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Career Development and Employability MA (Distance Learning)

Advance your skills in career guidance and earn a recognised Qualification in Career Development (QCD) alongside a Master’s degree with this online MA from the University of Huddersfield.

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  • Level

    Postgraduate Degree
  • Duration

    Full-time and part-time
  • Language

    English

Career Development and Employability MA (Distance Learning)

  • Postgraduate Degree

  • Full-time and part-time

  • Gain a professional qualification in career guidance

    Do you want the skills to navigate your career path and help others do the same? This flexible online master’s will help you develop your expertise in career guidance, employability, and workforce development. 

    You’ll gain a deep understanding of key areas in career advising, including policy, equality, diversity, and research-based practice.  With this knowledge, you’ll be prepared for various professional settings in higher and further education, secondary schools, third-sector organisations, and more. 

    You’ll explore essential topics such as career conversations, career decision-making theories, and organisational culture. Then, you’ll design and conduct your own research project to help you gain practical insights you can directly apply to your work.

    With over 40 years of expertise, the University of Huddersfield offers a strong professional network to position you for career success.

    Studying completely online, you’ll have the flexibility to learn alongside your other commitments. You can also choose the full MA or a Postgraduate Diploma (PG Dip), both leading to the QCD. 

    Deepen your understanding of educational research with the University of Huddersfield

    You’ll develop an understanding of critical reflection and educational research before learning how to employ independent learning strategies to evaluate and inform your professional practice.

    Examine the role of a career development practitioner

    Moving through the modules, you’ll delve into the role of a career development practitioner to learn how to become a reflective professional who draws on developmental supervision. You'll learn key theories, principles, and practices for working with individuals in a Careers Education, Information, Advice, and Guidance (CEIAG) setting. 

    Next, you’ll critically evaluate a range of theories relating to occupational choice, examining the relationship between theory and professional practice. Then, you’ll gain skills to design and develop career and employability group work, both within and outside the curriculum. 

    Delve into organisational culture

    As you examine approaches to professional practice, you’ll consider the nature of the organisation and how organisational culture relates to career development and employability. You’ll build practical skills backed by theory, covering key topics like safeguarding, equality, government policy, and working within educational environments. Learning is workplace-focused, helping you apply insights to your own career progress.

    You’ll also explore the major labour market sources for careers and employability work. You’ll learn to effectively leverage this information in professional practice across different sectors, ensuring your guidance is informed and relevant.

    Master theories of career decision-making for effective client support

    You’ll learn to critically evaluate a range of theories relating to occupational choice and examine the relationship between theory and professional practice. 

    This will help you gain an understanding of the value of theory in your professional practice across a range of settings. 

    You’ll also examine curriculum design and planning principles concerning Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance in various settings.

    What can you do with a Career Development and Employability MA?

    With your qualifications, you can pursue a wide variety of interesting and rewarding roles. Some of these job roles include: 

    Career Development Coordinator: Responsible for designing and delivering career development programmes and resources to help students or clients build their career paths and make meaningful career decisions.

    Employability Advisor: Works with individuals to enhance their employability skills, offering guidance on CV writing, interview preparation, and job search strategies.

    Human Resources Specialist: Focuses on employee development and retention strategies, helping organisations develop programmes that enhance employee skills and career progression.

    Recruitment Consultant: Engages with companies to understand their hiring needs and sources suitable job candidates, utilising knowledge of employability to match candidates effectively with job roles.

    Corporate Training and Development Manager: Leads training programmes within organisations to raise employee skills and career opportunities, ensuring the workforce is adaptable to changes in the job market.

    How will you be assessed?

    You’ll be assessed through coursework; there are no timed tests or exams. The coursework allows you to demonstrate your practical knowledge and skills alongside developing your critical and theoretical understanding of the subject. 

    You’ll be guided by module tutors and specialist learning staff. For international students, you can attend weekly academic study skills support workshops. 

    Is this a part-time or full-time degree?

    This online MA takes 12 months full-time and 24 months part-time to complete.

    Entry requirements for this course are normally:

    • A degree or an equivalent professional qualification. Suitably experienced applicants without a degree will be considered.

    In addition, you must also have:

    • Relevant experience in a paid or voluntary basis.
    • Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
    • Complete a satisfactory interview.
    • International applicants must be available for interview in person or via Skype.

    To successfully study this distance learning course, you must also have:

    • Access to a computer with a reliable internet connection.
    • The ability to access and use online study guidance and support.
    • Appropriate video and audio devices so that you can participate in webinar tutorials.

    If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 with a minimum score of 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in any single component. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

    What will it cost?

    In 2024/25 the tuition fee for UK and international students on this course will be £6,900.Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X).

    Develop an understanding of critical reflection and how to employ independent learning strategies to enable you to evaluate and inform your professional practice.

    Deepen your knowledge and understanding of educational research.

    Understand policy, practice and theories underpinning career guidance, equality and diversity, partnership working and research-based practice.

    Learn how to become a reflective professional who draws on developmental supervision. You'll learn key theories, principles, and practices for working with individuals in a Careers Education, Information, Advice, and Guidance (CEIAG) setting.

    Gain skills to design and develop career and employability group work both within and outside the curriculum.

    Build practical skills backed by theory, covering key topics like safeguarding, equality, government policy, and working within educational environments.

    Become competent with major labour market sources used in careers and employability work. You’ll learn to effectively leverage this information in professional practice across different sectors, ensuring your guidance is informed and relevant.

    Career Development and Employability MA (Distance Learning)

  • Postgraduate Degree

  • Full-time and part-time

  • If you’d like to know more, please answer a few questions and University of Huddersfield will get in touch with you with more information.

    University of Huddersfield logo

    University of Huddersfield

    The University is home to six academic Schools of Study: Applied Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Computing and Engineering, Education, and Human and Health Sciences. It is an established and growing centre of research and excellence, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and is recognised for the quality of its teaching, achieving a Gold Award in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and winning the inaugural Higher Education Academy Global Teaching Excellence Award in 2017.