Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges and Organisational Changes, Master's Programme (Two-Year)
About the education
This two-year master’s programme provides you with in-depth knowledge and understanding of the challenges today’s organisations and business are facing. It focuses on the relationship between societal challenges and leadership and organisation at the intersection of the private, public, and non-profit sectors. The education engages with critical issues of leadership and organisational change such as power, ethics, resistance, gender, diversity, sustainability and digitalisation. The education combines perspectives from organisation theory, sociology, learning, business administration, political science and philosophy.
The programme will equip you with advanced knowledge of leadership and organisation theory. You will be looking at the relations between people, organisations and societal challenges, and how to enable collaboration within organisations and across sectors in relation to, for example, globalisation, digitalisation, inclusion and sustainability.
During the first year, you will be taking courses informed by critical perspectives on leadership and organisation. During the third semester, you will choose between several independent courses in order to deepen your knowledge in your particular subjects of interest. These will be made available during the second semester, in time for application. Among the courses offered are Leadership and Organisation: Research Internship, 30 credits. Students may choose to take courses at a university abroad. The programme concludes with the writing of a 30-credit master's thesis.
The programme has a strong, multidisciplinary connection to research. Many programme lecturers are active and internationally recognised scholars within leadership and organisation, work environment, social work, gender in organisations, power, resistance, governance, technology, and sustainability.
The perceived pressure for organisations to adapt to societal changes means that it is important that managers, leaders and employees have solid knowledge and a critical understanding of governance, management and organisation within and across the private, public and non-profit sectors. In addition, there is an increasing demand for people that can integrate knowledge and understanding of power, gender, diversity, work, technology, sustainability into leadership, organisation and change.
Graduates will be qualified to work within various fields, such as management and organisational development within organisations, agencies and companies, both nationally and internationally. The programme also prepares you for continued studies at PhD level.
Courses within the programme
Autumn 2025 - Semester 1
- Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges - Perspectives on Leading and Organising (OL671E), 15 credits
- Leadership and Organisation: Societal Changes - Power and Resistance (OL672E), 15 credits
Spring 2026 - Semester 2
- Leadership and Organisation: Critical Perspectives on Leadership and Organisation (OL673E), 15 credits
- Leadership and Organisation: Research Methods in Leadership and Organisation (OL674E), 15 credits
Autumn 2026 - Semester 3
Semester 3: Elective courses at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University, other Swedish universities or abroad (i.e exchange studies). Possibility for research internship
Spring 2027 - Semester 4
Autumn 2025 - Semester 1
- Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges - Perspectives on Leading and Organising (OL671E), 15 credits
- Leadership and Organisation: Societal Changes - Power and Resistance (OL672E), 15 credits
Spring 2026 - Semester 2
- Leadership and Organisation: Critical Perspectives on Leadership and Organisation (OL673E), 15 credits
- Leadership and Organisation: Research Methods in Leadership and Organisation (OL674E), 15 credits
Autumn 2026 - Semester 3
Semester 3: Elective courses at the Department of Urban Studies, Malmö University, other Swedish universities or abroad (i.e exchange studies). Possibility for research internship
Spring 2027 - Semester 4
Entry requirements and selection
Here you can find the entry requirements, as well as how the available study places are distributed between applicants in the selection.
Entry requirements
Bachelor's degree, consisting of 180 credits. The equivalent of English 6 in Swedish secondary school.
Selection
Applicants are selected in rank order based on the submitted three-part supporting document.
Apply with a supporting document
It is recommended that you submit a supporting document with your application to this programme. If you meet the eligibility criteria but do not submit a supporting document, you may only be considered for admission if places are available.
To complete your application with the supporting document, follow the steps below:
- create an account and apply to the programme via universityadmissions.se or antagning.se (in Swedish).
- upload your documentation as a PDF on universityadmissions.se, antagning.se or send the document by post. You will need to demonstrate both a bachelor's degree and English proficiency to be considered eligible for the programme.
- Download and fill in the supporting document for Leadership and Organisation, master's programme. We only accept submissions that use this document.
- Upload the supporting document to universityadmissions.se or antagning.se (in Swedish) by the deadline.
Assessment matrix for the supporting document
Part 1: Description of previous experience
- Not applicable (0p): Not assessed/ unclear
- To a minor extent (1p): The applicants previous experiences with working with societal challenges and in applying critical perspectives on leadership and organization in different types of organizations demonstrate some knowledge and understanding of particular relevance to the program in relation to leadership and organization with regards to societal challenges.
- To a high extent (2p): The applicants previous experiences with working with societal challenges and in applying critical perspectives on leadership and organization in different types of organizations demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of particular relevance to the program in relation to leadership and organization with regards to societal challenges.
