MA Higher Education

Our three year, part-time masters degree is a work-based course that gives you the opportunity to relate your higher education practice to your studies. 

The higher education sector brings together a wide range of professional practices, including lecturers, researchers, librarians, support, administrative, and student services. Our course is for professionals working across all areas: academic, administration, governance, academic support services to human resources. 

You will share experiences from your higher education role and learn about others too, gaining a broad perspective of higher education practices and its associated professional identities. 

During the first two years of the course, you will study core units and choose from a number of option units. These give you the opportunity to explore your particular area of practice – teaching-focused or non-teaching focused – and develop your expertise in higher education practice and research. 

You will place your practice, and/or future career aspirations, at the centre of each unit that you study. This allows you to critically reflect on your work so that you can improve teaching, student support, professional services provision and the student experience. 

Some of the topics you might consider include the philosophies, ethics and values of educational research, different higher education discourses and ideologies, institutional and national policy and the design and delivery of teaching and assessment. 

In year three, you will complete a dissertation, focusing on a topic of your choice within the field of higher education practices and/or policies. 

You will typically critique current research, analyse data and literature, evaluate arguments and propose new approaches.