Programme content
On our Full-Time MBA, you will study core modules to build your foundation in business, and then shape your own elective and project portfolio to suit your personal academic and career ambitions. The programme places an emphasis on the latest thinking and experiences through a wide range of projects, which are designed to make you a well-rounded leader, ready to face the business challenges of the future.
Our programmes require intensive study. As well as contact hours, you will be required to spend time preparing for lectures, undertaking background reading, working in groups, completing assessments (both individual and in groups) and revising for exams.
A significant amount of time will need to be allocated to career planning and development as well as to becoming an active contributor to the Business School community. This list is not exhaustive, but provides you with a flavour of what you can expect from your time as an Imperial student.
Timetable
Interested in how your time on the Full-Time MBA will be spent? See what the timetable looks like for the course here.
Timetables and course outlines are subject to change. Imperial College Business School reserves the right to alter the timetable when required.
Programme overview
Online pre-study modules
Pre-study modules ensure that all students have the basic knowledge and skills required for the start of the programme.
Compulsory pre-study modules covering mathematics, accounting and careers and professional development will be available to you from three months prior to the start of the programme.
These refresher modules are delivered through The Hub, Imperial College’s online learning platform. Once you have accepted your offer, you will be given access and instructions on how to use the system.
An online tutor works in tandem with programme faculty to support you, providing guidance and monitoring progress and performance in quizzes.
Key information:
• The pre-study modules are delivered online through Imperial College’s online learning platform.
• All pre-study modules are compulsory.
• An online tutor works in tandem with programme faculty to support you.
• The modules will be available to you from three months prior to the start of the programme.
• Topics covered include mathematics, accounting and careers and professional development.
Core 1 modules
Your core modules begin when you join us on campus in September. These modules are the backbone of the programme. Core 1 modules give you a solid base of practical knowledge in the following subject areas:
• Business Economics
• Accounting
• Organisational Behaviour
• Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving
Leadership and team building day
Imperial College Business School offer a leadership day during the induction week. A fun day away from campus, you will spend time building core relationships with your MBA family – the team you will be working with for the next year.
The aim of this day is to:
• Encourage you to explore how individual characteristics affect leadership styles
• How leadership styles can affect corporate culture
• Examine your own leadership and communication style
• Learn how you can make rapid change to become an effective future leader
Careers Week
Careers Week enables you to focus on your career after you have been busy concentrating on your first set of core modules on the programme. It will help you to accelerate progress towards your aims.
Core 2 modules
Core modules are the backbone of the programme. Students undertake Core 2 modules during November and December. Core 2 modules give you a solid base of practical knowledge in the following subject areas:
- Corporate Finance
- Marketing
- Strategy
Exams
Exams enable students to demonstrate the extent to which they have attained and exceeded the intended learning outcomes. Students must attain a minimum of the Pass mark which represents the minimum threshold standards which students must meet in order to pass a module, progress through their programme and be awarded a degree.
Core 3 and 4 Modules
Core modules are the backbone of the programme. Students undertake Core 3 and 4 modules from January to March and these modules give you a solid base of practical knowledge in the following subject areas:
• Operations
• Macroeconomics
• Investments and Risk Management
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• Decision Analytics
Imperial Innovation Challenge
The Imperial Innovation Challenge is a one week laboratory focusing on how business insight and imagination transform society. Working in groups, this immersive experience will see you dive into the given problem at the beginning of day one and present your solution by day five. A week of workshops and eye-opening talks with industry experts will support you in your pursuit for an innovative solution. This is an opportunity to showcase the business knowledge you’ve developed during your MBA so far.
The goal of the challenge is to:
• Encourage you to apply innovative thinking to complex international issues such as poverty.
• Generate business solutions.
• Give you a snapshot into the diversity of the College
• Give you an idea of the different ways that you can interact with other faculties
• This project integrates the Business School with other faculties such as Natural Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to take on global grand challenges in health, energy, environment and the digital universe.
Group Consulting Project
This project is offered as one of two projects that focus on building your teamwork skills; you may alternatively choose the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design project (see details on this project below) instead.
