Manchester Metropolitan University has added another huge brand – McDonald’s – to a growing list of partners in providing corporate degrees.

The University’s Business School already provides qualifications for Tesco and Booth’s.

McDonald\’s new Foundation Degree for managers is a two-year course which will be accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University, and marks the fast-food company\’s latest move into education.

It will mean that McDonald\’s employees will be able to get a nationally recognised qualification without leaving their jobs.

Rigorous

The company, which has 85,000 employees in the UK, enrolled 53 senior managers onto the course this month.

Dr Sue Shaw, Executive Head of Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour at the Business School said: \”We are delighted to be working in partnership with McDonald\’s.

\”This is an innovative Foundation Degree which offers the company\’s restaurant managers a rigorous, academic grounding in managing a business outlet, including people management, financial control, operations and marketing.\”

Janette Moran, 30, a McDonald’s restaurant manager in Manchester, was one of 10 managers on a trial phase of the course: \”I got so much from it. What I was doing in the restaurant and what I was studying at home went hand in hand. When I was on the restaurant floor, I was putting the learning to use, especially the leadership skills.

Convenience

\”If people don’t understand the level I work at, it’s nice to be able to say, I’m a Business Manager – that’s Foundation Degree level.\”

David Fairhurst, Chief People Officer, McDonald’s UK & Northern Europe and a Visiting Professor in Human Resource Management at MMUBS, said: \”There’s no longer a need to choose between education and employment – people want to study at a stage in their life when it’s convenient for them.\”