Executive MBA

The Aston Executive part-time MBA is the next chapter in your career. Whether your ambition is to lead in international organisations or start something closer to home, the course will hone your strategic thinking, leadership capabilities and entrepreneurial perspective.

How will my skills develop?

The best leaders have mastered the art of decision making and action based on critical thinking. The Aston Executive MBA will encourage you to think like a business leader from the start, teach you how to reflect on your career, perceive emerging opportunities, and develop a growth mindset. You will become enterprising in everything you do.

Discover cutting-edge leadership concepts and frameworks and put them into practice with applied exercises and real-life business projects. You’ll develop your ability to inspire and lead enterprises and be a force for positive change within organisations.

How will this help my career?

We’ll help you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and master the art of critical analysis and strategic thinking. This will allow you to perceive opportunities and overcome complex commercial challenges in your career.

What makes the Aston MBA experience so unique?

The Aston MBA has been designed and will be delivered based on the following principles: 

• Participant development: We will develop ambitious, entrepreneurial, confident and responsible leaders of the future.
• The learning experience: This will be built on a foundation of innovative, applied, integrative and authentic teaching practices.
• The curriculum: This will be strategically focused, flexible and reflective of the challenges and opportunities of global enterprise.
• The learning environment: We will build an environment where inclusion, difference and collaboration are both understood and valued.
• Thought leadership: We will strive to recognise and address the trends and issues that will have real impact on global enterprise and leadership in the future.

Modules

The Aston Executive MBA is made up of core modules, an optional module, and a business project taught over a 24-month period. Core modules will equip you with a thorough knowledge of key business and management issues needed for modern day business.
 

Core modules

Crafting Organisational Strategy
You will learn to link strategy theory and practice to develop your skills as a strategic, innovative and entrepreneurial thinker and doer. You’ll also develop your understanding of how to use financial analysis for strategic decision-making.

Creating and Delivering Customer Value
You’ll learn and put into practice the key concepts and theories in marketing strategy and management, including how to research and understand customer behaviour, innovate for global markets and interpret data to develop marketing strategies.

Measuring and Enhancing Financial Performance
This module will improve your understanding of assessing the financial health of a business. Through a state of the art business simulation, you’ll work in teams making financial decisions for your shared business while competing against your peers. This simulation is an engaging way to put theory into practice.

Designing and Managing Operations, Systems and Processes
This module aims to provide an understanding of the role of operations management and how it contributes to the development and implementation of business competitiveness and efficiency.

The Aston Edge
The Aston Edge programme is delivered alongside the core curriculum and is our way of providing you with professional self-development skills to equip you with the skills and experience needed to succeed in today's global business environment.  You'll learn leadership, team working, confidence, presentation skills, and much more through a programme of workshops and business simulations.  Find out more

Business Project*
The course concludes with a major business project that gives you the opportunity to design your own learning experience to fit your own area of interest. This project acts as a springboard for your future career and as such, you can complete it in a number of ways.

*Business project can be a consultancy project on behalf of a client or your organisation, business plan for your own business, or industry/themed research project. Project type is subject to availability.

Optional modules

Select one optional module:

• International Business
   
• Business Finance
   
• Global Business Ethics
   
• Entrepreneurial Strategies
   
• Advanced Strategy
   
• Work and Organisational Psychology
   
• International Operations
   
• International Marketing Management
   
• Learning and Talent Development

Accreditation is a stamp of quality and prestige for a business school and its programmes. Aston is proud to be among 1% of business schools worldwide with triple accreditation. 

For direct enrolment onto the Aston MBA programme, you will need English and Mathematics GCSE Level 2 or equivalent, plus one* of the following:

• A good UK honours degree, minimum Lower Second Class (2:2) or
• An equivalent overseas degree recognised by Aston University, or
• A degree-level professional qualification.

As well as:

• At least five years’ relevant post-graduation work experience by the time you start your programme
• An official academic transcript of your grades (in English) 
• Two references – preferably one from an academic referee, the other from your current or previous employer (Two professional references may be accepted from applicants with substantial work experience).

English Language Requirements can be found here.

*Applicants with extensive work experience

We consider applications from candidates with extensive work experience who have not completed a graduate qualification.

We take a holistic approach in evaluating applications. If you would like to get a better idea before applying, you are welcome to contact one of our MBA advisers for an informal discussion. 

The information contained on this website details the typical entry requirements for this course for the most commonly offered qualifications. Applicants with alternative qualifications may wish to enquire with the relevant admissions teams prior to application whether or not their qualifications are deemed acceptable. For less commonly encountered qualifications this will be judged on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the academic admissions tutor.

Interviews: Successful applicants will be required to attend an online interview as part of the application process.

If you have any questions about the application process please get in touch with our postgraduate admissions team:

Email: pgadmissions@aston.ac.uk

Call: 0121 204 3200 (Please note this line is open Monday-Friday between 10am-4pm)

Please click here for guidance on completing the postgraduate application. 
 

Our programme directors are our experts

A personal leadership development programme which runs throughout the MBA course, The Aston Edge is designed to develop leadership capabilities as well as key soft skills that are highly sought-after by employers.

Delivered through a series of dynamic, engaging leadership workshops and seminars with high profile guest speakers, this module will help you approach and overcome real-world business challenges. You will also gain exposure to ground-breaking faculty work in the areas of leadership, ethics, enterprise and innovation.
The workshops will be held on a variety of thought-provoking topics, such as:

• Becoming an architect of leading strategic change
• Emotional intelligence and intercultural awareness
• Managing conflict
• Leading in volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity
• Managing innovation and entrepreneurship.
   

