Masterclass schedule – Master of Business Administration (Educational Leadership)

Intensive weekend masterclasses that will enhance your hyperflexible learning journey.

Your MBA (Educational Leadership) provides you with unmatched flexibility through self-paced online delivery. To complement this approach, we’re offering a series of intensive weekend masterclasses at our London campus throughout 2026. These sessions will allow you to engage with academic experts from Charles Darwin University and senior professionals like yourself. You will have the opportunity to meet the academic teams face-to-face and engage in practical experiences to supplement your online learning.

Each weekend masterclass focuses on practical application. You’ll work through real business scenarios, engage in executive-level simulations, and tackle challenges that mirror what you face in your own organisation. You can bring challenges from your own work to share and gain insights from Faculty and fellow students.

Cross-sector and education-specific learning

Masterclasses 1, 2, and 4 bring together professionals from across industry sectors. This will provide you with valuable cross-industry perspectives and the opportunity to network with executives from business, healthcare, and other sectors. Masterclasses 3 and 5 are centred on educational contexts. In these sessions, you’ll work exclusively with fellow educational leaders facing similar challenges in schools and educational organisations.

Masterclass 1

Strategy Management Meets Marketing in Action

Led by: Dr. Chrystie Watson
Available: 11-12 April 2026
Links to: MAN500, MKT504

You’ll explore how marketing and management concepts work together in real-world business challenges. By the end of this masterclass, you will be able to:

Apply strategic management frameworks to marketing problems.
Integrate consumer insights into business decision-making.
Manage resources and teams to deliver market success.
Respond to market crises with adaptive leadership.

Hands-on elements: Real case studies from companies navigating competitive threats, interactive brand strategy workshops, crisis management simulations, and peer-to-peer learning sessions.

Masterclass 2

Global Human Resource Management under Organisational Change

Led by: Dr Tianyi Long
Available: 12-13 September 2026
Links to: HRM506

Global organisations face unique challenges when implementing change across different cultures and regulatory environments. This masterclass tackles these complexities head-on.

What you’ll experience:

Mapping the interests of stakeholders across different cultural contexts.
Redesigning HR policies for implementation in different jurisdictions.
Managing virtual teams through organisational transformation.
Learning from real organisational change case studies.
Redesigning aspects of HR policy with a global lens.

Focus areas: Building employee resilience during uncertainty, adapting management styles for different cultural contexts, maintaining engagement during transformation, and creating sustainable change processes.

Masterclass 3

Leading Change in Education Settings

Led by: Charles Darwin University Education Faculty
Available: 24-25 October 2026
Links to: EMG501, EMG504

This masterclass gives educational leaders practical tools to tackle real-world challenges like staff conflict, limited resources, and community engagement. You’ll apply leadership frameworks to make informed decisions in complex situations.

Your challenge: You will be able to work through real educational scenarios. This will highlight the practical differences between managing day-to-day operations and driving strategic initiatives. The session explores the challenges and opportunities involved in leading change within schools.

Skills you’ll develop:

Using evidence to inform strategies to navigate educational change.
Building cultures of collaboration within educational settings.
Problem-based learning approaches to leading in education.

Hands-on elements: Simulation activities, real educational case studies, and opportunities to contribute your own educational leadership scenarios to group problem-solving activities.

Masterclass 4

Mastering Sustainability Project Consulting

Led by: Dr Michael Odei Erdiaw-Kwasie
Available: 14-15 November 2026
Links to: BUS622 Applied Business Project and BUS521 Business Research Skills

Step into the role of a sustainability consultant working on real organisational challenges. This masterclass bridges theory with practice through actual project work.

Your project: Teams work on live sustainability challenges faced by real organisations. You’ll receive guidance from an experienced practitioner while developing actionable recommendations. This will be of particular relevance to your applied business project.

Skills development:

Analysing complex sustainability problems.
Creating roadmaps for the implementation of organisational change.
Balancing commercial and environmental objectives.
Presenting findings to an expert panel.

Masterclass 5

Business Leadership – Leading Teams and Strategy in Complex Environments

Led by: Charles Darwin University Education Faculty
Available: 28-29 November 2026
Links to: EMG504, TES505

This masterclass builds your skills to tackle complex challenges in education through strategic planning, ethical decision-making, and data-informed leadership. You’ll learn to manage teams and engage stakeholders effectively in dynamic school environments.

What you’ll experience:

Strategic planning frameworks specific to educational contexts.
Ethical decision-making in complex educational scenarios.
Advanced team management techniques for educational settings.
Using data to help decision making
Stakeholder engagement strategies for schools and educational organisations.

Focus areas: Participants will have the opportunity to contribute their own real-life educational leadership scenarios, which will be used in the masterclass to explore relevant, practical, context-specific solutions and strategies.

Why these sessions matter

Add in-person experiences with industry leaders to make the most of your study.

Direct academic support

You will work directly with the academics who designed your course content. This will allow you to seek clarification on complex concepts or areas of study that you are finding challenging.
Peer networking and support

Masterclasses facilitate you connecting with other senior professionals tackling similar challenges to you. Share experiences, learn from different industry perspectives, and build lasting professional relationships.
Assessment preparation

The activities in masterclasses often support your completion of assessments in your taught units. You’ll leave with practical experiences and insights that can enhance your academic work.
Immediate application

Take your learning straight back to your workplace. Many participants find solutions to current workplace challenges during these sessions
No additional cost

These sessions are included in your course fees – a valuable bonus to your self-directed learning experience.

Making your choice

Masterclasses can complement rather than replace your self-directed learning. Some students attend all sessions for their course, others choose the classes most relevant to their immediate needs. Both approaches work effectively within our hyperflexible framework.

Enhanced perspective

You will see how different business disciplines connect in practice.

Professional connections

You can build relationships with fellow executives facing similar challenges.

Career development

Attendance demonstrates to your organisation your commitment to personal learning and development.

Global insights

You will learn from Australian business innovation and international best practice.