Master of Science in Management, abbreviated MSc, MScM, MIM or MSM, is a Master of Science academic degree that is common throughout Europe and increasingly also in North America and Asia. In terms of content, it is similar to the MBA degree as it contains general management courses.
According to the Financial Times ranking, the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, HEC Paris and ESSEC Business School in France offer the best Master in Management programmes in the world in 2014 and in 2015.
Graduates holding an MSc in Management have commonly studied the following subjects:
In Canada, a highly specialized MSc in Management is also quite common (ex: MSc in Management in Finance and Accounting). These degrees are meant to provide students with a highly specialized set of skills for industry or for further academic study.
As is the case with the more common MBA degree, as the number of school granting MSc in Management degrees has grown, so has the diversity of characteristics defining these programs. In most cases, the MSc in Management is an academic degree with no or some requirements for previous job experience, while the MBA is also a professional degree for persons with minimum 2–3 years job experience or 2nd class lower division honorers . However, there are also schools where the MSM degree is granted only to managers with extensive (typically 10 years or more) of work and managerial experience. Whereas MBA programs are open to people from all academic disciplines, about one third of the MSc in Management programs worldwide require a first degree in business or economics.
Some claim the MSc degree is more theory-oriented, and some programs do focus on specific skill set development for managers, while the MBA degree can be more practice-oriented and financially focused. In some schools, the MSc in Management degree studies the academic discipline of Management, while the MBA degree studies the academic discipline of Business Administration. Thus, some MSc degree programs focus on research in a specialized area, while the MBA degree would place more emphasis on strategy. According to one school, "While the MBA program focuses on the practical application of management theory, the M.Sc. in Management will provide for an advanced-level conceptual foundation in a student’s chosen field, and allow for the pursuit of highly focused research through a master’s level thesis."