Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management

Course Overview

The Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management (Management Track) at the London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a Level 5 near-degree qualification for senior HR business partners, heads of people-operations and HR managers preparing for a UK Bachelor’s final-year top-up with a business-strategy emphasis. Sitting inside the Business & Management faculty, the Higher Diploma sequences the CIPD Profession Map at Chartered Member level with heavier commercial content and academic HR theory into a Bachelor-ready course with a substantive HRBP capstone. The CIPD Profession Map’s emphasis on business acumen is the anchor, and the syllabus builds senior-HR fluency in P&L, workforce economics and operating model.

Delivered over fifteen to eighteen months, the Higher Diploma is taught by senior CIPD-chartered practitioners and closes with a people-strategy capstone defended in front of a working practitioner panel. The Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management is available on-campus in central London, fully online, or by distance learning, and articulates into LSIBM’s BSc in Human Resource Management final year with confirmed credit transfer at enrolment.

Key Features

• Curriculum designed around the CIPD Profession Map at Chartered Member level with a strategy and business-acumen emphasis, mapped to UK Bachelor’s Level 5 outcomes.
• Three delivery modes — on-campus in central London, fully online, or by distance learning.
• Weekly cohort clinics with a working UK HR Director.
• A substantive HRBP capstone — a full people-strategy for a UK mid-market operator, defended in front of a working practitioner panel.
• Assessment blend of a strategy defence, an operating-model people-plan, a peer-review log and the capstone.
• Bachelor’s top-up ready — credit transfer confirmed at enrolment for LSIBM BSc in Human Resource Management final year.
• Structured route toward CIPD Chartered Member progression, with tutor support on the professional-body assessment.

What You Will Learn

The Higher Diploma treats HR as a management-track discipline graduating into a top-up degree — the working craft of the senior HR business partner shaping people strategy, running restructuring and defending exec pay from a business-strategy lens. You will graduate producing Bachelor-standard senior HRBP work.

• Full people-strategy design at three-year horizon.
• Operating-model design and organisation redesign.
• Workforce economics and cost-to-serve people models.
• Senior employment-law jurisprudence — tribunal, EAT and case law.
• Restructuring, TUPE and collective consultation at senior level.
• Reward at senior level — LTIPs, exec pay, gender pay gap.
• HR analytics and executive people dashboards.
• Talent, succession and executive workforce planning.
• Board-level HR reporting and Audit Committee interface.
• Research skills for the capstone — literature review and method.

Who This Course Is For

• Advanced Diploma graduates targeting BSc final-year entry.
• Senior HR business partners moving toward Head of HR.
• Reward or organisation-design specialists broadening into strategy.
• International HR leaders aligning to a UK BSc route.
• Sponsored candidates studying alongside CIPD Chartered assessment.

Career Pathways

Graduates of the Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management typically move into senior HR business-partner and head-of-HR roles across UK employers, and directly onto a Bachelor’s final year. Typical destinations include:

• Senior HR Business Partner
• Head of People Operations
• Head of Talent
• Head of Reward (junior)
• Head of HR (mid-market)
• Head of Organisation Design
• BSc final-year student (credit transfer)

The Higher Diploma is the natural step onto LSIBM’s BSc in Human Resource Management final year and supports CIPD Chartered Member progression. Graduates typically continue toward MSc Strategic Human Capital within two years of Bachelor’s completion.

Entry Requirements

• A relevant Advanced Diploma (Level 5), HND, HNC, or three years of substantive senior HR experience — evidence of running a case, strategy or programme is expected on the portfolio route.
• GCSE English Language at grade 5/C and Mathematics at grade 4/C (or equivalent).
• IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
• A short statement of intent and two references (one academic or professional-body, one workplace) — applicants presenting CIPD Associate or Chartered Member engagement are particularly welcome.

Why Study at LSIBM

The London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a specialist business-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. Higher Diploma cohorts sit at the near-degree tier — small groups, tutor visibility every week, curriculum reviewed against ACCA, CIMA, CIM, CIPD, CMI and IOE&IT competencies so graduates walk into a UK Bachelor’s top-up with confirmed credit transfer.

London puts the City, Canary Wharf, Whitehall, Companies House, the FCA, the Bank of England and the West End within a short tube ride of every classroom. Higher Diploma students attend at least one working practitioner clinic per fortnight and complete a substantial capstone project defended in front of a working professional.

Apply for the Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management

Move onto the top-up track with the Higher Diploma in Human Resource Management. Click Enrol Now and our admissions team will respond within one working day with intake dates, credit-transfer guidance for UK Bachelor’s top-up routes, and the current fee schedule. Higher Diploma graduates articulate into LSIBM’s Bachelor’s final year with confirmed credit transfer at enrolment.