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MSc

Strategic and Digital Marketing

Taught in Cardiff through a blended approach, this course cultivates marketing leaders who use audience insights to create innovative, sustainable multi-channel strategies.

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Key Course Details

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £10,800*

  • International students

    £16,900*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

  • Start Date

    September

  • Location

    Cardiff

  • Campus Code

    B

Fees

  • Home students

    £1,200*

  • Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits.

The MSc Strategic and Digital Marketing is triple accredited by leading marketing, digital, and PR bodies, including CIM, DMA, and PRCA. Recognized globally for its high-quality education, students gain numerous benefits, from industry certifications to networking opportunities, and potential CIM qualification exemptions.

DESIGNED FOR

Recent undergraduates, professionals with some experience, and seasoned practitioners.

Accredited by

  • CIM
  • DMA
  • PRCA

Career Paths

  • Marketing manager
  • Social media manager
  • Public relations manager
  • Digital marketing manager
  • Entrepreneur

Skills taught

  • Leadership
  • Decision making
  • Innovation
  • Research insights
  • Content management

We make a difference in practice, not just on paper. Our courses are designed by people who offer jobs - and taught by people who have real work experience.

Undergraduate marketing student Chloe Buckley student smiles widely while using their laptop and sat at a desk in the Postgraduate Centre at USW Treforest
Exterior view of the University's Cardiff Campus.
A student smiles while sat at and leaning on a desk in the Postgraduate Centre at USW Treforest

Course Highlights

Learning through application

Course content and assessment is facilitated through live client projects, where students apply their learning to real-world problems.

Customisable learning

Students can start or continue their personal and professional development through accredited partnerships, educational platform partnerships, as well as industry and practitioner networks.

Ongoing professional development

Students can develop long-term professional (and personal) relationships to support and develop your career beyond your studies at USW.

Professionally accredited

The course content, design, delivery, and assessment are recognised and accredited by the world’s leading professional bodies providing you with the confidence of the quality of your qualification.

Module Overview

The MSc Strategic Digital Marketing course is founded on developing a critical understanding of key theoretical constructs and is guided by a common vision shared by the teaching team, which is to ensure that students develop the professional capabilities needed to successfully work in the Strategic Digital Marketing sector.

Personal and Professional Skills Development  
This unique module equips students with skills valued by the strategic and digital marketing industry. The module integrates personal and professional development, connects students with relevant online resources, and encourages practical application in real-world projects. 

Strategic and Digital Marketing Research Insights
This module focuses on applied marketing and digital audience research, covering both practical and theoretical aspects. It empowers students to conduct robust academic and business research, enhancing their market sensing and learning capabilities. 

Contemporary Marketing and Digital Strategies 
This module provides students the opportunity to explore the models and frameworks of contemporary strategic and digital marketing strategy, their relationships and antecedents and their potential for contextual application. 

Integrated Marketing Communications 
This module teaches students how to design and execute an agile marketing campaign. It covers key considerations, frameworks, and steps for creating innovative campaigns that align with brand and customer needs through digital practice. 

Strategic Brand Management in the Age of Uncertainty 
This module explores how brands adapt to constant global change and examines proactive and pragmatic responses to the challenges posed by today's rapidly changing environment. 

Strategic and Digital Marketing Consultancy Project 
This module’s focus is on the understanding and application of strategic and digital marketing project management and consultancy skills. It equips students with key project management principles and fosters self-management in this context. 

Strategic and Digital Marketing Dissertation or Major Project 
Students choose either the dissertation or major project option after discussion and consultation with the course team, tailored to their specialization. These options involve independent research or a substantial project, enhancing writing skills and career development. 

Course Highlights

How you’ll learn

The course adopts a blended learning approach, combining weekly online and on-campus sessions with 10-12 contact hours per week, supplemented by 20-30 hours of individual study. Guest lectures, workshops, and employer engagement are integrated into the curriculum.

Assessment

Assessment methods include presentations, reports, essays, and group/individual project work, with a simulated emergency brand management scenario. Exams are not part of the assessment, but online assessments related to professional certificates can occur in the Personal and Professional Development module. Overall, the course emphasizes practical skills and hands-on learning through coursework and real-world scenarios rather than traditional exams.

Teaching staff

The course benefits from the expertise of renowned educators and researchers who have received international recognition and awards for their contributions to the fields of marketing, digital, and public relations. These educators bring a wealth of knowledge and practical experience to the classroom, enriching the learning experience for students.

Placements

While placements and internships are not currently integrated into the official course structure, students have the flexibility to explore these opportunities independently. Whether during the course or after completion, students can engage with the Careers Team or utilize USW Exchange to discover and pursue valuable work placements or internships.

Facilities

Studying at the Cardiff campus you can find a range of dedicated, thought-out spaces that strike the perfect balance of studying and socialising. It is also in the perfect location allowing us to collaborate with some of the best employers in South Wales. We've invested in the latest technology, software, and equipment to ensure that you are regularly using and learning in the same facilities that you would within industry and have plenty of dedicated spaces for students to collaborate on projects. 

Careers and Employability

Graduate Careers

Graduates of the course have a multitude of exciting career avenues to explore in the dynamic field of strategic and digital marketing. Overtime, they can embark on journeys as Marketing or Digital Executives, using their newfound skills to create impactful campaigns and manage digital strategies. Communications Executives will find their expertise in demand, shaping brand narratives and fostering engagement.

