University College Isle of Man (UCM) has added three new Masters programmes.
It will now offer a MA Professional Development in Leadership Practice, a MA Professional Development in Sustainable Business Practice and a MA Professional Development in Events Management and Marketing.
The launch coincides with the rebrand of UCM’s work-based and integrative studies degrees, now called professional development degrees, at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
The awards continue to be closely aligned to the requirements of a rapidly changing labour market, bridging the perceived gap between higher education and the workplace through reflective, flexible and learner-centred education supporting the growth of both students and their organisations.
Gail Corrin, UCM’s University centre manager, said: ‘Our Masters programme has been popular in recent years, and the rename to professional development degrees better reflects the work that students do to develop knowledge and skills in their workplace.
‘In response to market demand, we’ve developed three new pathways within this framework. Learners seeking a more tailored qualification can still create a bespoke title that reflects their individual goals.’
Gail added: ‘We understand that most people who undertake a professional development degree already have demanding work and personal schedules, so we have designed these to be flexible and with learning styles to accommodate both in-person learning and support, and self-guided studying.’
Alongside the new Masters programmes, learners can also design a more bespoke degree, tailoring the title and subject areas to match their experience and career aspirations.
The launch of these new degrees was just one of the highlights of last week’s annual Research Festival, which saw UCM partner with Biosphere Isle of Man.
The event included speakers from both on and off-Island including researchers and academics from institutions such as the Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales), University of Surrey, London Metropolitan University, Victoria College London, Cardiff University, Queen’s University Belfast, Durham University and Colorado State University.
Recordings of the presentations will be available on UCM’s website soon.