The Senior Leader Apprenticeship + Marketing and Leadership MSc

A practical master’s course that enhances your strategic marketing talent and ability to lead change.

Overview:

Campus:

CIM Moor Hall

Qualifications:

MSc in Marketing and Leadership

CIM Marketing Leadership Programme (Level 7)

Membership:

CIM Professional Membership

 

 

The Senior Leader Apprenticeship + Marketing and Leadership MSc developed in partnership with Cranfield School of Management and CIM Academy. This part-time programme runs over 26 months and is delivered in two parts. It offers the best of academic theory, commercial insights and practical application. By completing both parts, learners will achieve a dual qualification, the Marketing and Leadership MSc and the CIM Marketing Leadership Programme and an option to register for Chartered Marketer status.

This practical master’s course enhances your strategic marketing talent and ability to lead change. You will develop an understanding of management and leadership functions, including accounting and finance, growth and innovation, people management and organisational behaviour. In addition, you will learn specialist and advanced subjects relating to marketing including value propositions, customer relationships and delivery, marketing communications and evaluating marketing effectiveness.

As a CIM member, you will have access to a variety of benefits, all designed to give you a competitive edge and start your journey to becoming a Chartered Marketer.

This course is aimed at:

  • Experienced marketing professionals who are seeking, or required, to take on leadership roles involving the development of market strategy, managing customer relationships and contributing to business growth.
  • Early-career professionals who want a “real-world” business education which they can apply directly back to their workplace.
  • Second career professionals seeking a change into marketing and leadership positions.
  • Self-motivated marketing managers keen to develop themselves, enhance their skills, knowledge and abilities, and become more effective leaders.

Course Director

The course is director is Annmarie Hanlon. Dr Hanlon is an academic and practitioner in strategic digital marketing and the application of social media for business. Her PhD investigated benefits and outcomes of social media marketing within organisations for which she was awarded the Mais Scholarship. Originally a graduate in French and Linguistics from University of London, Annmarie studied for the Chartered Institute of Marketing Diploma and won the Worshipful Company of Marketors’ award for the best results worldwide. She gained a Master’s in Business Administration, focusing on marketing planning and achieved a distinction for the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s E-Marketing Award.

This page is for employers and prospective students interested in the Senior Leader Apprenticeship+ Marketing and Leadership MSc via the Apprenticeship Levy. If you are looking for information about the self-funded part-time Marketing and Leadership MSc, please view here.

  • Cranfield School of Management consistently performs well in international business rankings. They are top 10 in the UK and 34th in Europe in the Financial Times European Business Schools 2021 Rankings.
  • Cranfield University’s teaching is exclusively focused on postgraduate and executive levels and is designed to nurture your practical business skills and confidence.
  • Cranfield University’s Centre for Strategic Marketing and Sales possesses a worldwide reputation for applied marketing research, particularly focusing on: marketing strategy and planning, strategic sales, key account management, customer relationships and digital transformation.
  • You will have a distinctive and collaborative learning experience which is centred on interactive classroom sessions delivered by faculty directly involved with global businesses.
  • You will study with a cohort of experienced professionals, build your network and gain insights into marketing and management best practice.
  • You will gain knowledge of the latest marketing trends and develop general management skills, to enable you to lead change in your organisation and help you rise to the top of your marketing department.
  • You will generate self-awareness and confidence to lead teams drawn from a diverse variety of cultures, business experiences and personalities.
  • You will automatically become a CIM member and start your route to becoming a Chartered Marketer.
  • Successful student will leave the course with the MSc in Marketing and Leadership and a Level 7, CIM Marketing Leadership Programme.

Your Career

The Marketing and Leadership MSc will enable you to develop your knowledge, skills and abilities while applying what you learn directly in your workplace. The programme will support your career progression, preparing you to successfully carry out senior leadership roles in the future.


You will work with accredited coaches, members of faculty and careers advisors throughout the course enabling you to:

  • Discover and develop your leadership and team-working style.
  • Identify how to enhance your personal effectiveness.
  • Work out where you want to go professionally.
  • Learn the techniques of effective team leadership.
  • Become more sensitive to situations, cultures and contexts.
  • Prepare to lead change and face future challenges.
  • Start your route to becoming a Chartered Marketer.

