About the education

This two-year master’s programme provides you with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the challenges today’s organisations and business are facing. It focuses on the relationship between societal challenges and leadership and organisation at the intersection of the private, public, and non-profit sectors. The education engages with critical issues of leadership and organisational change such as power, ethics, resistance, gender, diversity, sustainability and digitalisation. The education combines perspectives from organisation theory, sociology, learning, business administration, political science and philosophy.

The programme will equip you with advanced knowledge of leadership and organisation theory. You will be looking at the relations between people, organisations and societal challenges, and how to enable collaboration within organisations and across sectors in relation to, for example, globalisation, digitalisation, inclusion and sustainability.

During the first year, you will be taking courses informed by critical perspectives on leadership and organisation. During the third semester, you will choose between several independent courses in order to deepen your knowledge in your particular subjects of interest. These will be made available during the second semester, in time for application. Among the courses offered are Leadership and Organisation: Research Internship, 30 credits. Students may choose to take courses at a university abroad. The programme concludes with the writing of a 30-credit master's thesis.

The programme has a strong, multidisciplinary connection to research. Many programme lecturers are active and internationally recognised scholars within leadership and organisation, work environment, social work, gender in organisations, power, resistance, governance, technology, and sustainability.

The perceived pressure for organisations to adapt to societal changes means that it is important that managers, leaders and employees have solid knowledge and a critical understanding of governance, management and organisation within and across the private, public and non-profit sectors. In addition, there is an increasing demand for people that can integrate knowledge and understanding of power, gender, diversity, work, technology, sustainability into leadership, organisation and change.

Graduates will be qualified to work within various fields, such as management and organisational development within organisations, agencies and companies, both nationally and internationally. The programme also prepares you for continued studies at PhD level.

Courses within the programme

Autumn 2024 - Semester 1

Spring 2025 - Semester 2

Spring 2026 - Semester 4

Comment

Semester 3: Students may choose to take courses at Malmö University or at another university in Sweden or abroad (i.e. exchange studies). The Department of Urban studies will offer a few elective courses. These will be made available during semester 2 in time for application. There will be a possibility for research internship.

Syllabus autumn 2024

Earlier syllabuses

Entry requirements and selection

Here you can find the entry requirements, as well as how the available study places are distributed between applicants in the selection. For general admissions enquiries please contact the Admissions Office: admissions@mau.se

Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree, consisting of 180 credits. The equivalent of English 6 in Swedish secondary school.

Selection

Applicants are selected in rank order based on the submitted three-part supporting document.

Apply with supporting document

Please note that you are recommended to submit a supporting document with your application to this programme. If you fulfil the entry requirements but do not submit the supporting document, you can only be admitted if space allows. Please note that we only accept submissions that use the document below.

To complete your application with the supporting document, follow the steps below:

  • create an account and apply to the programme via universityadmissions.se or antagning.se (in Swedish).
  • upload your documentation as a pdf on universityadmissions.se/antagning.se or send the document by post. You will need to demonstrate both a bachelor's degree and English proficiency to be considered eligible for the programme. Applicants in their final year, who will receive their diploma before the programme starts, can also apply but must follow specific instructions.
  • the supporting document must be uploaded to universityadmissions.se or antagning.se (in Swedish) by the deadline. 
  • For students applying in the first application round (international admission round, 16 October–15 January), the supporting document must be uploaded to universityadmissions.se by 1 February. 
  • For students applying in the second admission round, (national admission round, 15 March– 15 April), the supporting document must be uploaded to antagning.se or universityadmissions.se by 15 April.

Download the supporting document (Word)

Note!
Please note that supporting documents submitted after these dates will not be accepted. 

"You gain new perspectives on the challenges of today"

Julia Breidenstein moved from Germany to study in the master’s programme Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges and Organisational Changes. Right after her graduation, she started at her current job at Accelerated Growth in Malmö.

"You gain new perspectives on the challenges of today"

Julia Breidenstein moved from Germany to study in the master’s programme Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges and Organisational Changes. Right after her graduation, she started at her current job at Accelerated Growth in Malmö.

– Before I decided to study in Sweden, I did my bachelor’s degree in international business with a focus on change management. I then worked as a sales district manager for a German food retail company. After a while, I felt the desire to educate myself further. 

– My choice landed on Leadership and Organisation because I wanted to deepen my understanding of the intertwined social and organisational dynamics of the drivers and impacts of societal challenges. I also found the programme interesting because of its interdisciplinary character. 

New perspectives and problem-solving 

– The programme gives you an understanding of and new perspectives on the challenges of today and discuss approaches and methodologies to solve them. One key finding for me was that in order to take action and create change, the first step is to get a profound understanding of the actual problem. 

– During the third semester, you have the opportunity to choose elective courses. I enjoyed the course on climate change during the first semester. It was relevant and informative since the climate crisis is one of our biggest challenges. I found it very interesting and wanted to deepen my knowledge further. The elective semester allowed me to choose a sustainability course to learn more and gain informed and critical perspectives on this relevant topic.

– Being a student in an international programme was both beneficial and fun. We always had a lot of interesting discussions. It adds a lot of value and diversity to the programme when you get the possibility to understand different viewpoints. 

A job where you create change 

– Today, I work as a roll-out coordinator at a smaller consultancy called Accelerated Growth in Malmö, where I started right after my graduation. 

– My role is to be involved in projects where changes are implemented in clients' organisations. The current project aims to improve the visibility and end-to-end traceability of food products. Stakeholder management and change communication are a big part of my work, since the changes affect many employees. I get to apply critical thinking and use a creative approach, which I gained from the programme. It has been an exciting journey. 

Contact

For more information about the education:

usstudent@mau.se

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