top of page
Introduction
Why choose this course?
Overview
With our Human Resources Management MSc you’ll be prepared for a successful international career in a range of commercial, public sector and not-for-profit organisations. Our course is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) to Advanced Diploma knowledge standards.
You will build your professional HR knowledge while developing your core HR skills with:
 skills development workshops
 visits to organisations to examine their HR practice.
You will become a member of the Chartered Association of Personnel and Development, the premier HR professional body, and you will:
 attend the Oxford CIPD monthly meetings
 receive briefings on the latest HR developments, including local and global employers.
While studying you'll have opportunities to apply for internships or volunteering roles. Past students have found placements with HR teams at Blenheim Palace and Oxfam.
You may also be interested in:
 Human Resource Management- Fast Track.
Modules
Compulsory modules
People Resourcing and Talent Management
This module will give you an understanding of the principal internal and external environmental contexts of contemporary organisations and how these affect both organisational and HR strategies. You will engage with leading edge practices for planning and recruiting organisational workforces, including the risks and benefits of using technology, and learn how to create an integrated people plan.
Employee Engagement, Performance and Reward
This module will provide you with a critical understanding of how contemporary organisations can elicit employee engagement and performance, and the challenges associated with doing so. It presents theoretical perspectives on the individual and collective employment relationship as the basis by which you can understand the challenges of managing employees – drawing on the key themes of authority, power, and control - and how the levers at management’s disposal, notably, those associated with reward and performance management can be deployed to best effect. The module also explores dysfunction and conflict in the employment relationship from both theoretical and practical standpoints, and the role of the HR
professional in managing the relationship between stakeholders.
Learning, Development and Coaching
You will gain a critical understanding the contribution that learning and development can make to individuals and organisations, together with practical skills in designing and implementing leading edge Learning & development programmes. You will develop the critical understanding required to develop a coaching programme in the workplace and to participate in a coaching style of management.
Employment Law
It is essential for everyone working in HR to develop knowledge, understanding and skills required to brief organisations on how current and future developments in employment law (British Jurisprudence) impact on HR practices, and to give up-to-date, timely and accurate advice concerning the practical application of employment law in the workplace. The module promotes critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint, and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development.
Understanding Organisations and Managing Change
This module provides a framework for understanding and analysing organisations with a particular reference to group processes, cultural dynamics, leadership and change. Organisations and the processes of organising are analysed from different theoretical perspectives. Knowledge and skills are developed to enable students to manage and support change more effectively, ethically and professionally.
Contemporary Issues and Challenges for HRM
This module introduces contemporary themes associated with critical management and organisation theory, with the objective of creating an in-depth and critical understanding of some of the challenges posed in work and organisations today. Such challenges include work intensification, increasing inequalities, algorithms, managing ethically, changing patterns of work such as the gig economy, crises and the employment relationship, digital transformations, and alternative organisational forms.
The module draws on the multiple and often competing perspectives on the study of organisations (e.g. capitalist political economy, diverse economies and post-capitalist work organisation) to explore current debates and reflect on the latest developments and what they mean for HR practitioners and future HRM practice.
Developing Skills for Business Leadership
Successful leaders have different approaches to their work, sharing a range of diverse personality traits. They are central to a manager's effectiveness and are developed over time and with an awareness of the differing cultural contexts. A key purpose of this module is to encourage you to develop a strong sense of self-awareness of your own strengths and development needs as a manager and colleague. In addition, you will develop a range of definable skills, which are pivotal to successful management practice. These include decision-making skills, team-working, interpersonal skills, accounting and budgeting, negotiating and other skills associated with developing personal effectiveness. You will develop skills of reflexivity to explore the implications for professional practice and support career development.
Critical investigation skills
This module provides students with a framework for understanding and researching organisations. Students encounter organisation theory and research methods, learn to deepen their organisational knowledge and develop valuable research skills. The module shows students a range of theoretical perspectives, providing critical awareness of the complexity of organisations & organisational processes. Students are introduced to the stages of research, (research design, data collection and analysis methods, & research ethics). Armed with knowledge of organisational theory and research methodologies, students develop a viable research proposal. In semester 2, students take part in a pilot project, which gives hands-on experience of ‘doing’ research. Based on this, students produce a reflective essay designed to inform their own research projects. Sessions on quantitative and qualitative data analysis, the use of computerised analysis packages, and dissertation writing complete the module.
Dissertation
You will investigate a HR management or organisational practice issue using primary and/or secondary data, justified and supported by detailed reference to relevant theories and concepts from literature and a relevant research design. You will also make recommendations for improved future practice.
Final Project
Compulsory modules
Research Project
The research project allows students to undertake a self-managed process of systematic enquiry within the domain of their Masters programme. It aims to generate high quality, rigorous and systematic applied research as part of which the students have reflected critically on the theoretical and philosophical assumptions underpinning the process alongside the ethics of undertaking management research. The degree to which the project is ‘applied’ is flexible – from addressing a broad issue in HRM to researching a specific issue within an organisation.
