MBA programme structure

The six core (compulsory) modules of the Oxford Brookes Global MBA give you insights into the key areas of business and what it takes to build, lead and think strategically in an organisation. In addition, across the core modules there is emphasis on the themes of enterprise, sustainable development and digitisation.

These six modules are complemented by a Professional Development spine, providing you with the tools to reflect on how to get the most out of your MBA journey and beyond.

In turn, as you build your insights, you select two optional modules (one for exempted ACCA members) that allow you to explore areas of interest in more detail. You can create your own themed pathways for your MBA in, for example Strategy, Marketing or Digital, or you can opt for one of our pathway awards: MBA with Enterprise, MBA with Business Analytics or MBA with Advanced Accounting and Finance.

Finally, you undertake a final 'capstone' project (consultancy project, research dissertation or business start-up venture) to help you bring your new insights together in a major project that is of interest to you as you set out your future direction.

MBA Modules

Induction

Personal and Professional Development

Integrating Residential Workshop 1

Integrating Residential Workshop 2

Client Project

Driving Excellence through Marketing and Operations

Analysing and Designing Organisations

Developing Enterprising and Impactful Leadership

Global Strategy under Uncertainty

Accounting for Decision Makers

Innovation, Creatively and Enterprise

International Business in Practice study trip

Beyond Marketing

Business Analytics for Decision Makers

Business in Emerging markets

Contemporary Issues in Accounting and Finance

Creating a New Business Venture

Digital Transformation and Leadership

Enhancing Entrepreneurial Capabilities

Independent Study

International Business Aspects

Project and Contract Management

Strategy and Corporate Finance

MoE

Final MBA Project. Choose from: Dissertation, Individual Consultancy, Group Consultancy, Business Start-up, Design

Key to Modules:

Development and Support Core Modules Elective Modules Capstone: Proposal and Project

Core modules

The Global MBA has a backbone of compulsory modules that all students take, providing each and every one with key insights into business, enterprise, strategy and personal leadership. These core elements complement the optional elective modules in the programme. Taken together, these core modules, elective choices, and your choice of topic in a final MBA project help you build your expertise in a themed pathway through the MBA.

These modules cover the principle areas of focus in international business and enterprise, together with the help to build your leadership and strategic thinking capabilities:

Personal and Professional Development – Parts 1 and 2

(Online and on-campus)

You will draw together the holistic MBA themes, supporting both personal and career development. You will develop personal action plans for your study and future development needs and review and reflect on the MBA learning as you progress through the programme.

Client Project

The Client project gives you the opportunity to work in cross-cultural teams on a real problem within a client organisation, developing your communication and practical problem solving skills as well as your ability to work in cross-cultural teams.

Driving Excellence through Marketing and Operations

(Online and on-campus)

This module provides students a common (foundational) understanding of what is involved in successfully running an organisation. You will learn how functional excellence and the effective co-ordination of organisation functions can be used to deliver competitive advantage. The approaches covered are applicable to private sector, public sector, and third sector organisations.

Analysing and Designing Organisations

(Online and on-campus)

This module aims to support students in their understanding of how transformational leadership can contribute to organisational success in a range of contexts and at all levels in organisations. You will explore the challenges and dilemmas inherent in leadership in a global context including leading diverse and virtual teams, leading change in complex and unpredictable environments, encouraging entrepreneurial behaviours, maintaining resilience and working in sustainable and responsible ways. As well as developing reflective thinking and understanding of what enterprising and impactful leadership is and how it can contribute to organisational success and working in responsible and sustainable ways, the module aims to go beyond this in developing your capacity to critically reflect on and evaluate your own leadership capabilities and identify ways of enhancing these to achieve impact in the organisational environment and be able to manage your ongoing leadership development.

