MA/MSc Human Resource Management for the Creative Industries

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year. 

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 1: Creativity & Orientation
Bootcamp 1: Creativity is designed to introduce you to the Business School for the Creative Industries’ learning community and professional global network orientation. Through a series of exciting and engaging fast paced workshops, tasks and peer sessions you will access resources, build relationships and develop a vision of the function of business for the creative industries.

Human Resources Management: Policy & Practice
This unit provides a broad introduction to the management of Human Resources in the workplace with emphasis on creative organisations. You will assess the strategic role of Human Resources management in facilitating effective decision-making in organisations. And you will look at the role of Human Resources in effectively managing change and employment relationships in a volatile, uncertain complex and ambiguous world.

Creative People & Organisations
The creative industries are highly important to the UK and the global economy. As people are a principal resource for any organisation, the strategic management of creative people is an essential skill to ensure that the creative enterprise flourishes at times of rapid technological and organisational change and global competition. This module is designed to provide an insight into the complex theories and contemporary management practice within the creative industries both in the UK and globally.

Work Design & Organisational Change
The evolution and transformation of global economies in contemporary times to service-led economies where human capital is at the heart of its operations cannot be overemphasised. This unit explores the impact of work design and structure on organisational effectiveness and individual performance and examine the role of leadership in organisational culture and change in global organisations within the creative sector.

Learning & Development
You will explore the relevance of encouraging creative organisations to be effective in creating conducive environment for effective organisational learning practices. You will learn about the various terminologies associated with Learning and Development, contemporary approaches to Learning and Development, and how to identify and assessing employee needs, whether individual or team.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 2: Forecasting & Predictive Analysis
Through examples from empirical research, you will have an overview of main concepts, statistical models, methods, tools and underlying principles used to improve business decision-making. You will learn fundamentals of exploratory data analysis and how to aggregate and visualize datasets.

Human-centred Innovation & Design
Human-centred design (HCD) is a creative way to solve problems. It is a process of designing for people that begins with the people for whom you are developing ideas and ends with individual solutions to meet their needs. You will learn how to design and develop systems by applying HCD and innovation principles and techniques through various relevant activities in planning and management to satisfy user needs and requirements in business, social and global contexts.

Strategic Human Resource Management
You will study the contemporary relevance of human resources management practices and activities in evolving creative workspaces, with emphasis on the strategic role that people management can contribute to the leadership, strategic direction, strategic planning and overall organisational performance indices of businesses.

Global Creative Industries
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing business and process in a global context in the creative sectors. There is a strong focus on contemporary business and marketing concepts enabling you to position yourself and your practice within this constantly changing and demanding landscape.

Masters Project
The Masters Project is the culmination of your studies and is divided into two parts – a research proposal, and your final project. Both parts represent an in-depth investigation and requires you to approach a real problem or opportunity in your specialist area, analyse it, and then develop a tangible strategy and implementation plan, while applying contemporary concepts and frameworks from your studied programme.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 3: Competitive Intelligence & Research
Bootcamp 3: Competitive Intelligence Research is designed to familiarise you with the gathering and analysis of competitors, customers, distributors, technologies, and other relevant stakeholders and features in the environment for proactive decision making in the face of threats and opportunities.

Masters Project
The Masters Project is the culmination of your studies and is divided into two parts – a research proposal, and your final project. Both parts represent an in-depth investigation and requires you to approach a real problem or opportunity in your specialist area, analyse it, and then develop a tangible strategy and implementation plan, while applying contemporary concepts and frameworks from your studied programme.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

MA students choose one unit from:

Behavioural Studies and Consumption
In this unit, you will overview main behaviour theories from marketing, sociology and psychology, and their recent trends, to analyse and get acquainted with the decision-making processes of consumers, and their main factors, with a particular application to cultural and creative goods.

Talent Management in the Creative Industries
People are the backbone of organisations and a most valuable resource often conferring sustainable competitive advantage to organisations. This unit provides a critical overview of managing and retaining effective employees within creative businesses by exploring various talent management activities. You will learn about global employment markets and trends, HR planning, employer branding, succession planning and occasional termination of employment, all of which effectively define how businesses can efficiently thrive.

MSc students choose one unit from:

Behavioural Studies and Consumption
In this unit, you will overview main behaviour theories from marketing, sociology and psychology, and their recent trends, to analyse and get acquainted with the decision-making processes of consumers, and their main factors, with a particular application to cultural and creative goods.

Managerial Accounting & Finance
You will examine the perspectives and techniques in accounting and financial control and consider how they are used by modern enterprises to effectively manage competitive business environments.

Business Analytics
You will explore how to acquire, process, analyse and interpret data to provide meaningful value for creative organisations, and look at how data is used in the creative industries, how AI and machine learning are advancing this area, and what the future may look like for the creative industries.

Tuition fees - 2023 entry

UK students:

• Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
• MA/MSc course - £10,500

EU students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
• MA/MSc course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
• MA/MSc course - £17,500

Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.

Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.

You may also wish to progress onto a PhD or MPhil research degree.

MA/MSc course

• A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in a related discipline
  
  

and/or

• Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.
  
  

Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

MA/MSc course

The entry requirements will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

MA/MSc course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

• A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please chcek the level of English language required:

• English language requirements