We welcome applications from talented candidates from all backgrounds. Candidates are normally high potential, managers with 3 to 10 years’ post-qualification experience in Marketing roles.

Candidates normally possess a first or second class UK honours degree (or an international equivalent). Alternatively we will consider a professional qualification (such as CIM, IDM, ISM) together with a minimum of 5 years’ post-qualification work experience.

Other relevant qualification, together with significant experience, may also be considered.

Professional experience and personal qualities are equally important to us and each application is considered on its individual merit.

English Language

To study for a formal award at Cranfield you will need to demonstrate that you can communicate effectively in English in an academic environment. Full details of how you can meet this requirement can be found at English Language requirements page

Approved English test for Marketing and Leadership MSc

Please note that:

We verify all test scores with the text providers.

We are only able to accept tests taken within two years of the course start date.

All elements of the test results must be demonstrated in one test, we are unable to accept a combination of scores across two or more tests.

In extremely rare circumstances we may reject a test score if one element of the test has a very low score. This would only occur if we believed this would impact on your ability to study with us or if the score did not meet UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requirements to study in the UK.

 IELTS

IELTS AcademicIELTS IndicatorIELTS Online, IELTS for UKVI Academic – 6.5 overall and 6.0 in all skill components.

TOEFL

TOEFL iBT (we accept TOEFL iBT, TOEFL, iBT Home Edition and TOEFL iBT Paper Edition) – 92 total and minimum skill component scores of 20 reading, 20 listening, 21 speaking and 20 writing.

Pearson PTE

PTE AcademicPTE Academic OnlinePTE Academic UKVI – 65 overall and 62 in all skill components.

Cambridge Assessment English

Any Cambridge Assessment English test meeting the required score will be accepted. The following are recommended as being within the scale score range: Cambridge C1 AdvancedCambridge C2 ProficiencyLinguaskill General – Cambridge English Scale score of 180 overall and 175 in all skill components.

Trinity College London

Integrated Skills in English – ISE III (C1) – Overall Pass outcome.

LanguageCert

International ESOL B2 Communicator (both the Written and Spoken tests must be taken), International ESOL SELT B2 (this test includes all 4 skill components) – High Pass overall and 33 in all skill components.

Apprenticeship levy

PgDip Part-time £14,000*

* This includes tuition fees and endpoint assessment only. Under the Apprenticeship Levy scheme employers can fund apprenticeships for any new and current staff with the right to work in the UK and whose main place of work is England. This programme meets the requirements of the Level 7 Senior Leader apprenticeship standard. Eligible organisations will be able to use £14,000 of their Apprenticeship Levy to cover the cost of the course. Either you or your employer can fund the additional £5,000 tuition fee to complete what remains of the MSc course.

Fee notes

The fees outlined apply to all students whose initial date of registration falls on or between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023.

All students pay the tuition fee set by the University for the full duration of their registration period.

Additional fees for extensions to the agreed registration period may be charged.

Eligibility for Home fee status is determined with reference to UK Government regulations. As a guiding principle UK or Irish nationals who are ordinarily resident in either the UK or Republic of Ireland pay Home tuition fees. All other students (including those from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) pay Overseas fees.

An external advisory panel informs the design and development of this course, and comprises senior marketing practitioners, reinforcing its relevance to the modern business world. Many of our faculty have held senior positions in industry and continue to engage with industry through consultancy and teaching. They are also supported by a team of international industry speakers and professors who bring the latest thinking and best practice into the classroom.

Part 1 taught modules are mapped to the revised Senior Leader Apprenticeship Standard (SLA). These are assessed through assignments that relate to a wide range of marketing and management themes. Part 2, the written thesis project, is written individually and submitted at the end of the course.

Your independent work based thesis commences in the second half of the second year. You will tackle live company challenges, or develop a relevant research question, and with the support of academic experts, and company-based professionals, develop a reflective report.

