Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Management

Description

This postgraduate certificate course provides a rounded view of the management of technology and technological innovation. You’ll study topics such as the nature and types of technological innovation, technology transfer, and eco-innovation, which are relevant to all economic and organisational sectors and types of technology. The study of one or more optional modules allows you to extend your technology management knowledge and skills depending on your personal or professional interests. If technology, innovation and change are factors in your organisation or role – technology management is relevant to you.

The effective management of technology and technological innovation is essential if all the potential benefits for individuals and organisations are to be realised. Technology has the capability to transform products and processes and can make a significant contribution to organisational performance, economic growth and social well-being. Technology managers need to make complex decisions associated with identification and evaluation of technologies, developing new or improved products and processes and integrating technology with other business processes, and to manage change required by technological innovation and implementation. There is an increasing demand across public, private and not-for-profit sectors for people with the vision and the operational and strategic capability to plan, develop and manage technology and technological innovation effectively.

The suite of qualifications offered, the postgraduate certificate and diploma, and the MSc are designed to develop your knowledge and skills progressively. The certificate mainly focuses on the operational aspects of managing technological innovation and change; strategic management of technology and technological innovation is the main emphasis of the diploma. The MSc modules involve in-depth investigation of a technology management topic or problem of your choice. The qualifications provide you with the knowledge and skills critical to making the right decisions about technology acquisition, exploitation and implementation, and to really make a difference to your organisation, and your own professional development. The optional modules in this postgraduate certificate course allow you to choose topics of personal or professional interest that can extend, or form a wider context for, your technology management studies. Fields such as computing and ICT, business and management, development management and environmental management as well as technology management are typically represented.

Throughout your studies you have opportunities to apply your learning to your own particular technology context and so you can add value to your career and your workplace while you are studying. The modules are designed to be relevant whatever your personal background and experience – the knowledge and skills taught can be applied to all types of technology and all economic sectors. Our students are drawn from a very wide range of backgrounds including IT, manufacturing, healthcare, defence, financial services, local and national government services.

Planning your studies

To start this programme, you should normally hold a UK bachelors degree, or equivalent. If you do not hold a bachelors degree then you may be permitted to link modules to this qualification once you have demonstrated the ability to study at postgraduate level by successfully completing one of the modules.

Your spoken and written English must be of an adequate standard for postgraduate study. If English is not your first language, we recommend that you will need a minimum overall score of 6 and minimum score of 5.5 in each of the four components: reading, writing, speaking and listening under the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Please see the IELTS website for details.

Because of the demands that study of the programme will make on you we recommend that you take no more than 60 credits at a time.

There is no time limit for completing this qualification, though we cannot guarantee that the same selection of modules will continue to be available. Modules will count towards this certificate for a maximum of eight years after we have stopped presenting them.

You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 20 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you.

Career relevance and employability

The technology management programme develops analytical skills and provides practically relevant knowledge that will equip you well for a variety of management and leadership roles. The competent technology manager is a highly valued professional, capable of ensuring that the organisation reaps all the potential rewards from its investment in technology of whatever type. You will develop a range of job-related and transferable skills such as critical thinking, creative problem solving, and the ability to cope with rapid technological change. The capabilities in research and problem-solving developed can be exploited in all professional situations at all management levels. Employers are also impressed by the commitment and determination it takes to succeed with the OU while keeping up family and work commitments. These benefits, together with the opportunities to add value by applying your learning to the workplace as you study, make technology management programmes very attractive vehicles towards success in senior management roles.

There is more information about how OU study can improve your employability in the OU’s Employability Statement from our Careers Advisory Service. You can also read or download our publication OU study and your career and look at our subject pages to find out about career opportunities.

Modules

For this 60-credit postgraduate certificate you require:

30 credits from one of the following compulsory modules:

Or the discontinued module T840

And 30 credits from the following optional modules:

Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules B821, B822, B823, B824, B890, BZX821, BZX822, BZX823, BZX824, H807, M865, M873, M874, M876, M877, M878, M879, M880, M881, M882, M883, M885, M886, M887, M889, M891, T821, T822, T823, T825, T833, T834, T835, T836, T837, T839, T850, T851, T852, T853, T862, T881, T882, T890

Credit for previous study elsewhere

If you have already completed some successful study at postgraduate level at another institution you may be able to transfer credit for this study and count it towards this Open University qualification. If you wish to apply to transfer credit you must do so as soon as possible as it may affect your choice of OU modules. If you are awarded credit for study completed elsewhere, you may find that you need to study fewer OU modules to complete your qualification with us.

Visit our Credit Transfer site for more information and details of how to apply for credit transfer.

On completion

On successful completion of the required modules, you can be awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Management entitling you to use the letters PGC (Tech Mgmt) (Open) after your name. 

You can continue your studies to gain a Postgraduate Diploma in Technology Management (E08) (with 120 credits) and a MSc in Technology Management (F36) (with 180 credits).

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the following regulations:

• Student Regulations
• Module Regulations
• General Qualification Regulations
• Postgraduate Certificate in Technology Management

These regulations are also available on our Essential Documents website.

How to register

If you want to study for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the module you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that module. During the registration procedure you will be asked to declare which qualification you are studying towards.

See a full list of modules available for this qualification