The Manchester Global Part-time MBA

This course explores two critical challenges facing contemporary businesses: to redefine the purpose of the firm in the 21st century, transitioning to a stakeholder value-driven model and to redesign business models for a global net zero economy.

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What you'll learn

• Understand how companies use environmental, social and governance (ESG) to manage these two transitions
• Understand the drivers behind these transitions, including concepts like financialisation, shareholder value maximisation, corporate governance, and firm purpose
• Analyse how ESG frameworks support firms to transition to achieve social and environmental responsibility
• Examine how ESG helps companies to transition to a net zero economy.

This course equips you with the knowledge and tools to lead organisations through these transformative global challenges.

This course is delivered through a 3-day in-person workshop and online learning.

This core course explores organisational behaviour, focusing on the management practices and organisational structures found in contemporary organisations and their effects on people’s behaviour.

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What you’ll learn

• Evaluate the reasons behind contemporary management practices and their impact on behaviour
• Understand key organisational dynamics, including motivation, leadership, and team performance
• Explore the structures and cultures of organisations and their role in shaping behaviour
• Develop strategies for managing change effectively within complex organisations
• Apply research-based frameworks and ideas to real-world management challenges.

This course equips you with the knowledge and skills to respond to modern management challenges, enhancing your ability to lead and inspire in diverse organisational settings.

This course is delivered through a 3-day in-person workshop and online learning.

This course will provide you with key knowledge about Operations and Marketing and takes an integrative approach of bringing these two business functions together.

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During this course, you will explore the interactions and synergies, as well as the potential tensions between these two business perspectives.

What you’ll learn

• Customer understanding and value creation: Analyse customer needs, market positioning, and how to translate this into product and pricing strategies
• Marketing and communications strategy: Develop channels and messaging to communicate value propositions to target audiences
• Operations and supply chain design: Explore how to design and deliver effective operations strategies and to manage supply chains that align with business objectives
• Critical analysis and decision-making: Evaluate the fit of marketing and operations management decisions using data-driven approaches, while recognising limitations and inconsistencies in data sources
• Professional communication and collaboration: Enhance your ability to write, present, and collaborate effectively to tackle marketing and operational challenges.

This core course develops integrated marketing and operations expertise, builds critical thinking skills, and provides practical frameworks to solve real-world business challenges.

This course is delivered through a 4-day in-person workshop and online learning.

This course is divided into two parts: Understanding and Measuring Business Value and Creating Financial Value.

The first part focuses on analysing value from multiple perspectives, while the second emphasizes strategic financial decisions that enhance long-term organisational success.

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What you’ll learn

• Explore the differences between cash, profit, and net book value and analyse financial statements such as cash budgets and profit and loss accounts
• Evaluate accounting techniques and the role of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in determining what can and cannot be valued
• Consider broader dimensions of value—societal, environmental, cultural, and operational—and develop innovative thinking to address them
• Understand the time value of money and its impact on project evaluation and financial asset valuation
• Learn to make strategic financing decisions that influence future profits and ensure organizational sustainability.

The course equips you with the critical skills and strategic insights needed to drive financial success and create lasting value for your organisation.

The course combines a 3-day in-person workshop with one virtual learning day, delivered across three weekly online sessions (each lasting three hours), along with additional online learning.

This two-part core course builds your ability to think strategically and make high-impact decisions in competitive, fast-changing environments. In Part A, you’ll explore the economics behind strategic thinking; in Part B, you’ll apply those insights to real-world business challenges.

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What you’ll learn

In Part A:

• Apply microeconomics and game theory to strategic decision-making
• Understand how ESG and innovation influence firm behaviour
• Analyse the impact of governance, management, and market dynamics.

In Part B:

• Evaluate industry dynamics and identify strategic opportunities
• Design growth-focused, sustainable business strategies
• Use data and case analysis to guide real-world decisions.

This course is ideal for ambitious MBA students who want to strengthen their analytical thinking, build a strategic decision-making toolkit, and excel as leaders in today’s dynamic business landscape.

Part A is delivered through a 2-day in-person workshop, a 1-day virtual workshop, and guided online learning.

Part B is delivered through a 4-day in-person workshop and online learning.

This module explores the foundational concept that effective management of others begins with managing yourself. It helps you define, develop, and sustain both managerial and career success.

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What you’ll learn

• Understand the factors that shape managerial and career success
• Enhance self-control and self-regulation of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours
• Develop a positive reputation and effective influence strategies
• Build strong working relationships for professional growth
• Explore career development, global career planning, and strategies for resilience and adaptability.

