1Excuse me, I was told to come here for advice about...
2Management Diploma courses?
3You've certainly come to the right place.
4Hi, my name is Monica.
5Nice to meet you.
6My name is Andrew, Andrew Harris.
7So, Andrew, have you seen our diploma course prospectus yet?
8Yes, I've already looked at it.
9In fact, I thought the information on course content was really useful,
10but I'm afraid I'm a bit confused by all the different ways you can do the course:
11full-time intensive, part-time and so on.
12Well, let's see if I can help.
13I think each course type has its advantages and disadvantages, so it really depends on you -
14your own study habits, and your financial circumstances, of course.
15Are you working at the moment?
16Yes. I've been working in the administration section of the local hospital for the last three years.
17And before that I worked in the office of a computer engineering company for two years.
18So, I've got about five years of relevant work experience.
19And what I'm hoping to focus on is Personnel Management.
20I see.
21And are you planning to leave your current job to study,
22or are you thinking about just taking a year off?
23I want to know what my options are, really.
24I don't want to quit my job or anything
25and my employers are keen for me to get some more qualifications
26but obviously, it would be better if I could do a course without taking too much time away from work.
27Right, so you don't really want to do the full-time course, then?
28No, not really.
29It's also a question of finances.
30You see, my office have agreed to pay the cost of the course itself,
31but I would have to take unpaid leave if I want to study full-time and, well...
32I don't think I could afford to support myself with no salary for a whole year.
33Okay.
34Well, you have two other possibilities:
35you could either do the part-time course -
36that would be over two years and you wouldn't have to take any time off work -
37or you could do what we call a 'modular' course.
38You could do that in eighteen months if you wanted or longer,
39it's quite flexible and it would be up to you.
40So what does the part-time course involve?
41For that you would join an evening class and have a lecture twice a week.
42Then, you'd have to attend a seminar or discussion workshop one weekend a month.
43What kind of coursework would I have to do?
44Well, it's a mixture.
45You'd be expected to write an essay each month, which counts towards your final assessment.
46You have a case study to do by the end of the course,
47which might involve doing a survey or something like that,
48and also you need to hand in a short report every four weeks.
49So, that's quite a lot of work, then, on top of working every day.
50It sounds like a lot of studying and really tiring.
51Yeah, you certainly wouldn't have much free time!
52What about the 'modular' course?
53What would I have to do for that?
54That's where you get the opportunity to study full-time for short periods.
55That way you can cover a lot of coursework
56and attend lectures and seminars during the day.
57And each module lasts for one term, say, about twelve weeks at a time.
58There are obvious advantages in this -
59the main one being that you can study in a much more intensive way,
60which suits some people much better.
61And how many of these 'modules' would I have to do to get the diploma?
62The current programme is two modules -
63and then you have to choose a topic to work in more depth -
64but you can base that on your job,
65and so you don't need to be away from the office,
66and how long it takes is up to you.
67The important thing is that you don't have to study and work.
68You can focus on one thing at a time.
69Yes, I can see that.
70It certainly sounds attractive!
71It would be more expensive, though.
72I mean, I'd have to support myself without pay for each module.
73That's true, so that might be a problem for you.
74Look, why don't you talk this over with your employers...