Application deadline
Thursday 7 August 2025
Applicants should apply as early as possible to be eligible for certain scholarships.
Entry requirements
- A 2.1 undergraduate Honours degree in business, marketing or a related subject from the UK or the equivalent international qualification. Applications are also considered from applicants who have majored in another subject but have a business or marketing minor. Applicants with business experience are welcome, and work experience may be taken into account in the evaluation of applications.
- If you studied your first degree outside the UK, see the international entry requirements.
- English language proficiency.
The qualifications listed are indicative minimum requirements for entry. Some academic Schools will ask applicants to achieve significantly higher marks than the minimum. Obtaining the listed entry requirements will not guarantee you a place, as the University considers all aspects of every application including, where applicable, the writing sample, personal statement, and supporting documents.
Application requirements
- CV that includes your personal details with a history of your education and employment to date
- personal statement explaining why you have chosen the programme, why this subject is important to you and why you have applied to study at the University of St Andrews Business School in particular (500 words)
- one original signed academic reference
- academic transcripts and degree certificates
For more guidance, see supporting documents and references for postgraduate taught programmes.
English language proficiency
If English is not your first language, you may need to provide an English language test score to evidence your English language ability. See approved English language tests and scores for this course.
Course details
The Masters in Marketing is a one-year taught programme run by the University of St Andrews Business School.
Highlights
- The programme focuses on the role of marketing within organisations and the wider global context within which they work. Upon completion of this programme you will have an integrated and critically aware understanding of marketing and organisations and be ready to take an effective role within them.
- Marketing practitioners from industry and academia are invited as guest speakers on a regular basis to speak to take part in the programme, speak to students and lead masterclasses.
- Students may have the opportunity to go on an annual marketing-related field trip.
Modules
The modules published below are examples of what has been taught in previous academic years and may be subject to change before you start your course. For more details of each module, including weekly contact hours, teaching methods and assessment, please see the module catalogue.
Each module typically consists of three to five contact hours per week including lectures, seminars, tutorials and workshops. Assessment is either entirely by coursework, or through a combination of coursework (50%) and a two-hour end-of-semester examination (50%).
- Contemporary Global Issues in Management: focuses on how various global trends impact upon economies, organisations and the practice of management, business and marketing within the context of responsible enterprise.
- Consumer Behaviour: teaches you how to think systematically and critically about consumer behaviour, and develop the ability to identify and explain in a theoretically informed manner factors at individual, group, and environmental level that influence consumer behaviour, so that this knowledge can be applied to marketing within organisations.
- Marketing Research and Consumer Insight: introduces the latest marketing research tools used by organisations to answer questions critical for marketing success. Equips you with the skills for employing qualitative and quantitative methods suitable for examining consumers’ needs and behaviours in diverse consumption contexts. Examines each stage of the research process from problem definition to research design, data collection and analysis, as well as eliciting consumer insights and co-creation to formulate marketing plans.
- Marketing Strategy: examines how organisations create value propositions to target distinct customer segments at the strategic level. This module explores the management of both strategy and the organisation to build valuable customers and create stakeholder relationships, leading to lasting success. Focusing on the fundamental drivers of long-term prosperity and placing the firm’s capabilities at the service of customers and other stakeholders and not the other way around, the module demonstrates how organisations successfully deploy the 'outside-in' strategic framework.
- Dialogue and Debate in Marketing (Masterclasses): invited guest speakers with experience in marketing and related disciplines explore key marketing topics such as globalisation, consumer trust, technology, social marketing and behaviour change, PR and branding in interactive ‘masterclass’ sessions in order to develop an understanding of the topics through the lens of the practitioner.
Students choose two optional modules, taking one in each semester.
Here is a sample of optional modules that may be offered:
- Behavioural Finance
- Entrepreneurship and Business Development
- Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity
- Financial Systems
- International Financial Management
- International Marketing
- Leadership in Organisations
- Managing People in Global Markets
- Marketing and Society
- Managing Non-Governmental Organisations
- Risk Management
- Scenario Thinking and Strategy
Optional modules are subject to change each year and require a minimum number of participants to be offered. Some may only allow limited numbers of students (see the University's position on curriculum development).
