Managing international projects presents unique challenges. This Masters progamme addresses the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to successfully manage projects that span organizations, national boundaries and cultural differences.
In this programme you will explore the impact on project management of culture, language variations, religious, contractual, regulatory and legal practices, technology penetration, temporal orientation, gender issues, corruption, ethics, personal liberty and political contexts. We learn how to meet international project challenges through efficient use of practices and technology. The programme will utilize available case studies and examples from global companies to help you sharpen the skills needed to recognize and foster a successful international project environment.
The Advanced Practice option integrates an Internship, Consultancy Project or Research Project into the Masters programme, offering the opportunity to spend three months gaining all-important work experience and employability skills in a professional work setting.
You will learn how culture affects how teams perceive each other, lead, solve problems and execute tasks. Although the world is increasingly connected, the people behind the projects have biases, expectations and a perception of life that impacts all decisions. You will also learn how to effectively manage international teams including how to build trust and collaboration across various cultures, time zones and technological settings. You will learn how to design communication channels and project structures effectively in an international project environment.
The Advanced Practice version of this course offers you a valuable opportunity to secure a work placement or complete an individual research activity, giving you experience of the workplace environment or being part of an academic research team, and an excellent way to put your learning into practice or developing your research career potential.
This stage of the programme will take place between your second and final semester, and is a semester long (15 weeks) in duration. Internships as part of the Advanced Practice stage may be paid or unpaid.
The alternative to the Internship, the Research Project or Consulting Project, will successfully develop your business skills and further enhance your employability.
You will be taught through a mix of lectures, seminars and workshops, totalling around 12 hours per week, to enable you to grow your knowledge of project management frameworks and skills. In addition, you will be expected to engage in independent study involving directed and self-directed learning, around 28 hours per week.
This course will open up opportunities in project management roles in many industries. Past Northumbria University graduates have gone on to work for multinational companies such as BAE Systems, Volvo Car Group, NHS, Siemens, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Shell and Virgin Money. Job roles have included project managers, programme managers, project portfolio managers, management consultants, business developers, entrepreneurs, quality managers and directors.
