect and organise publicly available information on sectors and organisations  
• Engage with and analyse organisations within their business context and deliver credible and feasible conclusions and recommendations to management  
• Develop analytical data analysis skills through case study discussions  
• Practise the presentational skills of a change consultant, including how to present recommendations persuasively to management and handle concerns and objections 

The course promotes the advancement of the knowledge, understanding and critical evaluation of coaching and coaching psychology at the individual, group and organisational levels. It develops professional skills and competencies relevant for personal and work-related evidence-based coaching practice. 

Topics include: 

• Demonstrate how the knowledge and understanding of coaching and coaching psychology differs from other personal and professional development practices, and what it offers to the coaches and their organisation 
• Knowledge and understanding of various psychology-based theoretical approaches in coaching and coaching psychology practice 
• Application of key coaching psychology concepts and theories to coaching practice 
• How to use key coaching practice skills and competencies 
• The impact of coaching on talent management, and the development of executives and teams within organisations 
• The development of coaches, creating an awareness of professional coaching bodies internationally 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. 

Examine key issues in organisational culture from the perspective of psychology and management theory. Develop an understanding of the major driving forces in determining organisational culture, how these impact upon a range of activities within the organisation, and the major psychological theories of organisational culture.  

Topics include: 

The relationship between organisational culture and: 

• organisational change  
• control  
• organisational design   
• job design    
• motivation   
• group behaviour   
• leadership and management   
• strategic decision making  

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. 

Understand the impact of Purchasing and Supply within external resource management in a global supply context. Recognise how key strategic decision areas are presented in the selection of suppliers and develop awareness of the importance of managing business relationships over the full range of power balance situations. Learn how different tools and methodologies of strategic procurement can be developed to maximise the contribution to business competitiveness. Understand the involvement of suppliers in value engineering, innovation and product and service development. Develop awareness of the issues of corporate social responsibility and ethical trading across a global context.  

Topics include: 

• Purchasing roles and processes  
• Supplier appraisal including financial stability  
• Supplier development  
• Supply management including e-commerce  
• Organisational context   
• Outsourcing services and products  
• Global purchasing including international trade  
• Negotiation  
• Measuring purchasing performance   

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Supply Chain Management and Logistics.  

Explore the necessary frameworks and strategies to understand the fundamental aspects involved in operation of green and sustainable logistics. Plan, assess, specify and evaluate ways of mitigating the environmental effects of a logistics operation, within a business and with respect to the wider sector. Whilst all aspects of logistics will be covered, emphasis will be on the decarbonisation of road freight transport operations.

Topics include:

• Understand the impact of logistics on the environment
• Demonstrate measurement of greenhouse gas emissions from logistics operations
• Understand operational, vehicle and fuel-based decarbonisation measures to reduce the environmental impact of logistics operations
• Understand freight transport types, and each mode’s relative carbon footprint
• Demonstrate an awareness of key logistics strategies to implement decarbonisation measures  
• Understand how certain aspects of green logistics apply to green maritime logistics
• Recognise specific key issues within city logistics, and identify strategies to overcome environmental challenges of last mile deliveries
• Demonstrate awareness of reverse logistics and its role in closed-loop supply chains
• Identify several aspects of the environmental impact of warehousing and evaluate mitigation strategies

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management.

Understand the range of psychological approaches to the phenomenon of leadership in organisations and learn how to devise and evaluate leadership development activities based on psychological theory and research.   

Topics include: 

• Understand leadership theories and practice in an organisational context 
• Demonstrate the ability to critically analyse leadership related issues, and identify, develop and implement potential solutions 
• Understand underlying psychological theories and evidence relevant to leadership 
• Develop key skills relevant for designing, delivering and evaluating leadership development training 
• Identify and develop leadership skills and competencies in self and others  

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. 

The aims of the course are to describe the impact of diversity on organisational practice, and the optimal means of management for addressing and maximising the potential opportunities presented by several sources of diversity. 

Topics include: 

• Develop knowledge and understanding of managing diversity/EDI in organisational contexts 
• Critically discuss different models and theories that can be applied to promote EDI in organisations 
• Identify key issues related to diversity/EDI in organisations and provide potential solutions 
• Demonstrate key practical skills relevant for designing, delivering and evaluating diversity/EDI policies 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. 

Examine the activities, resources and processes used in sustainable freight transportation and warehousing including the foundations of multi-modal (road, rail, airfreight, sea-freight, pipeline); the handling requirements from warehouse (storage) to a distribution centre. Explore warehouse management systems (storage, handling, order-picking) equipment choices and freight and distribution centre interface and implications.   

Topics include: 

• Introduction to freight types and transport mode selection    
• Foundations of multi-modal freight: Road, Rail, Airfreight, Sea-freight, Pipeline    
• Introduction: The change from warehouse (storage) to a distribution centre and value adding activities   
• Foundations of warehouse management: Storage systems; Handling systems; Order picking systems; Equipment choices and selection    
• Freight and distribution centre interface and implications   

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Supply Chain Management and Logistics.  

Learn about the theory and methods of Social Network Analysis as they relate to organisational behaviour, leadership and entrepreneurship. Participants are expected to have some familiarity with business studies and competence in elementary statistics. This course is intended to stimulate the intellectual curiosity of learners and provide a guide for those wishing to further explore the theory and methods of Network Analysis as it applies to Business problems. 