This project is designed to develop your managerial and consulting potential by applying your knowledge and problem-solving skills to a real-world consulting project for an external organisation.
During the project, you will:
• Take on the role of a team of consultants
• Manage the project from initial problem-framing through to completion, drawing on your knowledge from the programme so far
• Be supported by several workshops, run by experienced consultants
• Present your work
• Receive detailed feedback on your progress
• Raise questions
Entrepreneurial Journey
This project is offered as one of two projects that focus on building your teamwork skills; you may alternatively choose the Group Consulting project (see details on this project above) instead.
The Entrepreneurial Journey is a team-based venture start-up programme. The project is highly practical and organised around workshops and coaching sessions, helping you to progress your project over a period of six months. You can either work on your idea, or otherwise you will be able to collaborate with others on developing ideas. Operating as part of a self-selected, multi-disciplinary team, in this way you can explore the commercial feasibility of ideas based on the latest developments in science, technology, medicine and design.
During the project, you will:
• Take an idea for a new product or service
• Develop a value proposition
• Carry out customer discovery research
• Validate the product or service
• Create a fully-fledged business proposition
• At the end of your journey, you will pitch to a panel of investors, and compete for a monetary prize
Additional modules
You will take two additional modules in Ethics and Values and Languages.
Electives
Electives are your opportunity to truly shape the programme to your own ambitions, whether you want to specialise in a particular area or expand your breadth of business knowledge.
Key information:
• You will choose six electives on the Imperial MBA from a range of on-campus or online options.
• The Careers team, MBA team and Faculty are available to advise and help guide your choice
• On-campus electives usually run over four days either during the Spring or Summer terms and are offered over weekdays or weekends.
• There is a wide range of elective options, from which approximately 20 are run each year depending on student interest.
• There are 4 elective pathways (Finance, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Management and Analytics and Digital Marketing) with a variety of elective options under each pathway.
Global Experience Week
A programme highlight for many, the Global Experience Week is a unique hands-on learning experience. With your cohort, you will travel to another country for an intensive trip to explore a new culture and business in an international context.
Perspectives on Practice: Individual Project
Perspectives on Practice is an individual, self-directed part of the programme and the final project of your MBA. This project will last between two to three months. As part of this programme students are required to choose between undertaking an individual project or an internship.
The individual project allows you to develop your ideas on a topic of interest, most likely relevant to your own post-graduation goals. There are three routes you can follow:
- Complete an individual consulting project which entails you approaching and building your network with organisations of interest
- Undertake a consulting report covering a sector or market and one or more organisations
- Develop your own business plan.
Perspectives on Practice: Internship
Perspectives on Practice is an individual, self-directed part of the programme and the final project of your MBA. This project will last between two to three months. As part of this programme students are required to choose between undertaking an individual project or an internship.
If you choose to undertake an internship, you are encouraged to employ your networking skills and organise one with a company that you are interested in. At the end of your internship you will submit a project based on your work.
Students from our 2015-16 cohort secured internships at companies such as:
• BCG
• Goldman Sachs
• China Merchants Bank
• OEE Consulting
Exchange opportunities (optional)
Our optional exchange programme allows you to increase your international exposure by completing some electives at one of our partner schools.
With opportunities to study in cities and countries such as Paris, Shanghai, or Switzerland, the MBA exchange programme is a great opportunity to develop your global perspective.
Our partner schools include:
• HEC Business School Paris
• ESSEC Business School
• SDA Bocconi School of Management
• University of St.Gallen
Capstone
Capstone is the culmination of your MBA studies. It is a two-day intensive course that is designed to enhance your managerial knowledge and communication competencies. It is furthermore an opportunity to celebrate your achievement and reconnect with your cohort.
Global Experience Week
The Global Experience Week is a great opportunity to continue building your global perspective and reinforce the strong connections within your cohort.
Imperial Innovation Challenge
The goal of the Imperial Innovation Challenge, a one week learning laboratory, is to encourage you to apply innovative thinking to complex international issues and generate business solutions.
Embarking on an MBA is a decision to be the best in business that you can be, and I am delighted to introduce you to our intensive programme for ambitious business professionals.
