the University of Salford

Master skills that matter with

Industry-driven master’s degrees in Manchester

Master skills that matter with

the University of Salford

When you earn a master’s degree at the University of Salford, your career development sits at the heart of your experience. Courses are designed with industry partners to ensure you graduate with the skills that employers genuinely want and need. Whether you seek to follow your passion, advance your career, or enter the world of academia, you’ll work with specialists through live projects and placements, while also engaging with professional guest speakers.

But there’s a lot more to your time at Salford than just learning how to stand out to employers. With its “Innovating to enrich lives” approach, the university encourages every student to make a difference in their communities and beyond. You’ll see that in the kind of work Salford itself is involved in, which includes driving sustainable building design and tackling fuel poverty through Energy House Labs, supporting businesses to adopt ethical and responsible approaches to AI, and using precision health to improve people’s lives. 

You will join a welcoming, diverse community at Salford where different cultures and ideas are celebrated. With its main campus on the doorstep of Manchester City Centre and another at MediaCity, one of the UK’s leading digital and media hubs, you’ll be perfectly placed to make the most of the opportunities ahead.

Interested in learning how businesses operate across multiple countries? With Salford's MSc International Business, you’ll explore the opportunities and issues managers today face, develop the cultural intelligence to work across cultures, and boost your digital awareness. The course looks at responsible leadership as well, and to bring everything together, you’ll complete either an international consultancy project, a work-based internship, or a placement project.

What graduates do next

Graduates take their careers in many different directions. They move into the private sector, working as a Marketing Director at Molson Coors or a Business Development Manager at Shell. Others have pursued public sector careers, including roles such as Trade Policy Officer at the British Embassy and Civil Servant at the Mongolian Ministry of Mining & Heavy Industry. Meanwhile, some have remained in higher education, conducting research and teaching at universities in the UK, China, Vietnam, and more.

The MSc in Project Management is a great start if you want to level up your project management skills and move into leadership. You’ll look into modern project management approaches, including how new technologies like AI and automation are changing the way teams collaborate and complete projects remotely.

What graduates do next

Project management is a skill that’s useful in almost every industry. Graduates are starting their own consultancies or working at companies such as British Aerospace, Tata Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Airbus, Brother International, and Manchester Airport.

This MSc Data Science, accredited by the Chartered Institute for IT (BCS), is one of the UK's first data science postgraduate conversion courses. Ideal for graduates and professionals with little previous experience who want to develop the expertise for data-driven careers, it covers key topics like big data analytics, advanced databases, and applied statistics, and combines them with practical projects and real-world case studies.

What graduates do next

As a data science graduate, you’ll gain the technical knowledge and skills needed to build a career in the growing data science and big data industry and Salford graduates go to companies like Barclays, British Airways and Visa. Postgraduate research opportunities are available too, with the Salford Innovation and Research Centre (SIRC).

This MA Creative Video Production and Marketing mixes the theory behind digital marketing, analytics and e-commerce with hands-on filmmaking and influencer marketing. Industry involvement is a big part of the course. Guest speakers from leading organisations across Manchester, such as LADbible, MoneySuperMarket, Auto Trader, AO.com, Missguided and Manchester United FC, regularly share their experience and insights into social video.

What graduates do next

Students are introduced to a fast-growing industry from the start. Manchester is one of the UK’s key e-commerce hubs, with hundreds of digital and e-commerce content roles already available.

There’s major growth happening across the region too. Channel 4 is building its Digital Production Unit in Leeds, while The Hut Group is setting up an e-commerce content production centre in Manchester. MediaCity, one of the country's key digital and creative hubs, is also home to BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer.

PR is more digital than ever. The MA Public Relations and Digital Communications helps you keep up by combining traditional PR skills with the digital communication techniques that employers value.

In your first trimester, you’ll explore the history of PR, its relationship with journalism, and how PR professionals use tools like video and social media to communicate. The second trimester includes an industry placement where you’ll research and analyse PR campaigns as well as develop and pitch a PR proposal to an external client.

What graduates do next

With research, analysis, content writing, and digital creation skills, graduates are qualified for roles in public relations and digital marketing. Salford graduates go on to work at companies like Manchester United FC, Weber Shandwick, the Daily Mail, Lad Bible, and more.

An enriching experience awaits at the University of Salford