Topics include:  

• Understanding the key theoretical concepts of network analysis   
• Introduction and the opportunity to apply key methodological tools for the analysis of networks in social science research 
• Demonstration of a number of different statistical packages, focusing on network descriptive statistics and practical applications 
• Introduction to methods for data collection and knowledge of the operationalization of research with the use of SNA 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online  MSc Business Analytics programme. 

Understand the scope and importance of managing sustainable operations and appreciate the interaction and impact of best practice operations on the organisation, employees, and customers. Examine the links between process and operations design, business strategy and be able to critically assess techniques in product, service design and improvement. Learn how to analyse an operational environment and assess against main quality management frameworks.   

Topics include: 

• Operations strategy including strategic perspectives and conceptualising operations    
• Operational activities including product and service design; process; supply chain; Regulatory activities - resource planning; capacity management; quality management;    
• The trade-offs inherent in managing operations    
• Internationalisation/Global perspectives on operations    
• Future perspectives: mapping developments and exploring future directions   

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Supply Chain Management and Logistics.  

This course considers why organisational, as well as social, change is currently so prevalent, and those strategies that might best be implemented to bring it about.  Specific aims are to promote knowledge, understanding and critical analysis of the psychological processes relevant to organisational change that operate at individual, group and organisational levels. The course also provides opportunities for the development of skills relevant to business psychology practice in the context of organisational change. 

Topics include: 

• Social factors that impact on the nature of the contemporary workplace 
• Knowledge and understanding of psychological theories relevant to change at the individual, group, and organisational levels 
• Application of key psychological concepts and theories relevant to managing organisational change 
• Critical evaluation of methodologies and change models 
• Demonstrate an ability to communicate research findings and recommendations to stakeholders 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology. 

The objective of this course is to introduce the participants to the theories and principles behind performance measurement and management from both technical and social perspectives. The course will also introduce the participants to the methods, tools and techniques for measuring and managing performance as well as analysing and troubleshooting existing performance measurement and management systems in the context of industrial, commercial and public sector organisations. 

Topics include: 

• The theory and practice of performance measurement and management systems of a range of organisations 
• Fundamental principles of organisational learning through the performance measurement lifecycle (including knowledge of technical and social aspects) 
• Critical analysis of organisations and recommendations as to how their performance measurement systems and performance improvement practices could be improved 
• Performance measurement and management theory and practice used to engage various stakeholders in facilitating, designing and analysing organisational performance measurements systems 
• Design of visual performance reporting systems and understanding how these could be facilitated through contemporary ICT systems 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online  MSc Business Analytics programme. 

Develop a critical awareness of the need for organisations to learn, adapt and change continuously. This is achieved via an exploration of the overall change process, drivers and types of change, the impact of change and the barriers that may emerge along the way. 

Topics include: 

• Evaluating organisational change initiatives using appropriate frameworks, concepts, models and tools to diagnose, plan and implement change to a variety of situations and environments 
• Developing a critical awareness of contemporary theory in strategic change and relate this to current organisational and industrial practice 
• Exploring appropriate solutions to strategic change management issues in organisations 
• Working with others to diagnose change situations and plan responses 
• Learning about communication issues and related organisational complexities in strategic change management 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Business Analytics and Consultancy.  

Explore how logistics and supply chain management (SCM) can be leveraged to gain competitive advantage. Understand how to design and optimise a sustainable supply chain strategy considering process selection and physical logistics network. Explore collaborative strategies and be able to recognise sources of risk in a supply chain.  

Topics include: 

Logistics, SCM and competitive advantage    
Designing a differentiated SC strategy    
Collaborative strategies for a synchronous integrated supply chain    
Time-based strategies and managing the lead-time gap    
Logistical cost trade-offs and network design    
Designing a resilient supply chain    
Measuring supply chain cost and performance  
The connected digital supply chain of the future   

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management.  

The objective of this course is to introduce the participants to the theories and principles behind systems thinking, modelling and analysis. The course will also introduce the participants to the methods, tools and techniques for modelling, analysing, improving and designing technical and social systems in a variety of organisations, including industrial, commercial and public sector. 

Topics include: 

• Discuss and critically evaluate various organisational and engineering systems across a variety of organisations, including industrial, commercial and public sector 
• Show clearer understanding and knowledge of hard and soft approaches and how they can be used to deal with complexity and system behaviour in a business context 
• Critically analyse technical and social systems using appropriate modelling and analysis methods 
• Use systems modelling/mapping tools to engage various stakeholders in workshops facilitating systems mapping and analysis workshops 
• Use systems modelling/mapping tools to communicate with various stakeholders 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used towards our online  MSc Business Analytics programme . 

The aims of the course are to present major issues in consumer ergonomics. Specifically, students will develop an understanding of the different stages and types of design in which ergonomics come into play, and the different theoretical approaches to this. 

Topics include: 

• Understand what Human Factors is, and appreciate its relevance to the world of business and the behaviour of consumers 
• Understand why we make errors, the types of errors we make, and what can be done to reduce the implications 
• The ergonomics of human computer interactions and how user centred system design can be achieved 
• The role of attention in an applied setting 
• The variability of human body size, strength and stamina  
• Understand design sympathetic to our daily activities 
• How to conduct a User Trial 
• ‘Systems’ thinking and basic system types 

Successful completion of course assessment gives 20 credits at SCQF level 11 that can be used toward our online MSc Business and Organisational Psychology.