Why study this course?
With factors like the expanding population and new technologies on the rise, projects are becoming bigger and more complex. Skilled project managers are not only in high demand across the globe but also play a vital role in any project team.
Here at London Met, we’ve designed this course so you can grow your knowledge and expertise in all aspects of project management, from devising strategies to kickstart a project to analysing business goals, controlling resources, onboarding project stakeholders, and successful project delivery.
Combining theory and practical work, on this MSc you’ll have the chance to engage in authentic learning experiences and assessments, while getting hands-on in supporting real-world projects. What’s more, you’ll gain valuable experience collaborating with established national and international organisations. Through active project visits, you’ll gain first hand exposure to the challenges, excitement and career prospects this line of work has to offer.
London Met maintains strong connections with employers across all aspects of project management, involving them in both our Project Management MSc curriculum design and aspects of our career education services.
Experience all of this while studying at our lively Holloway campus, conveniently located just a short tube ride away from both the City and the West End.
More about this course
Project management is not only a highly rewarding career choice, it’s also a top priority for all organisations, no matter the industry. Skilled and experienced project managers are sought after by employers to plan and deliver projects.
This programme has been specifically designed to develop you into a well-practiced and confident project manager, with not only excellent communication skills, but the technical skills to match. Both of which are extremely valuable when leading and motivating project teams in achieving client business goals.
You’ll gain the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours to successfully carry out advanced project management principles and planning. Tasks such as, strategic procurement, design, assembling a cross-disciplinary project team, establishing project objectives, finance and monitoring progress within a dynamic project environment, will become second nature to you.
This course will exercise your critical thinking. Our curriculum has been designed to encourage mindful consideration of the types of challenges faced when carrying out projects nationally and internationally, looking at both cultural and national contexts.
Through real-life project scenarios, you’ll gain experience using cutting-edge technologies, while being taught the latest project management methodologies. You’ll take part in various site visits, live industry projects, and have the option to attend exciting guest lectures. In fact, your involvement in live industry projects will inform your course assessment.
With our location being so close to the city, London Met has unparalleled exposure to some of the world’s largest and most prestigious organisations, multi-disciplinary consultancies, developers and professional industry bodies. Right here, on our doorstep, you’ll find some of the most prestigious urban infrastructure initiatives currently being delivered in the UK.
Our unique approach to teaching will ensure that your learning journey transforms you into a highly employable project professional, who can lead ethical and sustainable project delivery in an increasingly climate-conscious world.
Assessment
Our assessment style has been designed with you in mind and is reflective of the types of everyday challenges faced by project managers. As a result, the work that you complete will be based on coursework activities.
Some modules will test your knowledge and understanding of core concepts. Other modules will have a focus on more enquiry-based learning, involving industry inspired scenarios to stimulate critical thinking, forming the basis of your coursework. will be a mix of reports, essays, presentations and portfolios.
As part of your study, you’ll complete a project module. Assessment for this will be based on an individual piece of research or work-based project. This project will make up a substantial body of work that will then be graded.
All assessments for this course have been developed in line with the new University tariff guidelines and policy.
Professional accreditation
We will be seeking accreditation for our Project Management MSc from a leading project management professional body as soon possible.
Fees and key information
Apply nowEntry requirements
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.
We welcome applications from all academic backgrounds including fields such as business studies, economics, engineering, environmental science, humanities, IT and languages. If you have alternative qualifications and a minimum two years of relevant professional experience, we will also take this into consideration.
If applying with non-standard entry qualifications/experience:
- Applicants with non-standard entry qualifications and/or relevant experience will be considered on an individual basis. Assessment of your experience will confirm that you have achieved the necessary skills during your general experience.
If you are applying for the part-time mode:
- Applicants will typically need to have a minimum of two years’ relevant experience at the appropriate level and have the support of your employer who will wish to integrate study and projects into your day-to-day work.
Accreditation of Prior Learning
Any university-level qualifications or relevant experience you gain prior to starting university could count towards your course at London Met. Find out more about applying for Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL).
English language requirements
To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language.
If you require a student visa, you may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. This course requires you to meet our standard requirements.
If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.
Modular structure
The modules listed below are for the academic year 2023/24 and represent the course modules at this time. Modules and module details (including, but not limited to, location and time) are subject to change over time.
Year 1 modules include:
- This module currently runs:
- all year (September start) - Thursday morning
The module will provide students with the opportunity to undertake an in-depth study of a subject which is of personal and subject interest in the field of the built environment. Students may focus their research upon a topic or problem relevant to their current programme of study and based upon an academic subject of interest, their current work practice or recent work experience or placement. The submission will take the form of a dissertation.
Students are encouraged to develop their critical thinking and undertake rigorous and theoretically informed research. The module will develop the student’s understanding of the linkages between conceptual issues, subject area, and research methods.
The module will introduce students to research methods and strategies which are appropriate to their area of study. It will provide the student with experience in the planning and implementation of a research project and the subsequent writing up of research findings in a dissertation and encourage students to undertake critical thinking.
The module is designed to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how to manage and measure benefits to the organisation. You will learn how to assess the return on investment (ROI) and have an awareness of the broader social and environmental impacts (Social Value) of projects. In today's dynamic business environment, organisations should optimise financial returns while also considering their societal and environmental contributions.
Upon completion of this module, you will be equipped with the requisite knowledge and competencies to excel in project management, empowering you to maximise project success across multiple dimensions, balancing the financial bottom line with societal and environmental contributions.