The Aston Edge also helps you to achieve your career aspirations. Our MBA careers consultant will support you in creating a personal and career development plan. This will be used to identify a series of development activities for you to undertake, allowing you to take control and enhance your career prospects.
 

Learn more 

The Aston Executive part-time MBA offers you the flexibility to learn over a longer period of time than our full-time programme, and is specifically designed for people who want to combine a full-time career with study. This gives you the opportunity to enrich your learning through discussion of current business issues and apply your new skills and knowledge straight away in your professional practice.

Your teaching will be delivered by a highly-regarded teaching faculty, which is made up of leading academics and experienced professionals. Our teaching philosophy is based on putting business principles into practice, meaning you’ll learn through a series of applied, task-based activities.

You’ll also build your MBA around your own aspirations. This means you’ll get to choose the modules that best suit your interests and career goals and you’ll even shape your Final Project to suit you. This could be a consulting project tackling a real business issue, a dissertation or setting up a new business, researching a market, developing a strategic plan and launch. All of this creates a rewarding learning experience that will transform you and your career.

International students

Aston University is a diverse, close community and welcomes international students on many of our postgraduate programmes. Students from over 120 different countries chose to study with us every year and Aston is not only a great place to study, based in the centre of Birmingham it’s also a great place to live.

Post-study work visa

Aston University welcomed the creation of a new immigration route which will enable international students to remain in the UK for two years after they have completed their studies, in order to find work. The new post-study work visa will apply to international students starting undergraduate and postgraduate courses from 2020 at universities with a track record of compliance with immigration policy.

Find out more about the post-study work visa.

Aston Executive Part-Time MBA fees – April 2024

Payment of tuition fees

You can pay your fees in full at the beginning of the programme, or choose to pay in three termly instalments of 50% (term 1), 25% (term 2), and 25% (term 3). Please note your fees will vary depending on which scholarships you have been awarded.

Find out what’s included in your fees:

MBA deposit payment

When you accept your place onto the Aston MBA you will be required to pay a £3,000 deposit. This sum will be deducted from your total tuition fee amount upon enrolment.

UK postgraduate loans

If you're thinking about studying a postgraduate course with us, you may be eligible for a postgraduate loan to help with course fees and living costs. Find out more here.

Further information

Tuition fees for students are reviewed annually and may increase in subsequent years in line with inflation linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI) to take account of the University’s increased costs of delivering the programme.  Any such increase shall always be in accordance with the law. When undertaking a placement year a placement year fee applies.

More information on fees and funding

Scholarships

At Aston University we are committed to supporting the most talented and hardworking students to achieve their potential by providing a range of scholarships to help lower tuition and living costs. Find out more about our MBA scholarships here.

We’ll teach you the ropes so you can make it to the top. Our comprehensive career management programme is designed to boost your employability and help you take the next step, whether that’s in a new role, a change of career or launching a start-up. 

Find out more about careers support

Aston MBA Alumni

Whilst investment banking and management consultancy have long been regarded as typical MBA careers, the list of companies who now hire MBA graduates is extensive. Roles that our recent MBA Graduates have gone into include:

• International Marketing Manager with a manufacturing company
• Product manager with a healthcare manufacturer
• Senior Consultant in strategic finance with a consultancy
• Financial Accountant with a bank
• Head of Strategy and Planning with an electronics manufacturer
• Business Process Consultant with an IT company
• Chief Financial Officer with a steel manufacturer

"Caviar & Chips: Using my Executive MBA to Launch My Own Catering Business"

Jonathan Carter Morris, Co-founder, Caviar & Chips

Read more

Why study an Executive MBA at Aston Business School?

The Aston Executive MBA has been designed for those wanting to combine full-time work with an MBA, whilst honing their leadership skills and entrepreneurial outlook.

Not only do we have a world leading business school and highly rated research output, but our industry links have shaped our MBA programme and help to shape the challenges, case studies and insights you’ll gain throughout the course.

The Aston MBA is unique because you’ll be taught through innovative and practical ways that will really develop your entrepreneurial mindset, leadership qualities and skills at working as part of, and leading, a team.

What kind of career will I develop with an Executive MBA?

Whether you want to lead your own start-up, excel in your current organisation, or propel your career in a new direction, the Aston Executive MBA will equip you with the personal and professional skills, knowledge and confidence to establish a rewarding and successful career path.

The course is tailored to what you need, both personally and professionally. As well as elective modules to choose from, you can also tailor your Final Project to best suit your goals. We also work with you to develop your own personal development and career plan and you’ll gain a breadth of experiences including team coaching principles that will really help you to progress over the duration of the Executive MBA.

Why choose to study with Aston Business School?

Aston Business School are part of an elite group of business schools thanks to our triple accreditation from AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. We can help to enhance your career prospects, boost your earning potential and set you on the pathway for a successful, rewarding career. 

Aston University is renowned for its excellence in teaching and research and the employability of our graduates. At Aston Business School we are committed to innovative approaches to teaching and education. We are dedicated to providing the students with a competitive advantage in the jobs market by delivering the knowledge students need to pursue the many career tracks available to them with a background in international business. Teaching on the course is informed by our world-class scholars and provides you with a deep understanding and skills for conducting business in a global scale. At Aston University, we aim to prepare the students for the real world challenges. There are plenty of opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience and apply their knowledge in real-life situations by engaging in live projects and internships.