You will have been working in the voluntary and community sector for at least three years. You may alternatively have gained sound understanding of the sector through trusteeship or some other form of volunteering.
This course is ideal for you if you want to follow an advanced route for management and career development opportunities that encourage higher standards of effectiveness within the sector.
This course is your complete development programme for superior performance in the third sector. You’ll study along a path that blends theory and practice around subjects such as managing people and quality, and leadership and managing change. You will develop a broad knowledge and conceptual base in organisational analysis, leadership and change. During your studies, you will be introduced to practical tools to help improve organisational effectiveness and individual performance in change management. You will also develop a broad knowledge and conceptual base in the field of quality management, people management and the management of multiple stakeholder needs. You’ll also explore the application of practical tools to help implement quality assurance systems in a nonprofit organisation, and theory and tools for managing individual performance.
The Postgraduate Diploma is offered on a part time basis and is taught over a period of 12 months. The Diploma consists of four core modules plus three specialist pathway modules. The core modules are shared by all five Centre for Charity Effectiveness postgraduate courses.
Upon successful completion of the diploma, you will be given the option to continue to the MSc. This requires completion of the Research Methods for Managers module.
This can be followed by a further six months of personal, supervised research and the presentation of a 15,000-word dissertation.
Alternatively, you can opt to take a taught Masters which allows you to choose specialist modules from one of the other Charities programmes.
You may already be working in the charity sector as a marketing and fundraising manager. Or you may wish to transfer relevant skills and knowledge from experience you've gained in other sectors.
The course will support and further develop your core marketing management skills. It will equip you to deliver efficient, effective and appropriate fundraising and marketing practice in the voluntary sector.
Charity marketeers are under pressure to deliver better-than-ever results within an ethically managed, robust and accountable strategic framework. This course has been designed specifically to meet their needs. You will study how charities are using new and existing marketing ideas to acquire and distribute resources. And you will look at the practical application of key strategic marketing concepts and planning disciplines to voluntary sector organisations.
Throughout the course you will focus on the application of a strategic marketing approach. Under the umbrella of strategy you will look at and discuss effective brand management, selecting and adopting alternative channels, and the role and types of charity marketing communications.
You will debate different approaches to fundraising alongside the important constraints of ethical best practice and contemporary regulation as they apply to charity marketing strategy.
The MSc course is taught on a part-time basis over a period of two years. Students initially enrol on the Postgraduate Diploma with the specialist area of their choice, and confirm their intention to complete the MSc at the end of the first year.
As a student you will:
Module outlines
The Postgraduate Diploma is offered on a part time basis and is taught over a period of 12 months. The Diploma consists of four core modules plus three specialist pathway modules. The core modules are shared by all five Centre for Charity Effectiveness postgraduate courses.
Upon successful completion of the diploma, you will be given the option to continue to the MSc. This requires completion of the Research Methods for Managers module.
This can be followed by a further six months of personal, supervised research and the presentation of a 15,000-word dissertation.
Alternatively, you can opt to take a taught Masters which allows you to choose specialist modules from one of the other Charities programmes.
Students are selected on their professional experience, and generally continue working in their full –time role whilst undertaking this course.
Normally a minimum of one year’s full-time experience (or p/t equivalent) of work in a caring capacity or equivalent. Relevant care work includes: nursing assistant, project worker, arts instructor, care work in a community setting, art teaching, or facilitating art workshops. Some experience of personal art psychotherapy or psychodynamic psychotherapy, or experiential workshops in creative therapies is desirable. In the absence of a degree, work experience of 8-10 years in one position will be considered for entry.
International: Where your honours degree has not been studied in English, you will be required to provide evidence of English language competence at no less than IELTS 7.0 and no individual component score below 6.5.
Home applicants are expected to attend an interview at QMU and will be required to submit their art portfolio electronically. Interviews will take place normally between December and May. Interviews for international students will be conducted over Skype.
A satisfactory criminal records check will be required
The discipline of art psychotherapy draws upon the visual arts, psychotherapy and psychology and is applied within psychiatry, special education, social services and the voluntary sector. Art psychotherapists work with individuals, groups and communities. Art psychotherapists enable clients to access their own image-making abilities. The therapist and their client jointly explore the meaning of the process and image/art object in the light of personal experiences and/or interpersonal relationships that may sometimes be distressing or troubling. The aim is to facilitate the intra-personal and interpersonal communication of experiences that the client may initially find difficulty in discussing verbally.
