Henley MA Board Practice and Directorship

The Henley MA Board Practice and Directorship (MA BPD) is a post-experience, practice-focused programme that aims to enhance your value as a board director. Focusing on governance and strategic oversight as a board-level stewardship responsibility, the programme provides you with the knowledge and skills to support effective judgements in board-level decision-making and promote longer-term resilient governance.

What you need to know

Programme Director: Dr Nadeem Khan
Subject area(s): Board Directorship
Duration: 24 months (full MA)
Attendance: Part-time
Fees: £10,000 per Stage
Suitable for: Senior leaders with directorship potential and experienced practising board members from across the private, public and third sectors.
Delivery: In-person

Overview

The programme is delivered by expert academic faculty, with insights from highly experienced board practitioners. It also draws extensively on the top-team governance research conducted at Henley Business School, which covers more than 19,000 boards across 37 countries.

Key benefits

For individuals:

Develop your skills as a director, including your technical skills, soft skills and ability to handle risk
Understand board member roles and how to add value for highly effective board contributions
Make informed decisions for long-term competitive advantage
Engage with leading academic experts and industry practitioners
Apply rigorous research and frameworks to consider your own director skills and capabilities

For businesses:

Participants learn how to enhance board effectiveness for better organisational performance and critically evaluate decision-making and judgements at board level
Engage with private, public and third-sector board members
Apply rigorous research and frameworks to address board-level governance issues

Course structure

The Henley MA BPD is a part-time programme consisting of one- or two-day workshops combined with self-study. It is expected that participants will be currently employed. It is offered in three stages:

Postgraduate Certificate (Stage 1)
Postgraduate Diploma (Stages 1 and 2)
Henley MA Board Practice and Directorship (Stages 1, 2 and 3)

Programme Content

Stage 1: Postgraduate Certificate

PGCert Module 1: Building Board and Director Effectiveness (MQM1BDE)
- Topics include:
  - Roles, responsibilities, and influence of directors and the board
  - Board dynamics, relationships, power, and strategic alignment
  - Practitioner-led perspectives on board engagement and value creation
  - Building board effectiveness and strategic contribution
  - Board leadership in change, crisis, and innovation
  - Psychometric assessment: managing complexity and judgement at the top
  - Diagnosing and addressing dysfunctional board behaviour
  - Board evaluation, renewal, and succession planning
- Workshop: 2 days
- Written assignment: 3000 words (60%)
- Case study: (40%)
- 20 credit
PGCert Module 2: Investor Relations, Governance and Innovation (MQM1IRG)
- Topics include:
  - Understanding board-level impact on processes, decisions, strategic monitoring of activities, diversity and dynamics
  - The sustainable effect of these outcomes for:
    - internal stakeholders
    - external influences
    - organisational change and innovation
  - Investor relations
  - Ownership types
  - Examining 'common good competitiveness' vs profit orientation, short-termism, or shareholder/self-interest
- Workshop: 2 days
- Written assignment: 3000 words (60%)
- Case study: (40%)
- 20 credits
PGCert Module 3: Handling Risks at Board Level (MQM1HRB)
- Topics include:
  - The relationship between risk and uncertainty in relation to:
    - behavioural economics and cognitive bias
    - accounting and finance
    - handling conflict and crises
  - How boards and board members interpret and report risk
  - Board readiness as an enabler for innovation and transformation
  - Appetite and tolerance for risk
  - The link between risk and internal/external factors
- Workshop: 2 days
- Written assignment: 3000 words (60%)
- Case study: (40%)
- 20 credits