Course details

The course covers core subjects in a series of 11 modules. These are delivered in seven one-week residential sessions over 15 months. Alongside the residential weeks, 20% of the course is delivered through a mix of online and face-to-face learning. The course is highly interactive and student-centred with large elements of teamwork, group projects and private study. The independent work-based project or thesis commences in the latter part of the second year. You will tackle live company challenges or select a relevant thesis topic, with the support of academic experts and company-based professionals.
The Cranfield Senior Leader Apprenticeship+ Marketing and Leadership MSc is delivered in two parts:

Part 1: 11 modules are studied over a 15-month period. During this time, students build their portfolio of work-based evidence with support from their employer and their Cranfield Apprenticeship Tutor. Students also have peer coaching alongside their studies. This concludes with an End-Point Assessment (EPA), completed over a five-month period, which includes the student’s Strategic Business Proposal, supported by their employer.

Part 2: Progression to the Marketing and Leadership MSc over a further six-month period including research preparation and an organisation-based or relevant research project.

 

Modules

Keeping our course up-to-date and current requires constant innovation and change. The modules we offer reflect the needs of business and industry and the research interests of our staff. As a result, they may change or be withdrawn due to research developments, legislation changes or for a variety of other reasons. Changes may also be designed to improve the student learning experience or to respond to feedback from students, external examiners, accreditation bodies and industrial advisory panels.

To give you a taster, we have listed above the compulsory and elective (where applicable) modules which are currently affiliated with this course. All modules are indicative only, and may be subject to change for your year of entry.

All the modules listed below need to be taken as part of this course.

Aim

This module aims to develop students’ ability to evaluate ‘markets’ and ‘competition’ as two of the main foci for marketing managers. These concepts are essential when developing and implementing marketing strategy.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Appraisal of the marketing environment (including stakeholders such as suppliers, competitors and partners).
  • Assessment of major trends, innovations and risks in the environment that affect marketing strategy (including political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, digital, legal, ethical, environmental and sustainability).
  • Evaluation of competitive strategy and organisational mission.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Scan and appraise the market structure and the organisation’s competitive position.
  2. Evaluate how markets and competition affect an organisation’s ability to develop and deliver marketing strategy.
  3. Discuss the outcomes from a series of analytical frameworks, tools and techniques to inform decision-makers.
  4. Demonstrate appropriate data gathering and research approaches to help obtain appropriate market and competitor data.

Aim

Customer analysis and insight have become very important domains in the marketing domain. Understanding these areas allows senior managers to develop innovative marketing strategy based on real customer insights that emerge through strong analysis. Customer insight, however, can only ever be as good as the data on which it is based. A solid understanding of appropriate research methodologies to generate and collect these data is therefore essential.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Shaping perceptions, attitudes and intentions
  • Understanding the customer environment
  • Affecting behaviour
  • Decision-making and choice architecture
  • Utilising heuristics & biases
  • Analysing changing customer needs and demands
  • Segmenting markets
  • Generating customer insight

These areas provide a well-rounded picture of consumer psychology which can be used for good and bad. One must therefore consider the ethical implications of such knowledge and its implementation.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Critically analyse the behaviour of potential customers in B2B and B2C settings,
  2. Assess how marketing stimuli can affect customer affect, cognition and behaviour across settings,
  3. Recommend and apply appropriate bases of segmentation to consumer and industrial markets in light of changing customer demands.

Aim

Growth and innovation are essential to marketing strategy development and implementation. This module encourages students to critically evaluate growth and innovation options available to the organisation by taking an entrepreneurial perspective and recommending appropriate courses of action to senior managers.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Understanding marketing strategy and business models
  • Unpacking marketing strategic growth options
  • Conducting a marketing capabilities gap analysis
  • Applying innovation and growth strategies to marketing problems.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Formulate and evaluate an organisation’s marketing growth strategy in terms of its contribution to the organisation’s vision, culture and values, including the development and evaluation of its business model, the exploration and exploitation of domestic and international markets, the development of new products while being aware of the implications of disruptive technologies;
  2. Conduct gap analyses to understand the differences between current marketing capabilities and required marketing capabilities;
  3. Judge the appropriateness of a range of growth and innovation techniques to develop innovative, financially attractive, new products and marketing initiatives for an entrepreneurial and agile organisation

Aim

Value propositions are the core offering the organisation makes to the market for sale. This module aims to develop students’ ability to develop brands and use the marketing mix to plan for marketing initiatives.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Defining value propositions
  • Understanding targeting and positioning
  • Developing value adding brands
  • Devising and implementing a branding strategy
  • Designing the marketing mix.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Make decisions on which segments are most attractive and suitable to target,
  2. Develop a positioning for a product, service or organisation,
  3. Formulate a value proposition and implement it through the marketing mix.