This core course equips you with the tools to navigate complex career challenges and achieve success as a manager and leader.

This course is delivered through a 3-day virtual workshop and online learning.

You can choose three electives. Each elective is delivered through a 3-day workshop (minimum) and online learning.

Electives are your chance to customise the MBA to suit your personal goals and interests.

Current electives

• Big Data Analytics

You'll be introduced to Big Data Analytics theory and applications, exploring essential tools, techniques, and case studies that show how organisations leverage big data for decision-making, strategy, and competitive advantage.

• Business to Business Marketing

This six-month Business-to-Business (B2B) Marketing course equips participants with insights into the unique dynamics of B2B marketing beyond traditional models, focusing on real-world applications of segmentation, targeting, and positioning.

• Corporate News and Shareholder Value

Explore how corporate announcements impact stock prices and shareholder value, using tools like the efficient market hypothesis and event study methodology to analyse market reactions to events like mergers and ESG news, with hands-on case studies and research.

• Design Thinking, Creativity and Co-creation

Discover how to boost your innovation management skills, strengthen your organisation’s innovation capabilities, and inspire a culture of intrapreneurship.

• Digital Economy: Platforms AI and the Firm

Examine how AI and machine learning are transforming business operations, focusing on practical applications to leverage AI's strengths, address its limitations, and create value across industries like finance, healthcare, and retail.

• Digital Marketing Strategy

You'll cover digital marketing strategies for B2B and B2C, focusing on social media, search engines, and data-driven approaches, with shared learning paths in AI and Big Data.

• Doing Business in the Middle East

Explore the economic, legal, political, and cultural dynamics shaping business in the Middle East. Gain practical insights from industry experts to assess risks and opportunities in this rapidly evolving region. This elective is not available to UoM-Dubai registered students, or students currently residing in the MENA region.

• Engaging Human Talent

Gain strategic insights into attracting, developing, and engaging talent for organisational growth, integrating human resource practices with broader strategy through real-world examples and debates.

• Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

Entrepreneurship drives economic growth, creating jobs and fostering large business development. This elective hones skills essential for managing the entrepreneurial lifecycle, from recognising opportunities and crafting creative concepts to building innovative business models.

• Exploring Decision Making in Practice

This elective provides practical tools to enhance decision-making skills, especially in group settings. Moving beyond textbook methods, it draws on insights from social psychology and behavioural economics to help managers navigate real-world, collaborative decision-making effectively.

• Fintech, Digital Banking and Blockchain

Explore FinTech, digital banking, blockchain, and AI in finance, with case studies on innovation and digital transformation. Tackle a hands-on 'digital banking challenge' by designing and pitching a mock banking app.

• International Business Strategy

This elective covers strategic management of multinational corporations, emphasising resources, capabilities, and cultural impacts on competitiveness to tackle real-world international management challenges.

• Leading Business Projects

Gain a holistic understanding of driving strategic change through project design, leadership, and delivery, equipping you to lead impactful projects that align with broader goals like the UN SDGs.

• Managing Disruptive Technologies

Explore how disruptive technologies like digital platforms and blockchain reshape business models, empowering leaders to recognise and respond to potential industry shifts for career advancement.

• Negotiation Skills

Master essential negotiation skills through practical techniques and strategies, empowering you to navigate diverse business situations and achieve strategic goals with confidence.

• Platform Ecosystem Strategy

Discover how digital technology reshapes strategy, from traditional approaches to innovative platform ecosystems, preparing you to lead in a world where digital platforms redefine competitive advantage.

• Practical Investing

Gain hands-on experience in investing through practical simulations, client role-plays, and insights from seasoned industry professionals. You'll cover investment strategies, market dynamics, and client-focused portfolio creation to prepare you for real-world success in today's financial industry.

• Strategic Financial Analysis

Engage in an intensive, hands-on elective that bridges strategy and finance through real company cases, honing your ability to make sound business judgments, analyse financial information, and craft compelling corporate narratives amidst uncertainty.

• Strategic Supply Chain Management

Learn to master strategic supply chain management to reduce costs, manage risks, and drive innovation, equipping you with essential skills to optimise supplier relationships and enhance organisational value.

• The Sustainable Change Agenda

Examine key drivers and metrics impacting sustainable business practices, with tools and case studies to build socially responsible strategies that address environmental and societal challenges.

• Venture Capital and Private Equity

Gain a practical understanding of Venture Capital and Private Equity, exploring key financial concepts and applying knowledge to real case studies. Take on roles as investors, company managers, and advisors to navigate investment and exit strategies.

