Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration
Online United Kingdom
Postgraduate Certificate
DURATION
12 months
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
TUITION FEES
GBP 6,720 *
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
* total cost
Key Summary
This Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration qualification will enable you to make a real difference within your management practice through active use of frameworks, theories and tools. It will help you to develop a good grounding in the theory and practice of managing and leading, covering the core functions and disciplines of management and helping you make the connections between them. It also provides a framework for a year-long process of professional development.
You'll be challenged to actively engage with a wide variety of ideas and develop a repertoire of techniques and approaches best suited to your own situation and management context.
Key features
- Helps you select and adapt techniques and approaches appropriate to your own situation, and to reflect critically on your own and others’ practice
- Explores diverse perspectives and approaches in different organisational, cultural and global contexts
- Increases your ability to work confidently across sectoral and national boundaries
- Enhances your ability to plan and implement change which will have a real impact within your organisational context.
This certificate is the first stage of our triple-accredited MBA qualification.
How long it takes
The minimum time to complete this qualification is six months by studying both 30-credit modules at the same time. Please note to complete within six months, you will need to be able to devote 24 - 28 hours a week to your studies. Most students study this qualification in one year. To achieve this you should expect to devote 12 - 14 hours each week to your studies.
Knowledge and understanding
When you have completed the qualification you will be able to:
- Demonstrate sound understanding of theories and concepts applicable in managing organisational performance, resource allocation, management of people and leading organisations
- Manage complex situations in business and other organisations based on knowledge of both the external and internal context of organisations; generating social and economic benefits
- Develop long-term vision, goals and direction for organisations and develop strategies to deliver the goals, including through appropriate financial resource allocation.
Cognitive skills
On completion of this qualification, you will be able to
- Critically collect and use valuable information and evaluate in the context of their application across different environments and settings
- Conduct professional inquiries in problem identification, and use and manage knowledge and evidence critically to solve problems and develop actionable solutions.
Practical and/or professional skills
When you complete this qualification you will be able to:
- Develop appropriate people-management skills and leadership style
- Devise and apply evidence-based approaches to management decision-making
- Develop as an independent and reflective management practitioner.
Key skills
When you complete this qualification you will be able to:
- Understand the ethical implications of management practice and respond to ethical issues as a socially responsible professional
- Engage and manage in digital and entrepreneurial work environments
- Communicate effectively using a wide range of media
- Provide effective and ethical leadership that transcends functional perspectives
- Reflect critically on learning from workplace practice.
To gain this qualification, you need 60 credits from both of the following:
Compulsory modules
- Managing in a changing world (B870)
- Creating and sustaining value (B872)
You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 20 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.
Teaching, Learning and Assessment Methods
As part of the entry criteria, you are expected to have work experience in management. However, our certificate programme will enable you to develop and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding, cognitive skills, key skills as well as practical and professional skills through a range of methods.
In particular, the modules expect you to work largely under your direction and initiative and to reflect on your performance, identify your own learning needs and develop appropriate learning strategies. Within one of the compulsory modules, there is a residential school which provides you with opportunities to network with students outside your tutor group and enables you to develop skills associated with working in groups and teams and collaborative learning.
The programme helps you to learn through a wide variety of specially-written study materials, case studies, original texts, study guides and assignments and the use of multi-media materials, online and/or face-to-face activities. In particular, relevant and topical case studies and residential school activities allow you to engage with real-life management issues enabling you to develop appropriate analysis, evaluation and problem-solving skills.
There are also regular informal self-assessed questions which allow you to assess your progression and understanding as you study each module. You are also expected to participate in online forums and online or face-to-face tutorial events. These provide opportunities to network with fellow students and to share and discuss ideas and queries.
Your learning is supported by an allocated tutor. Your tutor is your first and main point of contact and will support your learning by answering queries on the materials and running online tutorial events and forums. He or she will also mark and comment on your assignments.
The tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) are either formative or summative, i.e. they either do not count towards your module result. Preparing your assignments will enable you to evidence your skills development as well as demonstrate levels of knowledge and understanding throughout your studies. Feedback from your tutor will also help you to improve your performance in subsequent assessments. In addition to the tutor-marked assignments, modules have an end-of-module assessment.