Key information
Accredited by the Chartered Management Institute, this unique master's degree blends the expertise of leading professors and industry leaders in the areas of Business Strategy, Leadership and Change Management.
- Level
- Postgraduate Taught
- Delivery type
- Full Time, Part Time
- Degree qualification
- MSc
- Mode of delivery
- On-Campus
- Duration
- 1 year
- Location
- Edinburgh
- Start date
- September, January
This degree, Business Strategy, Leadership and Change, has been developed by leading academics within the Edinburgh Business School to provide a forward-thinking, cutting-edge programme of study that focuses on key challenges that leaders and managers face in the modern business environment.
You’ll learn to develop a critical understanding of the principal theories, concepts and techniques of business strategy, leadership, and change.
You’ll understand the techniques and practices at the forefront of business and be able to apply theories, concepts, and techniques in a practical context. This will develop your skills in evaluating alternative strategies and adopting different change management programmes and leadership styles.
This is a conversion degree, meaning previous knowledge or study of the subject is not essential. This offers aspiring and less experienced future business leaders the opportunity to gain critical management skills.
We work closely with our industry advisory board of business leaders to identify current skill gaps organisations face and ensure that our course content and teaching align with industry needs. As a result, you’ll develop key skills in highly employable areas of management including business strategy, leadership, project management, change management, quality management and inventory planning.
Your student experience
Your learning will be informed by the expertise of our research-active academics, whose work covers four key areas:
- International Business and Strategy
- Employment, Work and the Professions
- Logistics and Sustainability
- Social and Economic Data Analysis
Academic Lead
The academic lead for this programme is Dr. Stephan Gerschewski, Associate Professor in Strategy & Enterprise and Global Programme Director of MSc Business Strategy, Leadership and Change. Originally from Germany, he has worked and taught in various universities around the world, including Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (South Korea), University of Tübingen (Germany), University of Reading (UK), and University of Kent (UK). His main research interests lie in International Business and Entrepreneurship. He has published extensively in top-ranked journals, including the Journal of World Business, International Business Review, and International Small Business Journal. He is Co-Editor of the Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, and he serves on the Editorial Board of several reputable journals, such as International Marketing Review and the European Journal of International Management.
Go Global
With Go Global, Heriot-Watt's global student programme, you can carry your studies to new places and experience new cultures, expanding your horizons on the way. You'll discover what it means to be a true global citizen and emerge prepared for wherever your career journey will take you.
Inter-Campus Transfer: Malaysia
Course content
September Intake - Edinburgh
Mandatory September
- Competitive Strategy
- Strategic Innovation Management
- Leadership
- Strategic Change
Mandatory January
- Research Philosophy and Practice
Optional January
- Managing Diversity in Business
- Teamcraft
- Quality Management
- Project Management
- Systems Thinking and Analysis
- Business Start-up
- Business Economics
Mandatory May
- Strategy Dissertation
January intake -Edinburgh
January Mandatory
- Research Philosophy and Practice
January Optional
- Teamcraft
- Business Start-up
- Systems Thinking and Analysis
- Managing Diversity in Business
- Project Management
- Quality Management
- Business Economics
September mandatory
- Strategic Change
- Competitive Strategy
- Leadership
- Strategic Innovation Management
Second January Mandatory
- Strategy Dissertation
Fees and funding
| Status | Full Time | Part Time |
|---|---|---|
| UK | £10,528 | £5,264 |
| International | £21,192 | £10,596 |
- Status: Your residency status is usually defined as the country where you have been ordinarily resident for the three years before the start of your course.
- International: 'International' includes applicants from European Union countries who do not hold Pre-Settled or Settled status in UK. (This does not include students from the Republic of Ireland - see above).
Scholarships and bursaries
Postgraduate scholarships and bursaries
We aim to encourage well-qualified, ambitious students to study with us and we offer a wide variety of scholarships and bursaries to achieve this. Over £6 million worth of opportunities are available in fee and stipend scholarships, and more than 400 students benefit from this support.
Entry requirements
We have standard entry requirements for all of our courses that you will have to meet.
A minimum of honours degree at 2:2 or non-UK equivalent in any academic subject provided that it includes evidence of essay writing and use of critical thinking.
We welcome applications from international students and accept qualifications from around the world. Please refer to the entry requirements for your country for more details.
Why Heriot-Watt
We're the top university in Scotland for graduate outcomes which means that more of our graduates are employed or in postgraduate education than any other institution in the country and we ranked 5th in the UK.
We're also rated number one in the UK for CEO or MD roles, meaning more of our graduates go on to become CEOs or MDs than any other university in the whole of the UK. On top of that, we have beautiful campuses, across the globe, so you'll get a truly international education. Our Edinburgh Campus is home to Oriam, Scotland's National Sports Performance Centre combined with plenty of wellbeing resources, prioritising fitness and mental health for all students. Our Global Research Institutes look at solving real world issues such as climate change and saving our oceans as well as working on the next medical technological breakthrough and the future of AI and robots.
Student life
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