Master in Learning and Organizational Change

Become a leader who faces continuous organizational change with confidence, backed by a rich set of innovative approaches and methods. Our class format makes it possible for you to live anywhere in the U.S. and earn your degree. Deepen your expertise in coaching, design thinking, or leading equity and inclusion by completing a certificate program along with your degree.

The workplace grows more complex, and the pace of change continues to accelerate. That means opportunities for innovative, confident leaders to make an impact through an organization's most resilient resource: Its people.

The Master's Program in Learning and Organizational Change at Northwestern University (MSLOC) can enhance your career by helping you seize those opportunities.

Maybe you are an experienced leader who aspires to discover new paths to transform your workplace. Or a manager in human resources or learning and development looking for new angles to approach change management challenges. Or you are early in your career and see yourself as an organizational consultant or change management professional, knowing that real change happens because you understand people as much as you do the numbers.

Our close-knit community of students (on average 120 to 140) includes professionals who fit each of these profiles and more. Their common motivation: transforming their thinking about organizational change. And regardless of our students' professional starting place, we work with everyone throughout their time in our program to find the right career match, with more than half of our part-time students moving into new roles while they are still in our program.

We help you become a fearless change agent – for business, education, design, technology, research, consulting, and more.

An Alternative to the MBA

MSLOC offers an alternative to MBA programs and master's programs in organizational development, organizational behavior, industrial/organizational psychology, human resource development, or similar graduate programs.

Compared to MBA programs, the center of our attention is not the business or enterprise but the people within the enterprise.

In every course, our organizational focus is also broader than for-profit businesses. We engage organizations across sectors, from the private sector to social and public sector organizations, and prepare graduates to operate effectively in any environment to advance strategic change, organizational culture, learning, and performance.

A Multidisciplinary Approach

Compared with other master's degree programs that focus on organizational change or human resources management, MSLOC draws upon research and insights from a more diverse set of academic and professional disciplines. These include organizational development, organizational and social psychology, learning sciences, and organizational learning. We also draw from the fields of strategy, change management, knowledge management, social networking, coaching, and design.

Why do we explore multiple ways of thinking about learning and organizational change? Dealing with complex, ambiguous challenges in a changing environment depends on a practitioner's ability to continuously learn, question assumptions, and innovate. And innovation happens at the intersection of different ways of thinking.

Northwestern University’s Master's in Learning & Organizational Change is more than a program in a top-10 US graduate school at a top-10 US university. We are a learning community of practitioners--students, alumni, faculty, and staff--who are working to improve the world's workplaces.

Curriculum: Our program is designed to develop the competencies required for leadership in the face of complex, continuous organizational change, taught by expert faculty members with strong professional experience. Our program draws heavily on industrial/organizational psychology in our curriculum, among other research foundations including learning sciences, applied cognition, design thinking, and management and leadership theories that may be found in leading MBA programs.

STEM Designation: Northwestern MSLOC is a STEM-designated and people-focused program - allowing international students (on F-1 visas) to remain in the United States for up to three years post-graduation to work in your field of study.

Career Support: We provide ongoing and direct support to our students and alumni through regular live career development workshops, ongoing custom career coaching, resume support, networking programs, and access to partner companies that actively recruit MSLOC talent. At graduation, over 94% of MSLOC graduates are employed full-time by an organization or as operating entrepreneurs, with many students pivoting to a new career role during their graduate studies.

Strong Global Community: Northwestern MSLOC has an active and helpful alumni network spanning 20+ countries.

Global Brand Recognition: Northwestern University is a leading university globally and is well recognized and respected nationally and internationally.

The Northwestern Difference

Northwestern is a comprehensive research university that is deeply interdisciplinary across multiple schools and units. Our rigorous yet empathetic academic environment provides a robust mixture of theory and practice, with an emphasis on top-tier research, new knowledge, creative expression, and practical application. If you are at Northwestern, you are part of an innovative, collaborative, and multidimensional community delivering an impact that is rare in higher education.