MSc in Leadership and Change Management
Course Overview
The MSc in Leadership and Change Management at the London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a one-year UK master's for senior leaders moving into transformation-director seats — a head of transformation at a UK bank, a chief people officer at a scale-up, or a change director in a regulated industry. Sitting in the Human Resources & Leadership faculty, the course combines transformation strategy with culture leadership, organisation design at scale, applied change research and evidence-based leadership.
The MSc runs one year full-time (two years part-time via online or distance routes). Students complete a substantial dissertation supervised by a working change director, run a sponsor consulting project with a UK organisation, and defend a transformation programme in front of a working chief people officer. Delivery is on-campus in central London, fully online with cohort calls scheduled across UK and APAC time zones, and by distance learning.
Key Features
- Curriculum reviewed against CMI Level 7 senior-leadership competencies and CIPD Advanced Level change-management competencies.
- Three study modes — central London campus, fully online with UK/APAC cohort calls, or distance learning.
- Sponsor consulting project with a UK organisation.
- Practitioner-led seminars from CIPD Fellow-level HR directors and transformation leaders.
- Dissertation supervised by a working change director.
- Structured executive-application coaching in the final term.
What You Will Learn
The MSc organises transformation leadership around the working questions a UK change director actually owns: which operating model, which culture change, which sequence, which conversation to have with an executive committee, and which metric proves the transformation worked.
- Transformation strategy at director level — sequencing, pace, value realisation.
- Operating-model design — spans, layers, capability model, target operating model.
- Culture leadership — Schein, competing values, culture-measurement instruments.
- Change psychology at scale — Kubler-Ross, ADKAR, Bridges, S-curve dynamics.
- Restructuring at scale — collective consultation, TUPE, redundancy pools.
- Employee engagement — voice, listening, closing feedback loops at plc scale.
- Applied change research — commissioning organisational-effectiveness surveys.
- UK employment law at senior level — ACAS Code, TULRCA s.188, duty of care.
- Governance — Corporate Governance Code, board effectiveness, chair engagement.
- Ethical leadership and Institute of Business Ethics guidance in transformation trade-offs.
Who This Course Is For
- Senior leaders moving into transformation-director seats.
- Heads of change formalising director-level credentials.
- Chief people officer candidates preparing for their first CPO seat.
- Consulting partners specialising in transformation and organisation design.
- Public-sector transformation leaders preparing for senior civil-service tracks.
Career Pathways
Graduates typically progress into transformation-director and senior HR/leadership roles across UK banks, corporates, public sector and third sector. The MSc supports applications but does not by itself guarantee job offers or visa outcomes.
- Transformation Director
- Head of Organisation Design
- Chief People Officer (junior)
- Head of Change
- Chief of Staff (transformation)
- Transformation Consulting Partner (junior)
The MSc is a strong signal for CMI Chartered Manager, CIPD Chartered Fellow application and executive-coaching career tracks.
Entry Requirements
- A UK 2:2 honours degree in a relevant discipline, or an equivalent international qualification. Applicants with three years of substantive leadership or change experience may apply on a portfolio route.
- GCSE English Language at grade 5/C (or equivalent) for domestic applicants; international applicants meet the language rule below.
- IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
- A short statement of intent (600 words) explaining research or applied interests, plus two references (one academic, one workplace or professional-body); applicants with CMI Chartered or CIPD Associate should mention it on application.
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. Postgraduate cohorts run in small tutor-visible groups, are shaped by working senior practitioners (partner-level at a Big Four firm, Fellow-level at CIM or CIPD, CFA charter-holders in investment routes) and close with a substantial dissertation, sponsor consulting project or applied capstone defended in front of a working panel.
London puts the City, Canary Wharf, Whitehall, Companies House, the FCA, the Bank of England, the West End and the major consulting, banking and multinational headquarters within a short tube ride of every classroom. LSIBM postgraduates attend a fortnightly senior-practitioner clinic and a structured executive-application coaching programme in the final term.
Apply for the MSc in Leadership and Change Management
Step into the senior track with the MSc in Leadership and Change Management. Click Enrol Now and admissions will reply within one working day with intake dates, dissertation supervisor allocation guidance and the current fee schedule. LSIBM postgraduates are supported by dedicated executive-application coaching in the final term.
