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Heriot-Watt University: Human Resource Management (HRM)

Institution Heriot-Watt University View institution profile
Department Edinburgh Business School View department profile
Web www.hw.ac.uk/ebs/
Study type Taught

Summary

The MSc Human Resource Management provides you with the crucial insights, skills, and knowledge to develop sustainable and socially responsible HR practices for managing people. You’ll gain a critical understanding of the core theories, principles and concepts that underpin contemporary organisation practice and explore socially responsible and sustainable models of human resource management (HRM). You’ll gain a critical awareness of the current and emerging issues in research and knowledge creation and gain the skills to develop original, creative solutions in response to these problems. The MSc will provide you with the skills to apply your knowledge and understanding to professional practice and solve contemporary organisational problems.

Beyond subject knowledge and skills, you’ll gain key transferrable skills which will aid you throughout your professional career. You’ll be able to make formal presentations about specialised topics to audiences with a variety of levels of expertise, effectively communicate using both written and verbal means to a range of audiences and undertake critical evaluations of a wide range of written, numerical and graphical data. This invaluable skillset will make you highly sought after upon graduation.

You’ll have the opportunity to specialise and choose an optional course – from team craft, managing diversity in business, and psychology of leadership – to customise your learning and develop your specific interest. Your human resource management dissertation will allow you to further build on these subject interests, by presenting you the opportunity to carry out an original research project at the forefront of knowledge. The knowledge base, subject and transferable skills you will gain will prepare you for lifelong learning and personal development.

You’ll focus on real-world problems and explore ways human resource management can help us address them. The career-focused master’s degree provides you with the practical knowledge and skills necessary for the workplace. You’ll explore a range of organisational contexts and practices which will set you up for a professional HR career. The MSc is accredited and approved by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, providing you with a route to gain professional qualifications.

Your learning environment The MSc Human Resource Management programme is taught through a combination of lectures and tutorials, allowing you to get to know and build relationships with the teaching staff, academics and your peers. You will be assessed by coursework, exams, and your dissertation, and will receive support and feedback throughout the programme.

Customise your learning

You’ll have the opportunity to focus on the areas of HRM that interest you the most. You can customise your degree to match your specific interests or career pathway by selecting a specialist course.

In Semester three, you’ll ‘deep dive’ into your chosen area of HRM in your dissertation. You will demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by developing new insight from the analysis of valuable primary research.

Accreditation

Our MSc in Human Resource Management is aligned to the CIPD Profession Map and to the core knowledge and behaviour standards for a level of CIPD membership. By studying this degree, you are aligning yourself to the international standard for the people profession. 

This accreditation provides a strong foundation by giving you the confidence and capabilities to guide your decision making, actions and behaviours, it sets the international standard for people professionals to make their greatest impact and thrive in a changing world of work. 

Upon successfully completing this programme, you will achieve a CIPD membership outcome, a visible demonstration of your experience and expertise in the people profession. 

MSc

Heriot Watt

About Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University

Edinburgh Business School (EBS) at Heriot‑Watt University is a global leader in accessible, practice‑oriented education and research that promotes responsible business. With campuses in Edinburgh, Dubai, and Malaysia, we connect more than 14,000 students from 130+ countries and a worldwide alumni network of 49,000.

We specialise in inclusive, experiential learning that equips ambitious postgraduates to tackle real‑world challenges. Our teaching and research drive impact in areas such as innovation, logistics, supply chain management, workplace inclusion, sustainable capitalism, and industrial decarbonisation.

Through strong partnerships with industry and government, we translate …

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