Corporate Governance and Leadership (top-up from ICSA)

The MSc is designed to provide continuing professional development for aspiring chartered secretaries. Specifically, it aims to extend competence gained via professional qualification with ICSA and to enhance the ability of students to think strategically about leadership and management. In particular the two modules 'The Effective Manager' and 'Strategic Leadership' take an in-depth look at leadership and management skills. This top-up course is available via distance learning worldwide and students are supported by online materials and tutor guidance.

These modules are concerned with the evaluation and development of skills appropriate for managing others. Effective managers have a range of different approaches to their work, sharing a diverse set of personality traits, attributes, values and beliefs. These may underpin skills proficiency, but are not in themselves skills. A key purpose of these modules is to encourage students to develop a sense of self-awareness and of their own strengths and development needs as managers, colleagues and subordinates. The modules seek to build upon and improve a range of definable skills which are pivotal to effective management practice and successful leadership. More specialised skills which are of particular significance to effective people management will be enhanced and developed. The modules will introduce some of the central theories and frameworks in leadership and enable you to apply these theories and frameworks to analyse and address real strategic problems. The key themes of these modules are:

• Enhancing self development and the development of others
• An understanding of business environmental complexity (internal and external)
• Key strategic leadership skills, competencies and capabilities, which also reinforce employability skills (e.g. self management, team-work, critical-thinking, problem-solving, communication)
• Meeting ethical challenges inherent in operating at the strategic level within multicultural contexts
• Promoting sustainable competitive advantage
• Leading change and transformation, whilst meeting the challenges of the information age
  

Following successful completion of the two modules, students are required to undertake a dissertation related to an aspect of corporate governance and leadership and it is expected that this would be related to current employment.

• Converts professional qualifications into an MSc
• Networking opportunities with other professionals
• Distance learning is supported worldwide by e-learning material

• Strategic Leadership
• Effective Manager
• Dissertation

The course is assessed by reports and a dissertation.

The programme is concerned with broadening your professional knowledge and aims to provide practitioners with the necessary skills to contribute to the effective management and corporate governance of organisations.