Extended Award MA/MBM/MSc

Fast track your career in business, marketing, or human resource management with this extended course designed to enable third-class degree holders to pursue a postgraduate qualification. Demonstrate your value to employers. Qualify for senior roles with significant responsibility.

Register your interest

Overview

The course prepares you for senior roles and your aim is to accelerate your progress towards well-paid positions of leadership. On completion of the first term, you can transfer to a range of postgraduate courses, including:

Please click 'apply now' to see which courses are currently open for application.

Why us?

Our master's course has a global outlook within the international community, attention to destinations, as well as subject knowledge, teaching underpinned by research and professional experience, and academically rigorous and professional relevance

Course structure

Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, tutorials, group work, directed study, and independent learning and will be conducted in and out of the Centre. You'll be given guided learning hours, but should note that not all of the hours will be conducted in the classroom setting. You'll be actively encouraged to research using problem solving and critical thinking skills.

The Extended course normally requires 15 months of full-time study. However, as well as the final award, there are two interim awards available to those wishing to leave the course having gained 60 master's-level credits (excluding PGBM001) – a postgraduate certificate, or 120 master's-level credits (excluding PGBM001) – a postgraduate diploma.

Course modules

Term 1:

Introduction to Postgraduate Projects, Research Methods and Study Skills (45 credits)

Undertake a project relevant to your chosen course. This module will assess your ability to apply your knowledge of the sector, use appropriate analytical skills to investigate a sector-related topic, and solve problems. The module will provide you with a firm understanding of the methods and methodology used in postgraduate-level research and the study skills necessary to select relevant sources of information, analyse data, and implement research.

Term 2 (postgraduate certificate):

60 credits

Term 3 (postgraduate diploma):

60 credits

Term 4 (master's):

Dissertation or project incorporating research methods (60 credits)

Ran separately on MA Marketing – 45 credits and 15 credits

Some modules have prerequisites. Read more about what this means in our Help and Advice article.

Facilities

You'll be based at ONCAMPUS Sunderland, which is located at City Campus, during term one. You'll then move to the Reg Vardy Centre at the Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter’s for the remainder of the course. The Reg Vardy Centre is a modern building with views of the river, and just a short walk from both the coast and Sunderland town centre.

Entry requirements

We don’t currently display entry requirements for United States. Please contact the Student Admin team on studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk or 0191 515 3154.

To apply for this course, you'll need a Third Class Honours degree, or equivalent.

Overseas applicants must have a score of 6.0 on the British Council Testing Scheme.

Is your qualification not displaying here? For international qualifications, search our full list of international entry requirements for this course.

Fees and finance

Fees are:

£9,000 if you're from the UK/Europe
£18,335 if you're an international student

See the scholarships and bursaries that may be available to you.

This information was correct at the time of publication.

Student in the Sunderland Futures department

Career ready

The course prepares you for senior roles in business, marketing, human resource management, finance, and more. Your final award will be MA Marketing, MSc Human Resource Management, or MSc Finance and Management.

Some of the companies which employ our graduates include Microsoft, IBM, Nike, Adidas, P&G, Lloyds Bank, Marriott Hotels, and the NHS.

Guest speakers

We invite business leaders into the University to share their experiences with students. Past speakers include Divine Chocolate’s Head of Sales and Marketing and Sunderland Football Club’s CEO.

Learning from business professionals can be very useful if you’re not sure what career to pursue when you graduate. If you already have a plan for your career, these events are an excellent way to start building a network of business contacts.

Related courses

MBA Master of Business Administration

Contact

Contact the Student Helpline for further information about studying at the University of Sunderland:

0191 515 3000

student.helpline@sunderland.ac.uk

View Programme Specifications for the Faculty of Business, Law and Tourism.

Page last updated: 17 November 2025

We aim to provide clear, accurate and timely information to prospective and current students. We continuously review and enhance course content in consultation with our students and the information provided on our website is the latest available. If you have received an offer from us to start a course, we will communicate any important changes to you in writing. We will always seek to ensure that our prospective students are fully aware of the basis on which they are accepting an offer.