MA Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions  MA Intercultural Communication for Business and Professions Birkbeck, University of London ../webroot/files/Institutions/cover_photo/1563773744Birkbeck-University-1.jpg

This course offers you an opportunity to raise your cross-cultural awareness and enhance your intercultural communicative competence in international business settings, to reflect on your own culture and language use, and to develop the professional and business communication skills necessary to advance your career in the international business world.

It focuses on intercultural communication skills, including written, oral and interpersonal skills, and is specially designed for:

• language and communication graduates who are looking to develop a career in international organisations or the business sector
• business graduates who would like to improve their professional and business communication skills to enhance their employability
• professionals working in fields such communication, public relations, human resources, management and business consulting who want to expand their global perspective and increase effectiveness
• intercultural trainers, coaches and consultants interested in enhancing their existing knowledge and experience.

The programme benefits from a combination of knowledge-based and skills-oriented training, world-class experts in intercultural communication, Birkbeck's flexible and student-friendly support, and London's position as an international multicultural and multilingual city.

The programme is also unique in offering you a choice between two dissertation pathways: an empirical research investigation of an aspect of language teaching and learning or an independent library-based project on a relevant topic of your choice.

Our standard postgraduate entry requirement is a second-class honours degree (2:2 or above) from a UK university, or an equivalent international qualification.

We will review every postgraduate application to Birkbeck on its individual merits and your professional qualifications and/or relevant work experience will be taken into consideration positively. We actively support and encourage applications from mature learners.

On your application form, please list all your relevant qualifications and experience, including those you expect to achieve.

Apply now to secure your place and allow enough time for the application and enrolment process. You do not need to have completed your current qualification to start your application.

COURSE SPECIFIC ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

A second-class honours degree or above, or overseas equivalent, in a relevant subject. Preferred subjects include languages, linguistics, communication, TESOL, translation studies or business management, although other subjects will be considered if you have relevant professional/personal experience.

Work experience in an intercultural context is desirable, but not essential.

A short admissions task of no more than 500 words may be requested, to support your application.

You must provide two references, at least one of which should be an academic reference.

INTERNATIONAL ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Our standard postgraduate entry requirement for international students is a second-class honours degree (2:2 or above) from a UK university or an equivalent international qualification.

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests. Some courses may require higher scores, particularly in the following subject areas:

• arts management
• cultural studies
• development studies
• film and media
• geography
• history
• law
• organizational psychology
• psychology.

Please carefully check the Course-Specific Entry Requirements on your chosen programme for details of higher English language entry requirements.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement, we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

VISA REQUIREMENTS

If you are not from the European Economic Area (EEA) and/or Switzerland and you are coming to study in the UK, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration.
• Courses of less than six months' duration.
• Pre-sessional English language courses.

International students who require a Tier 4 visa should apply for our full-time courses (with the exception of modular enrolment certificates of higher education and graduate certificates), as these qualify for Tier 4 sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Tier 4 visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

Assessment is an integral part of your university studies and usually consists of a combination of coursework and examinations, although this will vary from course to course - on some of our courses, assessment is entirely by coursework. The methods of assessment on this course are specified below under 'Methods of assessment on this course'. You will need to allow time to complete coursework and prepare for exams.

Where a course has unseen written examinations, these may be held termly, but, on the majority of our courses, exams are usually taken in the Summer term, during May to June. Exams may be held at other times of the year as well. In most cases, exams are held during the day on a weekday - if you have daytime commitments, you will need to make arrangements for daytime attendance - but some exams are held in the evening. Exam timetables are published online.