Possible Career Paths

The digital landscape beckons with roles like Digital Leads and Digital Content Specialists, where they craft compelling online experiences. Those inclined towards community-building can excel as Community Development Managers or Social Media Managers. The creative minds among them can thrive as Design and Marketing Executives, infusing innovation into their work. For those drawn to client relations, positions as Associates or Account Managers offer opportunities to nurture client partnerships. As businesses increasingly embrace e-commerce, roles as e-Commerce & Digital Marketing Managers allow graduates to shape online retail success.

Careers Support

The University’s Career Services offers a range of advice and guidance to students, and references to the services available to all listed at southwales.ac.uk/careers will be added to the course website by default. However, if there are other important course or subject specific initiatives run at local a level, there is an opportunity to add further details here. Whether this includes connecting with professionals, industry experts or mentors, or strategies to enhance their competitiveness and aspirations in the job market, further details will provide prospects with the confidence, encouragement, and motivation to commit to applying.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Typical qualification requirements:

A minimum UK 2:2 Honours degree or recognised international equivalent qualification. Applicants with relevant industry experience will be considered on an individual basis.

Additional requirements include:

All applicants with a suitable application will be required to undertake an interview with a member of the teaching faculty and must successfully pass this interview before they can be offered a place on the course.

International applications welcomed:

We welcome international applications with equivalent qualifications of our entry requirements. For more details related to your country of residence, please view our dedicated country pages.

English language requirements

International applicants will need to have achieved an overall of IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component/TOEFL 72 overall and a minimum of 18 in reading, 17 in listening, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing or equivalent.

Equivalents can be located on our English Language pages.

If you have previously studied through the medium of English, IELTS might not be required, please visit our country specific page for further details. If your country is not featured, please contact us.

If you do not meet the English entry criteria, please visit our Pre-Sessional course pages.

Contextual offers

We may make you a lower offer based on a range of factors, including your background (where you live and the school or college that you attended, for example), your experiences and individual circumstances (as a care leaver, for example). This is referred to as a contextual offer, and we receive data from UCAS to support us in making these decisions.

USW prides itself on its student experience and we support our students to achieve their goals and become a successful graduate. This approach helps us to support students who have the potential to succeed and who may have faced barriers that make it more difficult to access university.

 

We're here to help

Whether you a have a question about your course, fees and funding, the application process or anything else, there are plenty of ways you can get in touch, and we'd love to talk to you. You can contact our friendly admissions team by phone, email or chat to us online.

 

Fees and Funding

UK Full-time Fee

£10,800

per year*
International Full-time Fee

£16,900

per year*
UK Part-time Fee

£1,200

per 20 credits*

Further Information

Studying at university is one of the most significant investments you'll ever make. Whilst you’re studying, you’ll have two main financial obligations – tuition fees and living costs. There’s lots of financial help available from the University of South Wales and external funding sources, that may provide loans (which have to be paid back) and grants, scholarships and bursaries (that don't).

*Full-time fees are per year. Part-time fees are per 20 credits. Once enrolled, the fee is anticipated to remain at the same rate throughout the duration of your study on this course except as described below.

Please be aware that we may increase the maximum fee for home students on full-time undergraduate courses only where the Welsh Government increases the permitted level of inflation of fees. Fees for all students (including part-time, postgraduate and international students) may be amended in accordance with our applicable Fees and Debt Management Policy.  We will ensure that students are given clear, intelligible, unambiguous and timely information about our courses and costs in good time, ahead of the next academic year.

 

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Busaries Alumni Discount

Additional Costs

As a student of USW, you’ll have access to lots of free resources to support your study and learning, such as textbooks, publications, online journals, laptops, and plenty of remote-access resources. Whilst in most cases these resources are more than sufficient in supporting you with completing your course, additional costs, both obligatory and optional, may be required or requested for the likes of travel, memberships, experience days, stationery, printing, or equipment.

*Obligatory

Students will be required to contribute to the costs of field trips.

Cost: Up to £100

Cost: Up to £204

Students are encouraged to undertake a period of work placement. Students undertaking placement may incur costs associated with travel and expected workplace attire will vary according to the placement. However, they are not guaranteed and are determined by supply, timing and suitability.

Texts and online resources are available from the library, but students may wish to purchase their own copies.

Cost: £50

University Quality Assurance

At USW, we regularly review our courses in response to changing patterns of employment and skills demand to ensure we offer learning designed to reflect today’s student needs and tomorrow’s employer demands.

If during a review process course content is significantly changed, we’ll write to inform you and talk you through the changes for the coming year. But whatever the outcome, we aim to equip our students with the skillset and the mindset to succeed whatever tomorrow may bring. Your future, future-proofed.

Studying at USW

Our courses are designed with industry leaders and provide the practical skills and experiences industry demands. Our flexible courses reflect the need for life-long learning. If you value education in practice, not just in theory, then USW is for you.

Two people studying together at a table, surrounded by books and papers.
Postgraduate fees and funding
Exterior view of the University's Cardiff Campus.
Cardiff Campus
A member of staff is smiling and chatting with an open evening visitor.
Postgraduate Open Events

How to apply

There is an online application process for this course. Please choose the application form for your preferred start date and mode of study (i.e. full-time or part-time).

International admissions

Please see our international admissions advice for further information about how to apply as a prospective international student.

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Next Steps

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