MSc Management and Information Systems: Change and Development (Distance Learning)

The University holds regular open days, where you will have the opportunity to tour the campus and find out more about our facilities and courses.

On this day, you will find out more about the School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED), and meet academic and admissions staff who will be able to answer any questions you have.

For more information, see Open days .

 Please submit the following documents with your completed application form:

• copies of official degree certificates and transcripts of your previous study, showing the subjects taken and grades obtained.  If  these documents are in languages other than English, please provide official translations;
• your CV;
• copies of English Language Certification, eg IELTS, TOEFL or Pearson test score report.

Ensure that you enclose all the necessary documents to avoid any delays.

MSc Management and Information Systems: Change and Development aims to train 'hybrid managers' capable of understanding both the job of management in its organisational setting, and the role, management and jargon of information, information systems and information technology.

It intends to help close the gap of knowledge, skills, culture and language that exists between functional managers and information systems professionals - a gap that results in many information systems, including e-government, e-commerce, and e-development systems, under-performing or becoming failures.

You'll therefore graduate in a strong position to lead the successful development and implementation of new information systems in a wide range of organisations. By the course's end, you will have been provided with:

• conceptual frameworks to understand the role of management of information, of information technology and of information systems in organisations;
• new knowledge and skills to help in the effective planning, development implementation and management of information systems;
• new knowledge and skills to help in the effective management and change of organisations.

• We're Europe's largest dedicated development research and teaching institute and have been at the forefront of development studies for over 60 years .   
• We're ranked second in the UK and seventh in the world for development studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022).
• We bring cutting-edge insights from our research into all our postgraduate teaching. 
• You will join our 10,000 strong alumni network. We'll keep you up to date with all the new insights and implications from our research. 

  Distance learning  

The Global Development Institute has more than 20 years' experience of delivering high-quality postgraduate programmes via distance learning, and this master's degree offers you: 

• Competitive costs - participants remain at home and in work while they study, typically reducing the total net cost of study by two-thirds. 
• Career-relevant learning - we use cases and models from the real world, enabling you to apply learning direct to your workplace and to build career-enhancing skills profiles. 
• Flexible learning - the pace of learning can be varied according to other commitments, and can also be combined with periods of on-campus learning in Manchester.

The distance learning course starts annually with two entry points: August and January. 

Participants study on the distance learning degree without leaving home or interrupting their careers. 

August entry involves a fixed two-year study period, completing five compulsory course units in the first year, and three compulsory course units plus a dissertation in year two. 

Applicants following this route may be eligible for the UK Postgraduate Master's loan . 

January entry allows greater flexibility.

A typical study route would involve completion of four compulsory course units in the first year of study, and completion of the remaining four course units in the second year. 

A dissertation is undertaken in the first half of the third year.

Using this route, participants complete the full master's course in two-and-a-half years. 

However, the January entry course is flexible and can accommodate faster or slower study and completion speeds in order to take account of work, family or other personal commitments. 

For example, after completing teaching period one, students can accelerate their study by spending a twelve-week semester in Manchester, studying alongside students on our face-to-face master's courses. 

Students can also slow down, perhaps taking only one course unit rather than two in a particular teaching period or taking a complete break of a teaching period during which no course units are studied. 

Different study plans are possible as long as students complete the course within four and a half years. 

Study for both entry points is undertaken via the University's e-learning system, which provides study materials, online resources, and interactive online tutorial discussions with the module tutor and other course participants. 

You benefit from access to the University's library, with more than 25,000 electronic journals and 400,000 electronic books.

Each course unit generally requires one assignment of 3,500 words.

Assignments for all course units typically relate to organisational application of management and information systems ideas.

You must also complete a 12,000-15,000-word dissertation on a topic of your choice approved by the Programme Directors.

You are encouraged to base your dissertation on topics of direct professional concern.

This course is designed to develop two groups of participants: functional managers who wish to take greater control over, and make a more direct contribution to, change in their organisations via the development and implementation of information systems; and information systems professionals who wish to improve the success rate of the information systems they develop or use, and who may also wish to upgrade their management skills and knowledge. 

It will be relevant to those with career trajectories in the private, public, and NGO sectors, and it is particularly appropriate for those working in or with newly developed, transitional and developing countries. 

Our graduates have an impressive career record in the UK and internationally. 

Careers support  

The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. 

At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .

Career trajectories

The MSc in Management and Information Systems can help you select and target jobs in any part of the hybrid triangle. 

See more examples and a diagram of typical jobs taken by our graduates.  

Further studies  

Each year, some students are bitten by the postgraduate bug and decide to continue their studies by undertaking a PhD. 

Those who take a PhD typically see themselves with a career trajectory into academia or into a research-intensive job role such as consultancy or policy advisory positions. 

Those from the MSc M&IS programme may study with the University's Centre for Digital Development .

Career examples

Masuda Ahmad joined the MSc programme when working as a Business Analyst for software house Uraan Software in Lahore, Pakistan. Her MSc studies facilitated her promotion within Uraan to take on a programme management role. Subsequently she took a significant step up with a new job as General Manager for Business Development and Media - exactly the type of hybrid role the MSc seeks to develop, combining management and ICT expertise - for Qadir Enterprises; an engineering and construction company based in Peshawar working on civil and electrical engineering projects. Masuda also started volunteering at a local school - Qadir Nagar High School - developing an education management information system, based on work undertaken for her MSc dissertation. 

Eisah Mayanja joined the MSc programme when working as a Senior Applications Analyst for Grameen App Lab in Kampala, Uganda. His MSc studies facilitated his promotion within Grameen to the role of Senior Technology Analyst, using some of the management content of the programme to help move from mainly technical development to a more project management role. Following three years overseeing software quality assurance for MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping mission, he is now Technical Director of New Wave Technologies, coordinating deployment of Internet-based applications for UN agencies and NGOs in Africa. 

At the beginning of her studies, Emma Jackson was a website editor for the Department of Telecommunications, Science and Technology within the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Her MSc studies facilitated her promotion to Deputy Director of the Public Sector Reform Unit, with a hybrid job profile of the type the MSc programme aims to develop. Her role supports the government's public sector reform programme and requires systems analysis, change management and process re-engineering capabilities that various MSc modules helped Emma develop.