Railway Operations, Management and Policy MSc

Course overview

Railways play a key social and economic role throughout the world. However, across the world, railways are coming under increasing pressure to address the ongoing challenges in everything from capacity and congestion to reliability within finite resource budgets and complex industry structures.

Innovation is now perhaps more important than ever. That’s why the need for professionals with tailored skills and knowledge to provide solutions to these challenges has grown – especially in the last few years.

Our Railway Operations, Management and Policy MSc takes a multidisciplinary approach, equipping you with the holistic skill set you’ll need to develop and evaluate solutions to railway problems and make a real contribution to the challenges of our railways worldwide.

Taught by leading researchers with an international reputation, this Masters degree has been designed following close consultation with industry to help prepare you for a rewarding career.

Studying in the Institute of Transport Studies at Leeds will also give you a unique head start in your career in transport. Not only does our world-leading research shape the course, but our close links with large corporations mean you’ll have chance to interact with potential employers and possibly interview for graduate schemes and other vacancies. We also offer opportunities to build your industry work experience before you graduate with work placements and project work throughout your course.

"This course will bridge the gap between understanding day-to-day operations of the different parts of the complex rail system and the wider social and strategic context that railways operate within. It will enable new and existing professionals to excel within the industry. Network Rail is keen to support this bold initiative by the University of Leeds." - Sir Peter Hendy, Minister of State for Transport

Applying

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in a relevant subject such as (but not limited to) engineering, maths, economics, management (and any other business-related degree), environmental science, and transportation.

Applicants with any of the following will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• A bachelor degree with a 2:2 (hons), or equivalent where applicants can demonstrate relevant work experience or aptitude in a relevant specialist field.
• Professional qualifications and relevant experience.

International

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications. For more information, please contact the Admissions Team.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component, or equivalent qualification.. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Engineering (6 weeks) and Language for Science: Engineering (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

Railway professionals are essential to the development and delivery of plans for significant railway infrastructure investment — and currently in the UK, we have a shortage, therefore demand is high.

A degree from the Institute for Transport Studies at Leeds opens up a range of opportunities to pursue a rewarding career in this industry. This course will equip you with an extensive specialist skill set, alongside industry experience and the chance to interact directly with industry organisations which could give you the edge with employers.

Upon graduation, you may find employment in a range of roles across the transport industry, as a policy analyst, economist, strategic operations manager or planner among many others.

Our graduates work across the private and public sectors. Many work abroad, whether for UK companies with overseas offices, for international organisations or for national governments.

Plus, the University of Leeds is in the top 5 most targeted universities in the UK by graduate recruiters, according to High Fliers’ The Graduate Market in 2024 report.

Here’s a snapshot into some of the job positions and organisations previous graduates from this course have secured:

• Information Coordinator, Network Rail
• Project Leader, Chilean State Railways