Advanced Diploma in Market Structures

Course Overview

The Advanced Diploma in Market Structures at the London School of Law, Politics and Economics is a UK Level 5 senior-track qualification running 12 to 15 months across on-campus, online and distance learning modes. It carries confirmed credit transfer into UK Bachelor's top-ups and is aligned with the analytic focus of the Competition and Markets Authority, the Royal Economic Society and CIPFA regulatory-finance guidance.

By graduation you will have written a merger-assessment brief, applied SSNIP tests to real markets, modelled entry and exit dynamics under alternative regulatory regimes, and defended an original case portfolio on competition policy or regulated-industry design.

Every intake of the Advanced Diploma in Market Structures joins the same LSLPE weekly rhythm, whether on-campus, online or by distance learning, and students are placed in small named cohorts from week one. Reading is drawn wherever possible from primary UK sources including ONS releases, Bank of England Monetary Policy Reports and OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlooks, giving senior-track students a direct working relationship with the evidence base used by the Royal Economic Society and the Government Economic Service. Assessed work rewards clean writing and structured argument over volume, and tutors emphasise the everyday drafting skills that senior-track practitioners use in first practice.

Key Features

• Syllabus mapped to CMA case-analysis conventions and Royal Economic Society guidance.
• Case-room seminars on live UK competition and regulated-market cases.
• Workshops on SSNIP, hypothetical monopolist and market-power analysis.
• Guest sessions from competition-economics practitioners at consultancies and regulators.
• Confirmed credit transfer into UK Bachelor's top-ups in economics.
• Capstone case portfolio defended before an LSLPE tutor panel.
• Named tutor written feedback on every graded submission with an interim tutor review at the halfway mark.
• Structured induction reading list drawn from primary UK economic sources including ONS releases, Bank of England Monetary Policy Reports and OBR Economic and Fiscal Outlooks.

What You Will Learn

• Apply industrial-organisation models to UK product and service markets.
• Assess market power using SSNIP, HHI and merger-simulation methods.
• Analyse abuse-of-dominance cases under Chapter II and Article 102 frameworks.
• Read and critique CMA phase 1 and phase 2 decision documents.
• Model entry, exit and switching costs in network industries.
• Advise on price-cap and revenue-cap regulation for utilities.
• Interpret competition remedies in retail and platform markets.
• Prepare a portfolio of merger, market-study and remedies memos.
• Read published UK economic evidence sessions, working papers and reports at practitioner standard.
• Manage timed writing and oral defence under seminar and committee-style conditions.

Who This Course Is For

• Working economists and analysts targeting competition-economics practice.
• Regulatory affairs officers in energy, telecoms or transport.
• Diploma holders progressing toward a Bachelor's in economics.
• Career changers moving from finance or consultancy into competition work.
• International applicants seeking a UK-referenced competition credential.
• Applicants moving into the Advanced Diploma route from a UK Access to HE Diploma, a mature-applicant portfolio or a related LSLPE credential.

Career Pathways

• Economic Consultant in a competition-economics practice.
• Regulatory Economist within the CMA, Ofcom, Ofgem or Ofwat.
• Investment Analyst covering regulated infrastructure.
• Research Economist in an industry or consumer body.
• Economic Policy Analyst at a competition-focused think tank.
• Government Economist support role in industrial strategy teams.
• Financial Economist advising on merger valuations.
• Support-role progression across City firms, government departments and consultancy teams and economic-policy adjacent teams in central London.

The LSLPE careers service links Advanced Diploma students with placements at competition regulators, consultancies and industry-facing think tanks. The service runs at least one careers day each academic year specifically for Advanced Diploma students on the Advanced Diploma in Market Structures, connecting them with employers across the Bank of England, HM Treasury, City firms, government departments and consultancy teams and the wider LSLPE alumni network.

Entry Requirements

• A relevant Diploma (Level 4), Foundation Year, or at least two years of relevant professional experience in economics, regulation or industry analysis.
• GCSE English at grade 4/C and Mathematics at grade 4/C or equivalent.
• IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
• One academic or professional reference.
• Applicants with competition, regulatory or industry-analysis portfolios are encouraged to include them.

Why Study at LSLPE

The London School of Law, Politics and Economics teaches competition and market-structure analysis within a short tube ride of the CMA, sector regulators, the Royal Economic Society and the City. Advanced Diploma students hear directly from the economists arguing merger and market-study cases in real time.

Every intake, on-campus or remote, joins the same weekly seminar structure with named programme-tutor support, and curriculum alignment is refreshed annually against Royal Economic Society guidance.

Study skills teaching is embedded across the Advanced Diploma in Market Structures, covering scholarly referencing, timed writing under committee-style time pressure and the reading of published UK economic materials. International applicants receive additional English-language coaching from the LSLPE admissions team, and mature applicants without recent formal study join a bridge-week before term begins to consolidate written English and note-taking habits. Tutors provide named written feedback on every submission, and every graded piece is reviewed by a second tutor for consistency across cohorts and study modes. Students shadow LSLPE tutors on structured observation sessions at Bank of England open events, IFS briefings and Treasury committee sessions where relevant, and are encouraged to follow live UK debate through the Financial Times, the Economist and City research-note ecosystem.

Apply for Advanced Diploma in Market Structures

Applications for the Advanced Diploma in Market Structures are reviewed on a rolling basis and admissions responds within one working day. Enrol on a UK Level 5 Advanced Diploma at LSLPE, credit transfer into Bachelor top-ups confirmed in writing at enrolment. International applicants receive dedicated visa and accommodation guidance from the LSLPE admissions team throughout the enrolment cycle, and progression maps into an LSLPE Bachelor’s top-up are set out in writing at offer stage. Enrol Now.