About this Course

The last 20 years has witnessed a major economic transformation that has challenged established thinking about skills, employment and performance. Globalisation has not only doubled the size of the world’s workforce but resulted in greater competition for high skilled work, offering new possibilities and challenges to both emerging and developed economies. The Western debt crisis also raises pressing concerns around future sources of economic growth, new employment, and a shared prosperity.

For many of us involved in developing our workforce, whether within organisations and corporations, across industry sectors and occupational groups, or at national levels, our work of skills and workforce development is becoming increasingly complex. Designed by one of the UK's leading universities, Cardiff University, the Master of Science in Skills and Workforce Development (MSc SWD) equips learners with the latest ideas and analysis in the field of skills and employment in the global economy, providing you with the skills, knowledge and analytical tools to tackle the major workforce challenges faced in the current and future landscapes, and thus driving workforce development for better economic and social outcomes.

The MSc SWD by Cardiff University is a two year part time Masters programme designed for policy makers, professionals and consultants working in the field of skills and workforce development.

The programme focuses on employment and skills through a number of key conceptual lenses: sustainable economic development and the global economy; employability and the changing labour market; national skill formation and the future of work; and inequality and social inclusion. The programme offers an integrative framework that draws together different disciplines and comparative policy debates. Students will have the opportunity to examine leading edge theories, research evidence, and apply them to different national, sectoral and workplace settings.

PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES

• To enable students to draw upon different disciplines and comparative policy debates to critically examine leading edge theories and research evidence and apply them to different national, sectoral and workplace settings.
  
• To equip students with the latest ideas and analysis in the field of skills and employment in the global economy, providing them with the skills and knowledge to tackle the major workforce challenges faced in the current and future landscapes.
  
• To provide students with the analytical tools to develop and assess alternative policy interventions; identify and seek solutions to challenges in workforce development, and undertake effective research in the field.
  

Who will Benefits from This Program:

Targeted at professionals working as policy advisors, managers, researchers and practitioners in the field of skills formation, workforce planning, enterprise development and labour market analysis in Singapore and the East Asian region. A key aim is to contribute to individual career advancement and build the next generation of senior policy makers, divisional directors, researchers and other professionals. 

Participants are typically employed in areas that include:

• Government departments
  
• Sectorial skill bodies
  
• Employers’ associations
  
• Regional economic development agencies
  
• Trade unions
  
• Corporate human resources departments
  

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Critically evaluate existing knowledge, scholarship and research, and appraise competing claims and theoretical perspectives;
  
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the factors that shape skill formation and use in the workplace;
  
• Apply their knowledge and skills to assess and explain the policy process and the impact of policies on performance and distributional outcomes;
  
• Locate and analyse national skills policy trajectories within wider international models;
  
• Evaluate, critique and interpret methodologies and available data.
  
• Design and implement a project involving the collection, critical evaluation and interpretation of data.
  
• Demonstrate high level academic and personal skills applicable to their own research or scholarship, such as writing, oral presentations, problem solving and group work, and the use and application of information technologies.
  
• Apply their knowledge and skills and show originality in their thinking by tackling both familiar and unfamiliar complex problems.
  

MODULES

The Master of Science in Skills and Workforce Development (MSc SWD) comprises four core modules, an induction programme and dissertation. All modules and workshops are delivered in Singapore by full-time faculty from Cardiff University. The four modules will be conducted through lectures, seminars and workshops at IAL, combined with innovative online and remote interactive learning. The IAL will host the delivery of the MSc SWD programme and provide participants with student support and liaison services.

+  MODULE 1: Skills and Performance in the Workplace

+  MODULE 2: Workforce Development Policy and Competitiveness

+  MODULE 3: Globalisation and the Future of Work

+  MODULE 4: Research Methods and Techniques in Context

+  INDUCTION PROGRAMME

+  DISSERTATION

DURATION

• Conducted part-time in a modular format over 24 months.
  
• Four (4) months for each module and eight (8) months for the dissertation 
  

MODE OF ASSSESSMENT

• The MSc comprises four 30 credit modules and a 60 credit dissertation.
  
• For a 30 credit module, there are normally two summative assessments.
  
• Modules are assessed by a combination of essays, reports and reviews. There are no examinations.
  
• The pass mark for each module and for the dissertation is 50%. Marks are awarded according to the criteria based marking scheme, and across the programme categorical marking is employed.
  
• You have to pass and gain credits for assessments in each module in order to continue with the programme and to achieve an award
  
• Masters with merit are awarded to students achieving a high standard on the programme and Masters with distinction are awarded for outstanding performance.
  

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

To qualify, you should have a good first degree (at least an Upper Second Honours degree or equivalent) with two or more years of work experience engaged in skills or employment-related issues. Applicants will also have to show evidence of English language proficiency.

RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

• Applications are welcomed from those offering alternative qualifications, and those with combinations of qualifications and other relevant life/work experience.
  
• Recognition of prior learning and credit exemptions will be considered by the Chair of the Master’s Exam Board on an individual basis and in line with Cardiff University’s Regulations.

Rate this course:

Log in to submit

Comments