Aston Global Advantage (AGA)
Start your career from day one of your postgraduate course
The Aston Global Advantage (AGA) gives you a professional edge, preparing you for success in a fast-paced global environment.
It’s a distinctive part of every postgraduate taught programme at Aston University, designed to strengthen your professional skills, broaden your experience and help you progress confidently in your career.
What is Aston Global Advantage?
The Aston Global Advantage (AGA) is a structured part of your postgraduate course that helps you turn your degree into real-world experience.
Rather than professional development sitting alongside your studies, the AGA is built into your programme and designed to help you:
- Strengthen your professional identity and confidence
- Build experience you can talk about in interviews and applications
- Apply your academic learning in real-world contexts
- Enhance your CV and portfolio with meaningful activities
- Develop clarity around your future direction
- Work effectively with others and grow your leadership skills
Through hands-on learning, teamwork and collaboration, employer engagement and personal development activities, the AGA gives you opportunities to apply your learning, reflect on your progress and build practical, professional skills to prepare you for success in your future career.
Alongside the AGA, postgraduate taught students can also take advantage of guaranteed internships, providing an opportunity to gain practical work experience. Together, these elements help you graduate with skills and experience employers around the world are looking for.
How does it work?
The AGA is part of your academic study, and depending on your chosen course it is delivered either as a standalone module that complements and draws from your wider programme, or embedded in modules across your course.
Your AGA experience will prepare you to be ready for work and life. You’ll build core professional skills such as teamwork, problem-solving and presenting your ideas clearly, using real examples related to your subject.
What that means in practice
The AGA comprises/includes a variety of activities for you to develop and demonstrate these professional skills relevant to your discipline. Dependent on your course of study, this may include:
- Team and project-based challenges
- Experiential or simulation-based learning
- Employer engagement, live briefs or case studies
- Career and skills development workshops
- The Social Enterprise Challenge
- Structured reflection and goal-setting
- Activities linked to your dissertation, research or professional project
Who is it for?
The AGA applies to Master's taught programmes at Aston University, with delivery tailored to your school and subject area.
Please check your course webpage to see if the AGA is included.
Please note the AGA does not apply to MBA or MRes programmes.
