On 14 April 2016, the graduation of 25 students in the GfK MPhil Marketing Research programme was celebrated. The MPhil Marketing Research programme was presented by the Department of Marketing Management in collaboration with GfK Verein. GfK Verein is a non-profit organisation that primarily focuses on nurturing marketing research across the world. The organisation is also a majority stakeholder in GfK SE, the fourth largest marketing research firm in the world.

 

The MPhil programme involved top speakers. Prof Lütters, professor of International Marketing at the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft in Berlin and a leading expert on the topic of online marketing research, presented a two-day workshop to the MPhil Marketing Research students. The workshop focused on teaching students more about online questionnaire design and generating shareable online reports.

Mr Norbert Wirth, Londen-based Global Head of Data and Sciences from GfK SE, presented a lecture on the role of smart data in the world we live in, and how social media and other data sources transform market research, while Mr Alexander Riemer, a data scientist from GfK SE in Nuremburg, presented a workshop that focused on cutting-edge topics in the field of marketing research, including sentiment analysis, machine learning, the programming language R, as well as web scraping.  

 

The format of the GfK Programme in Marketing Research will change in 2016. The MPhil Marketing Research programme will be replaced by a number of cutting-edge training courses in marketing research. These courses will be offered at a honours degree level (NQF exit level 8) and aim at addressing the changing skills needs in the highly dynamic marketing research industry. The content will be offered in an immersive format, whilst providing participants the opportunity to use research tools of the future in a dynamic learning environment. Participants will exit with both practical project experience and a certificate documenting highly sought-after marketing research and insights skills.