PMPROJMN - MSc Project Management

Skilled project managers are in demand both in the UK and globally. Here at London Metropolitan University, we have designed a course which aims to produce highly skilled and valued project managers who are able to effectively lead projects across the globe.

As a student on our course, you will engage in authentic learning and assessment on real world projects, working with established national and international organisations operating within the national and global project management field. You will visit live projects to experience first-hand the challenges, excitement, and opportunities a career in project management can offer.

Placing an emphasis on real world and authentic assessment means that throughout the course you will showcase your achievements to industry and employers and contribute to solving challenges on live and simulated projects. In some modules, project choice will be available to you allowing you to choose where in the world you locate your projects which will allow you to discuss different perspectives from within and outside the UK. This will aid your critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality can impact the project manager and the management of projects.

Formative assessment is key to your progression as it provides the opportunity for impactful feedback which will directly benefit your future submissions. Formative assessments will be embedded in modules, sometimes taking the form of a scheduled event, for example a workshop in the Applied Research Project module in which the output of the workshop will be a project outline proposal which will be arrived at through group and individual discussions with the module team.

The course will adopt a blended learning approach which will combine the benefits of a traditional classroom taught course with the flexibility which is afforded by delivery that is enhanced through embracing web-based technology and resources. These web-based technologies allow you flexible ways of engaging with the course material, academics, and their peers. The University’s Virtual Learning Environment will provide you with access to the course materials, including lecture notes, recordings and supporting resources. Through the library you will have access to e-books, journals, and databases.

London Metropolitan University’s commitment to social justice and using the power of education to change lives is central to the learning and teaching on this course, encouraging you to engage and fulfil your potential. The course has been designed with the objective of removing arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning, by facilitating a learning experience accessible for all, irrespective of the group or groups to which you belong. The London Met student experience will raise aspirations and support achievement for people with diverse requirements, entitlements, and backgrounds. You will belong and contribute to our community of learners, engaging with the opportunities the course, School, and University offer you.

Course Aims

The need for expert management of projects is a priority for every organisation across the globe. The aim of this course is to develop project managers who have excellent communication and technical skills, and understand the contribution the principles of integrity, professionalism, respect, and excellence make towards their becoming ethical practitioners. These skills will enable you to motivate and lead the project team to achieve the client’s goals in a wide variety of scenarios, considering the challenges brought about when projects are placed within their cultural and national contexts. To do this the course will cover the knowledge, skills and behaviours required by project managers to allow you to expertly plan, programme, and allocate resources to a project whilst monitoring progress and managing risk while working towards a successful project conclusion. It will introduce you to the principles behind advanced project management and you will apply them practically to define and ascertain the feasibility of a project, engage its detailed planning, including strategic procurement, build a cross-disciplinary project team, set project goals, and monitor the same within a dynamic project environment.

The course will embrace the latest project management techniques, codes of practice and bodies of knowledge. It will mobilise the latest technologies within real-life project scenarios. This will ensure that your learning experience is one through which you become a highly employable project professional leading ethical and sustainable project delivery within a sustainable, low-carbon world.

University Learning outcome

1. UL0 Demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition, and creativity and will act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners/professionals in their discipline.

Knowledge and Understanding

On successful completion of this course you should be able to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and understanding of:

2. the theories, concepts and principles which underpin traditional and contemporary project management and their application to the management of projects.
3. the nature of organisations, the business environment and the project lifecycle including the relationships and linkages between the various stakeholders.
4. the concepts of legal context, project value and finance, risk, corporate governance, ethics, benefits management, project success, and sustainability as appropriate to a project manager operating in a variety of industries.
5. the principles of effective project teams and how these are formed and maintained throughout the project lifecycle.

Cognitive/Intellectual Skills

On successful completion of this programme, you should be able to:

6. identify, critically evaluate, and produce solutions to facilitate successful strategic and operational project management.
7. identify, critically evaluate and apply suitable techniques associated with the management of the project team, project plan, resources and uncertainty.
8. define, investigate, and critique a complex problem in an area specific to project management.

Subject-specific practical skills

9. appraise and advise on appropriate traditional and contemporary project management techniques for a range of project types.
10. how to effectively manage the dynamic landscape within which projects are planned and delivered.

Key Transferrable Skills

11. adopt methods of communication suitable for the intended audience to convey complex information in an efficient and appropriate manner.

Business and Management

Assessments will be inclusive, accessible and promote decolonization and diversification to aid students’ critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality can impact the project manager and the management of projects. This will be achieved twofold. Firstly, through using case studies from across the globe to bring to the student’s attention the challenges facing project managers when working in different countries and cultures. Secondly, project choice will be available to students allowing them to choose where in the world they locate their projects which will encourage contributions from students with diverse backgrounds allowing them opportunities to draw upon, express and see the value in their different and varied personal experiences.

Placing an emphasis on real-world and authentic assessment means that throughout the course students will be asked to demonstrate critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality can impact the project manager and the management of projects.

Module assessments will allow students to evidence their knowledge of the course core learning materials, their intellectual and problem-solving abilities, their awareness of the impact of issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality on the project manager, and the skills they have gained during the course. Each module will provide an opportunity for formative assessment which will be provided ahead of any summative submissions to enable the students to learn and benefit from this feedback, improving their overall performance. The delivery of formative assessment will be different across modules and may sometimes form part of a timetabled seminar or class session.

In modules where enquiry-based learning is used, industry-inspired scenarios will form the basis of the assessment, sometimes using a live project as the vehicle for the assessment.

Assessment types will include:

Debates: Group debates will be conducted around a particular topic or subject area.

Essays: A focused piece of writing in which the student is required to inform or persuade through argument, explanation, narrative, or description.

