PgDip / MSc HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Overview

Mode	Duration	Start date	Application code	Application method
ModeMSc Part-time	Duration24 months	Start dateSeptember	Application code5743	Application method Direct to LSBU
ModePgDip Part-time	Duration18 months	Start dateSeptember	Application code5744	Application method Direct to LSBU

International students

The course is not currently open to international students.

International (non Home) applicants should follow our international how to apply guide.

Home/EU applicants

Mode	Duration	Start date	Application code	Application method
Mode MSc Part-time	Duration 24 months	Start date September	Application code 5743	Application method Direct to LSBU
Mode PgDip Part-time	Duration 18 months	Start date September	Application code 5744	Application method Direct to LSBU

Postgraduate students and research students should apply through our dedicated application system. Full details of how to do this are supplied on our How to apply section for postgraduate students and our How to apply section for research students.

See our admissions policy (PDF File 1,043 KB) and complaints policy (PDF File 516 KB).

Accommodation

Students should apply for accommodation at London South Bank University (LSBU) as soon as possible, once we have made an offer of a place on one of our academic courses. Read more about applying for accommodation at LSBU.

Finance

It's a good idea to think about how you'll pay university tuition and maintenance costs while you're still applying for a place to study. Remember – you don't need to wait for a confirmed place on a course to start applying for student finance. Read how to pay your fees as a postgraduate student.

Postgraduate Application Service

Book a session with one of our specialist Postgraduate Advisors. Over a one on one Advice Session they'll advise you on postgraduate degrees at LSBU that match your interests and experience.

Prepare to start

We help our students prepare for university even before the semester starts. To find out when you should apply for your LSBU accommodation or student finance read the How to apply tab for this course.

Enrolment

Before you start your course we’ll send you information on what you’ll need to do before you arrive and during your first few days on campus. You can read about the process on our Enrolment pages.

You can study the Postgraduate Diploma (2 years), designed for busy professionals working in personnel/human resource management and the allied professions, seeking development but who may not have the time to commit to a full masters degree. The Masters course (2 years) has all of the benefits of the PgDip, plus a research methods and dissertation module.

The taught modules are assessed by a mixture of individual assignments, group presentations and exams.

Year 1 modules

• Contextualising Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development This module emphasises the need for HR professionals to understand, appreciate and evaluate the political, economic, social, technological and legal environments within which modern-day organisations are situated. The situational context of each student’s organisation and/or sector is explored, debated and assessed, in ways which help identify key strategic challenges and opportunities. The module also addresses the key conceptual and ideological underpinnings of Human Resource Management and Human Resource Development. Issues concerning the changing role of HRM/D, in response to legal, regulatory, technological and social values are also addressed.
• Resource and Talent Management This module will detail the strategic approaches to resourcing and talent management of employees with appropriate consideration to the external environment. Key features will include the acquisition, management and retention of people through to termination of employment. Content will ensure learners are aware of the current legal requirements and ethical issues affecting employment and termination of employment. The content of this module has been based around the CIPD Professional Map for Resourcing and Talent Management.
• Managing Employee Relations: A Contemporary Lens This module engages with the key issues inherent within employment relations in the UK today. In the past, employment relations, as a topic and as a discipline, was heavily focused on trade union-management relations. While this aspect of ER remains an integral part of this module, we extend the lens to cover employee relations in non-union organisations, as these now represent the majority of UK workplaces. Areas covered within this module include, employee voice, employee involvement and participation, employee engagement, contractual rights, conflict handling, consultation and negotiation skills, discrimination and harassment, and practices to resolve employment relations cases. 
• Mentoring & Coaching (Optional) This is an option module for those interested in developing capabilities in coaching and mentoring. Coaching and mentoring are regarded as increasingly important methods of intervention to develop individuals at work, to manage change, to help resolve conflict, to help in performance management, and to support and enhance new behaviours within organisational culture. There is a growing body of knowledge around coaching and mentoring that gives it a distinctive place in the range of learning and development initiatives.  It is essential to the role of HR managers that they have a critical appreciation, and preferably a working knowledge of, coaching and mentoring.  This module provides a basis for this working knowledge.
• Managing Reward (Optional) This module focuses on the strategic role of reward in enhancing organisational performance through influencing the engagement of individuals and teams. It explores how different aspects of the total reward package work together to add value to employees’ experience of an organisation. The challenges of achieving fairness and equity in reward are analysed and evaluated in the context of different approaches to managing pay systems; the existence of structural pay gaps is interrogated and potential solutions explored. The module provides insight into the design, management and evaluation of reward strategies in the broader context of HRM and organisational development.

Year 2 modules

• Employment Law (Optional) The purpose of this module is to introduce the major areas of UK employment legislation as it impacts on the HR practitioner, the UK employment law system and how regulation has evolved. All aspects of employment legislation will be covered in terms of the impact on policies and procedures within an organisation. Due process will be covered in terms of how to avoid and prepare for an employment tribunal case. 
• Leading and Managing Change (Optional) This module focuses on the leadership and management of organisational change. The module and the module assessment require students to relate their own experiences and/or investigations of organisational change to academic and practitioner models, enabling the module to combine practical relevance with theoretical and conceptual rigour. Peer-to-peer learning and feedback is a valuable resource on this module and as such active student participation is central to successful completion.
• Strategic Human Resource Management & Development This module provides a framework of knowledge and understanding concerning HRM and HRD strategies and the leadership of these strategies. The module blends the subject areas of strategy and leadership, in a way that builds upon learning achieved in previous modules.  The module critically examines contemporary practice and research evidence, enabling participants to examine their own leadership styles, and to understand the processes involved in strategy formation, implementation and evaluation in the workplace.
• Capstone Business Project This independent research project (known as the capstone business project) draws upon the students’ skills and knowledge gained thus far enabling application of learning to a scenario resulting in added value to an organisation and creating real world impact.
  This student driven project must address a current issue or opportunity in an organisational or industrial context.  Projects can relate to a student’s current role or internship or students can use this opportunity to deepen their knowledge of different sectors or organisations thus make connections utilising the project as a vehicle to impress future employers creating a possible stepping stone to their next job. Alternatively they may wish to investigate possible entrepreneurial opportunities.
  The module further develops students as business research experts via the completion of a comprehensive business report.
  The report must develop an academically cohesive argument, demonstrating as appropriate the formulation and testing of research questions or hypotheses, critical review of the extant literature, justification for the research approach and methods deployed, focused research making use of relevant primary and secondary sources, documentation and presentation of results, and recommendations for action from the primary and secondary research.
  In addition to a clear introduction and conclusion, an executive summary will take the place of an abstract.