- This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Wednesday morning
The module aims to develop a critical awareness of the people dimension of projects and will address the principles of project team development. It will look at the role soft skills play in the successful delivery of a project and how a mastery of leadership and motivating your project team can help you build and maintain a successful and focussed project team. It will address how to distinguish between different types of change projects and propose techniques in leading teams to achieve organisational change
The knowledge gained will enable the student to develop strategies to form and maintain integrated project teams.
By the end of the module students should be able to critically evaluate the following:
- the role of soft skills in project management
- stakeholders and relationships present in a project
- means to select and maintain a project team
- group dynamics
- managing change
- the role of corporate social responsibility in project delivery
- methods to manage and resolve conflicts within a project team
- decision making and problem-solving processes associated with complex and unpredictable solutions.
- Gender representation within the built environment
Through studying this module, you will develop a critical awareness and understanding of the application of leading contemporary project management methodologies (principles, tools and techniques) and how these contribute to the successful delivery of projects. It will take a detailed look at the management of the project lifecycle. It will consider the role of project management and project managers in the global move towards a sustainable and low/zero carbon future.
You will evaluate and apply a project management methodology such as Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Hybrid, and PRINCE2 alongside project management bodies of knowledge as defined by professional bodies such as Association for Project Management (APM), the Project Management Institute (PMI), and the International Project Management Association (IPMA).
By the end of the module, you will be able to critically evaluate:
• the challenges in leading a different project types.
• various project management methodologies and practices.
• the selection and application of a suitable project management methodology.
• contributions the project methodology and project manager can make towards sustainable project management.- This module currently runs:
- spring semester - Wednesday morning
The aim of this module is to provide the student with knowledge and understanding of risk and uncertainty theories and an appreciation of the differences between risks found on different project types.
Responding to today’s highly complex project landscapes, the module looks at risk management in a contemporary way, including complex projects which involve an unusual degree of uncertainty and unpredictability.
The module will introduce students to risk analysis techniques and how they can help the project team in making decisions under a highly dynamic project landscape. It will provide students with the tools to identify and assess risk and make informed decisions including how to manage risks within the context of a changing project environment. The module looks at “managing change” from the perspective of the risks involved.
By the end of the module students should be able to critically evaluate the following:
- The level of individual element and overall project risk
- Project complexity and risk
- Tools available to manage qualitative and quantitative project risks
- Appropriate means to manage risk
- The links between project change and risks
- This module currently runs:
- autumn semester - Monday morning
- spring semester - Monday morning
This module will introduce the student to the fundamental theories and concepts for successful project management. It examines the theory behind project management and best practice in the built environment industries in a local and a global context. It will consider how organisational strategic objectives drive projects and the role the project manager performs in the early stages of the project lifecycle, including the development and use of models to drive portfolio and project management. Following this it will move the focus to the operational stage of the project and how the key project objectives are identified and managed towards a successful project completion.
The syllabus is guided by professional body project management bodies of knowledge and codes of practice (such as the APM and CIOB). The module explains the strategic context within which projects operate to enable the students to understand that a project needs to have a strategic fit with the organisation's wider aims and ambitions. By the end of the module students should be able to critically evaluate the following:
- the link between organisational strategy, programmes, and projects
- project economics
- project finance mechanisms
- project management methodologies and their underpinning theories
- the challenges of leading a complex project
- the contribution project management makes towards a sustainable built environment
- the responsibilities of the modern global project manager
- strategies to monitor and control the complete project lifecycle
Through studying this module, you will develop a critical awareness of project planning and execution principles alongside developing the skills necessary to deploy them to manage a variety of project types. Through enquiry-based learning it will facilitate a project scenario to allow you to deploy the tools necessary to successfully plan a project and monitor a project's resources.
The syllabus is guided by professional body project management bodies of knowledge and codes of practice such as the APM BOK and the PMI PMBOK. The module explores the planning of a project across the project lifecycle to enable you to understand that detailed planning of a project is needed to help in the successful execution of each project phase. By the end of the module, you should be able to critically evaluate the following:
• Defining project outputs including success and benefits; objectives and requirements; options and solutions; scope definition and quality planning.
• Integrated project planning and the creation of a baseline project plan.
• Progress monitoring during the project execution phase.
Where this course can take you
As a project management graduate, your technical skills, business skills and management skills will be highly valued by employers across many sectors.
There will be opportunities available in both the private and public sector. Central and local government bodies offer a range of employment schemes for graduates. There is also an exciting and thriving freelance community within project management, for those interested in that way of working.
In addition, the skills you’ll gain on this course are highly transferable. The practical skills exercised during your studies can be applied across various managerial positions, further expanding your career horizons.
For those considering academic pursuits, the project module can serve as a starting point for your research, if you decide to pursue a PhD.
Who is this course for?
If you're a creative thinker who enjoys problem-solving, organising and leading others, then a career in project management could be perfect for you. You may be a complete beginner in this area or already well established within the field, London Met welcomes you all to study with us.
How to apply
Use the apply button to begin your application.
If you require a Student visa and wish to study a postgraduate course on a part-time basis, please read our how to apply information for international students to ensure you have all the details you need about the application process.
When to apply
You are advised to apply as early as possible as applications will only be considered if there are places available on the course.
To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.
To find out when teaching for this degree will begin, as well as welcome week and any induction activities, view our academic term dates.
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