Developing Enterprising and Impactful Leaders

(Online and on-campus)

Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise

(Online and on-campus)

The aim of the module is to prepare you for working in the contemporary global world, characterised by a complex, volatile and uncertain environment. Regardless of their size or profile, organisations increasingly require managers who are both innovative and creative, and a growing number of people aspire to starting and developing their own businesses. The module exposes you to a range of experimental conditions that help cultivate and develop skilful managerial responses to a given set of problems and issues.

Global Strategy under uncertainty

(Online and on-campus)

Achieving competitive success in the global marketplace is a complex and multifaceted task. This module focuses on evaluating how organisations compete and generate competitive advantage. It aims to equip you with a sophisticated understanding of strategic management for growth and sustainability in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment. Students will learn to evaluate growth and competitive strategies pursued by wide ranging organisations such as start ups, small and medium sized businesses, third sector, public sector, and large multinationals in the face of a dynamic and uncertain business environment.

Accounting for Decision Making

(Online and on-campus intensive blocks)

This module is designed to provide an introduction to the theory and practice of management and financial accounting. The course theme of effective management reflects the involvement of accounting as a basis for providing a sound knowledge of financial reporting, financial analysis and decision-making techniques.

Methods of Enquiry

(Online only)

You will develop your knowledge of research approaches, methods and techniques appropriate to the MBA, as well as enhancing your ability to critically evaluate published research outputs. You will explore and critique current research in business and management and evaluate ethical and responsible business issues, preparing you for your Capstone project.

Elective Modules

The Oxford Brookes Global MBA offers you the opportunity to learn more about specific areas that appeal to you through a choice of elective modules. This allows you to build themed pathways through your MBA in a sector or specialism you currently work in, aspire to work in or have a particular interest in. Electives are regularly updated to maintain relevance to the global business environment.

Electives are delivered through a blended mixture of on-campus and online learning. You choose two elective modules, with exempted ACCA members choosing one elective.

Digital Transformation and Leadership

You will learn about the organisational challenges and opportunities for digital innovation and transformation. You will understand the strategic and leadership issues managers face and the concepts, theories and frameworks to use in response. You explore developments in digital technologies and how to develop and justify digital strategy. You will learn about the importance of IT leadership, management and the changing relationships with IT experts and business personnel.

Enhancing Entrepreneurial Capabilities

Entrepreneurial people learn by doing, often within the context of uncertainty. You will be taught in a way that encourages responsible entrepreneurial behaviour. You will have the opportunity to gain real, practical-based experience whilst working on a company project. We aim to develop your entrepreneurial aspirations by promoting your values and self-belief.

Beyond Marketing

The focus of this module is on enhancing your marketing knowledge and developing critical skills in order to equip you for marketing for the future. You will engage with a range of contemporary marketing practices in a global context.

Creating a New Business Ventures

You will develop the necessary skills to start and run your own business, or to be involved in the growth of an existing business. You will evaluate business models in terms of their economic viability, ability to deliver and quality of deliverance. You will create your own business plan for a new venture or an existing business.

Project and Contract Management

You will focus on principles, practices and techniques vital to leading and managing business projects. You develop the skills to ensure projects are delivered on time, to a high quality and meet budgets. You explore project environments and the critical role of stakeholders. Approaches and techniques to plan, control and deliver projects successfully give you the essential tools for decision making. You learn to influence and negotiate with stakeholders and to understand the commercial and contractual aspects of supplier management.

Strategic Corporate Finance

Your study will be focused around the corporate lifecycle. You will develop your knowledge of business models, techniques and theories, while learning more advanced methods, applying your new knowledge to a company's strategic position. You will engage in individual problem solving and group investigations, exploring issues in financial management through case studies, exercises and virtual presentations.

Business in Emerging Markets

You will develop knowledge and understanding of doing business in emerging markets, with particular focus on one each from Africa, Asia and Latin America. You will learn about market entry, viable strategies, stakeholder management and risks, and how to capitalise on the exciting opportunities offered by these rising economic powers.

