PMRELEST - MSc Real Estate

Real estate professionals are highly valued and in demand in the UK and globally. This course sits in the School of the Built Environment at London Metropolitan University and is aimed at producing skilled and forward-thinking real estate professionals, who are able to lead on the investment, development, and management of property, whilst promoting environmental and social values in everything they do.
Students will learn about real estate globally, as well as UK markets. In several modules, students will be able to select where in the world they locate their projects which will help students to explore and discuss different perspectives from within and outside the UK. Students will gain a much wider world view on issues and improve their critical thinking, particularly in relation to sustainability and the influence of global economics and politics on climate objectives.
Our students have the opportunity to engage in authentic learning and assessment, achieved by working closely with established national and international commercial real estate organisations to provide case studies for students learning and assessment, along with their expertise to support students in the classroom.
The overall principal of assessment is to facilitate student success, whatever their background. Assessment types are varied and include reports, group and individual presentations, portfolios and appraisals incorporating the use of industry standard software. Some assessments allow students to choose their own locations, others allow choice in the format of assessed presentations, or choice in content of portfolios.
Classroom teaching will be broken into traditional lectures, seminars, and tutorials. The emphasis will be away from didactic teaching and towards student centered teaching which facilitates learning and students’ own exploration of subject areas.
Formative feedback is key to progression. It helps students identify gaps in their knowledge and awareness of their own misunderstandings. Formative feedback is essential for students to grow and achieve. Formative feedback opportunities are available in all modules, and this can be informal tutor and peer feedback in class, timetabled Q&A sessions, and coursework examples to promote students’ self-efficacy. Students will also be given supportive feedback in their summative assessments, to help them improve and develop their skills.
The course adopts a blended learning approach combining the benefits of a traditional classroom taught course with the flexibility afforded by delivery enhanced through embracing web-based technology and resources. These web-based technologies allow students flexible ways of engaging with the course material, academics, and their peers. The University’s Virtual Learning Environment (Weblearn) provides students with access to the course materials, including lecture notes, recordings and supporting resources. Through the library students will have access to e-books, journals and industry 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 all students to engage and fulfil their 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 students belong. The student experience will raise aspirations and support achievement for people with diverse requirements, entitlements, and backgrounds. All our students belong and contribute to our community of learners, engaging with the opportunities the course, school, and University offer.

The aim of the course is to develop forward-thinking real estate professionals equipped with skills to enable them to add value to the real estate profession both in the UK and across the globe. London Met’s Real Estate postgraduates will be at the forefront of the discourse around the environmental impact of real estate and creating social value.
This aim will be achieved by providing exposure to the latest initiatives, bodies of knowledge and best practices. We will utilise our strong links with the real estate industry and employers, immersing students in authentic industry scenarios and using the latest technology and data collection tools. Students will have opportunities to visit live projects and national and global real estate organisations to experience first-hand the challenges in commercial real estate and create a learning experience which will ensure London Met’s postgraduates stand out in the marketplace.

University Learning outcome
1. 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 demonstrate comprehensive knowledge and understanding of:
2. The principles of development, investment and management of real estate and the physical, technical, legal and economic factors which influence the work of real estate professionals.
3. The stakeholders involved in the development, investment and management of real estate, their relationships, and different needs.
4. The requirements for sustainability and inclusivity in the built environment and the processes that deliver these.
5. The professional and ethical frameworks which influence the work of real estate professionals.
Cognitive/Intellectual Skills
On successful completion of this programme, you should be able to:
6. Identify and critically evaluate evidence to produce solutions to complex challenges in real estate.
7. Critically evaluate incomplete information and manage uncertainty to reach justified conclusions.
Subject-specific practical skills
8. Competently use technology to support the resolution of complex issues and challenges within real estate.
9. Proficiency in retrieving and analysing data from appropriate sources to use in providing solutions to real estate problems.
Key Transferrable Skills
10. Adopt methods of communication suitable for the intended audience to convey complex information in an efficient and appropriate manner.

https://www.qaa.ac.uk/docs/qaa/subject-benchmark-statements/subject-benchmark-statement-land-construction-real-estate-and-surveying.pdf?sfvrsn=f9f3c881_4

