Program Overview

Digital Business (MSc)

Overview

The MSc Digital Business is an innovative one-year full-time programme designed to equip students from diverse academic backgrounds with advanced digital skills and leadership capabilities to excel in the digital economy. A key feature of the programme is its emphasis on practical, real-world applications and employability, offering students multiple opportunities to collaborate with industry leaders in digital business.

Course Structure

The MSc Digital Business is a one-year programme structured across 3 semesters. Students who successfully complete eight taught modules (120 CATS) and an International Business Capstone module in semester 3 are awarded an MSc in Digital Business.

Modules

• Digital Business Strategy (15 credits)
• Generative AI & Business Intelligence (15 credits)
• Marketing in the Digital Age (15 credits)
• Technology for Good (15 credits)
• Analytics with AI (15 credits)
• Cyber Security & Digital Risk Management (15 credits)
• Digital Supply Chain Management (15 credits)
• AI Entrepreneurship & Consulting (15 credits)
• Emerging Technologies for Business (15 credits)
• Digital Business Capstone (60 credits)

Semester 1 Modules

Digital Business Strategy (15 credits)

• Overview: Organisations, whether born-digital or undergoing digitalisation, are leveraging technologies to transform how they create value. Accordingly, organisations now require strategies that address the demands of being or becoming a digital business.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Evaluate diverse and multi-layered external factors from global business environments related to digital businesses.
  • Analyse the impact of various stakeholders on firm activities and interdependences within global business environments.
  • Critically apply international business theories to formulate management problems regarding contemporary issues in extensive global business environments.
  • Synthesise different knowledge and perspectives on opportunities and challenges within global business environments to create new management solutions.
  • Evaluate how global CEOs and top management teams can make sense of and navigate uncertainty and complexity.

Generative AI & Business Intelligence (15 credits)

• Overview: Integration of Generative AI (Gen AI) with Business Intelligence (BI) is transforming data-driven decision-making and strategic planning.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Evaluate Gen AI fundamentals and relevant business applications.
  • Apply data analysis and modelling techniques to derive business insights.
  • Implement prompt engineering strategies.
  • Evaluate the impact of Gen AI on BI processes.

Marketing in the Digital Age (15 credits)

• Overview: Marketing affects everyone. We are all consumers. Most businesses depend on marketing to provide an understanding of the marketplace, to identify opportunities, and to ensure that their brands, products, and services satisfy the needs of customers.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically reflect on the core principles in marketing and their practical application in local and global settings.
  • Evaluate the role and importance of marketing management and digital marketing technologies within a business.
  • Synthesise knowledge of the wider academic literature and practical business sources relevant to marketing and the impact of digital on the marketing mix.
  • Critically apply real-life examples to the discussion of marketing concepts and digital marketing activities.

Technology for Good (15 credits)

• Overview: The emergence of advanced digital technologies, including Digital Platforms, Accelerated Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, Fintech, and Virtual/Augmented Reality (VR/AR), offers unprecedented opportunities for innovation and societal progress.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically evaluate the multifaceted nature of advanced digital technologies, understanding their potential to create and sustain economic, social, and environmental value.
  • Critically examine the positive and negative consequences of deploying advanced digital technologies, considering ethical implications and sustainability concerns.
  • Synthesise insights from current practice and real-world case studies to propose innovative applications of advanced digital technologies for the greater good.

Semester 2 Modules

Analytics with AI (15 credits)

• Overview: The module begins with an introduction to the fundamentals of data and how business analytics can be used to conduct research on complex business problems.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically evaluate the role of business analytics with artificial intelligence in improving decision-making and driving innovation.
  • Critically evaluate the ethical use of data and analytics with AI in business.
  • Critically evaluate and implement key business analytics techniques such as business intelligence and predictive analytics for solving contemporary management problems at local and global contexts.

Cyber Security & Digital Risk Management (15 credits)

• Overview: This module explores the critical aspects of managing digital threats in business environments, with an emphasis on strategy, operations, and ethics.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Identify key cybersecurity risks and understand their potential impact on business performance and reputation.
  • Critically evaluate and apply frameworks for assessing, prioritising, and mitigating digital risks within a business context.
  • Develop and implement digital risk management strategies that align with business goals and regulatory requirements.
  • Critically evaluate ethical issues in cybersecurity, including data privacy and corporate social responsibility.

Digital Supply Chain Management (15 credits)

• Overview: The module focuses on introducing advanced digital technologies and their implications in operations and supply chain management.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Identify and critically evaluate a range of advanced information technologies and systems.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the adoption and applications of advanced digital technologies in operations and supply chain management.
  • Analyse the impacts, challenges and opportunities of information technologies to operations and supply chain management, to the organisation, and to wider business and societal contexts.

AI Entrepreneurship & Consulting (15 credits)

• Overview: The AI Entrepreneurship and Consulting module explores the dynamic intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and business innovation, equipping students with the expertise to tackle challenges in AI-driven entrepreneurship and consulting.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Evaluate how AI can be leveraged to develop new entrepreneurial ideas.
  • Examine the challenges involved in translating AI ideas into successful ventures.
  • Develop and apply consulting frameworks and methodologies.
  • Effectively communicate consulting findings and recommendations.

Emerging Technologies for Business (15 credits)

• Overview: The Emerging Technologies for Business module examines a range of breakthrough technologies reshaping the business landscape, including blockchain, the metaverse, and quantum computing.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically evaluate emerging technologies.
  • Apply practical skills in integrating emerging technologies.
  • Analyse global trends and regulatory frameworks.
  • Effectively communicate the business implications of emerging technologies to diverse stakeholders.

Semester 3 Modules

Digital Business Capstone (60 credits)

• Overview: As students approach the final stage of their MSc in Digital Business journey, an engaging opportunity awaits: the capstone project.
• Learning Outcomes:
  • Critically analyse the interactive factors and causal mechanisms contributing to success and failure in digital business initiatives.
  • Evaluate and apply relevant digital business theories and frameworks to real-world organisational challenges.
  • Synthesise insights from core modules to develop comprehensive digital business strategies and solutions.
  • Conduct independent research, including data collection and analysis, to support strategic decision-making in digital contexts.
  • Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex digital business strategies and solutions effectively.

Entrance Requirements

• Normally a strong 2.2 honours degree or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University in any discipline.
• We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds so may consider previous managerial work experience alongside lower academic qualifications.
• Applicants are advised to apply as early as possible and ideally no later than 15th August 2025 for courses which commence in late September.

English Language Requirements

• Evidence of an IELTS* score of 6.5, with not less than 5.5 in any component, or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the University is required.
• *Taken within the last 2 years.

Tuition Fees

• Northern Ireland (NI) | £8,800
• Republic of Ireland (ROI) | £8,800
• England, Scotland or Wales (GB) | £9,250
• EU Other | £25,800 (£6,000 discount, see T&Cs link below)
• International | £25,800 (£6,000 discount, see T&Cs link below)

Additional Course Costs

• Students have the option to undertake a consultancy project for their dissertation and are responsible for funding any travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

Career Prospects

• An MSc in Digital Business will prepare students for a wide range of career paths in areas like digital marketing, e-commerce, data analytics, FinTech, and more.