Project Management MSc

About the course

This programme is for those wishing to study project management at postgraduate (Master's) level. You will gain the knowledge, skills and understanding required for a successful career in project management.

This course pulls together project management theory, practice and solid hands-on experience to provide you with an excellent grounding in project management theory and methods.

It covers qualitative and quantitative aspects of project management including:

• Time, quality and cost management
• Project leadership and team management
• Project management's contribution to strategy

This course also provides the option to select modules from three different pathways:

• General project management
• Information systems
• Engineering

Part-time study

Our part-time programme enables you to attend lectures on just one day per week, allowing you to arrange your study around existing work commitments. And this mean you will complete the programme in two years.

Levels of study

You may choose to register on our Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) or Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) programmes, depending on your objectives for study. After completing these stages you may then wish to transfer to the Master's programme as your studies progress.

Please contact the Programme Tutor, Angela Bond, to discuss your options further.

Why choose this course?

• Study for a professionally accredited Project Management degree.
• Develop the skills and knowledge to become a successful project manager.
• Learn from our excellent team of lecturers, researchers and industry professionals from a range of project management backgrounds.
• Choose from three different routes, giving you the opportunity to tailor your studies.

Study routes

• Part Time, 2 Years
• Full Time, 1 Years

Locations

• University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Careers

Our graduates go on to become project planners, controllers and senior project managers in a variety of sectors and a wide range of organisations.

Teaching methods

We offer a varied programme of teaching that includes facilitated seminars, practical workshops, web-based learning, case study analysis and traditional lectures. We also provide sessions by visiting staff, practitioners and consultants to give a varied perspective of the topics covered.

You will be assessed through a variety of coursework including presentations, reports and projects. You will also be required to complete a dissertation and will be supported by a dissertation supervisor.

Professional Accreditations

This course is accredited by the Association for Project Management as being aligned with their professional body of knowledge.

Structure

Year 1

Core Modules

• Dissertation - ISPM

  The MSc Dissertation in Project Management provides an opportunity for students to independently undertake a significant piece of research in a relevant area. This module will encourage students to develop their research and analytical skills. As part of the development of this work, students will be allocated a dissertation supervisor, who will discuss the research issues. The supervisor will provide guidance and support throughout the development of the dissertation from the feasibility of the research question to the validity of the conclusion. Despite the collaborative work between the student and the supervisor, students will need to invest considerable effort in self discipline in order to study and analyse knowledge and issues relating to research problems. The dissertation is also supported by a research methods training module, and student-led support group meetings.

• Dissertation: Information Systems and Project Management

• Postgraduate Research Methodology

• Principles of Project Management

  Organisations in many sectors invest heavily in project-based activities to achieve strategic business objectives, improve operational effectiveness and enhance their competitive position. The importance of projects and their successful delivery has become one of the main priorities for organisations. The aims of this module are to provide students with knowledge of qualitative aspects of project management theory and philosophy. In this module, students will have an opportunity to explore the values which have superseded the traditional values of budget, time and quality. Different organisational structures are examined to discover their effectiveness in supporting project delivery and the role of the project manager is examined in relation to these structures. This module examines the role of projects within the organisation as a means of achieving strategic capability. Indicative topics in this module are: - Definitions of project, programme, project management and programme management - History of project management and today's issues - "Project management" vs "the management of projects" - Projects and organisational strategy - Project management standards, methodologies and frameworks - Organisational structure with emphasis on PBO - Project managers, skills, capabilities and knowledge for successful project delivery - Evaluating projects/success and failure.

• Project Leadership and Communications

  The importance of leadership and communications are increasingly acknowledged within the field of project management. Project Managers must manage performance with both direct and indirect forms of authority, control and influence. Students will explore the influence of people in the project environment, whether team members, sponsors or stakeholders, the need for building and leading effective teams and the need for building and maintaining relationships between key roles in the project environment. Students will investigate underlying theories of leadership, motivation, power and influence, communication and conflict management, related to project management and explore strategies for managing people and of projects.

• Project Management Simulation

  The focus of this module will be on group based learning where students, plan and manage a project in a simulated environment. Students will be expected to participate in team working and will be supported with facilitated seminars. Indicative topics covered in this module are: - Team working - Initial project assessment - Proposal analysis and planning - Develop plan to complete proposal - Evaluating the requirements - Negotiation - Implementation - Closeout

• Project Risk Management

  Risk and uncertainty are inherent in projects due to their unique and temporary nature. The degree of certainty of project outcomes are a significant concern to the parent or client organisation. Students will explore project risk management, within the business context, as a function of project management, as a project management process and as an area of knowledge, underpinned by existing and emerging theory and practice. The module content will include the fundamentals of risk (and opportunity), initiating the risk management process, risk identification, risk analysis, planning risk responses, implementing risk responses and risk ownership and management responsibilities. Students will explore attitudes to risk and the relationship between risk attitudes and behaviour and the identification, analysis and management of project risk.

• Project Scheduling and Budgeting

  This module will develop in-depth knowledge and understanding of both classical and current project scheduling and budgeting techniques used in business today. Students will be guided into selecting, formulating, building, solving, and analysing project management scheduling and budgeting problems. They will be shown how to manipulate and solve these problems using a variety of techniques, and interpret the solutions. They will also learn to recognise the difficulties and limitations associated with the results given by the model(s). Students will use appropriate project management tools and software to solve problems.