Assessments will be inclusive, accessible and promote decolonisation and diversification to aid critical thinking and awareness of how different perspectives on issues relating to diversity in ethnicity, culture and nationality can impact the real estate professional. This will be achieved twofold. Firstly, through using case studies from across the globe to bring to the student’s attention the different challenges facing real estate professionals 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, encouraging contributions by students from diverse backgrounds allowing them opportunities to draw upon and see value in their different and varied personal experiences.
The overall principal of assessment is to facilitate student success, whatever their background. Assessment types are varied and include reports, group and individual presentations, portfolios and appraisals incorporating the use of industry standard software. Some assessments allow students to choose their own locations, others allow choice in the format of assessed presentations, or choice in content of portfolios.
Varied methods of assessment can reduce assessment bias which may unfairly penalise students because of those students’ personal characteristics, often found in assessment patterns dominated by written essays and reports. Whilst beneficial for home students, assessment variety is particularly important for international students who are non-native English speakers and may have different educational experiences in critical reading and writing. The mode of assessment has been considered carefully for each module and where presentations are included, these reflect professional communication skills students will need in the workplace. In these circumstances, the mode of communication will be included in the outcomes of the assessment and its marking criteria, students will be supported in presentation skills, and presentations will be a mix of recorded or live but in case of the latter, only in front of academic staff. Throughout the course there is support for students in communication and presentation skills, which are essential requirements for employability and professional body membership.
The course assessments will allow students to evidence their knowledge of the course core learning materials and their intellectual and problem-solving abilities. 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 will often 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. A proposition will be offered and defended within the group context. These are often used as the vehicle for formative feedback sessions and occur during scheduled workshops.
• 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 of several related pieces of work which together form the basis of a response to a problem set.
• Projects: These will be based on a scenario that relates directly to the built environment and real estate and will require an objective solution to the problem that has been set.
• Presentations: These may be live (face to face or online) or recorded and could include video. Whether the presentations are synchronous or asynchronous there will be an opportunity for live Q&A scheduled into the assessment timetable.
For the Applied Research Project module, the assessment is based on a substantial, individual piece of research conducted by the student. Throughout the project formative feedback and guidance will be available to all students through their work with their supervisors including opportunities for 1:1 supervision meeting.
In broad terms, the assessment strategies adopted on the course will require students to provide evidence of the following:
• Analysis – have key concepts been understood and the relationship between them articulated?
• Integration of theory and practice – has evidence from both academic research and professional practice been effectively related to each other, and theoretical concepts appropriately applied to practical situations?
• Critical thinking – has information been used in a critical way rather than simply reproduced and accepted as fact?
All assessment briefs will provide students with a clear and unambiguous guide to the assessment requirements and the 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, where applicable, will help inform subsequent submissions.
Assessments will be submitted via plagiarism recognizing software, and will be available to external examiners in their review of courses / modules.

Qualifying mark for module completion 50% on all modules, each of which can be passed on aggregate.

Part-time Structure

Part time starts (day release)
September start, 2 years
Year 1 Autumn semester core modules
RL7000 Real Estate Valuation; and RL7002 Planning and Development
Year 1 Spring semester core modules
RL7003 Commercial Real Estate Practice; and CO7005 Sustainable Built Environments
Year 2 Autumn semester core modules
SU7000 Built Environment Economics and Finance; and CO7P00 Applied Research Project.
Year 2 Spring semester core modules
RL7001 Asset Management of Real Estate; and CO7P00 Applied Research Project
Year 2 Summer semester core module CO7P00 Applied Research Project
February start, 2.5 years
Year 0.5 Spring semester core modules
RL7000 Real Estate Valuation; and CO7005 Sustainable Built Environments.
Year 1 Autumn semester core modules
RL7003 Commercial Real Estate Practice; and RL7002 Planning and Development
Year 1 Spring semester core modules.
RL7001 Asset Management of Real Estate
Year 2 Autumn semester core modules
SU7000 Built Environment Economics and Finance; and CO7P00 Applied Research Project
Year 2 Spring and Summer semester core module CO7P00 Applied Research Project.

Postgraduate Certificate 60 credits must include RL7000 Real Estate Valuation
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 must 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 regular class-based activities and module assessments, students will be provided with feedback, both real-time and asynchronous, and asked to reflect and learn from this.
The learning process is thus highly student-centered, 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 quantity surveyor. 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 intend to apply for professional body accreditations for our Real Estate MSc from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as soon as possible. 

Real estate postgraduates from London Met will be valued by employers for technical skills, business knowledge and communication skills.
The private sector is a major source of employment and in the public sector, both central and local government bodies offer graduate employment opportunities in this area. The technical, management and professional skills you will gain during your studies are transferable across a range of organisations and employers.
Typical employers include:
● Property development and investment companies such as Great Portland Estates, LandSec, British Land and Derwent London.
● Commercial real estate consultants such as Savills, Avison Young, CBRE and Jones Lang Lasalle.
● Landed estates such as the Crown Estate, Grosvenor and The Portman Estate.
● Government organisations and the Valuation Office.
● Local authorities.
● Service organisations such as John Lewis and Partners and Amazon.

As a real estate postgraduate, your technical, property management and social skills will be extremely valued by lots of employers in various sectors.
 
The public and private sector make up a large pool of employment within the field.
 
Typical employers include:

• Property development and investor companies
• Commercial real estate consultants 
• Landed estates
• The Valuation Office
• Government organisations
• Local authorities

 
Many of the skills gained during your studies are extremely transferable and therefore highly-valued by employers in a range of other sectors too!

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

Or

Membership of a recognised professional body whose entry requirements are equivalent to graduate level, and some relevant practical experience.

If you’re applying with non-standard qualifications and/or relevant experience you will be considered on an individual basis. Assessment of your experience will confirm that you have achieved the necessary skills.