• Work Psychology for Managerial Success - this elective is offered until January 2026.

This course explores key psychological skills for managerial success, focusing on self-management, leadership, and career strategies to help students apply these insights to their own career goals.

Elective courses vary in length and availability. Some electives are only delivered once per year, which may affect the options available to you.

We deliver electives across our global centres in Dubai, Hong Kong, Manchester, Shanghai and Singapore. If you choose to study overseas, you'll benefit from the opportunity to widen your international network and sharpen your knowledge of the global business environment.

The live business project gives you the flexibility to explore an entrepreneurial venture in a sector of your choice, or to tackle a business issue that is critical to your organisation.

The skills learned in the course will help you stand out and deliver real value in the workplace. It's an opportunity to try something you've always wanted to do while gaining invaluable, practical business experience to enrich your CV.

Example business projects include:

• Rediscovering Kellogg Nutri-Grain Bar's Competitive Mojo
• A study into the effectiveness of the Corporate Parent in delivering value to stakeholders
• The lean startup: 'Fit-for-life'
• The effects of earned media on brand preference, purchase intention and sales performance: a study on infant formula brands
• Segmenting and targeting Chinese e-lock consumers
• Identifying and quantifying the critical success factors for taxi-hailing mobile apps
• Helping Salesforce.com support the re-integration of unemployed job-seekers into the labour market
• A study of non-household consumer switching in England's water market.

MBA+ is a suite of added value extra-curricular experiences that will help you define your goals, enhance your interpersonal skills, build your corporate connections and raise your profile across the world.

Running in parallel with the academic programme, MBA activities are not credit bearing. They're designed to give you targeted support and motivation to help you through the MBA and beyond, with unrivalled opportunities to connect and grow.

You'll have the opportunity to take part in the following activities:

• Networking events
• Online careers seminars
• Employability sessions
• Careers guidance
• Alumni socials
• Alumni speaker events
• Alumni groups, and more.

Most courses include an intensive, three-day workshop residential. Global Part-time MBA workshops are a chance to:

• Immerse yourself in your studies, away from the distractions of daily life
• Focus on what you want to achieve
• Build a strong, supportive cohort
• Experience a challenging mix of experiential learning from renowned business experts and practitioners
• Participate in group work focusing on real business problems
• Network, socialise and make connections that could transform your career.

You can also flex your workshops to include more online or face-to-face learning to suit your commitments.

In the first year of the course, you'll attend four core workshop residentials in Manchester. You can then choose your own electives at any of our global centres for the remainder of the course.

50% of students typically attend a workshop overseas during the programme.

Global MBA workshop schedule

Workshop dates for July 2025 intake

Our online teaching, learning and student support includes:

• Dedicated online learning and support hub
• Live online lectures and virtual workshops to support face-to-face workshops
• Virtual office hours with world-leading academics
• Online student surgeries
• Digital library
• Discussion forums
• Pre-sessional study skills and foundational review courses
• Virtual guest speakers and networking opportunities.

Top organisations want global executives with local knowledge. You need to thrive in a multi-cultural environment and manage across boundaries. The Manchester Global Part-time MBA offers a particularly international experience. You'll get to:

• Learn alongside high-achieving executives from 90 countries and diverse professional backgrounds
• Make new contacts from across the globe who could be indispensable to your future business career
• Experience new perspectives and business opportunities
• Learn how to communicate and negotiate effectively with people from other cultures
• Join our Alliance MBS network of 63,000 alumni from 177 countries - lifetime access to some of the world's brightest business minds.

Wherever you choose to attend workshops, you will receive the same world-class teaching. Our internationally-renowned academics travel the world to teach at our global centres.

If your career takes you overseas, you can continue your MBA without interruption by taking workshops at a different centre.

Once you've been offered a place on our MBA programme and paid a reservation fee, you have full access to our Manchester MBA Preparation course.

This online course will help you to reacquaint yourself with key study skills, how to go about writing academic assignments and most importantly, what 'Learning by Doing' really means.

You'll have the opportunity to:

• Rediscover key study skills
• Prepare to start your MBA modules by undertaking Business Essentials in 'Marketing' and 'Operations Management', 'Accounting', 'Corporate Finance', 'Cultural Economy and Financialisaton', and 'Economics'
• Meet the teams that will be supporting you throughout your MBA
• Write and receive feedback on a 'practice' MBA essay.

The voluntary course takes around 15 hours in total and you can complete it at your own pace. There are lots of opportunities to apply your skills and new knowledge throughout.