Executive Part-Time MBA

Combine study with a full-time career with the flexibility of the Aston Executive MBA. You'll learn over a longer period through online workshops as well as weekend residentials here at Aston Business School. This gives you the opportunity to apply your new skills and theoretical knowledge straight away.

Course outline

The Aston MBA is the next chapter in your career. Whether your ambition is to lead in international organisations or start something closer to home, the course will hone your strategic thinking and capabilities, preparing you for a career at the forefront of business.

The best leaders have mastered the art of decision making and action based on critical thinking. Your Aston MBA will teach you how to reflect on your own career, perceive emerging opportunities and develop a growth mindset. You will become enterprising in everything you do.

The Aston Executive Part-time MBA offers you the flexibility to learn over a longer period of time than our Full-time programme and is specifically designed for people who want to combine a full-time career with the study. This gives you the opportunity to enrich your learning through discussion of current business issues and apply your new skills and knowledge straight away in your professional practice.

Subject guide and modules

The Aston Executive MBA is made up of six core modules, one elective and a business project taught over a 30 month period. It then concludes with a major business project over the last 6 months of study.

Core Modules

Our core modules will equip you with a thorough knowledge of the key business and management issues needed in modern business. The core modules are:

• Crafting Organisational Strategy

You will learn to link strategy theory and practice to develop your skills as a strategic, innovative and entrepreneurial thinker and doer. You’ll also develop your understanding of how to use financial analysis for strategic decision-making. This module is split into two parts, the first half focuses on understanding strategies whilst the second half looks and entrepreneurship and innovation.

• Leading Complex Organisations

This module is split into two parts, part one is about implementing change at an individual and organisational level. Your strategic management and leadership capabilities will be honed using state of the art simulation tools. The second part focuses on shaping complex organisations where you will develop the core competencies required to be a successful international manager.

• Creating and Delivering Customer Value

You’ll learn and put into practice the key concepts and theories in marketing strategy and management, including how to research and understand customer behaviour, innovate for global markets and interpret data to develop marketing strategies.

• Measuring and enhancing financial performance

This module will improve your understanding of assessing the financial health of a business. Through a state of the art business simulation, you’ll work in teams making financial decisions for your shared business while competing against your peers. This simulation is an engaging way to put theory into practice.

• Designing and managing operations, systems and processes

We’ll introduce you to new techniques for achieving operational efficiency and teach you how to put them into practice with visits to local organisations such as Jaguar Land Rover and Cadbury.

• Entrepreneurial Strategies
• The Aston Edge

A personal and professional development programme based on the latest research in behavioural science to give you the core skills you need to succeed in business.

Elective Modules

You will select one elective module to deepen your knowledge of a key business area further. Below is a list of the types of modules that may be available for you to choose from:

• International Business
• Business Finance
• International Marketing Management
• International Operations
• Global Business Ethics

Business Project

The course concludes with a major business project that gives you the opportunity to design your own learning experience to fit your own area of interest. This project acts as a springboard for your future career and as such, you can complete it in a number of ways:

• consultancy project on behalf of a client or your organisation
• the business plan for your own business
• industry/themed research project.

Project type subject to availability.

Learning and assessment

Learning at Aston Business School

The programme is spread over 30 months to accommodate full-time work and personal responsibilities. You’ll combine several weekend residentials at Aston Business School per year with Blackboard, an interactive online learning platform. Blackboard creates a virtual learning environment where you can engage with module content, participate in live seminars and communicate with your peers. There is also an extensive online library of content to support your studies.

With the Aston Executive MBA, you have all the flexibility of learning around personal and work commitments, with the rich experience of learning on campus in a face-to-face environment with peers and leading academics.

Learning by doing

At Aston Business School we believe in experiential learning to put theory into practice. The Aston MBA is based on a foundation of learning by doing. We don’t just teach you the theory, we show you how to use it too.

Experiential learning is valuable because:

• it provides an opportunity for immediate feedback on core concepts
• it creates long-lasting impact and can change your mindset
• it helps you develop reflective skills allowing you to learn faster
• it is a personalised learning experience
• practical learning stimulates creativity.