Stage 2: Postgraduate Diploma

PGDip Module 4: Board Information and Communications (MQM2BIC)
- Topics include:
  - Handling structure, volume and quality of information for better board dialogue
  - Knowing the board and what matters to the organisation
  - Best practices, tools and techniques
  - Questioning technique; how to delve deeper and more broadly to inform decision-making
- Workshop: 2 days
- Written assignment: 3000 words (60%)
- Case study: (40%)
- 20 credits
PGDip Module 5: Board Reputation, Responsibility and Public Relations (MQM2BRR)
- Topics include:
  - Reputation and responsibility at board level
  - Governance execution and organisational sustainability
  - Public relations, engaging with the press and media
  - Managing reputational risk and crisis
  - Broader social and environmental issues, how to communicate the organisation's purpose
  - The impact and practice of lobbying and networking
- Workshop: 2 days
- Written assignment: 3000 words (60%)
- Case study: (40%)
- 20 credits
PGDip Module 7a: Mentoring and Coaching for Board Directors (MQM2MCB)
- Topics include:
  - Mentoring workshops
  - One-to-one interview session focused on your personal development
  - Reflecting on your own behaviour, strengths and weaknesses
  - Dealing with change, difficult situations, working in teams and self-awareness
- Workshop: 2 days
- Reflective diary: 3000 words (60%)
- One-to-one interview (40%)
- 20 credits

Stage 3: MA BPD

MA Module 6: Research and Analytical Skills for Boards (MQM3RAS)
- Topics include:
  - Board-level Business Challenge question
  - Qualitative and quantitative approaches to enquiry and research
  - Relevant practical and ethical research methods
  - Development of core research and analytical skills and techniques
- Workshop: 2 days
- Attendance and participation compulsory
- 0 credits
MA Module 7b: Private, Public or Third Sector Boards (MQM3PPT)
- Topics include:
  - Facilitating sector-specific insight
  - Networking with practitioner panels from within a particular sector
  - Gaining sector-specific guidance and advice to develop your Business Challenge
MA Module 8: Practice Based Business Challenge (MQM3PBC)
- Topics include:
  - Execution of a board-level governance research project addressing a previously identified problem or dilemma
  - Addressing a live, in-practice issue within an organisation
  - Applying the approaches introduced in the Research and Analytical Skills module
- 6 month research project
- Report: 12,000 words (100%)
- 40 credits
MA Module 9: Board Annual Conference (MQM3BAC)
- Topics include:
  - Disseminating key learnings from your Business Challenge a wider stakeholder audience
  - Submitting and presenting your paper to the Director's Forum Board Annual Conference
  - Develop your writing, presentation and oral communication skills
  - Evaluating your findings and research impact in relation to both theory and practice
- Conference: 1 or 2 days
- Abstract: 200 words, Paper: 3,000 (50%)
- Presentation and Q&A (50%)
- 20 credits

Qualification

The programme is offered as three Stages, each awarded with a recognised qualification upon successful completion:

Henley Postgraduate Certificate Board Practice and Directorship (Stage 1)
Henley Postgraduate Diploma Board Practice and Directorship (Stages 1 and 2)
Henley MA Board Practice and Directorship (Stages 1, 2 and 3)

Our partners

Henley has partnered with several organisations to offer the Henley MA Board Practice and Directorship in Stages.

Teaching staff

Programme Director

Dr Nadeem Khan lectures in governance, policy and leadership at Henley Business School.

Location

The programme is delivered at Henley Business School's Greenlands campus.

Entry requirements

Good first or second class undergraduate degree (or equivalent)
Organisational leadership/board experience, or at least three years' senior management experience with board-level access
Access to a live board-level governance challenge identified in your proposal
English language proficiency (IELTS 7.0, with no element below 6.0)

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you may be required to take an IELTS test and achieve an overall score of 7.0 with no less than 6.0 in each element.

Who is the programme for?

The programme is designed for experienced practising board members (chairs, chief executive officers (CEOs), senior independent directors (SIDs), chief financial officers (CFOs), non-executive directors (NEDs) and company secretaries) from across the private, public and third sectors. The programme may also suit senior managers with directorship potential, noting that at Stage 3 each participant needs access to a current real-world, board-level governance issue.

Credit for prior learning

No exemptions or credits for prior learning are available for this programme.

MA Board Practice and Directorship

Create a free account to unlock full content!

Log in to continue