Oxford Brookes University

MSc in Quantity Surveying and Commercial Management

Learning and assessment

Modes of study

There are two modes of delivery for this course:

• full-time on campus
• distance learning.

There are two entry points - September and January.

Please note, PGCert and PGDip qualifications are offered as exit awards only and are not accredited by RICS or CIOB. Applicants interested in these should apply for the MSc in the first instance.

For full-time students, lectures are held on two set days every week.

For distance learners, the virtual learning environment (VLE) is the primary mode of delivery. Students are supported by email, Skype, online lectures and telephone, and are welcome to attend all lectures on campus. Distance learners are advised to spend two evenings per week and one whole day per weekend on their studies.

There are also intensive study periods and a European field trip, when students in both modes of study come together (optional for distance learners).

Study modules

Compulsory modules

People, Leadership and Organisations (30 credits)

This module aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of how behavioural and organisational issues influence project performance.

It includes an overview of management approaches, an exploration of the issues around understanding self and understanding others, team theory and leadership, communication, conflict theory and resolution, conflict resolution strategies and learning from experience in project environments and also conflict and negotiation in the context of personal and cultural differences.

To a large extent, the module adopts a problem-based learning (PBL) approach. Here, PBL is facilitated through problem-solving exercises that are based on prominent case studies and gameplay exercises.

Project Planning, Control and Risk (30 credits)

This module prepares you to manage projects within the built environment through the use of advanced planning and control techniques. You will learn and apply a range of skills in project planning, scheduling, monitoring and control that includes cash flow and capital expenditure analysis, value management, risk and opportunity management and the use of software-based decision support tools as used in industry.

Managing Technology for Sustainable Environments (30 credits)

Technological innovations and how they are managed are key elements in the development of our built environment. This module introduces these as considerations that should be made at the inception and briefing stages of a project, not as afterthoughts. It also recognises that construction is not devoid of the human dimension - the contexts within which a construction project is situated, including influences of climate, culture, and surrounding and supporting infrastructures are also important. Thus you don’t study developments of technology in isolation but as part of a continuously innovating industry. In this respect, managing Building Information Modelling (BIM), developments in off-site construction and Low Carbon Construction are covered as part of the module.

Quantity Surveying Practice (30 credits)

The financial management of project design and construction, whether for clients or contractors, is an essential skill in the construction industry. This module helps you to develop this skill. It is designed to initially develop your understanding of the fundamental principles for building and civil engineering measurement. You will gain a good understanding of the standard methods of measurement such as NRM2 and CESMM4, develop quantity take-off skills and understand the key roles and responsibilities of a professional quantity surveyor with particular reference to the construction tendering process and use of BIM.

Applied Research Methods (10 credits)

This module provides you with the fundamentals of research design highlighting the difference between qualitative and quantitative research paradigms and demonstrating how data can be both gathered and analysed and how deductive arguments can be used to produce valid generalisations from data. It also provides you with an overview of particular research techniques such that they can choose and develop those tools most appropriate to their particular research project.

Final project

Dissertation (50 credits)

The dissertation follows on from Applied Research Methods and aims not only to generate new knowledge or insights but also to develop your capacity to undertake rigorous research, to plan and execute an extended project and to communicate complex ideas effectively in words and graphically. By conducting your own primary research, you work with a supervisor from within the department to produce an original piece of work of publishable quality.

Graduates of our postgraduate construction programmes have an outstanding employment record. Our graduates are recognised as having excellent levels of communication, presentation and problem-solving skills. Consequently, our students go on to be employed across the broad spectrum of the construction industries both locally and internationally.

Many of these companies visit the department annually to meet students for graduate positions whilst all of our distance learning students are employed full time by prominent companies in the sector.

As our programmes are accredited by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB), our graduates are firmly on the path to becoming professionally chartered opening up excellent recognition for future career progression.

Graduates from the course will normally go on to become Quantity Surveyors within the construction industries, for which currently there are excellent job opportunities.