Business Analytics for Decision Makers

This immersive and interactive module provides you with the opportunity to learn about the principles, theories and practices of business analytics as used by entrepreneurial and innovative organisations for strategic benefit. You will develop data insights, critical business intelligence knowledge and learn the frameworks for reviewing, reflecting, analysing and critiquing the ethical application of Business Analytics for effective business decisions.

Contemporary Issues in Finance and Accounting

Aimed at those with a prior accounting education, you will examine the big issues that finance professionals are likely to face and to develop key critical understanding and analysis skills to deal with these. Such issues frequently have a significant impact on society, and so the focus on stakeholder impact (environmental, social and governance) will be a key thread.

Building a themed pathway as part of your MBA journey

The Oxford Brookes Global MBA provides you with the leadership skills, strategic thinking, and overall insights that you would expect to build and manage a complete business organisation. The flexibility of the programme, choice of electives, and the scope to choose your own final MBA project topic also allows for personalised themed pathways through your MBA in a sector or specialism you currently work in or aspire to work in. Your personal Academic Advisor and our tutors can help you shape your personal pathways. The table below shows the three pathways we offer as named awards (if you opt-in), as well as some example of other pathways:

Themed pathway
Pathway themes	Core Modules	Electives	Capstone project
Example pathway: Global Strategy Leadership	Developing Enterprising and Impactful Leaders Global Strategy under Uncertainty	Digital Strategy & Leadership Business in Emerging Markets	Consultancy Project or Dissertation or Design Project
Example pathway: Marketing	Driving Excellence through Marketing and Operations	Beyond Marketing Business Analytics for Decision Makers	Consultancy Project or Dissertation or Design Project
Formal pathway: MBA with Business Analytics	Driving Excellence through Marketing and Operations Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise	Business Analytics for Decision Makers (compulsory) One of: Beyond Marketing, Digital Transformation and Leadership, Contemporary Issues in Accounting and Finance or Creating a New Business Venture	Any, related to Business Analytics
Formal pathway: MBA with Enterprise	Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise Developing Enterprising and Impactful Leaders Global Strategy under Uncertainty	Creating a New Business Venture (compulsory) One of: Enhancing Entrepreneurial Capabilities, Digital Transformation and Leadership, Business Analytics for Decision Makers or Business in Emerging Markets	Business Start-Up or Design Project
Formal pathway: MBA with Advanced Finance and Accounting	Accounting for Decision Makers (ACCA exempt)	Strategic Accounting & Finance If not ACCA, one of: Digital Transformation and Leadership, Business in Emerging Markets, or Business Analytics for Decision Making	Any, related to advanced Finance and Accounting

The Final MBA Project

Finally, you will undertake a ‘capstone’ final project to help integrate your learning, apply the key insights you gain from the MBA in practice, and provide an opportunity to develop deeper expertise as well as actionable insights in an area of interest for your future directions. This project can take the form of one of a Research Project (Dissertation); Consultancy Project; Business Start-up; or Design Project.

For your capstone projects, an individual supervisor will be appointed to help advise you on your project on a one-to-one basis.

Students are encouraged to undertake projects of direct interest and relevance to themselves, and examples of past final MBA ‘capstone’ projects demonstrate the wide diversity of our students’ interests.

MBA programme structure

MBA Modules

Development and Support

Core Modules

Elective Modules

Capstone: Proposal and Project

Key to Modules:

Core modules

Personal and Professional Development – Parts 1 and 2

Client Project

Driving Excellence through Marketing and Operations

Analysing and Designing Organisations

Developing Enterprising and Impactful Leaders

Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise

Global Strategy under uncertainty

Accounting for Decision Making

Methods of Enquiry

Professional Development module

Elective Modules

Digital Transformation and Leadership

Enhancing Entrepreneurial Capabilities

Beyond Marketing

Creating a New Business Ventures

Project and Contract Management

Strategic Corporate Finance

Business in Emerging Markets

Business Analytics for Decision Makers

Contemporary Issues in Finance and Accounting

Building a themed pathway as part of your MBA journey

The Final MBA Project