Warwick’s masters programmes are intensive courses which build on a student’s intellectual and analytical skills gained during their undergraduate studies.

Our masters programmes develop both a student’s in-depth knowledge in a particular subject area, as well as core skills which can be directly transferred to the workplace.

Throughout their studies, Warwick masters’ students will have learnt to:

• manage an intensive workload with tight deadlines
• develop self-discipline and self-motivation
• work as part of group and communicate effectively
• deliver presentations to a variety of audiences.

As well as offering core workplace skills, many of our masters postgraduates also offer employers substantial, previous work experience.

Whilst some postgraduate students will want to specialise and remain in academia, many others will be keen to apply their skills in the wider job market.

During their study, our postgraduate students are essentially working and are expected to meet deadlines, achieve goals and report to their supervisor. By the end of their studies, students may well have gained a greater wealth of experience and skills than many of their peers working in entry level positions, as they will have taken on more responsibility more quickly.

Warwick PhD students offer employers highly developed skills, including:

• enhanced organisational skills and excellent problem-solving abilities
• an analytical approach to working and in-depth research skills
• project management experience gained from managing large-scale research projects
• excellent communication
• ability to work collaboratively with networking expertise and contacts.

Higher education qualifications can broadly be divided into three main stages – the first stage is the undergraduate degree, followed by the masters and then the doctoral level.

These three levels all build on each other with the doctoral level representing the highest available qualification.

The following information provides an overview of the various postgraduate qualifications at Warwick and also a brief summary about what each qualification involves:

What is a masters?

A masters is a first level postgraduate qualification that can be achieved by students in one of two ways - either through a teaching course plus a piece of student research or dissertation; or be research-based with some teaching modules.

Masters courses generally involve one year’s full-time study, but can be longer if they are part-time or research-based courses.

Depending on the subject area, a Masters degree will be awarded as a Master of Arts (MA); Master of Science (MSc), Master of Research (MRes) or Master of Philosophy (MPhil).

What is a PhD?

A Doctoral qualification, or PhD, is achieved after three to four years of full-time academic research (or longer if part-time) into a particular subject area and is the highest level of degree that a student can achieve.

A student achieving a doctoral qualification is awarded a PhD, which stands for ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, sometimes referred to as a ‘doctorate’.

Other postgraduate qualifications

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a masters degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA degree can be studied in a variety of ways, including full-time, part-time and distance learning, and is organised by Warwick Business School.

Our postgraduate certificate in education (PGCE) is a one year, full-time, higher education postgraduate programme which focuses on developing a student’s teaching skills.