International Sports Management Heriot-Watt University

Overview

Our MSc International Sport Management has been specifically designed to provide you with the understanding and skills to pursue a career in national and international sporting organisations. You’ll gain the know-how to manage staff from a range of unique disciplines and diverse backgrounds towards attaining excellence in the management of sports activities, events, and services. You’ll also understand the wider policy, social and political context within which these organisations operate.   

During the master’s degree, you’ll develop core business knowledge and understanding with emphasis on the study of topics central to sports management in both national and international contexts and reflecting sport’s wider institutional and social nature. You’ll gain knowledge and a critical awareness of a broad spectrum of current issues and research relating to theories, concepts and principles underpinning international sport management practice. You’ll apply your knowledge to appraise current and future sporting environments to make sense of practical and policy implications. You’ll have a practical understanding of how research and scientific enquiry can be used to evaluate and respond to tactical and strategic issues of concern for the practice of sports and sports organisations. The MSc will provide you with the skills to apply your knowledge and understanding to professional practice and solve sport management problems.   

Beyond subject knowledge and skills, you’ll gain key transferrable skills which will aid you throughout your professional career. You’ll be able to effectively work independently and in a team, identify areas for continued professional development, communicate effectively by written and verbal means, apply ICT resources for maximising impact, and evaluate a wide range of graphical and numerical data. This invaluable skillset will make you highly sought after upon graduation.   

You’ll have the opportunity to specialise and choose two optional courses – from contemporary consumers, leadership, marketing, branding and communications, social media marketing, and heritage and cultural marketing – to customise your learning and develop your specific interest. Your international sport management dissertation will allow you to further build on these subject interests, by presenting you the opportunity to carry out an original research project at the forefront of knowledge. The knowledge base, subject and transferable skills you gain will prepare you for lifelong learning and personal development.   

You’ll gain a theoretical understanding and applied skill set in areas such as competitive strategy, leadership, finance, governance, and management in an international sporting context.  

Your Student Experience

Our Expertise

Your learning will be informed by the expertise of our research-active academics whose work covers the following areas:  

• Accountability and finance in sport   
• Leadership in sports settings  
• Governance in sport  
• Anti-doping policy   
• Gender and equity in sport  

Your Learning Environment

The MSc International Sport Management programme is taught through a combination of lectures and seminars, the latter allowing you to get to know and build relationships with the teaching staff, academics, and your peers. You will be assessed by coursework and your dissertation and will receive support and feedback throughout the programme.   

Outside of the classroom, you can join Heriot-Watt’s Business Society which holds regular social events and provides networking opportunities and insights into relevant career prospects.   

You’ll make use of world-class facilities at Oriam, Scotland’s Sport Performance Centre, and have access to a variety of student sports clubs through HWU Sport Union.   

Customise Your Learning

You’ll have the opportunity to focus on the areas of International Sport Management that interest you the most. You can customise your degree to match your specific interests or career pathway by selecting a specialist course.    

In semester three, you’ll ‘deep dive’ into your chosen area of International Sport Management in your dissertation. You will demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by developing new insight from the analysis of valuable primary research.  

You can choose whether to study the programme full-time or part-time. This flexibility allows you to fit your postgraduate studies around your lifestyle. If you decide to study part-time, you register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of your second year.  

You may have the opportunity to Go Global on our Inter-Campus Transfer. Opportunities for postgraduate study abroad are assessed on a case-by-case basis and if you are interested in studying at our Dubai campus or Malaysia campus for a semester or longer, you should contact the Go Global Team.   

Employability