The art psychotherapist’s task is to support processes of emotional integration by providing a safe, reliable and containing therapeutic environment within which the client can create and use art making to develop insight and promote change. This course is designed for people who usually have at least one year’s experience of, or are currently, working in a caring capacity such as psychiatry, special education, social services and the voluntary sector.
You will attend classes, work in groups and carry out independent learning. Assessment methods include reports, essays, and presentations. Each year group contains 25-30 students. However, most classes take the form of supervision, seminar, lectures and interpersonal learning groups with a maximum of 15 students. You will undertake 110 days supervised practice placement over the training period; placements are allocated by QMU. All students are required to be in personal psychotherapy throughout the duration of the course. Students will attend supervision on site at the practice placement setting and at QMU throughout the training.
Full-time students attend practice placement two days per week and part-time students attend one day per week over two semesters.
Year One classes for full-time students take place usually from 9-5pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Year Two classes take place from 9-5pm on Thursdays only. Part-time students attend classes on Tuesdays, 9-5 pm and Wednesdays, 9-1pm for Year One and in Year Two, Wednesdays and Thursday only for Year Three and/or Four of the part-time route. You will also be required to carry out independent learning. Full-time students attend practice placement two days per week and part-time students attend one day per week over two semesters. Part-time students wishing to complete their Clinical Project in Year Four will attend personal academic tutorials by appointment. All students will be required to the training programme. The Art Studio will be open for art practice on Mondays, Fridays and weekends.
Graduates are eligible for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council as Registered Arts Therapists (Art) and are eligible for full membership of BAAT (British Association of Art Therapists).
Level 1 (f/t -year 1; p/t-years 1 & 2) Art Psychotherapy Practice Placement 1/ Art Psychotherapy Therapeutic Skills & Inter- Personal Learning Groups 1/ Interdisciplinary Studies 1/ Pre-registration Research Methods
Level 2 (f/t- year 2; p/t- years 3&4) Art Psychotherapy Practice Placement 2/ Interdisciplinary Studies 2 & IPL Groups 2/ Clinical Project.
All modules are 30 credits, except Clinical Project, which is 60 credits.
Art psychotherapists work with a wide range of clients and communities, individually or with groups, within the public and private sectors throughout the world. The course meets the requirements of the Health and Care Professions Council Standards of Proficiency for Art Therapists. This degree carries 240 credits/120 European Credits which are transferable across Europe and attracts students from all over the world. Graduates work in a wide variety of different settings across the globe including health, education and the voluntary sector.
Our International Child Studies MA is a multidisciplinary course designed to promote a rigorous academic approach to contemporary issues in childhood, underpinned by a children’s rights framework. By taking a sociological perspective we encourage you to examine children’s experiences, the ways in which childhood is socially and culturally constructed, and to reflect on international policy and practice.
Our multidisciplinary course encourages you to take a rigorous academic and analytical approach to contemporary issues in childhood. These issues are relevant for anyone working or intending to work with, or on behalf of, vulnerable children. We apply sociological perspectives on multiple constructed childhoods to a comparative study of global childhoods. This complements our teaching on relevant law and policy, child development, and contemporary issues such as poverty, HIV, child trafficking and child protection. This course is appropriate if you work in the statutory or voluntary sector overseas or aspire to work in these sectors.
Our MA International Child Studies is appropriate for professionals working in the statutory or voluntary sector overseas; those aspiring to work in the statutory or voluntary sector overseas who hold a first degree in a relevant subject; and UK professionals working with a diverse population of children/young people.
Teaching
We use lectures, seminars and group tutorials to deliver most of the modules on the course. A significant proportion of teaching on the course is delivered by expert external lecturers, both academics and practitioners. You will also be expected to undertake a significant amount of independent study.
In addition these modules will involve:
Lectures, seminars and feedback: The teaching contact time for each 30 credit taught Child Studies module is typically 30.5 - 32 hours. In addition this module will involve one hour of supervision/Q&A time. The typical teaching contact time for each 30 credit taught ‘Education’ optional module is 20 hours. Teaching sessions will usually include lectures, and teacher-led and student-led group discussions based on the main areas of study. There are 12 hours of teaching for the internship module; this is supplemented by the support of Careers and Employability and mentoring through the internship itself. Students also complete at least 160 hours of employment for the internship module.
Self-Study: 267-280 hours (or 288 hours for the internship module)
Dissertation:
Seminars and feedback: You will receive 22 hours of research methods training. You may also choose to take research methods as an optional module. You will also receive six to eight hours of dissertation workshops, plus nine additional hours of individual dissertation supervision.