- To a very high extent (3p): The applicants previous experiences with working with societal challenges and in applying critical perspectives on leadership and organization in different types of organizations demonstrate very good knowledge and understanding of particular relevance to the program in relation to leadership and organization with regards to societal challenges.
Part 2: Description of academic work independently
- Not applicable (0p): No assessment / unclear
- To a minor extent (1p): The independent work has some relevance to the program content (problem and objectives) however, logic, description and the connection to program content could be more explicit.
- To a high extent (2p): The independent work is estimated to have relevance to the program. The applicant demonstrates analytical ability with respect to the problems and methodological knowledge.
- To a very high extent (3p): The project work is considered to have great relevance to the program and the applicant shows good analysis / analysis capability with respect to the problem and demonstrates solid knowledge and skills in the approach / methodology.
Part 3: Letter of intent
- Not applicable (0p): No assessment / unclear
- To a minor extent (1p): The applicant demonstrated how education can be important to legitimize his or her continued work with leadership and organization in relationship societal challenges and societal development. The applicant can clearly communicate their arguments in English, demonstrating a sufficient level of English writing proficiency.
- To a high extent (2p): The applicant demonstrates a commitment to how education can enhance his/her continued work and interest with / for leadership and organizational issues and their relationship to societal challenges and societal development. The applicant's perception of different kinds of societal challenges must be clear and comprehensive. The applicant can clearly communicate their arguments in English, demonstrating an advanced level of English writing proficiency.
- To a very high extent (3p): The applicant shows a strong commitment to using the education in his/her continued work and interest with / for leadership and organizational issues in relation to societal challenges and societal development. The applicant's view of societal challenges must be clear and comprehensive including multiple aspects of societal challenges. The applicant demonstrates the ability to be self-reflective and demonstrates a clear, commitment to utilizing their education to contribute to dealing with societal challenges in research and practice. The applicant demonstrates an understanding of the complexity of the field of societal challenges and societal development. The applicant can clearly communicate their arguments in English, demonstrating an advanced level of English writing proficiency and demonstrates knowledge of the current area's terminology.
Deadline supporting documents
The supporting document must be uploaded no later than:
- 3 February for students applying in the first application round (international admission round, 15 October–15 January).
- 15 April for students applying in the second admission round, (national admission round, 15 March– 15 April).
Supporting document submitted after these dates will not be accepted.
Final year of bachelor’s studies
You can apply to the programme if you are in your final year of bachelor’s studies and will receive your diploma before the programme starts. To apply you must follow specific instructions.
How to apply in your final year of bachelor’s studies (Universityadmissions.se)
"You gain new perspectives on the challenges of today"
Julia Breidenstein moved from Germany to study in the master’s programme Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges and Organisational Changes. Right after her graduation, she started at her current job at Accelerated Growth in Malmö.
"You gain new perspectives on the challenges of today"
Julia Breidenstein moved from Germany to study in the master’s programme Leadership and Organisation: Societal Challenges and Organisational Changes. Right after her graduation, she started at her current job at Accelerated Growth in Malmö.
– Before I decided to study in Sweden, I did my bachelor’s degree in international business with a focus on change management. I then worked as a sales district manager for a German food retail company. After a while, I felt the desire to educate myself further.
– My choice landed on Leadership and Organisation because I wanted to deepen my understanding of the intertwined social and organisational dynamics of the drivers and impacts of societal challenges. I also found the programme interesting because of its interdisciplinary character.
New perspectives and problem-solving
– The programme gives you an understanding of and new perspectives on the challenges of today and discuss approaches and methodologies to solve them. One key finding for me was that in order to take action and create change, the first step is to get a profound understanding of the actual problem.
– During the third semester, you have the opportunity to choose elective courses. I enjoyed the course on climate change during the first semester. It was relevant and informative since the climate crisis is one of our biggest challenges. I found it very interesting and wanted to deepen my knowledge further. The elective semester allowed me to choose a sustainability course to learn more and gain informed and critical perspectives on this relevant topic.
– Being a student in an international programme was both beneficial and fun. We always had a lot of interesting discussions. It adds a lot of value and diversity to the programme when you get the possibility to understand different viewpoints.
A job where you create change
– Today, I work as a roll-out coordinator at a smaller consultancy called Accelerated Growth in Malmö, where I started right after my graduation.
– My role is to be involved in projects where changes are implemented in clients' organisations. The current project aims to improve the visibility and end-to-end traceability of food products. Stakeholder management and change communication are a big part of my work, since the changes affect many employees. I get to apply critical thinking and use a creative approach, which I gained from the programme. It has been an exciting journey.
