Master of Business Administration (Awarded by Southern Cross University, Australia)

Course details

Southern Cross University’s MBA develops business knowledge and practical skills to help graduates advance their careers in today’s competitive global markets. Students gain a broad understanding of contemporary management operations, learn industry-relevant skills and develop solutions to complex business situations. They enhance their professional expertise by completing practical assessment activities in leadership, problem solving and communication skills.

Methods of Assessment

The course incorporates progressive assessment and examinations. Students are assessed in each unit on the basis of written and oral assignments. These may be business reports, case studies, presentations, research studies and /or plans.

Award

Upon successful completion, students will be awarded the Master of Business Administration by Southern Cross University. Graduates from this programme are entitled to use the designatory title MBA after their name

Programme Curriculum

Students study either 16 or 12 units depending on their academic qualification and experience, as assessed by Southern Cross University.

Students without the necessary business-related academic qualifications or experience are required to complete up to 16 units, which includes four foundation units

The 10 compulsory core units for the MBA are:

• Global Business
• Entrepreneurship and Marketing
• Corporate Governance
• Project Management
• Finance
• Leading and Managing People
• Managing Information Systems
• Strategy and Case Analysis
• Industry Research Project (this unit is equivalent to 2 units)

Students are required to take 2 units from the following to fulfill their award requirements, subject to availability.

• Asia Pacific Business Environment
• Human Resource Management
• Managing Digital Enterprise
• Strategic Knowledge Management
• Business Accounting

Students without the necessary business-related academic qualifications or experience may be required to take the following foundation units:

• Accounting for Managers
• Marketing
• Organisational Behaviour
• Economics and Quantitative Analysis

Global Business: This unit examines the additional challenges confronting the global business manager.

Entrepreneurship and Marketing: This unit deals with the realities confronting entrepreneurial decision-making in a contemporary context and introduces students to core marketing concepts. The unit explores strategy, entrepreneurship and marketing and provides a framework for understanding relevant theory and its application.

Corporate Governance: This unit introduces students to corporate governance - one of the most important developments in business. The abuses and excesses of the takeover era and the exponential growth of the institutional investor have transformed the roles of shareholders, managers, and directors of publicly held companies. This unit explains how modern corporate governance has evolved, the trends and changes taking place and the likely impact of those changes. Students will be assisted to develop skills in applying techniques for effective corporate governance.

Project Management: This unit develops students’ understanding of the principles of project management from a managerial perspective in an organisational setting, and to develop skills to plan and manage projects with teams. Students will be introduced to the various phases and processes associated with a project life cycle, and should understand the knowledge areas associated with any project and explore practical applications of the knowledge acquired through this unit.

Finance: This unit introduces key concepts, principles, tools, contemporary issues and context of finance and financial management in order to prepare students for participation in making investment and financing decisions. Topics covered include the time value of money, the risk and return trade-off, capital budgeting, working capital management and financing alternatives.

Leading and Managing People: This unit provides an advanced analysis of leadership and teamwork within the context of the modern organisation. The unit will assist students to become aware of their leadership style and its impact on individuals, work teams and organisations. An examination of some essential issues for leaders in organisations that enhance effective leadership is also undertaken.

Managing Information Systems: This unit provides a managerial approach to the use of information and information systems in organisations. Students are introduced to the use of information and information systems as a means of achieving competitive advantage and for improving efficiency and effectiveness in business processes and managerial decision-making. Students learn to manage information as one of the key resources of an organisation by planning, developing, implementing and evaluating information systems from a managerial perspective, taking into account social, ethical and global factors.

Strategy and Case Analysis: This unit consolidates students’ ability to integrate, apply and demonstrate knowledge and skills learned in the course as a whole. Students will analyse, strategise, plan and report on complex management problems.

Industry Research Project: Students complete a substantial and independently directed research project. They present a well-documented business report/ research paper in a form suitable for presentation to a business board or industry panel. This unit is an opportunity to undertake real-world business-related study and investigation with application and relevance to the workplace under supervision.

Additional units, subject to availability

Asia Pacific Business Environment: This unit extends students’ ability to critically analyse the contemporary business environment in the Asia Pacific region and examines contemporary research on issues such as firm structure and ownership, trade and investment, labour markets and employment regulation, intellectual property, ethics and governance, infrastructure development, and environmental and social responsibility. The primary focus is the crucial nexus between business and government in Asia-Pacific.

Human Resource Management: This unit aims to give human resource (HR) practitioners and line managers the knowledge and skills to engage in strategic human resource planning, in the context of the major human resource functions, to develop a business case to support strategic judgements and to advocate strategic approaches to organisational stakeholders. As the unit deals with concepts and skills related to other HR units, it aims to give students research-related skills to engage with course content and assessment. It is recommended that students undertake this unit early in their HR studies.

Managing Digital Enterprise: This unit focuses on managerial issues related to e-commerce such as the benefits and opportunities as supported and enabled by modern information technology applications; security, legal and ethical issues; and the role of government.

Strategic Knowledge Management: This unit introduces students to general concepts, practice and development of knowledge management; and a managerial perspective of implementing strategic knowledge management in organisations.

Business Accounting: This unit introduces students to the manual processes of financial accounting for a retail business, from recording transactions in journals to preparing internal-format financial reports and analysing and interpreting the information presented in those reports. Students will also develop skills in Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint software as tools used by accountants.

Foundation Units

Accounting for Managers: This unit introduces students to the fundamentals of financial and management accounting, viewed from the perspective of the business manager. Students will critically evaluate accounting information contained in financial statements and management accounting reports used by managers to inform responsible business decisions.

Marketing: This unit introduces students to the concept of markets and the philosophy of marketing that underpins the contemporary business environment. It looks at aspects of marketing management such as customer focus, relationship marketing, monitoring of the environment, buyer behaviour, marketing research, marketing planning, marketing mix, and competitive strategy. Concepts are applied to products and services in a global context.

Organisational Behaviour: This unit introduces students to work and worker behaviour, behaviour at work, group and organisational behaviour, links between behaviour and organisational restructure, tasks and job design, administrative hierarchy, job satisfaction and worker adjustment, stress and other factors related to the environment of work, and values associated with work behaviour.

Economics and Quantitative Analysis: This unit focuses on aspects of microeconomics and macroeconomics relevant to managers. The main themes are the market system and what it can accomplish, limitations and failures of markets, government policies and other factors in the macroeconomic environment impacting on business, and how issues and government policies with respect to the international economy impact on business. Quantitative analytic techniques for business and economics are introduced and applied.

Entry Requirements

To qualify for admission into the Master of Business Administration, Applicants must be of aged 16 and above, and meet at the following requirements:

• A Bachelor's degree, or tertiary or equivalent qualification subject to approval from university and on a case by-case-basis. OR
• Possession of an undergraduate degree from another tertiary institution considered equivalent by Southern Cross University OR
• Demonstrate academic or professional standing considered by Southern Cross University to be equivalent to the requirements above AND
• IELTS (International English Language Testing System) 6.5 with no less than 6.0 in any band OR
• Internet–based TOEFL 79 or equivalent.

Applicants who have completed senior secondary study to the equivalent of the Australian year 12 or have completed at least one year of full time study (or equivalent part time study) at AQF diploma equivalent or higher in Singapore where the language of instruction was English are not required to provide proof of English language proficiency and are assessed based on an existing SCU assessment.

Age Requirement

Applicants must be of age 16 and above