MPhil in Management
Prepare for a career in business with no prior business or management studies.
Programme details
Length
9 months
Start
October 2025
Format
Full-time
Location
You must be resident in Cambridge during your programme
Overview
Become a leader in your field. Our MPhil in Management programme is both academically rigorous and professionally relevant, delivering the knowledge and skills that will ensure you get the head start you need.
Join driven and highly motivated individuals from around the world in a first-class, inspiring learning experience in which you’ll:
- cover all the core elements of business and management from accounting to strategy
- apply your skills to a real-world challenge within a leading international company
- tailor your learning with electives to enhance your future career opportunities
- explore collaborative leadership, creativity and innovation
- experience a life-changing year at Cambridge and prepare and equip yourself for an exciting career in management and business
Professor Houyuan Jiang (Director of the MPhil in Management): “The MPhil in Management is a one-year, full-time programme designed for new graduates pursuing a career in management and business. This programme teaches students the principles, frameworks, tools and techniques of thinking and making decisions as managers.”
Lynn Muhairwe: “Before I joined the MPhil in Management, I worked as a doctor in the NHS.”
Lauren Hau: “I was lucky to try a couple different things in different industries before coming to this master’s programme.”
Liam Garrett: “I joined Cambridge Judge Business School in order to get a bit of a different experience.”
Professor Houyuan Jiang: “The programme is structured into 3 key components– foundation, consolidation, and implementation. Each component is designed to provide a robust, practical skill set across all business functional areas.”
Lynn Muhairwe: “I’ve been able to learn about organisational analysis and behaviours. I’ve learned about finance. I’ve learned about accounting and EBITDA and EBIT, all of things which I would have never thought to look at but I know would be useful for me.”
Lauren Hau: “I’ve gained a much better foundation in terms of what these different things are, and I feel so equipped to start bringing those academic concepts I learned and those different topics and seeing how they apply in the working place.”
Professor Houyuan Jiang: “We also strongly emphasise developing a mindset of ethical integrity and social responsibility, training our graduates to be thoughtful and responsible global business leaders. To complement the curriculum, we offer focused workshops to develop professional skills in the job market. Students can interact and discuss current and critical business issues through our distinguished guest speaker series.”
Natasha Huang: “It’s really great because everyone comes from really diverse backgrounds. So in group projects, you might have people bringing in their own expertise or even some of their experience in previous internships or jobs.”
Maria Lucia Perez: “That combination of knowledge really, really create a good learning environment and one that’s really powerful.”
Professor Houyuan Jiang: “We also encourage students to appreciate quantitative models and make great efforts to master quantitative skills that will become invaluable after graduation.”
Lauren Hau: “I found that the MPhil in Management has the best balance of qualitative and quantitative focus. That was something I really wanted to have in terms of my own learning development.”
Liam Garrett: “Being a scientist from background in that sense, I really enjoyed more of the quantitative aspects of the business econ finance, but it was also definitely very nice to see the marketing areas and other modules relating to more of the soft sides of management.”
Professor Houyuan Jiang: “A standout feature of our programme is the capstone management consulting project. This project offers students a unique opportunity to work with real clients, tackling real business challenges.”
Liam Garrett: “Being able to work with 4 students in my cohort and really closely with a client who is really supportive, engaging, and deliver a project that adds real value to that client, that’s actually tangible and makes you feel like you’re a part of that business, was an incredible and invaluable experience.”
Professor Houyuan Jiang: “Our graduates embark on diverse career paths spanning various industry sectors, including digital, finance, governments, investment and banking, and strategy consulting. They thrive as business analysts and managers, demonstrating the versatility and applicability of the skills and knowledge gained from our programme.”
We want to develop the mindset and emphasise the values of ethics, integrity and social responsibility, so that our graduates become a transformative force for good in society and really thoughtful global business leaders.
Why Cambridge Judge Business School?
Cambridge Judge is uniquely placed to provide a perfect bridge between academia and the dynamic world of business. As the business school of the prestigious University of Cambridge, we leverage the teaching expertise of our faculty and its world leading research and take advantage of our close ties with Silicon Fen, the most successful technology, innovation and entrepreneurship cluster in Europe.
- Immerse yourself in a comprehensive and stimulating business environment.
- Develop your global network and socialise with friends and colleagues of amazing diversity and talent.
- Benefit from studying at one of the world’s foremost academic institutions with an over 800-year history of excellence, producing over 90 Nobel Laureates.
- Elevate your status and graduate as an alumnus of the University of Cambridge.
- Enjoy lifetime membership of your Cambridge College.
- Get the full support of the University Careers Service.
- Spend an academic year based in the dynamic, historic and beautiful city of Cambridge
Curriculum
Learn, apply, collaborate and prepare for leadership in your chosen business field.
Providing a thorough grounding in all the essential elements of business and management based on world-leading research, our MPhil in Management is your graduate conversion course, key to your future career. You will develop essential skills ranging from the mathematical to the interpersonal and you will be challenged to excel across a wide range of theoretical and practical disciplines.
The core curriculum will give you a critical understanding of the practice of management through applied techniques, conceptual issues and contemporary debates in the academic literature. You will also choose from a range of electives aligned to careers in management and put your skills to the test in a collaborative, real-issue project with a leading company. Give yourself the career advantage you need to make an impact from the outset.
Lynn Muhairwe (MPhil in Management 2023/24)
Before I joined the MPhil in Management, I worked as a doctor in the NHS. I’d done about a year or so of working and then I decided to come and do my masters. The topics I’ve enjoyed have been marketing and the management consulting project because we’ve actually got to use the knowledge that we’ve learned over the past few months and work with clients to solve real-life solutions. So I’ve really enjoyed this.
There is a diverse group of people in the MPhil in Management programme. You’re able to make friends with people from all over the world. You’re able to learn new cultures and share your culture with other people around you. I think the good thing is, it helps you, especially when you’re working on projects. Because everyone has a different way of thinking, a different way of analysing and interpreting the question. And it’s very useful when it comes to working together. Because that’s what you need to have a good project, to do well.
To complement the curriculum, we offer a series of focused workshops with the goal of developing professional skills that are going to be relevant further in the job market. Through our distinguished guest speaker series, students have the chance to interact and discuss with global experts on current business issues.
Who we’re looking for
The MPhil in Management attracts ambitious, driven and intellectually curious individuals, who are preparing to enter the competitive world of management and business.
This programme is right for you if:
- you have a UK First Class Honours degree (or overseas equivalent) in a subject other than business or management
- you have English language proficiency*, maths and stats proficiency
- you have less than a year of work experience since graduation (excluding vacation employment and internships)
- you have good interpersonal, communication and team-working skills, in addition to numeracy, problem-solving and reasoning skills
- you are ambitious and willing to work hard
*English proficiency: English as the native language or IELTS minimum overall score of 7.5, with not less than 7.0 in each element or TOEFL minimum overall score of 110, with not less than 25 in each element.
Applying for the MPhil in Management
We are delighted that you are considering applying for the Cambridge MPhil in Management and we are excited to learn about you.