Learning and teaching
We use a range of teaching methods, including:
 lectures
 seminar discussions
 practical workshops
 online learning, through our virtual learning platform.
You'll understand the challenges of HR in practice through a stimulating mix of theoretical and practical inputs.
Our teaching staff are active researchers. Some have an industry background with practical experience of HR and wider business and management issues.
We also organise visiting speakers from:
 business
 industry
 consultancies
 research bodies.
We offer an International Business in Practice Study Trip module.
Entry Criteria
ENTRY REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
Home Office Share Code
For EU students only.
IF no Qualification
Please provide CV with at least 2 years of work experience, and employee reference letter.
Entry requirements
Specific entry requirements
This course attracts students from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities. A minimum of a second class honours degree (2:2) in any academic discipline, or equivalent overseas degree from a recognised institution or equivalent professional or other qualification is required.
Applicants who possess a diploma rather than a good degree may be eligible for entry provided they have compensatory work experience and can demonstrate career development.
Applications are welcome from recent graduates hoping to start a career in HRM as well as those looking to take a break from work to take up full-time study or to study the programme part-time as part of their continuing professional development.
Entry will also be subject to two satisfactory references (one of these must be an academic reference).
Our standard entry requirement is three A-levels or equivalent qualifications. In some cases, courses have specific required subjects and additional GCSE requirements. In addition to A-levels, we accept a wide range of other qualifications including:
 the Welsh Baccalaureate
 the Access to Higher Education Diploma
 a BTEC National Certificate, Diploma or Extended Diploma at a good standard and in a relevant subject
 the International Baccalaureate Diploma
 the European Baccalaureate Diploma
 Scottish qualifications – five subjects in SCE with two at Higher level or one at Advanced Higher level, or three subjects in Scottish Highers or two at Advanced Higher level
 a recognised foundation course
 T-levels*.
 * T-levels are a relatively new qualification but are already included in the UCAS tariff. We welcome prospective students who are taking this qualification to apply. For some programmes with specific required subjects, particular subject areas or occupational specialisms may be required.
English language requirements
If English is not your first language you will need to have the following level of English language competency:
 minimum 6.0 (with a minimum of 6.0 in reading and writing and 5.5 in listening and speaking).
 if you have completed your undergraduate degree in the UK (at least one full year of study) you will automatically meet our English language requirements.
The entry requirement for your course will be expressed as an IELTS level and refers to the IELTS Academic version of this test. We are now also accepting the IELTS Indicator test, you can find out more about the test on the IELTS Indication site. The University however does accept a wide range of additional English language qualifications, which can be found below.
The university’s English language requirements in IELTS levels are as follows:
Course IELTS level
All other undergraduate courses 6.0 overall with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
Law, Architecture, Interior Architecture, English Literature (including combined honours), English Literature and Creative Writing 6.5 overall with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
Health and Social Care courses 6.5 or 7.0 overall with 6.5 or 7.0 in all components (see individual entries for course details)
Nutrition BSc (Hons) 6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each component
Built Environment Foundation,
Computing Foundation,
Engineering Foundation 6.0 with 6.0 in reading and writing, 5.5 in listening and speaking
International Foundation Business and Technology,
International Foundation Arts, Humanities and Law 5.5 overall with 5.5 in all skills
International Foundation Diploma 5.0 overall with 5.0 in all skills
If you need a student visa you must take an IELTS for UKVI test.
International Foundation Diploma (Extended pathway) 4.5 overall with 4.5 in all skills
If you need a student visa you must take an IELTS for UKVI test.
Assessment
ASSESSMENT METHODS
1. INTERNAL ENGLISH TEST if you don't have an English accredited certificate
2. Academic Interview
Learning and assessment
Over the duration of the course, you will take nine compulsory modules. You will also complete a research project.
Most modules are assessed through a combination of course-work (typically 80%) and a group based assessment (typically, 20%). There are no written exams.
We use a range of assessment methods, such as:
 assignments
 individual or group reports
 group presentations.
Throughout the course, you'll develop the analytical and presentation skills that employers look for.
Research
An annual HR Research conference is jointly hosted with Oxford CIPD.
There are two research clusters in the International Centre for Coaching and Mentoring Studies and the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice which relate to this subject:
 Work and Organisations
 Management and Entrepreneurship Education.
Career Opportunities
Experience shows that our MSc HRM graduates are highly employable. They can follow a number of different career routes. Many graduates (alumni) are in HR departments across a wide spectrum of organisations, including:
 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
 governmental bodies
 large global commercial organisations
 non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Some students develop academic careers and others follow consultancy opportunities or go into general management.
bottom of page