MA Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education (Advanced Standing)
Course Overview
If you’ve already successfully completed the University of Bolton’s Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education (or an equivalent 60 credit programme), and are currently employed in one or both of these fields, then this master’s course is ideal. With modules specifically designed for ambitious educationalists, you can access the knowledge required to achieve higher levels of responsibility and greater satisfaction in your work.We aim to help you develop an enhanced and critical awareness of current key issues in the higher and professional education sector, as well as your knowledge and understanding of the principles and theories that underpin best practice in education. As well as reflecting on your own professional practice, we’ll encourage and guide you in formulating creative solutions to complex educational problems.
Our highly experienced and research active team will support you as you develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your independent master’s-level project. You’ll also have the chance to develop enhanced key skills in line with your personal and professional development needs; for instance, team working and leadership, problem solving, autonomy and professional accountability.
Highlights
- The course is designed to help you develop an enhanced and critical understanding of the local and national context and trends across the UK higher education and professional education sector.
- By committing to ongoing critical reflection, evaluation and action, you could develop master’s-level scholarship and research-informed practice.
- Intensive use of learning technologies and multimedia resources, such as virtual learning environments and eLearning tools, enhance your ICT skills and raise your awareness of resources from across the educational spectrum.
- We promote research and critical enquiry helping you learn to make sound, evidence-based independent judgements.
- We’ll support you as you learn to critically reflect on and evaluate your own teaching, mentoring and supervision skills, and develop innovative solutions for improvement considering national and local contextual influences.
Key Features
- You’ll have the chance to evaluate current developments and up-to-date research in teaching and learning in higher education and the health sector, as well as your own professional practice.
- Our team of highly experienced, enthusiastic and dedicated experts offer face-to-face and blended sessions as well as one-to-one support.
- Our academic team is actively involved in educational research, helping you to explore issues from a robust research-informed knowledge base.
- We’ll support you to develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your independent master’s-level project.
- Our well-stocked library offers a comprehensive selection of relevant texts and access to an extensive online database of multimedia sources including eJournals, podcasts, vodcasts and eBooks.
Entry Requirements
- You must have successfully completed the University of Bolton’s Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education or an equivalent programme at master’s level.
- You must be currently teaching in the context of the UK higher education sector and/or professional practice as you’ll be required to critically reflect on your experience of teaching and supporting learning at a higher education level and relate theory to practice within the context of the UK.
- Normally, you’ll also have at least an Upper Second Class (2.1) Honours degree (or equivalent) in a relevant subject, and appropriate work experience.
- Your application form must be accompanied by a 250 word reflective statement.
- Two references highlighting your potential to produce master’s level (level 7) academic work will be required.
- We may wish to interview you as part of the application process. This may be on an open day, over the telephone or via video conferencing.
- The dissertation module, EDM7070, offers course members the opportunity to undertake an in-depth investigation of an educational topic or issue that is of particular interest and relevance to their professional work and development. It is crucial that you have access to a person, or persons, who will act as participants for the research.
- We'll consider applications where appropriate work experience can be demonstrated in lieu of, or in addition to, the published academic qualifications in line with the University’s Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) procedures.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
This master’s degree is ideal if you already possess the University of Bolton’s Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education. It aims to help you further develop your already considerable skills in teaching, professional practice, scholarship and research. Our dedicated team will guide you as you develop an enhanced critical, reflective and scholarly approach to teaching and supporting student learning.
What can I do with this qualification?
The skills and knowledge on offer would benefit anyone aiming for a career in education. Obtaining this qualification will assist entry to further study at doctorate level; for instance, when applying to the University of Bolton’s EdD Doctor of Education, EdD Doctor of Educational Leadership, or PhD by research programmes.
Alternative career options
Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping-stone to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or postgraduate study may be required. Some of these careers include:
- Higher education
- Education officer
- Mentoring
- Family liaison
- Educational psychology
- Education administration
- Student services advice
- Student liaison
- Educational writing and journalism
- Examinations
- Counselling
- Careers guidance
- Training
- Quality Standards
Fees & Funding
Please note the total course fee for a Home student starting this course in 2023/24 will be £7,920. As this is an 18-month course, the fees are £5,280 for the first year and £2,640 for the final semester.
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Click here for more information on our Master's Bursaries.
Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2025-26 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.
How to apply
Home Applicants
You may apply directly to the University using the University's online application form. Please select your chosen start date from the list below:
You should have to hand:
-
Details of the educational establishments you attended and dates
-
Your certificates for the qualifications you are using to gain entry to the course – you will need to enter the completion date and upload copies
-
Details of any employment history including name, address, dates and role
-
Personal statement – this can be either input into the relevant field or uploaded separately
-
Details including e-mail addresses of two referees, at least one of which should be someone who can provide an academic reference
Please make sure any documents you wish to upload in support of your application are in pdf or jpeg format. Personal statements may be word documents.
Please ensure your data is correct at each stage of the application before you proceed to the next page. If you use the back button at any time during the application, you should check the validity of the data you have already input.
If you experience difficulties during the application process, contact the Admissions Team on 01204 903394 or admissions-team@bolton.ac.uk
-
Apply online: University of Bolton MA Teaching and Learning in Higher and Prof Ed - 27 January 2025
-
Apply online: University of Bolton MA Teaching and Learning in Higher and Prof Ed - 22 September 2025
International Applicants
Thank you for your interest
In order to determine your suitability for this course as an international student and also to confirm you meet any initial eligibility criteria, we need you to answer a few short questions.
Teaching & Assessment
This course is designed to help you develop and build on your current knowledge and experience as an education practitioner. Experience and practice underpinned by informed research are valued and drawn upon throughout.
We’ll use a wide variety of teaching and learning strategies on this course. These may include lectures, presentations, seminars, workshops, collaborative discussion and group work, debates and tutorials. You can also expect a range of assessment methods, such as essays, reports, presentations, portfolios and course work. Your learning journey will be supported by the intensive use of technology and multimedia resources.
Personal and independent study is essential and you should expect to devote a significant amount of time to the course.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Advanced Mentoring
- Critical Enquiry and Reflection
- Dissertation
- Postgraduate Research Degree Supervision
- Advanced Coaching
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Coursework 100% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 84% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 16% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