• Quality and Change Management

  Students will explore the role of the customer in the project environment and the means by which customer focus may be maintained at various stages in the project lifecycle, as the project environment, variables and constraints within the project change. Project quality management will be set within the context of organisational quality management systems and the concepts and history of modern quality management. Contents include: - Managerial aspects of monitoring and control: the critical evaluation of monitoring information, and potential corrective action. - Quality management: the history and concepts of quality management, the project management processes of quality planning, quality assurance and control, the concepts of a continual and systematic approach to quality improvement. -Scope monitoring and change control: the process of identifying and evaluating changes, deciding whether, which and when changes should be implemented and monitoring their implementation. Configuration management, including the creation, maintenance and controlled changes of the project's solution configuration. - Requirements management, including the processes of capturing and analysing project requirements and assessing whether they can be and have been met.

• Research Methods - MSc Project Management

  This module prepares students for an individual research dissertation in Project Management. Students will gain an understanding of and apply quantitative and qualitative methods including: descriptive statistics and types of data; sampling and survey design; data analysis (reliability and validity of responses and data normality tests); tests of hypotheses; correlation and regression analysis; interview, observation (with supervisory instruction) and focus groups; thematic and content analysis.

Optional

• Agile Project Management

  This module is designed to provide students with an overall understanding and 'hands-on' experience in agile project management. The agile approach has gained its popularity in recent years as a strong alternative to traditional 'waterfall' - like development models. The core principles of 'agility' are based on closer collaboration with customers, increased communication within the team, shorter release time and increased focus on working products . This module will explore the relationship between the agile system development and the project management techniques and how the two can co-exist effectively leading to feature-rich projects that deliver on time and on budget. Students will gain theoretical and practical knowledge of various popular agile methodologies such as XP (eXtremme Programming) and they will be expected to apply the knowledge through managing their group coursework as well as through discussing and providing critical assessment of the related case studies and research in the area of agile project management Indicative topics covered include: - Agile practices (eg sprints, continuous integration,user stories,pair programming,daily stand-ups, etc) - Agile principles and theoretical background of agile methods (eg lean thinking,TPS,CAS,PDCA etc) - Agile estimating, planning, scheduling and tracking of projects - Agile in practice (e.g.selected case-studies or guest speakers from industry) - The role of project managers in agile teams

• Business Improvement and Change

• Computer Simulation for Business

  Computer simulation of business systems is an increasingly important management tool for effective decision making. This module covers the general principles of computer simulation, both Discrete-Event and System Dynamics simulation. In Discrete-Event simulation, we will cover construction of the model, verification, validation and experimentation techniques. In Systems Dynamics, we will cover the construction of causal loop diagrams, building of stock flow structures, modelling of non linear relationships and time delays and use of models for policy analysis. Throughout the module, we will be using commercial software such as Simul8 and Ithink and referring to case studies reported in OR/MS literature.

• Engineering Product Development

• Information Management

  The purpose of this module is to provide Business students at Masters level with knowledge and understanding of the role and function of information in the decision and communication process of an organisation. It will develop an understanding of the role of computerised business information systems within the enterprise, an understanding of the activities involved in developing information systems and an appreciation of issues in relation to information systems strategy. It will also provide an understanding of how both data is gathered and how both data and financial measures are used to plan, monitor and control the progress of the organisation including specifying costing and accounting/financial information processes. The module will be a mix of theory and practice - this will be reflected in the delivery of the content and assessment. Typical topics covered on the module will be: BIS - definition and theoretical aspects Computerised BIS development - the traditional life cycle and alternative approaches to systems development Information systems/e business strategy But may include other relevant topics in response to current developments in the IS arena. Financial awareness Understand and interpret published accounts Use of financial data for planning, controlling and decision-making

• Managing Knowledge in Organisations

• Manufacturing Strategy

  By studying this module the students will gain an understanding of the need for deployment of a successful and integrated manufacturing strategy. Through lectures, case studies and group discussion, the students will develop their knowledge and understanding of how successful manufacturing strategies for competitive advantage could be designed and deployed, taking into account; - the human resource issues, resistance to change, technology and process influences and constraints.

• Postgraduate Research Methodology (BCA)

• Project Management

• Project Management for Innovation

  This module will include a description of the importance and structure of innovation projects as well as the description of the different project management techniques used to manage the different phases of these projects. The module will also include information about the different theoretical perspectives relevant to the management of innovation projects. There will be also presentation of real world case studies and examples of the management of innovation projects. The topics to be covered in the module are: - Importance of innovation projects - Performance measurement of innovation projects - Portfolio management for new products - Strategic decision in innovation projects and project complexity - The process of innovation and new product development projects - Leadership and team organisation in innovation projects - The old paradigm of innovation project management - The new paradigm of innovation project management - Manufacturing capability in innovation management - Role of top management in innovation projects

• System Approaches to Managing Change

  In organisations, projects are a vehicle for improving aspects of business performance and a sound initiation is the basis for effective project implementation. However, the problems or opportunities they are to address are often complex and ‘messy’ organisational situations. Even before the project starts, how it is framed and how it is perceived by different stakeholders, influences its management. Taking a systems perspective, interpretive modelling approaches are used to help people think through complex and ‘messy’ organisational situations, understand one another’s perspective, focus on the desired ends and identify appropriate changes. Such thinking enables projects to identify changes that are more likely to be embedded in the broader organisation and experience fewer negative unintended consequences. Implementation includes managing and adapting to boundaries and interdependencies, for example between projects and operations, understanding and managing the impact on people and related processes and linking ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ aspects of projects.

Fees & funding

Fees 2013

UK/EU Students

Full time: £5,250 for the 2013 academic year

Part time: If you decide to study this course on a part time basis you will be charged on a modular basis. The cost is £440 for each 15-credit module

International Students

Full time: £10,500 for the 2013 academic year Full time: £10,500 for the 2013 academic year

Discounts are available for International students if payment is made in full at registration

View detailed information about tuition fees

Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

How to apply