Program
Two stages, to the degree. Within fifteen months in all.
Stage 1, aligned with the UK qualifications system, and Stage 2, delivered directly by the University.
Stage 1 is studied through Class, with lectures in Japanese. For those who prefer to continue in English, there is also Solo.
One road to the degree
The programme is made up of two stages. In Stage 1, you complete a Diploma positioned within the UK's public qualifications frameworks; in Stage 2, you take on a dissertation at the University of Wolverhampton. Within fifteen months in all — a span of time in which you can reach completion while working.
① Individual consultation
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② Entry and admission assessment in the UK
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③ Stage 1: EduQual Diploma
— Class (lectures in Japanese) / Solo (self-study in English) (about eight months as standard, including marking)
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④ Application to the university course (January, May or September)
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⑤ Stage 2: the dissertation (about four to six months)
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⑥ Award of the degree — International Master of Business Administration
Four things that run through this learning
Two stages, five units, one dissertation. They are not a collection of separate parts. Four things run through them and hold them together as one.
1. Your own business becomes the material
For two of the three assignments, you can take as your subject an organisation you know well — your own company, if you wish. Rather than writing after you have finished learning, you write as you learn. What you learn can be put to use in your judgement from that very day.
2. Understand through lectures in Japanese; write it through in English
In Class, you take the Stage 1 lectures on management in Japanese, and write your three assignments in English. The Stage 2 dissertation, and the research dialogue with your supervisor, are in English too. English is not taught in a separate class: it is trained together with the substance of management, each time you write a monthly assignment — that is the order in which we have built the learning. For those who prefer to continue in English, there is Solo.
3. Renewing the learning as things change
The premises of business keep moving. We keep capturing those changes, and keep renewing the cases our lectures draw on and the content that supports your learning, so that they hold up in today's environment. The EduQual curriculum and its assessment remain exactly as they are.
4. Generative AI as a co-pilot for your thinking — never to write your assignments or your dissertation
The quality of the answer AI returns is decided by the quality of the question you put to it, and of the material you give it. In the academic-skills coaching in Japanese, what you learn is not how to operate generative AI, but how to work with it: how to frame a question, how to give it material, how to check the grounds of its answer. It is not for having AI write your assignments or your dissertation. The controls stay in your hands.
Stage 1 — EduQual Diploma in Business Management (SCQF Level 11)
In Stage 1, you complete the Diploma in Business Management awarded by EduQual, a UK awarding organisation approved by SQA Accreditation, a UK qualifications regulator. It sits at Level 11 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) — at master's level within the UK frameworks (equivalent to RQF Level 7). The curriculum covers five areas of management, totalling 120 credits.
Five units
A management judgement is never complete within a single area.
When you decide on strategy, marketing, finance, people and organisation, and the power to lead change all overlap there. That is why this course addresses five areas of management: learning each one in depth, and then connecting them to one another.
Everyone studies all five areas.
Rather than lining up many, you turn the five into one system — and into the grounds for your own judgement. That is the way of this learning.
1. Change Management and Strategic Leadership — 30 credits
Examines theories of leadership, from the classical to the contemporary, in the context of organisations in a globalised twenty-first century, and develops the management of organisational change that supports strategy.
2. Marketing Management in Practice — 20 credits
The practical tools and techniques of marketing, and the management decisions that underpin effective planning — building diagnostic ability on both the operational and the decision-making sides.
3. Strategic Financial Management — 20 credits
Takes a global view of strategic financial planning, applies financial principles in a management context, and develops effective financial strategy.
4. Strategic Management — 20 credits
Builds a deep understanding of frameworks for reviewing current strategy, in profit-making and not-for-profit organisations alike, and develops strategic plans from a global perspective.
5. Strategic Resource Management in Organisations — 30 credits
Considers people, operations, quality and the supply chain, together with the role of information systems, and develops the optimisation of resources that sustains competitive advantage.
Three assignments — the stage is your own workplace
The five units are assessed through three assignments that group related themes together. For two of the three assignments, the stage can be an organisation you know well — your own company, if you wish. Generic answers are not accepted; what is asked of you is your own experience and judgement.
Your workplace, where you have held your ground on the front line of change, becomes the stage for your assignments. You turn academic knowledge into judgement on your own business, and write its evidence and words through in the same language as the world. This is learning not for stockpiling knowledge, but for training the consciousness that wields it.