Learning by doing can be useful in numerous situations, mainly we use it to help you develop strategy, think creatively, solve problems and for team and leadership development.

We like to take your learning out of the classroom and into real businesses. Thanks to close partnerships with business, we take MBAs to visit companies such as Aston Villa Football Club, Ford and Jaguar Land Rover.

Assessment at Aston Business School

Modules are assessed by individual assignments and group work where you will have the opportunity to analyse complex business problems.

The course concludes with a major business project that allows you to put your new knowledge into practice. This can be approached in a number of ways including a live consultancy project with a business, a themed research project, producing a business plan for a startup or writing a report about a company you are working or interning at.

The Aston Edge

More than an MBA

Sharpen your thinking with a personal development programme designed and delivered by professors and practitioners in behavioural science.

The Aston Edge is our way of training you for the more elusive, social and personal side of the business. Human psychology is slippery, so the Edge is designed to help your strategies stick when handling a complex range of stakeholders and business projects.

Your future

We’ll teach you the ropes so you can make it to the top. Our comprehensive career management programme is designed to boost your employability and help you take the next step, whether that’s in a new role, a change of career or launching a start-up.

Aston MBA Alumni

Whilst investment banking and management consultancy have long been regarded as typical MBA careers, the list of companies who now hire MBA graduates is extensive. Roles that our recent MBA Graduates have gone into include:

• International Marketing Manager with a manufacturing company
• Product manager with a healthcare manufacturer
• Senior Consultant in strategic finance with a consultancy
• Financial Accountant with a bank
• Head of Strategy and Planning with an electronics manufacturer
• Business Process Consultant with an IT company
• Chief Financial Officer with a steel manufacturer

Professional accreditations

We are in the top 1% of business schools worldwide with triple accreditation from AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS, the leading accreditation bodies for business schools in the UK, USA and Europe.

Fees, scholarships and funding

Aston Executive Part-time MBA fees - September 2018 intake

• Students from the UK and EU countries: £20,100
• Students from non-EU countries: £20,100

Employer funding

If you plan for your employer to fund your Executive MBA, you may be more suited to the Executive Apprenticeship MBA. Your employer will fund your MBA using their Apprenticeship Levy Allowance.

Payment of tuition fees

You can pay your fees in full at the beginning of the programme, or choose to pay in three termly instalments of 50% (term 1), 25% (term 2), and 25% (term 3). Please note your fees will vary depending on which scholarships you have been awarded.

MBA deposit payment

When you accept your place onto the Aston MBA you will be required to pay a £1,000 deposit. This sum will be deducted from your total tuition fee amount upon enrolment.

Scholarships

We offer funding support to suitable candidates through a range of scholarships. These can be applied for during application, or when an offer for a place has been made by us and accepted by you.

Funding

Home and EU students are eligible for a Postgraduate Loan, giving you up to £10,000 towards your course fees.

Entry requirements

Start date: September 2018

Duration of programme: 30 months

Study mode: Part-time study

Fee: £20,100

Funding: Scholarships available

Application process: Information about how to apply

Entry requirements:

For direct enrolment onto the Aston MBA programme, you will need one* of the following:

• A good UK honours degree, or
• An equivalent overseas degree recognised by Aston University, or
• A degree-level professional qualification.

Plus

• At least three years’ relevant post-graduation work experience by the time you start your programme
• An official academic transcript of your grades (in English)
• Two references – preferably one from an academic referee, the other from your current or previous employer (Two professional references may be accepted from applicants with substantial work experience).

English Language Requirements can be found here.

* Applicants with extensive work experience

We accept applications from candidates with extensive work experience who have not completed a graduate qualification.

We take a holistic approach in evaluating applications. If you would like to get a better idea before applying, you are welcome to contact one of our MBA advisers for an informal discussion.

The information contained on this website details the typical entry requirements for this course for the most commonly offered qualifications. Applicants with alternative qualifications may wish to inquire with the relevant admissions teams prior to the application whether or not their qualifications are deemed acceptable. For less commonly encountered qualifications this will be judged on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the academic admissions tutor.