Hi All Has anyone done MSc Health, Safety and Environmental Management course distant learning, just looking for feedback. Dont know if I could do 2 years and don't know the price. Anyone embarked on this course

I was just looking don't think I will be paying £4500 as I already have my Nebosh Diploma and CMIOSH, was just enquiring.

£10,000 are you having a laugh, it probably wont teach me anything new. Kind Regards

I think I will put it on the back burner, not worth that kind of money

Will give it some thought definitely not paying silly money for the masters, my look at behavioural safety

Kmason83 I will decide what's for me, to be perfectly blunt about it you learn more on daily basis at work than doing a masters. I dont take someone telling me I am not open to learning very kindly, who are you to judge, do you what qualifications I have gained, self funded by the way. Probably forgot more than you know .

Totally agree every day is a learning curve, however a dear piece of academic paper won't take you far in the real world, I don't think anyone one is beneath me. Once your out in the coal face only you as Health and Safety Professional can deal with issues or situations that you face. Only one thing will improve someone's knowledge and its not how many academic qualifications you have its the experience you have and how to use it. Can I ask what level of membership you are out of curiosity probably TECH Iosh.

Dear Safety Man 1, I had stopped commenting on this thread as it appeared to me that you were just picking a fight. Personally, I was offended by your comments and I do not feel there is a place for your attitude on a professional forum; particularly as you asked the question and I very kindly responded. May I suggest that you consider the impact of your future posts before pressing the send button. Kind regards, Pete

Did my Msc via Portsmouth Uni some years back. Luckily did not have to fund it myself. Learnt a lot but it hasn't added 10K to my salary. CMIOSH has more of an impact on salary in my experience. Worth doing but slow payback.

What has the level in IOSH got to do with anything, there are people out there who have decided not to join, and I have met some of the most incompetent H&S professionals around and oh yes! they were CMIOSH.

Only a bit!

I'm not posting to argue the point, but to provide a real experience - my MSc cost 4k, self funded via a loan. I jumped nearly 3 times the salary I was on, the MSc is my only safety qualification and i'm only in my 2nd safety specific role. The MSc is now paid off. The benefit gained in terms of career prospects and salary is something not to be underestimated. I can see the argument for limited benefits of an MSc - but all quals have limitations. It comes down to preference, learning style and drive to delve a little deeper into safety theories and academic underpinning to safety methodologies.

I did a MSc many moons ago when there was only one around (I think). I self-funded, as with most of my serious training, although it would not have been £10k it was serious money at the time. Attendance was in 3-day blocks, which worked well for me. It added nothing to my salary, but thats the public sector for you. It may have made a difference in getting interviews, jobs, who knows, I did not go to university for first degree, so in some ways that was offset (as a degree seems to be considered sooooo important by some sectors these days). What I learned was how to learn - how to research, question, frame responses, follow up references (more learning!) etc. Broadened the mind, for example, applying investigative techniques from the police to accident analysis. Was international too, took a lot from US and the library had loads of ASSE publications too, so access to this was really appreciated. Soft skills analysis (Checkland) with 'rich pictures' was one element not usually part of standard H&S training from which I gained a lot. Designing a publicity campaign, marketing, and writing a pretend accident investigation report in the style of major inquiries were also in there. It was deliberately aimed at a wide group not just H&S, there were road safety, fire specialists etc. It was not supposed to be a deeper or more extensive overlay of H&S topic areas, although these were OK in assignments or for dissertation. And the key part is the dissertation - putting that together for yourself, all part of the process. I chose this particular course so as not to cover the same-old, same-old, and it was a surprisingly rewarding process. I ended up adapting some of my assignments a few times for use in 'real life' too. Can't comment on current offerings, I'm afraid they do look much of a muchness to me all covering the Diploma material to some degree (hah hah! sorry). Maybe if people could drill down (and back into memories) as to WHY their course helped and in what areas?

My question would be to prospective Masters candidates "Will it add real value to the job you do or is it just another extension of your signature?". I know what I think the answer is. Maybe I'm getting too old to learn now but I will be taking the BOHS module on noise assessment next year because I know it will provide me with a skill that will be useful to my current job.