Self study: Approximately 561-563 hours for dissertation
Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.
Assessment
Although assessment methods may vary between modules, we will normally assess you though essays, reports, examinations, presentations, research proposals and case studies. We will assess your dissertation module through a 16,000-word piece of writing.
Our recent graduates are using the skills and knowledge they developed over this course in organisations such as UNICEF, Children and Families Across Borders, Eastern Washington University (lecturer), Seneca Centre Oakland, California, and DG ECHO (the Humanitarian Aid arm of the EU).
You may already be working in charity finance, as a manager or consultant, or aiming to move into this demanding role in the sector. Either way, this academically rigorous course will match your needs. It will also equip you for a role as an advisor, auditor or independent examiner to a charity.
You will gain a well-rounded understanding of the role and the knowledge and skills to develop and apply your financial expertise in the sector.
Under scrutiny from regulators, trustees and supporters, charities must exercise the highest level of financial governance. This course equips you for that unique challenge. Combining the academic rigour of an internationally respected business school with a highly practical and applied approach, it is tailored precisely to the issues facing senior managers in the third sector.
You will be taught by an academic team who understand first-hand the tools and techniques for effective financial management of charity income and assets. Guest lecturers will present their thoughts on the real-world challenges placed on charity finance managers. Your course includes a fieldwork exercise. This will give you a deep insight into the practical realities of charity financial management in another organisation.
The MSc course is taught on a part-time basis over a period of two years (18 months for those eligible to enrol on the April Intake). Students initially enrol on the Postgraduate Diploma with the specialist area of their choice, and confirm their intention to complete the MSc at the end of the first year.
Module outlines
The MSc course is taught on a part-time basis over a period of two years.
Alternatively, some students wish to graduate after the first year with a Postgraduate Diploma. The Diploma consists of four core modules, common to all Centre for Charity Effectiveness postgraduate courses. These modules provide the essential underpinning of management skills. You also study three specialist pathway modules.
The MSc requires the completion of the Research Methods for Managers module. This is followed by either: a further six months of personal, supervised research and the presentation of a 15,000 word research-based dissertation. Or alternatively, you can opt to take a taught Masters which allows you to choose specialist modules from one of the other courses in the Charities Masters Programme.
Students are selected on their professional experience, and generally continue working in their full –time role whilst undertaking this course.
Past students have come from a variety of organisations, including business and the public sector.
If your career aim is to secure or develop a leading position in an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), this course is ideally suited to your needs.
Academically rigorous and practically applied, the course is designed to help you develop a senior management career in international development, become a board member of an international NGO board, or work in a foundation funding work internationally.
You will focus on the rapidly evolving context of international development. You will explore the implication for NGOs of the trends shaping the sector. How is the role of civil society changing? What will be the impact of altering aid flows, increased funding for humanitarian and security work and shifting North-South relations? How are new digital technologies affecting the way NGOs work? What are the implications of the moves to greater collaboration and the increasing influence of the private sector in the development process?
The aim of the course is to enable you to develop your management, analytical and leadership skills so that you develop a rounded set of competencies that will enable you to flourish at the highest levels in global NGOs.
The MSc course is taught on a part-time basis over a period of two years.
Students initially enrol on the Postgraduate Diploma with the specialist area of their choice, and confirm their intention to complete the MSc at the end of the first year.
As a student you will:
The aim of the NGO Management course is to enable students to develop key management competencies and analytical capabilities needed by those in leadership and management positions in international NGOs.
The course has been developed in partnership with leading INGOs and BOND (the UK-NGO network). It is one of the five postgraduate courses offered by Cass’s Business School’s Centre for Charity Effectiveness. This is one of the only centres of excellence in Europe offering a full range of latest research, education, training and consultancy geared to the needs of voluntary sector managers and leaders.
The course is taught on a part-time basis and is taught over a period of twelve months. The Postgraduate Diploma consists of four core modules that all students take and are common to all the Centre’s postgraduate courses. These core modules provide the essential underpinning of management skills for the specialist courses. Upon successful completion of the diploma you can continue to the MSc Programme.
The MSc requires completion of the Research Methods for Managers module. This is followed by either: a further six months of personal, supervised research and the presentation of a 15,000-word research-based dissertation. Or alternatively, you can opt to take a taught Masters which allows you to choose specialist modules from one of the other Charities programmes.
Experience of past students is that by completing the course increases their employability in the sector, and gives them greater flexibility as to career options. Past students have come from NGOs of all sizes, as well as foundations, business and the public sector.