Global MBA specialisms pave pathways to new careers
Our students may come from all over the world and from every industry but they have one thing in common - they are ambitious about their careers. That’s why the University of London’s Global MBA is designed to give students a chance to tailor their programme to their personal goals through its specialist pathways.
These specialisms offer a deeper exploration of the key areas of management allowing students to explore their unique passions while graduate with an MBA qualification to take their career to the next level.
In this article we’ll take a closer look each of the six specialisms and some of the career transformations they can bring with them.
Accountancy
Whether you have a background in accountancy or it’s a new found interest, this specialism will equip you with all the formal knowledge needed to excel in business-critical roles like financial reporting and performance. In addition to foundational modules, others offer a look at techniques for capital investment and financing to help develop students’ strategic and critical thinking capabilities. Effective communication skills for presenting analysis of large scale, multifaceted financial decisions is an increasingly essential skill in accounting, and students on this pathway will graduate feeling prepared not only to analyse the numbers but to report on them convincingly and effectively. Students on this pathway also benefit from membership to the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
An agile, entrepreneurial mindset is among the most sought after qualities in a candidate in today’s business world. Beyond tech giants and high-growth nimble start-ups, now even mid-sized businesses are seeking out creative non-conformists for their teams as they recognise the value of internal evolution and are creating innovation roles. Through this specialism students will learn about the process of entrepreneurship from the ground up: from the challenge of raising capital investment to creating viable business models, to marketing new products and value propositions.
Whether you’re seeking to be a force for innovation in the market or just within your own company, the modules on this specialism explore what it means to be a change-maker. In a rapidly changing business space, the ability to question, change, and act with clarity is a must for any business to survive. This future-focussed pathway will equip you with the skills needed for roles such as an innovation manager within a larger company, chief growth officer within a start-up space, or help you along the road as CEO of your own company.
Health
The specialist health pathway has been developed by UCL Medical School which ranked 9th in the world in last year’s QS World University Rankings. This specialism will help medical professionals reach beyond their clinical understanding to see the holistic view of the healthcare process.
Heathcare systems are colossal. They make up an enormous portion of the economy and employ millions of people in the UK alone. Knowledge and understanding of the business context in which medicine operates today is vital as all major economies are driving change in their healthcare systems to ensure better patient outcomes while demanding more efficient resource allocation. The healthcare industry needs experts and generalists and this pathway provides both breadth and depth of knowledge. The modules will give you an understanding of the complex human supply change, managing healthcare systems and healthcare economies which inform and support the processes of treating patients.
You will also gain a comprehensive look into the regulatory and governance bodies which control this highly regulated sector, shedding light on why, more than ever, partnerships between key stakeholders are essential for progress. Whether you want to manage your own private clinic or manage a department of a hospital, this specialism can help you apply business acumen and critical thinking to complex healthcare issues.
Finance
For our Global MBA, we set all our teaching on the degree within a global context, but the modules on the finance specialism are especially designed to give an international perspective on financial markets and corporate financial operations to ensure your knowledge serves you wherever your career takes you. The finance specialism will teach students key financial concepts but also the ability to critically evaluate and craft their own corporate finance strategies, again blending critical thinking with processes and models. The Risk Management and Decision Making module teaches students to synthesise information and anticipate risk in order to support informed decision making at a C-suite level.
If your passion is investing, working for a large bank or pension organisation, the module on financial institutions will help you master diverse financial instruments and different types of portfolios, while understanding risks and benefits associated with each. Importantly, this pathway will allow you to present highly technical financial material to non-practitioners while working in a team environment. These skills are vital if you want to work cross-functionally in a role such as CFO or within a director of corporate strategy.
Law
This specialism provides students with both the theoretical and practical tools necessary to understand and master the more advanced intellectual challenges posed by the interaction of law and business in multiple specialist areas. Whether you want to be involved in a takeover bid or master the complexities of financial regulation, this pathway will allow you to explore and develop the specific skills you need. Logical and critical thinking skills are essential to law and play a large role in the modules of this pathway enabling you to identify, evaluate and critically appraise solutions to complex business problems. Researching complex, real-world scenarios and distilling their core arguments will sharpen your ability to craft a case and articulate a cogent argument. You will learn to present to a diverse audience and to persuade others using compelling, data-driven cases. This specialism could lead you to a career in a large financial institution or onto a corporate board.
Leadership
Leadership is a fundamental part of the Global MBA. Its thread winds through every module on the programme and it is the subject of the six core modules of the degree. But for those students destined for the C-suite, this specialism offers a deep dive into the theory and practice of leadership, from organisational change to ethical decision making.
Leaders, now more than ever, need to be prepared to guide their teams and companies gracefully through periods of change and upheaval. Leadership has evolved; organisations need to be nimble and change quickly. But the charge to lead profitable businesses while managing internal stakeholders and continuing to serve both customers and employee interests, is no small order. Leaders without a powerful vision for the future of their team and their company, flounder in times of crisis. This specialism will equip you with structures and models which will help you along that journey.
Leadership means making difficult decisions. The modules for this pathway will explore the most challenging of these including negotiation and conflict management, and restructuring and change within organisations. Ethical decision-making is another highlight of this specialism. Making decisions that are fair and support long-term shareholder value as well as align with a triple-bottom line are primary areas for development for anyone who has their sights set on a seat on the board of directors.
You can specialise in any of these areas by successfully completing at least three modules from a specialist pathway and the Strategic Project.
Find out more about how you can tailor a degree to your career objectives with a Global MBA from the University of London.
This page was last updated on 13 November 2023