I have to say, I find the for's and against's very interesting and I think a lot of it is the motivation behind why someone wants to do the course in the first place. Quite a number of workplaces seem to place an emphasis on their employees having 'degrees'. However I have seen some people gets jobs in a specific area because they have a degreee, but where the degree isn't even related to the job they will be doing. Equally I've seen a lot of companies go by the person's experience but it does seem it needs to be backed up with something, whether that's NEBOSH type qualifications or other univeristy type degrees. I didn't do the NEBOSH diploma, but went down the NVQ route. I did NEBOSH certs in health & wellbeing and fire safety and risk management and have topped it up with the fire manager certificate. I'd really like to do the MSc at some point maybe towards the end of next year because I'm already booked to do the fire manager advanced diploma as I, like Jodie, really do like learning, and at 42, it's not easy when you work full time and also have a family to raise, but it is very rewarding. I think if you are happy in yourself with what you have achieved, then that's great, and if it's got you where you wanted to be, even better. If it hasn't and you want more, then why not! Even better if your workplace will fund you too. I've bene very lucky, my workplace did fund my studies and I'm very grateful for that. If I'd had to self fund, i'd not have done half of what i've done. I have a lot of time and respect for anyone that manages to get into a good career in H&S and does well. It's not an easy place to be if you can't prove yourself. Hats off to anyone who does a degree, a diploma, a certificate, whatever you do, enjoy it.

Why one wants to undertake the MSc route to qualification is likely to a combination of personal ambition etc. based on our unique/individual circumstances-including resources ( financial & time) and initial safety/other job background/qualifications. In my case, I undertook a full time 1 year MSc in Safety Management at University of Paisley in early 1990's, partly funded. It was modular and one could just do the PgD part without the dissertation/research project. Not only that, but for the first two of the four "terms", there was a common course for the 3 specialisations i.e. Safety, Environmental & Waste Management. Therefore we also had the basics of Environmental & Waste Management. The MSc included modules that were not typical in the NEBOSH Diploma Courses, such as Public & Leisure Safety at that time. The tutors for the core specialisations & safety subjects were specialists with significant industry experience, i.e. it was not as academic as some perceive it to be. However, we should also recognise that the MSc is not the only route to CMIOSH which is likely to be the aim of many Practitioners While I started my safety career with a local authority post the MSc ( I was overqualified!), my personal assessment is that it has given me a significant foundation and been a factor ( not the most important) in landing two more jobs, including the current one.

I think it is a personal thing, some people thrive on studying and enjoy covering a number of topics to a high level. Some like me will study if there is a direct benefit to me and my career. I wouldn't go out and pay £10.000 for any course, but best of look to those wjo do.

I was the opposite I have funded everything myself, so I made sure I passed at the first attempt no greater motivation in paying out money twice, I was same as a lot of people I came from a trades background.

I keep toying with the idea of a Masters. I have a Diploma and am chartered, and I can deal with the nuts and bolts of H&S in my field pretty well. Oh, and I hope to retire in less than ten years (not early retirement, can't afford it). So what do I think I might gain from it? What most safety courses miss out is the stuff about leadership and governance; certainly the Diploma goes nowhere near that. And as my career had progressed these are the two things that exercise most of my time. I have a team that does the doing, most of what I do is planning and influencing. And that comes down to governance; knowing which levers to pull and how to pull them. Oh, and wider aspects of risk management. There are MSc courses that will cover that, and make spend time really digging into what makes my organisation work. I mean, I do know this stuff already, but part of me would relish the opportunity to do some structured thinking and research around this. And to have my ideas critiqued and challenged. It's a lot of money, but at least two universities will give me 60 credits for my Dip, and that would knock the fee down to about £5K. Which I haven't got. Or at least, which I'd rather spend on new pushbikes. So I'm toying with it, as I really think it will encourage me to push my understanding of the things that really matter in my current role, John

Some useful information, in my opinion you are learning every day whether its academically or work based