Portfolios: Typically, a portfolio brings together several related pieces of work which form the basis of a response to a problem set.

Projects: These will be based on a scenario that relates directly to the project management sector.

Presentations: These may be live (face-to-face or online) or recorded and could include video

For the Applied Research Project module, the assessment is based on a substantial, individual piece of research conducted by the student. Formative feedback and guidance will be available to all students through their work with their supervisors.

Assessment briefs will provide students with a clear and unambiguous guide to the assessment requirements and marking criteria to be applied. Assessments will be spread across the whole academic year to minimise assessment bunching and any feedback issued will be done so in a timely manner which will help inform subsequent submissions.

Students are required to submit assignments via relevant WebLearn sites through Turnitin. These are marked and made available to second markers and external examiners and students are informed of the submission procedures.

All modules are passed on aggregate.

Part-time Structure

Part time starts (day release)

September start, 2 years

Year 1 Autumn semester core modules CO7000 Project Management Principles; and CO7009 Benefits Management and Project Success

Year 1 Spring semester core modules; CO7006 Building a Successful Project team and CO7011 Contemporary Project Management Practice.

Year 2 Autumn semester core modules CO7010 Project Planning and Execution; and CO7P00 Applied Research Project.

Year 2 Spring semester core module CO7P00 Applied Research Project and CO7003 Managing Risk and Uncertainty.

Year 2 Summer semester core module CO7P00 Applied Research Project.

February start, 2.5 years

Year 0.5 Spring semester core modules CO7000 Project Management Principles; and CO7006 Building a Successful Project Team

Year 1 Autumn semester core modules CO7009 Benefits Management and Project Success; and CO7011 Contemporary Project Management Practice.

Year 1 Spring semester. CO7003 Managing Risk and Uncertainty.

Year 2 Autumn semester core modules CO7P00 Applied Research Project; and CO7010 Project Planning and Execution

Year 2 Spring and Summer semester core module CO7P00 Applied Research Project.

Postgraduate Certificate 60 credits must include CO7000 Project Management Principles and CO7011 Contemporary Project Management Practice

Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) all modules except CO7P00 Applied Research Project module.

As with many academic disciplines it is accepted that a knowledge of fundamental concepts and vocabulary has to be acquired by the student and this basic knowledge will be obtained primarily via the course material, including online resources, supplemented by their own personal research. However, the acquisition of that knowledge will not be adequate to develop the high-level intellectual skills appropriate to a master’s level course. Hence, the course will make extensive use of enquiry- based learning.

In the enquiry-based learning approach students are presented with scenarios which are open-ended and allow a variety of responses or solutions. Students determine the lines of enquiry and the methods employed, and the enquiry requires students to draw on existing knowledge and identify their required learning needs. Tutors often act as facilitators, providing guidance, feedback and encouragement to students, with the emphasis being on empowering students to make critical decisions, reflecting on feedback received, to seek practical solutions to the problems posed. Students work collaboratively and use the extensive resources available to them to research the problems presented in the scenario.

Through both their regular class-based activities and module assessments, students will be provided with feedback and asked to reflect and learn from this. Opportunities will be provided for students to receive feedback both real-time and asynchronously.

The learning process is thus highly student-centred, with the students effectively taking responsibility for what and how they learn. The scenarios are carefully designed so that there is no single correct answer and indeed, many alternative responses may be available to them as is the case in the real world of the project manager. Students gain a much deeper understanding of the material through these interactions and feedback channels, gaining knowledge by experience, alongside developing their social, cultural and employability skills.

We will be seeking accreditation for our Project Management MSc from a leading project management professional body as soon possible.

As a project management graduate, your technical skills, business knowledge and communication skills will be valued by employers in a range of sectors to achieve both operational and strategic objectives. The private sector is a major source of employment and within the public sector both central and local government bodies offer graduates in project management employment opportunities. Furthermore, there is a thriving freelance contracting community within project management for those interested in that avenue.

Our program is specifically tailored to cultivate hands-on professionals with potential career paths in project management. Graduates can pursue roles as project managers in their own right or contribute as members of program, portfolio, or project team. Our curriculum prepares you with knowledge and understanding of areas including sustainable project management, design, planning, financing, procurement, leadership, and the delivery of projects within numerous sectors. These practical skills are highly transferable and can be applied across various managerial positions, expanding your career horizons. For those considering further academic pursuits, the project module can serve as a starting point for your research if you decide to pursue a PhD.

As a project management graduate, your technical skills, business skills and management skills will be highly valued by employers across many sectors.

There will be opportunities available in both the private and public sector. Central and local government bodies offer a range of employment schemes for graduates. There is also an exciting and thriving freelance community within project management, for those interested in that way of working.

In addition, the skills you’ll gain on this course are highly transferable. The practical skills exercised during your studies can be applied across various managerial positions, further expanding your career horizons.

For those considering academic pursuits, the project module can serve as a starting point for your research, if you decide to pursue a PhD.

In addition to the University’s standard entry requirements, you should have:

• A minimum of lower second class honours degree (2:2) in any subject.

We welcome applications from all academic backgrounds including fields such as business studies, economics, engineering, environmental science, humanities, IT and languages. If you have alternative qualifications and a minimum two years of relevant professional experience, we will also take this into consideration.

If applying with non-standard entry qualifications/experience:

• Applicants with non-standard entry qualifications and/or relevant experience will be considered on an individual basis. Assessment of your experience will confirm that you have achieved the necessary skills during your general experience.

If you are applying for the part-time mode:

• Applicants will typically need to have a minimum of two years’ relevant experience at the appropriate level and have the support of your employer who will wish to integrate study and projects into your day-to-day work.

Accreditation of Prior Learning

Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).

English language requirements

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language.

If you require a student visa, you may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.