Sustainability and Business MSc

Overview

If you have a positive vision of the future, want to lead innovation and do business better – either across a large organisation or through your own startup – then our Sustainability and Business MSc is ideal for you.

Uniquely based outside of a business school, we are preparing you, the next generation of innovators, to think, develop and reinvent sustainable enterprises in an increasingly challenging world.

Learn what shapes the relationships between business, environment and society, and how individuals and organisations can address social and environmental problems by means of creating and developing new businesses and innovation.

You will develop specialist skills to meet the growing need for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. Although large corporations are more visible, real innovation in sustainability is emerging and being driven by new businesses.

Practical skills – like developing ideas and plans for new sustainable ventures, pitching to investors and acting as a change agent within large organisations – give you experience of genuine business challenges faced in the real-world.

Co-delivered by the Sustainability Research Institute and the Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies, you will learn directly from award-winning academics, professionals in government, large corporations, stakeholders and entrepreneurs.

Course highlights

• Leading in the field for 10 years, you will be taught by experts from the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) – one of the largest academic groups of sustainability experts in the world.
• Uniquely based outside a business school – you will focus on how sustainability leads business practice. You will use key interdisciplinary research methods and approaches that relate to environmental management and corporate social responsibility.
• Study modules taught by experts from Leeds University Business School.
• Join a truly global School – think beyond Leeds and gain a wider perspective by studying alongside students and academics from across the world.

Programme team

The programme leader is Claire Bastin.

Course content

The course is split in to 3 semesters if you study on a 12 month full-time basis. In the first 2 terms you will take lectures and seminars, followed by approximately 4 months of individual work leading to the submission of a dissertation in late August.

You will consider different aspects of sustainability, while a wide range of optional modules allow you tailor your study to fit your interests and career plans.

The course runs for 24 months on a part-time basis, with each year split into 3 semesters. You will take 2 modules in each semester, followed by individual work leading to the submission of a dissertation in semester 3 of your final year.

Modules

_{Compulsory modules}

• Enterprise Awareness
• sNew Venture Creation
• Research Methods
• Research Project
• Business, Environment and Sustainability
• Introduction to Sustainability
• Issues and Cases in Corporate Social Responsibility

_{Optional modules (selection of typical options shown below)}

• Organisational Development and Change
• Contemporary Challenges in Enterprise
• Delivering Sustainability Through Projects
• Managing and Delivering Sustainability through Projects and Organisations
• Environmental Policy and Governance
• Critical Perspectives in Environment and Development
• Climate Change Mitigation

Learning and teaching

You will learn through a variety of teaching methods to help you develop both generic and subject-specific skills.

This includes lectures, real case studies, practical workshops, computer lab sessions, research seminars from external speakers, project work (individual and groupwork) and a written dissertation.

Practical exercises focus around real-world scenarios and case studies to produce optimal solutions including familiarisation with state-of-the-art technical approaches, software and the regulatory regimes that companies and public sector organisations operate within.

You will also learn the scientific and rational principles lying behind the practical approaches used in the world outside academia, so that your skills keep pace with changes in technology or the regulatory environment.

Assessment

You will be assessed through a variety of ways including both written and oral assignments and exams.

Applying, fees and funding

_{English language requirements}

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

To find out more, read Language for Science (6 weeks) and Language for Science: General Science (10 weeks). 

_{How to apply}

APPLY (FULL TIME) 

APPLY (PART TIME) 

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

_Fees

• UK/EU: £9,500 (total)
• International: £21,500 (total)

Read more about paying fees and charges.

For fees information for international taught postgraduate students, read Masters fees.

Part-time fees are normally calculated based on the number of credits you study in a year compared to the equivalent full-time course. For example, if you study half the course credits in a year, you will pay half the full-time course fees for that year.

_{Scholarships and financial support}

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Find out more at Masters funding overview.

Scholarships are available.

Career opportunities

Recent graduates work for local government or NGOs, or undertake internships. While others are now working for consultancy companies. You could pursue a research career and continue on to a PhD or pursue sustainability or CSR jobs.

Our graduates have secured positions including:

• Sustainable Procurement Officer, Leeds City Council
• Environmental training officer, Carlsberg Tetley
• Environmental consultant, Young White Green consultants
• Energy operating company, looking into upcoming environmental legislation and advising different sites on how to comply
• Research Analyst, Suzlon Energy Ltd India
• Leading the US strategy for 2degrees network - a collaboration platform for sustainable professionals
• ICICI Bank India, Project Finance with interest in funding renewable energy investments
• PhD study.

Visit the Sustainability and Business MSc page on the University of Leeds website for more details!