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

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 the majority of 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 6th in the UK and 9th in the world for development studies (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020).
• Our research was ranked first in the UK for impact and second in the UK for quality in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014).
• We bring cutting-edge insights from our research into all our postgraduate teaching.
• After your course, you'll join our 10,000 strong alumni network . We'll keep you up to date with all the new insights and implications from our research.

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.

For employers, distance learning offers a lower-cost, lower-disruption, higher-flexibility route that is transportable to a multi-location workforce. Employees studying while working apply their knowledge directly to their work context, so employers see immediate benefits.

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. 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 programme 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.

'I chose The University of Manchester because it has a good, strong reputation. And it offered the particular programme that I wanted to do, in a way that suited the fact that I was working full time and couldn't really commit to full time study.

The course was something I could do outside of working hours, because it was all distance-based study, and primarily because there weren't any fixed tutorials or lectures. There were sessions that were organised but were fairly flexible, so it worked for me in terms of wanting to do the study and being able to fit it into my life. The tutors have been really good across the programme. Generally available, encouraging, engaging - and challenging sometimes!'

Saujanya Patel, MSc Management and Information Systems: Change and Development (distance learning)