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Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies

General Regulations

  • 1. The Executive Committee of the Saïd Business School shall have power to grant Postgraduate Diplomas in Management Studies to candidates who have satisfied the conditions prescribed in this section and any further conditions which the Committee may prescribe by regulation.

    2. The examination for the Postgraduate Diploma shall be under the supervision of the Executive Committee of the Saïd Business School which shall have power, subject to the approval of the Social Sciences Divisional Board, to make regulations governing the examination.

    3. Candidates, whether members of the University or not, may be admitted as students for the Postgraduate Diploma under such conditions as the committee shall prescribe, provided that before admission to a course of study approved by the Committee, candidates shall have satisfied the committee that they have had appropriate educational experience acceptable to the committee, have relevant industrial or commercial experience and are well-equipped to enter the proposed course of study.

    4. Any person who has been accepted as a candidate for the Postgraduate Diploma, and who has satisfactorily pursued the course prescribed by the Committee, may be admitted to the examination.

Special Regulations

  • 1. Students of the diploma may hold that status for no more than nine terms.

  • 2. The Standing Committee shall appoint an academic supervisor to supervise the work of the candidate. The supervisor shall send a report of the work of the candidate to the board at the end of each period of study. The supervisor will inform the board if it is thought that the student is unlikely to reach the standard required by the diploma.

  • 3. Each student will follow a course of study comprising four core courses and a business project. The four core courses are: Managing the organisation: Functional and cross-functional management, finance and accounts, information management, operations management, and human resources. Managing strategically: Corporate strategy, securing competitive advantage, strategic approaches to leadership, investment, product development, and human resources. Managing change: Managing personnel and organisational change, reward strategies for change, leading change and change through teamwork, change in manufacturing and services. A fourth core course from a range of options to be notified to candidates at the start of the course. Each candidate must submit a business project to be undertaken as part of a group assignment on a subject to be approved by their supervisor. Candidates must submit, no later than Friday of the sixth week of the Michaelmas Term in the year after their Part I examination, a report of no more than 6,000 words to their supervisor.

  • 4. The examination will be in three parts:

(a) Part I The examination shall be held after the first two core courses. It shall consist of one written paper covering elements of the first two core courses.

(b) Part II No candidate shall enter the Part II examination unless they have already passed Part I. The Part II examination shall consist of one written paper covering elements of the third and fourth core courses.

(c) Each candidate will be required to propose, research, and submit a dissertation not exceeding 10,000 words on a topic agreed by the examiners. The dissertation must be uploaded to the University approved online assessment platform by Friday of the first week of July in the year in which it is intended to finish the course.

  • 5. The examiners shall also consider, as part of the examination, a report on the candidate's business project submitted by their supervisor.

  • 6. The examiners, of whom two shall be appointed, shall have a duty to examine the student in accordance with any regulations prescribed by regulation and to submit a written report to the Graduate Studies Committee of the Saïd Business School which shall decide whether the diploma should be awarded.

  • 7. Candidates may also be required to attend a viva voce examination.

  • 9. Candidates who fail an examination may be re-examined on not more than one occasion which normally shall be within one year of their initial failure.