Henley’s Postgraduate Diploma: Is it Equivalent to Honours?

An MBA is your goal, but you aren’t sure whether Henley Business School Africa’s Postgraduate Diploma in Management Practice (PGDip) provides you with the required accredited qualification to enter the MBA? The answer YES.

The PGDip is an HEQC level 8 qualification, the same as an honours degree, all you need to enter an MBA.

What’s crucial are the specifics of your direction of study, which we’ll cover below:

Which Postgraduate course is best for management?

• Henley’s PGDip is the only available programme in South Africa accredited for management practice. This means that it builds successful, active managers who get the job done and get recognised, not just theorists. Henley, a leading international business school with a firmly established presence in South Africa, has been perfecting the art of building global business leaders for more than 75 years now, and you can take advantage of this experience.

• In Henley’s PGDip programme, you are guided towards the goal of becoming an impactful, whole leader, through a process of self mastery. This involves a deep understanding of yourself, as well as of the people you manage. You learn to make the most of yourself and of the people around you, understanding their different perspectives of life and their different skills, lifting them to contribute to the best of their abilities.

• Companies around the world today are promoting diversity in the workplace. Great managers understand diversity is about belonging, action and equal contribution. With the Henley PGDip you will learn to be successful in leading an engaged workforce, handling the most difficult of management challenges for which Henley prepares its students.

• Old habits don’t build new businesses in a fast-changing world. The Henley PGDip teaches you to be alert and see what’s coming – to plan ahead, innovate and be proactive; surf the waves of change, and not be buried and carried away by them.

• Good management needs high levels of skills in problem-solving, decision-making, engaging people, understanding value and making things happen with limited resources. You can’t learn that in an old-fashioned classroom. studying old cases and focusing on theory. You need a dynamic and challenging business school that uses a progressive, experiential, action-learning approach. An approach that stretches you, excites you, and pushes you to the limit, so that when you come out of the Henley PGDip, you come out as a confident and motivated leader, and not an armchair theorist.

Wondering whether you should do an Honours or a Postgraduate Diploma?

In terms of access to an MBA, there is no difference. They both get you there.

• Both an Honours degree and a PGDip are rated as full qualifications (comprising a minimum of 120 credits) at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 8, as accredited by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC).

• Both an Honours degree and a PGDip provide stepping stones into a Masters qualification (NQF 9). Honours in a particular academic field often leads to a Masters in that same academic field. For example an Honours in Mathematics would provide academic access to a Masters in Mathematics, without any experiential requirements. At Henley, the academic requirement for access to the PGDip is a qualification at NQF 7 (a Bachelor’s Degree or Advanced Diploma) in ANY field, plus a requirement for 3 years’ management experience. In the same way, access to the Henley MBA requires a PGDip or Honours in any field, plus 3 years’ managerial experience.

• Honours degrees usually contain a compulsory research component, in the form of a dissertation. The Henley PG Dip does not. Instead, it is based upon live projects aimed at building up real-life managers, who will get recognised and promoted on their abilities to get things done successfully in real time.

• Honours degrees can require full time attendance, but the Henley PGDip allows you to earn while you learn – you only have 23 days in class, spread over a year in 2-to-3-day blocks.

• If you are planning to continue to an MBA, the Henley Postgraduate Diploma is an excellent pathway to ensuring your success on the MBA. Apart from booting up your brain for study skills before launching into the MBA, it gives you confidence, and some sophisticated abilities in getting things done. You’ll learn systems thinking, critical thinking, design thinking, team project work, and gain mental and academic fitness. The PGDip works well the MBA, and you’ll emerge with the confidence and capability to build a formidable career in management and business – just as many other Henley alumni have done already.

Musician Loyiso Bala talks about receiving the Henley Africa Johnny Clegg Scholarship

How does your Postgraduate Diploma lead in to a Masters – in this case, your MBA?

• Whereas the PGDip builds your confidence and practice, and shows that you can be an excellent manager, the MBA develops your intellect, thinking and capabilities to the point where you are confident as a senior executive.

• The MBA can also be a pathway to higher degree, such as a PhD and a doctorate in business administration (DBA).

• There is a strong research aspect to the MBA. MBA students are required to prepare and deliver a management research challenge: a dissertation that’s a complex research project that integrates, tests, and hones the advanced knowledge that you’ve accumulated throughout your study period. The PGDip prepares you for this journey.

• Your Master’s – in this case, your MBA – will provide your subsequent employer with the assurance that you can research high-level, complex issues, and that you will make informed decisions, founded upon carefully acquired and interpreted data. Your PGDip not only gives you the key to that door, but prepares you for the studies ahead; studies you will doing at the same time as building a successful career, using what you’ve learned.

Popi Mabitsela | Africa through my Lens (PGDip with specialisation in Africa)

What makes the Henley Postgraduate Diploma so widely praised?

• Henley’s PGDip, accredited by the HEQC at an NQF level 8, has been carefully researched and meticulously designed by dedicated executive educators with decades of experience; educators who are committed to creating the successful managers that South Africa needs.

• The PgDip advances and extends your worldview, and shifts your thinking and ability from undergraduate to postgraduate level. Because it’s open to delegates from multiple backgrounds, you’ll network with people with experience, who can give you rich insights. You’ll learn how to be successful and overcome the great challenges faced by businesses and organisations in South Africa today. You’ll also make friends and connections for life.

• Henley cares. Henley cares about you, your success and your potential. Our delegates feel this and appreciate it, as it builds their confidence and skills.
• This PGDip can also lead you to Henley Business School’s international executive MBA. This is the only International MBA qualification in South Africa, allowing you to graduate in both the UK and South Africa. It is also from one of the only 1% of business schools in the world that have international triple accreditation.

• You can qualify for a 15% discount on the MBA fees if you have a Henley PGDip.

• The PGDip is delivered part-time over 11 to 12 months, which means that you can work while you study, learning and applying what you’ve learnt, to make it more robust and effective. Many people get recognised by their employers as better managers even while they’re doing the programme. And if you’re building your own business; well, you can apply your learnings straight away to help your business grow.

• Our commitment to balanced, manageable and family-friendly learning is widely appreciated by Henley’s delegates.