Quoting bringme
"I’ve just luckily offered admissions from:
- MSc E-Business & Innovation, Lancaster University (unconditional)
- MSc Management, Technology & Innovation, Uni of Manchester (cond.)
- MSc Management and Information Systems, Nottingham Trent (cond.)"
The first thing I'd say is that neither of the courses seem geared towards PhD study (both are quite "applied" courses). I did my undergrad at Manchester in Economics and what I would say is that they are excellent at *each* disipline contributing to that masters course. Their business school is certainly one of the best in the country (like Lancasters) and their computer science department is top notch too. Before Manchester and UMIST merged, UMIST had one of the best management schools in the country - so there's absolutely nothing but world class departments contributing to the masters at Manchester.
It's the title of the Lancaster masters I'd think twice about "E-Business" hmmm..... not sure if that will be a bit "fluffy" compared with the Manchester course. Such applied courses aren't generally designed with PhD study in mind (more industry / work focus).
In terms of a PhD - funding is quite hard in management - you'd probably end up going down the operations research route (which Lancaster are excellent for) as they tend to have more funding and less competition for places. Personally I think the Manchester MSc will put you in a better position for further postgraduate study. You should discuss your PhD desires with the departments in question - see how many people went on to PhD's from those MSc courses.
In reality, department for department there is VERY little to seperate Manchester and Lancaster for the courses you're looking at - it's probably fair to say Manchester is better known though.
On this:
Originally Posted by bringme
"If I go to Lancaster, due to its small size and proximity, probably faculty members will know me better and can write me stellar recommendation. But what about "reputation" among academia? Is it "easier" for Lancaster grad to go to Oxbridge instead of Manchester grad? "
I'd say there is some truth here. However my reference at Manchester has been excellent and always provided me with timely references. As with ANY course make the time to get to know your supervisors / course directors so when you do ask them for a reference they can put a face to a name. Finally for PhD study the university ratings don't really matter but the subject ones DO. Here people tend to go off the RAE ratings (1-5*), almost of the PhD students (from the UK) have been to a 5 or 5* rated department elsewhere. That won't be a problem with either of Lancaster or Manchester.
There's a lot of comments akin to "People know Mancheseter is a good uni and don't know Lancaster" which to be fair is very true in reality. You can often see how good a university is by the number and quality of the employers that visit the universities to recruit graduates - and outside of top 10 universities - Manchester's "milkround" is certainly one of the best.
Good luck with it!