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Why choose the School of Sport Science and Physical Activity
Our partnership with Luton Town Football Club offers excellent career development opportunities and work experience for students studying on sports-related courses
We’re in the top 10 for Graduate outcomes in the Guardian University Guide, 2024 because our courses get you a degree-level job
Our students say our courses, teaching and support are a winning combination, that’s why we are 38th out of 122 for Sport in the Guardian League Subject area 2024
About the course
This MBA is one of the first of its kind in the UK. It equips you with the advanced knowledge and skills of strategic leadership you need to advance your career within the rapidly growing sport and physical activity sector - currently worth in excess of $400 billion and employing over three million people.
If you are an ambitious individual aspiring to a strategic leadership position in sport and physical activity, this MBA is the course for you. Bringing together the expertise of the University of Bedfordshire’s Schools of Business and Sport Science and Physical Activity, it provides you with up-to-the-minute, industry-focused content across both fields, developing your critical understanding of the issues facing sport and physical activity in the UK and around the world. It is designed to develop your strategic thinking, and ability to apply creative and innovative approaches that encourage people to participate in sport and physical activity.
Why choose this course?
- Analyse best practice, learn the latest leadership techniques and apply your learning to work-based projects
- Benefit from our outstanding track record for supporting students into graduate-level employment, thanks to partnerships with Luton Town FC, Be Active Beds and Bedford Blues
- Situated at our friendly, collegiate Bedford campus with its excellent sport science facilities including BASES-accredited laboratories and national-standard sports arena
- Draw on the expertise of two University research institutes offering excellent research outcomes (REF, 2021): Sport and Physical Activity Research (ISPAR) and the Business and Management Research Institute (BMRI)
This course is currently only taking applications for a September 2025 start.
![Luton Town Official Education Partner](/media/jqlhewrk/uob-ltfc-partnership-logojpg.png?width=1036&height=583&format=auto&quality=65&rnd=133422035714770000)
Course Leader - Stuart Wilson
I have been employed in the sport and physical activity industry since 1999, predominately in a Sports Development role. Most recently, I was a Relationship Manager within SkillsActive, a national partners of Sport England, and worked with organisations such as National Governing Bodies of Sport, County Sports Partnerships and Leisure Operators to create programmes that supported their workforce and business development.
What will you study?
Sport In The Global Context
This unit provides the contextual knowledge of the sports sector globally. As an international industry, the unit will explore and analyse how sport is developed and delivered across the globe. Sport organisations operate nationally and internationally, whilst sports programmes are often designed for export to developing countries. Likewise, international events are often used as a tool for development. The unit will explore the competing demands on sport in terms of it being both a commodified entity and an activity that is seen as relevant in providing wider social good.
In undertaking this analysis, the unit will reflect on the broader political, social and economic factors that impact on the sector, exploring theoretical perspectives on sport as a global business, sport as political tool and sport for development.
Leading And Managing Sustainable Organisations
This unit will provide you the opportunity to explore current research and practice around the leadership and management in the context of sport. Using current project and programmes as a basis for learning, the unit will focus on the leadership and management of organisations. In doing so, it will explore the principles of responsible leadership, focusing on ethical decision-making and effective stakeholder engagement.
Additionally, the unit will analyse various management processes employed in HR, financial, EDI, and other workplace scenarios. In delivery, the unit will utilise a blend of theoretical frameworks, case studies, and real-world applications to develop practical skills for navigating the 21st-century challenges facing organisations in sport.
Applied Innovation And Entrepreneurship In Sport
In a fast-moving innovative sporting environment, leading creativity, entrepreneurship and change are essential to successful organisational performance. This unit provides an opportunity for you to explore how these processes might be effectively promoted across organisations of all sizes in the sporting sector and supports your critical appreciation of the need for continuous innovation and entrepreneurship in the dynamic sporting context. The unit adopts a critical approach, encouraging consideration of alternative perspectives evidenced by influential academic and practitioner contributors.
To apply your knowledge, the opportunity will be provided for you to engage with a sector-based organisation. Taking an evidence-based management (EBMgt) approach, you will work with the organisation to identify an area of business that they are looking to develop, change or innovate and produce an applied based research proposal that supports this development. The work and proposal that you undertake in this unit will provide the foundation, preparation and building blocks for your MBA Applied Project.
Strategy Analysis In The Global Environment
This unit explores strategy, its development and its application to organisations in sport. In particular, it aims to enable you to develop a comprehensive understanding of strategic leadership and management in the context of sport.
By exploring theories, concepts, and frameworks, the unit aims to support you to build a practical comprehension of strategic management principles as applied to the field of sport. You will develop the ability to critically analyse data sources and industry information, formulate, and execute effective strategies to address challenges specific to sports leadership and management. This will allow you to make informed strategic decisions by linking the evaluation of information to the selection and application of appropriate tools within the sports context. In doing this, you will develop essential skills highly valued by modern organizations operating in the sport sector.
Mba Applied Project
The MBA Applied Project is the culmination of your MBA programme. It is designed to give you the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to think through the implications of applying the knowledge and skills acquired through the taught elements of the course. Its purpose is to bring together all the taught elements of the programme to reinforce their interrelationship and to enable you to move forward from the understanding of a discrete knowledge base to combine knowledge in different ways and increase your understanding through synthesis and exploration.
The unit aims to enable you to independently apply your leadership and management knowledge to a sporting management environment. This unit is specifically designed to support your employability through transition into the professional work environment. Working with a sporting organisation you will solve a preidentified complex problem. In doing so, you will demonstrate your ability to gather data and evidence, analyse research informed evidence and make effective decisions and recommendations.
The units builds on the experience that you gained within the unit Applied Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Sport. The time you spent with employers within the Innovation unit aims to act as key preparation for the activities required in this unit.
This unit supports you in developing a practical understanding of the consultancy research process and will allow you to gain a critical appreciation of complexity of organisational problems and opportunities informed by scientific, organisational and experiential evidence and in consideration of organisational values and stakeholders' concerns. Ultimately, this unit draws together the knowledge gained across the course and provides you with a critical appreciation of the interdependence of management and leadership education and practice in transforming organisations.
How will you be assessed?
This course is subject to approval
Careers
The skills, knowledge, theoretical concepts and practical experience you gain from this MBA will support you in progressing within the sport and physical activity sector, offering career opportunities at a local, national and global level. Roles include working for a governing body, professional club or sports-related charitable organisation. The leadership and managerial focus of the course also provides numerous transferable skills relevant to a variety of service industries. Upon graduation, you could also continue your studies at PhD level.