The Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management is particularly designed to focus on the development of knowledge, skills and understanding in the key aspects of business and management. It is offered with the main objective to provide the students the higher-level perspective on issues of business and management. It covers skills development through practical applications and a much deeper analysis and evaluation of the theoretical foundations of business management.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management prepares learners to be immediate contributors in a business environment. Learners who have successfully completed the course will be able to process and understand the various concerns of business management such as human resource management, organisational behaviour, strategic marketing, quantitative methods, economics, law, accounting and project management.

The overall outcomes of Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management are as follows:

• To provide students with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to progress to other business management related studies;
• To provide students with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge of business at the management level;
• To lay the foundation for future professional development.

Duration of Study and Contact Hours:

- 15 months (9 months institutional studies + 6 months Industrial Attachment) (Full-time)
- 3 hours per day, 5 days a week
Total Hours: 540 hours + 6 months industrial attachment

Modules:
Ten (10) Modules
- Managerial Accounting
- Corporate Strategy and Planning
- Strategic Marketing Management
- Human Resource Management
- Organisational Behaviour
- Quantitative Methods for Business Management
- Economics for Business
- Principles of Business Law
- Project Management
- Industrial Attachment

 Mode of Teaching:
Face-to-Face Delivery via
- Lecture Sessions
- Tutorial Sessions
- Class Discussion
- Group Work & Pair Work
- Practical Sessions
and Industrial Attachment

Teacher to Student Ratio:
- 1:80

Medium of Instruction:
- English

Format:

- Full-time

The Industrial Attachment provides students the opportunity to undergo 6 months internship in a business environment. Typical establishments range from business management companies, sales and marketing companies, hospitality and tourism enterprises as well as other related organisations. Students will be able to apply their academic learning via hands-on learning in real life scenarios.

The Industrial Attachment forms a critical part of the overall assessment. Students are expected to complete their work-based assessment in the form of the Industrial Attachment Logbook during the 6-month period.

A training work permit is required to undertake the Industrial Attachment. The application for training work permit is subject to approval by the Ministry of Manpower. Students who are unable to secure the training work pass will have to successfully complete and submit an assignment for the module under Industrial Attachment.

1) Managerial Accounting
This module covers costs and managerial accounting concepts that could help learners to better understand management accounting topics, research and issues from the perspective of a business manager – using extensive classroom discussions, case analysis and relevant mathematical calculations. This module is for learners who use or will use managerial and cost management accounting tools in decision making. It aims to develop the learner’s ability to understand managerial accounting problems in the real world.

2) Corporate Strategy and Planning
The competitiveness of the marketplace requires no less than a broad perspective of the internal and external surroundings in order to determine and design the appropriate unique differentiation of a company as it takes part in the challenging and aggressive business world. This module provides the students with the methods and techniques to scan the business environment, design a strategy to remain competitive, formulate the proper plan, execute and evaluate such plan to achieve success. In this module, students will learn various types of strategies to achieve and sustain growth, overcome the risky stage of saturation and avoid the possibility of business decline.

3) Strategic Marketing Management
This module introduces concepts of the marketing process from the perspective of the marketing manager and provides a framework for the analysis of marketing management problems. A key focus is to develop the planning and analytical skills necessary to manage marketing plans and strategy. Specific topics include analysis of the marketing environment, product management and development, marketing planning, marketing implementation and control, branding and brand management, pricing policies, the promotional mix, and auditing the marketing mix.

4) Human Resource Management
This module provides students with a broad understanding of the scope, key areas of focus and the evolving nature of human resource management in a rapidly evolving global business environment. Beyond the traditional functions of selection, recruitment and compensation and benefits, the module will also touch on emerging issues that will have a significant impact on human resource practice, such as corporate social responsibility, the impact of workforce diversity and globalisation as well as workplace safety and health. This module will impart knowledge and skills in managing people, handling employee relations and tackling practical issues in the workplace.

5) Organisational Behavior
This module focuses on how to manage people in the workplace. Learners develop theories for understanding people and organisations, as well as practical tools for accomplishing personal and organizational goals. Learners will learn through case studies, self-assessments, experiential exercises, readings, discussions, papers and group activities. Topics include communication patterns in the organisational setting, common barriers to management, how to equip the personnel with people skills, roles of emotional intelligence, office team dynamics and cross-cultural communications.

6) Quantitative Methods for Business Management
This module is intended to provide students with an understanding of the role that quantitative methods play in the decision-making process. It aims to let the learners appreciate and apply fundamentals of statistics and mathematics as used in business enterprises. The process of learning here involves the development of skills to gather and interpret data, analyze them and evaluate for decision-making in the various aspects of business operations and functions.

7) Economics for Business
This module introduces the learners to microeconomics and macroeconomics theories and concepts. Major topics covered include the fundamentals of economics and the economy; the tools use to analyze and understanding the situation in the basic model; demand and supply and the market structure; role of government. Under microeconomics, topics include price and income elasticity; demand quantities, consumer’s choice; form of business structure; various market competition; factors of production. Under macroeconomics, the topics include macroeconomics and national income accounting; aggregate issues on demand and supply; money and banking; role of central bank and the monetary systems’ fiscal and monetary policies; unemployment and inflation; economic growth; and general issues on business cycle.

8) Principles of Business Law
This module provides a fundamental understanding of legal concepts and principles as they apply in organizations and business and emphasises coverage of online law and e-commerce as key parts of the legal environment. In addition, it covers social, ethical, and international issues that are important to the study, observance, and practice of business law.

9) Project Management
This module provides the students with the fundamental principles, theories and model applications of how to plan and manage projects to achieve organizational goals and objectives regardless of business or industry. It studies the underpinning knowledge of project management as well as an understanding of tools, techniques and methods to effectively initiate, plan, execute, monitor, control and close projects. It covers what it takes to be a high-performance project management team to be able to effectively communicate with and to achieve the expectations of stakeholders.

10) Industrial Attachment
Through a 6-month industrial attachment, this module aims to introduce learners to the various functional management areas in a business environment, which includes increasing the productivity and business efficiency of students in their areas of responsibilities.

Students will be awarded the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management if they achieve at least a Pass grade in all 10 modules of the course and has a minimum of 90% of attendance rate for the whole duration of the course.

Students who successfully completed the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management can progress onto the relevant qualification at master level.

Age Requirement:
Minimum 21 years of age

Language Requirements:
Minimum C6 in English Language for GCE ‘O’ Level or regional equivalent

Academic Requirements:
Minimum Bachelor Degree or regional equivalent (in any discipline)

Mature Candidates:
- Are 30 years and above at the time of registration; and
- Have at least 8 years of verifiable working experience; and
- Provide a detailed resume with contact details of past and present employers

All applicants are subjected to the School’s assessment of eligibility for entry into the programme.

- Application Form
- Passport Photocopy of Applicant
- Certified Copy of Highest Qualification Certificates and Transcripts
- Passport Size Photograph
- CV (For Mature Candidates)

Modes for Assessment:

The students will be assessed through three (3) components:

• Written Examination
• Assignment
• Industrial Attachment Logbook / Assignment

Note:
Actual dates of the assessments may vary to better fit students’ learning progress. Students will be informed by the class lecturer if there are changes.