Aim

This module introduces students to customer relationships as an area of essential importance.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Defining customer relationships and relationship marketing
  • Marketing channels
  • Customer fulfilment approaches
  • Customer portfolio management
  • Key Account Management
  • Value co-creation.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Evaluate customer relationship management (CRM), customer portfolio design (including the identification of key accounts) and value co-creation efforts in case organisations and make recommendations as to how and when to apply each concept as part of the organisation’s marketing strategy;
  2. Evaluate the appropriateness of marketing channels (physical and digital) and customer fulfilment approaches in terms of developing an engaging customer experience.

Aim

Marketing Communications are an essential component of an organisation’s marketing efforts, and they are often the most visible components of marketing. An ability to apply appropriate marketing communications approaches is crucial to marketing managers’ vocations and an area in which they need to demonstrate leadership

Syllabus

The syllabus contains:

  • An introduction to communications theory and marketing communications decision making process;
  • Integrated marketing communication;
  • The promotional mix available for organisations to achieve different marketing communications outcomes;
  • Crisis communications;
  • Ethics of marketing communications.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a systematic and comprehensive understanding, interpretation and application of the theory and practice of marketing communications in contemporary commercial, non-commercial and consumer markets;
  2. Critically evaluate the key communications challenges facing organisations, appraise the marketing communications planning options and propose customer focused solutions;
  3. Demonstrate a critical appreciation of the validity of a variety of consumer-based models relating to the development of effective promotional activities and the use of persuasion tools in different scenarios;
  4. Evaluate the effectiveness of various communications tools and appraise marketing communications mediums and creative executions;
  5. Examine the nature and context of crisis management and critically evaluate the role of public relations in crisis planning.

Aim

The aim of the Accounting and Finance module is to introduce a number of traditional and contemporary accounting approaches that will increase the visibility of financial information and support management decision making.

Syllabus

  • Interpretation of financial statements;
  • Exploring the relationship between accounting information, management decision making, financial strategies, and financial performance;
  • Applying traditional and contemporary accounting tools and techniques, which can be applied to support business management decisions;
  • Exploring the many cost trade-offs between business processes (Make v Buy).

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Judge the effect of decisions, transactions and events on financial performance;
  2. Create simple sets of accounts from basic information.
  3. Understand the main variables affecting working capital management;
  4. Interpret financial statements to support decision making, planning and control;
  5. Apply an appropriate costing approaches to solve a range of business issues;
  6. Apply a number of financial tools and techniques to appraise alternative capital investment opportunities;
  7. Use financial information to make informed management decisions

Aim

In essence this module is concerned with managing the organisation’s key resource – the people who work for it. It aims to help participants understand how effective people management and human resource management can contribute to develop and sustain organisations. The focus of the module will be concerned with helping participants understand the relationship between people management and organisational performance, including the crucial role of line managers. The module aims to develop an insight into the complexities of managing people in a changing environment.

The module will provide an introduction to the main activities associated with resourcing, developing and day–to-day management of people in work organisations. It is not the intention of the module to develop human resource management specialist, but rather to provide a general introduction to the people management issues that concern all managers. Throughout, the sessions will be highly interactive in order to develop critical insight and core skills in the people management field.

The module will draw on key academic contributions in the broad field of people management, including current research being carried out by faculty in the School of Management. 

Syllabus

  • Strategic People Management and Workforce Design
  • The Changing World of Work
  • Talent Sourcing
  • Talent Development  and Succession Planning
  • Rewards and Remuneration
  • Managing Performance
  • Employment Relations
  • Employment Law: Health and safety, grievance, discipline and dismissal
  • Building a People Strategy

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Have a critical appreciation of the role and scope of people management activities
  2. Apply and evaluate a complex range of established models and factors which influence choices made in the management of people
  3. Have undertaken critical analyses of a range of people management issues and have made considered, informed proposals to address them.
  4. Design strategic approaches to human resource management and critically explore their relationship with business strategies
  5. Evaluate the contribution the people resource makes to developing and sustaining organisations

Aim

Introduction: success in management, particularly at senior levels in organisations, depends on understanding organisations, the people in them and the relationship between the internal and external environments within which they exist; and in ensuring that they work effectively. 

