MSc Railway Operations, Management and Policy

Year 1

(Award available for year: Master of Science)

Learning outcomes

On completion of the programme students should have provided evidence of being able to:
1. Apply and evaluate approaches to pricing, cost measurement and allocation of resources in the rail sector;
2. Understand and apply the key principles and methods of railway investment appraisal, including practical tools;
3. Demonstrate knowledge of how railway transport fits into public policy, the ownership and structure of the industry and the related governance and decision making structures;
4. Identify, manage and analyse a range of data related to rail sector management, operations and policy
5. Apply statistical techniques to conduct railway transport analysis;
6. Understand and evaluate the purpose and relative merits of the main types of transport models and how railway operational and management analysts interact with them;
7. Develop multi-disciplinary team working skills and gain practical experience with managing a real-world project.
8. Design and conduct an independent research study on a topic related to railway operations, management or policy.


Skills Learning Outcomes
Masters (Taught) students will have had the opportunity to acquire the following abilities as defined in the modules specified for the programme:
1. Technical skills in compulsory and optional modules, relevant to at least the following subject areas: railway operations, management, policy, appraisal, data collection and analysis.
2. Work ready skills, including problem solving and analytical skills and team work/collaboration; communication, time-management, planning and organisation, technical/IT skills
3. Academic skills, including reflection, critical thinking, referencing, academic integrity, time-management, information searching and academic writing.
4. Sustainability skills: systems thinking, critical thinking effective communication

Assessment

The learning outcomes for the programme have been designed in conjunction with the learning outcomes of the modules.
Each module comprises a balance of assessment of understanding of core principles, critique of practice and demonstrably applying the core principles to real-world challenges. A range of traditional (Online Time Limited Assessments, essays) and authentic assessments (e.g., reports) are used.