Why Do You Need a Postgraduate Degree?
Typically, a postgraduate degree is the step-up in your education and includes Postgraduate Diplomas level up to a PhD. Most of the students embark on postgraduate study for a number of different reasons, such as obtaining more in-depth specialisation in a specific career path, changing their career path entirely or to moving into an academic and research field.
A masters degree is available in a number of different forms, all of them having one thing in common: that the student must have obtained an undergraduate degree as an entry pass. The majority of Master’s courses require a dissertation or thesis to graduate in addition to any coursework. In the UK postgraduate courses are available with 1-year duration, except for some of the professional courses such as Masters of Architecture (March) as it usually takes two to three years to complete.
Master’s degrees are obtained through a research degree or taught course. Mostly, the students pursuing their master are allowed to perform the independent research project, which is not the case at an undergraduate degree. In taught masters courses students are awarded as a Master of Science Msc, Masters of Arts MA or a Master of Philosophy MPhil.
Some of the Master’s courses, such as MArch or Masters of Engineering (MEng) are taken after completing the equivalent undergraduate course with a long-term view to qualify as an Architect or Engineer. These master programs are an important part of the qualification for those who wish to pursue their career in a related field.
Let’s explore more about the different types of master courses.
Taught courses:
There are two main types of taught courses: Master’s degree and Postgraduate certificates (or diplomas). A taught Master’s course takes around a year or two to complete and involves the completion of a thesis or research project.
The regular degree under the taught course includes the Masters of the Arts (MA), Masters of Science (MSc), Masters of Business Administration (MBA) or Master of Engineering (MEng) degree. While pursuing any Master’s degree, you must be aware that not all the Master’s degrees are taught courses in their entirety.
For instance, Master’s of a Research degree focuses on independent research, which constitutes of 60% of the total study.
These postgraduate diplomas are the academic or vocational qualifications. Usually, a postgraduate certificate takes around four months, whereas a diploma usually takes about nine months.
Research degrees:
Most of the postgraduate diploma revolves around independent research. Mostly, these research degrees are often referred to as doctorates. The main types of doctorates are PhD’s, DPhils, Integrated PhDs and professional doctorates.
Doctorates can be obtained after completion of a Master’s degree, or in some instances, after a Bachelor’s degree, in which case, the Master’s needs to be pursued along the way to the Bachelor’s degree. The course duration of a doctorate is around two to four year.
The main part of a PhD is a doctoral thesis. This is a research project on a particular topic and can be between 40,000 and 120,000 words; it’s worth of publication. After completing a doctorate you can add a prestigious ‘Dr’ in front of your name, which is another reason to continue your education up to this level.
Among the Master’s degrees, MPhil is considered to be similar to that of a doctorate, but still, it is lower in the academic pecking order. In this doctorate course, instead of completing the mammoth of 1,20,000 words research project, you can conduct an individual research project of around 30,000 to 35,000 words. Well, this will be still respected, but you will not get eligible to call yourself a ‘Dr’. A professional doctorate combines professional skills with academic knowledge in a PhD.
Conversion courses:
Postgraduate conversion courses give you a vital lifeline if you have not studied at an equivalent undergraduate course to pursue a professional career. These conversion courses give you the option to transfer to a different subject area.
Conversion courses are taught courses with a duration of one year and are often heavily vocational. There are different levels of conversion courses: certificate, diploma and masters.
A law conversion course is often referred to as a graduate diploma in Law (GDL). This course is for those students who have not studied law at their undergraduate level. Equally, you can enrol for a conversion course in other subjects, such as psychology, social work, business and IT.
One of the most popular conversion courses is PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education). This is a course for those who want to pursue a teaching career.
Professional qualifications:
When it comes to education, there are a number of professional qualifications that are essential entry qualifications for the various career. These qualifications are meant to offer practical training that allow you to develop your career further once you have already made it halfway up the ladder.
Postgraduate Degree at Mont Rose College
Mont Rose College, situated in Ilford, East London, is one of the recommended institutions to apply for a Master degree course in the UK.
Mont Rose College is well structured, offering a unique style of teaching, where student are being well prepared to face all the challenges in the fast-pacing business world. Nowadays, among all the postgraduate courses most of the students prefer MBA to obtain a career as an entrepreneur. Thus, this Master’s degree program is designed for those who are ambitious, talented and have entrepreneurial skills.
During the MBA course, you will be able to combine your mandatory units with optional units, will enhance your insight into the area such as entrepreneurship, private equity, creativity and settlement. Mont Rose College provides its students with conventional and promising business theory and the concepts to real-life scenarios.
Here the full-time dedicated master course will allow the student to develop the strong knowledge. It also provides the practical skills to become a leader in the desired field. All the courses are designed by academics together with successful business professionals, which combines the teaching with real-world, hands-on application to present you an exceptional competitive edge. Mont Rose College ensures that on the successful completion of the course, the student should have a strong portfolio of skills and knowledge that can be implemented across different sectors.
Hope, this article would have given some idea about the need for a postgraduate degree to have a better career.