The final element of the MLitt is a 15,000-word dissertation. The dissertation is normally on a specific area of marketing. Students can develop a topic of their own which interests them and contributes to future career development and further study goals.
You will be encouraged to consider a topic for the dissertation during Semester 1 and will submit your dissertation proposal early in Semester 2. The University of St Andrews Business School will review your proposal and assign a relevant dissertation supervisor on the basis of the proposal.
To prepare you for the research required for your dissertation, you will attend a programme of weekly lectures as part of your Dissertation module. Dissertation projects may be group-based or completed individually (students are assessed individually regardless). You will undertake your research and write your dissertation over the summer, submitting in late August.
If students choose not to complete the dissertation requirement for their Masters degree (MLitt), there are exit awards available that allow suitably qualified candidates to receive a postgraduate diploma (PGDip). By choosing an exit award, you will finish your degree at the end of the second semester of study and receive a PGDip instead of a MLitt.
Teaching
Teaching is delivered through a mixture of core and optional modules using a range of delivery methods including lectures, small group tutorials, workshops and seminars. The average marketing cohort is 40 students.
From June to August, students undertake a research project culminating in a written dissertation of 15,000 words.
Assessment comprises a combination of coursework and examinations.
Marketing students are academically supported by their dedicated programme director as well as the Director of Postgraduate Programmes.
Events
The University of St Andrews Business School hosts events and guest lectures during Orientation Week and throughout the year, providing students and staff with opportunities to socialise, and to engage with visiting scholars, professionals and practitioners.
The Management Society, a student-led organisation, hosts a broad range of activities, both subject-related and social. The University also has a number of other student societies relating to the management discipline.
The Masters Extra (MX) is a programme of events focusing on careers and personal and professional development, designed specifically for taught masters students in the University of St Andrews Business School. The series of talks, workshops, networking opportunities and activities includes guest lectures from entrepreneurs, experienced managers and leading researchers.
Fees
Home
£14,850
Overseas
£29,990
Application fee
Before we can begin processing your application, a payment of an application fee of £50 is required. In some instances, you may be eligible for an application fee waiver. Details of this, along with information on our tuition fees, can be found on the postgraduate fees and funding page.
Funding and scholarships
The University of St Andrews is committed to attracting the very best students, regardless of financial circumstances.
The Jane M Klausman Women in Business Scholarship is for women pursuing a business or business-related degree.
15% Recent Graduate Discount
If you have graduated from the University within the last three academic years, you may be eligible for a 15% discount on postgraduate taught tuition fees. Terms and conditions apply.
After your degree
Careers
Alumni from the Masters in Marketing, and from other Masters programmes in the University of St Andrews Business School, have secured employment in the fields of general management, marketing and brand management, marketing research, management consultancy, fund administration and other aspects of the financial services industry.
Graduates from the Masters in Marketing have taken up roles in a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sector including:
- Accenture
- Amazon
- Boston Consulting Group
- L'Oreal
- Microsoft
- Procter and Gamble
- Unilever
- Volkswagen Group
In the past, students on this programme have also gone on to set up their own businesses and have become successful entrepreneurs in different sectors.
The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students in building their employability skills.
Further study
Many Management graduates continue their education by enrolling in PhD programmes at St Andrews or elsewhere.
The ESRC Scottish Graduate School of Social Science offers fully funded awards for PhD students in the School of Management.
The University of St Andrews Business School often offers Management PhD studentships comprising a stipend at RCUK level and a fee waiver at home and EU level.
Postgraduate researchContact us
- Phone
- +44 (0)1334 46 2200
- pgmgmt@st-andrews.ac.uk
- Address
- Department of Management (Business School)
The Gateway
North Haugh
St Andrews
KY16 9RJ