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Dissertation / Consultancy Project (International Business and Development in Practice) (126N1)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Spring and summer teaching

Pursue independent research on a chosen topic in international business and sustainable development. You’ll carry out a self-managed piece of work, providing an in-depth investigation of issues relevant to international business and sustainable development.

It allows you to:

• critically evaluate and synthesise relevant philosophies, theories and models
• undertake a process of enquiry using secondary and primary data sources
• contribute to the body of knowledge in the domain of their MSc programme.

The dissertation/consultancy project module is based on two different streams.

Stream I – Academic Dissertation.
You can explore a topic on a more theoretical level and produce an academic dissertation. The project is student-led, starting with identifying a topic and your research aims or questions. Then, you conduct a literature review, develop and justify a methodology, gather some data, analyse the findings and draw conclusions.

It’s useful for those wishing to develop further expertise on a specific topic in international business and sustainable development for their career. This stream is also relevant for those wanting to pursue postgraduate research. It provides a strong link between Masters and PhD students as well as research training.

Stream II – Consultancy Project.
This stream lets you explore a consultancy project and influence an existing business. It equips you with the know-how and skills for a professional career in the relevant area. Projects will reflect the course learning outcomes, working with organisations including NGOs, charities, and businesses (social enterprises, start-ups, corporates etc.). Topics can include things like strategic change, operational problems, international expansion and fundraising.

You’ll draw together the knowledge, and practical and interpersonal skills you’ve learned. You choose a specific company and identify a specific research question/problem that the company is currently facing or has addressed in the past. Then, you design, initiate, carry out and successfully address the business problem identified, making recommendations to the company on the basis of your research findings.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 20 hours of contact time and about 280 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.