Organizations are run by and for people, and the success or failure of an organization depends on the people in that organisation.  It is rarely an absence of planning that causes organisational difficulties; it is often the failure of management in understanding and managing complex personal, interpersonal and organisational systems that can lead to significant problems.

Similarly, an acute and critical understanding of these dynamics can lead to profound and enduring success and benefit for the individual, the team, the organisation and, indeed, wider society.

In this module students will be introduced to various aspects of people and organisations.  This module combines models, theories and ideas from organisational behaviour, psychology, sociology and international human resource management, in order to provide students with an understanding in recognising, understanding and utilising what has been termed the "human factor" in organisations; including ways of conceptualising organisations and how people behave within them.  We shall consider the impact of the external environment; and begin to address notions of organisational change.

Uniquely this module will also focus on application and will allow students to reflect on and apply theories and techniques in their own real-world context, utilising a structured journal approach in order to enhance their own Leadership behaviours.

It may also be that students will wish to undertake an in-company project in this area; several of the faculty involved will be pleased to discuss this with you.

Syllabus

  • Individuals in the organisation (covering topics such as learning, personality, perception, motivation, psychological capital and emotional intelligence).
  • Groups and teams in the organisation.
  • Management processes (including leadership, organisational politics, organisation structures and cross-cultural management).

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Differentiate ways of conceptualising people in organisations, for example using culture, ethics, well-being, diversity, organisational politics, and management frameworks.
  2. Assess and evaluate the importance of relationships at work, group dynamics, effective teams and leadership in achieving effectiveness.
  3. Critically engage with relevant models, theories and ideas in order to enhance personal capability linked to their personal and professional development agenda.
  4. Appraise how they have increased their personal influence and their capability to lead with impact.

Aim

A key aspect of a senior marketer’s role is leading and managing change within an organisation. This module will enable you to meet the challenges of change by providing a platform for supporting future responses through harnessing organisational potential and sustainable innovation. In addition, you will develop an understanding of how the organisation’s assets can be managed to build and sustain a clear market position to guide, support and implement market-led change within an organisation.

Syllabus

The syllabus contains:

  • Identification of the organisation’s internal and external stakeholders and evaluation of stakeholder value.
  • The role of data (e.g. big data, analytics, user generated content) in facilitating change.
  • Creating a change culture and strategies for overcoming resistance while demonstrating a risk-based approach for potential reputation damage.
  • Implementing change by shaping a market-oriented culture and appraise the internal and external catalysts for organisational change.
  • Strategic plan implementation in support of organisational change.

Intended learning outcomes

  1. On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:
  2. Build the case for change by developing a critical understanding of how to harness organisational potential to generate and sustain value for all stakeholders and by using insight to develop sustainable innovation.
  3. Create a change culture by appraising the role of brand equity and corporate reputation in directing and sustaining change and by demonstrating how a customer-facing organisational structure and culture can support strategies.
  4. Implement change by recommending the use of contemporary practice in effectively leading, managing and influencing others to deliver organisational change and by appraising the process and environment required to implement, review and reflect on the effectiveness of organisational change.

Aim

Assessing the viability of marketing initiatives from multiple perspectives is crucial to successful marketing leadership. This module equips students with a series of different approaches that account for the financial and ethical outcomes of marketing initiatives as well as considering their diversity, equity and inclusivity implications.

Syllabus

The syllabus includes:

  • Defining marketing performance
  • Understanding and applying strategic marketing planning and metrics
  • Critically evaluating marketing options for delivering high performance strategies including sustainability outcomes
  • Understanding of marketing ethics and the implications of marketing initiatives on stakeholders and society.

Intended learning outcomes

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

  1. Recommend an appropriate and relevant marketing plan which sets strategic direction and includes measurable key performance indicators and demonstrates a holistic understanding of the impact of marketing strategy on stakeholders and sustainability;
  2. Judge the appropriateness and relevance of strategic marketing options through the evaluation of marketing performance measures, allocation of resources and use of financial data.