The academic form — referencing conventions, and how an argument is built — is trained through the academic-skills coaching in Japanese.
We will explain the content of the assignments in detail at the 60-minute individual consultation.
How you study Stage 1 — Class and Solo
The learning materials are provided at registration. The standard period for Stage 1 is about eight months, including marking (up to nine months). Class, studied through lectures in Japanese, is at the centre. For those who prefer to continue in English, there is also Solo.
Class — understand through lectures in Japanese, write it through in English
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Five modules, one each month. The cycle goes round in five months, and keeps on turning.
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Lectures are usually on Saturdays: three sessions of four hours for each module. Japanese teachers lecture in Japanese.
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A hybrid of classroom and online. Whether you meet in the classroom or join from home on Zoom, you take the same lecture. Sessions you cannot attend are available as recordings.
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The classroom is a meeting room in Shibuya.
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Before the lectures begin, the academic-skills coaching in Japanese (three sessions of two hours) prepares you with the form you need to begin writing in English.
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Lecture materials, recordings and assignment exchanges are handled on Canvas Lite, the learning space.
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Entry: starting December 2026. After that, February, April, May, July, September and October.
For those who prefer to continue in English — Solo
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The same modules, towards the same degree, studied through self-study in English.
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There is no timetable: early in the morning or on a business trip, at your own pace.
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You can consult a dedicated tutor at Chestnut Education Group, in English and by email, on the content of your assignments (you receive feedback on the drafts you submit).
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The English of your writing and referencing conventions are covered by the academic-skills coaching in Japanese (three sessions of two hours), timed to your assignment submission cycle.
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Entry: starting December 2026. After that, at any time.
Academic-skills coaching in Japanese
Both Class and Solo include the academic-skills coaching in Japanese: three sessions of two hours each. You can ask questions live, and sessions you cannot attend are available as recordings.
It covers the start of your first assignment, how to work with generative AI, and on to the design of your 15,000-word dissertation and the form of research dialogue in English.
Harvard referencing. The habit of reading research papers through open databases such as Google Scholar — together with a grounding, in advance, in the University's research resources that open to you in Stage 2.
What the coaching addresses is the form of writing assignments and a dissertation. You write your assignments and your dissertation through by your own effort. That is exactly why the strength stays with you.
In Stage 2, you build a research dialogue in English with a supervisor from the University. So that the dialogue bears fruit, you become familiar with the form of research in Japanese beforehand — a preparation that quietly supports the quality of your dissertation.
Stage 2 — the University of Wolverhampton dissertation course
On completing Stage 1, you can apply for the University of Wolverhampton's university course (official course title: International MBA Top-Up). From here, it is the dissertation stage, delivered and assessed directly by the University.
You take on a 15,000-word dissertation (in English) on a management theme of your own choosing. A dedicated supervisor from the University works with you, from the design of the research to its completion, through ongoing dialogue. Learning takes place on the University's learning platform (Canvas), fully online. Workshops in research skills, critical thinking and academic writing are also provided by the University.
It begins three times a year — January, May and September — and takes about four to six months.
All you need to prepare are your documents: a CV, your passport, a personal statement and an academic reference. Your Stage 1 certificate and transcript are issued on completion. Once your documents are ready, the application to the University is handled by us and by Chestnut Education Group (London), which runs this programme's progression route in the UK. From application to the completion of enrolment usually takes seven to ten working days. You can concentrate on developing the theme of your dissertation.
On completion, the degree is awarded.
And then, the degree
Completers are awarded a degree certificate by the University of Wolverhampton. The name of the degree on it: International Master of Business Administration.
Should you wish, to the annual graduation ceremony on the University's campus in Britain. You may also choose to receive your certificate by post. Details of the ceremony are sent by the University in the year of completion.
Entry requirements
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A bachelor's degree and at least two years of management experience.
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Or at least five years of management experience, together with evidence of the ability to study at postgraduate level.
We recommend that applicants have English above a certain level. We will give you a guide to that level at the individual consultation.
Your fifteen months, on a single calendar
Two stages, five units, one dissertation — while working, you can learn them through, one at a time.
At the individual consultation, we show you on a single calendar everything from your month of entry — the five modules and the start month of Stage 2 — to your month of completion. On that calendar, you can also see whether Class or Solo is easier to combine with your work.