MA/MSc Fashion Business & Management

For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year.

On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 1: Creativity & Orientation
Bootcamp 1: Creativity is designed to introduce you to the Business School for the Creative Industries’ learning community and professional global network orientation. Through a series of exciting and engaging fast paced workshops, tasks and peer sessions you will access resources, build relationships and develop a vision of the function of business for the creative industries.

Fashion: Theories & Histories
Fashion is a global, multi trillion-pound industry employing billions of people around the world, but it has not always been this way; this unit explores some of the ways and whys fashion developed as it did. You will learn the historic development of fashion as an industry as well as a form of social, cultural, and artistic expression. You will hear, read and discuss a whole range of ideas, theories and writing about fashion, from the historical and sociological to the feminist and the economic.

Creative People & Organisations
The creative industries are highly important to the UK and the global economy. As people are a principal resource for any organisation, the strategic management of creative people is an essential skill to ensure that the creative enterprise flourishes at times of rapid technological and organisational change and global competition. This module is designed to provide an insight into the complex theories and contemporary management practice within the creative industries both in the UK and globally.

Fashion Buying & Merchandising
This unit aims to provide critical insight into roles of buying and merchandising in an ever-changing fashion landscape. You will explore a variety of fashion typologies and the differentiated approaches to fashion buying and merchandising to gain understanding of what their role is, and the processes involved and how they are managed to achieve business success. You will explore in detail the management of processes, such as market and trend analysis, product creativity and innovation, as well as range planning, sourcing, logistics and distribution.

Marketing, Design and Communications
If we can understand branding as strategic, we can understand marketing as the tactical force employed to achieve specific business objectives sent from the brand. This unit is about how to understand branding in this way, so you can improve your own marketing, design and communication skills and investigate solutions to current issues within this industry sector.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 2: Forecasting & Predictive Analysis
Through examples from empirical research, you will have an overview of main concepts, statistical models, methods, tools and underlying principles used to improve business decision-making. You will learn fundamentals of exploratory data analysis and how to aggregate and visualize datasets.

Human-centred Innovation & Design
Human-centred design (HCD) is a creative way to solve problems. It is a process of designing for people that begins with the people for whom you are developing ideas and ends with individual solutions to meet their needs. You will learn how to design and develop systems by applying HCD and innovation principles and techniques through various relevant activities in planning and management to satisfy user needs and requirements in business, social and global contexts.

Global Fashion Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Fashion business and process in a global context. There is a strong focus on contemporary business and marketing concepts enabling you to position yourself and your practice within this constantly changing and demanding landscape.

Masters Project
The Masters Project is the culmination of your studies and is divided into two parts – a research proposal, and your final project. Both parts represent an in-depth investigation and requires you to approach a real problem or opportunity in your specialist area, analyse it, and then develop a tangible strategy and implementation plan, while applying contemporary concepts and frameworks from your studied programme.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

MA students choose one unit from:

Creative Business Start-Up
With the world ever-changing, the traditional rules of business no longer apply. The drive for innovation, creativity and agility are taking precedence. This unit explores the concept of developing creative businesses and the new paths for start-ups. You will analyse the evolution of business structures and explore the new market opportunities and challenges arising from geo-politics, trade relations and the global pandemic. And you will use research to scope out new concepts designed to fulfil rising market trends such as inclusivity, diversity, and cultural differences to create and capture value.

Investment in the Creative Industries
This unit covers the various means of investment in the creative industries. You will explore availability and access of funds through loans, grants, scholarships from government and council schemes to industry organisations and trade bodies, as well as from private equity investors. You will also explore and challenge business/financial models and future landscapes.

Retail Experience Design
Retail experience is a rapidly evolving and innovative landscape – you will take a look at the histories and evolution of the sector and explore future trends with the aim to be visionaries and leaders in the space. You will explore environmental, communications, products, people and services using insights into human behaviour and eco-systems (supply chain & critical path).

Circular Economy in Fashion
You will explore the fundamental objectives and differences between a linear economy and a circular economy and, through the lens of the global fashion industry, you will explore and assess the opportunities and complexities of this transformation with particular focus on business models, resources, and solutions relevant to future strategy and processes.

MSc students choose one unit from:

Investment in the Creative Industries
This unit covers the various means of investment in the creative industries. You will explore availability and access of funds through loans, grants, scholarships from government and council schemes to industry organisations and trade bodies, as well as from private equity investors. You will also explore and challenge business/financial models and future landscapes.

Digital Marketing Analytics
This unit explores the evolution of digital marketing and technologies, theories and practice of marketing, and the digital consumer. You will analyse trends and digital communications to innovate, explore and create digital marketing/media strategies and plans to reach various audiences from stakeholders and clients to consumers.

Postgraduate Bootcamp 3: Competitive Intelligence & Research
Bootcamp 3: Competitive Intelligence Research is designed to familiarise you with the gathering and analysis of competitors, customers, distributors, technologies, and other relevant stakeholders and features in the environment for proactive decision making in the face of threats and opportunities.

Masters Project
The Masters Project is the culmination of your studies and is divided into two parts – a research proposal, and your final project. Both parts represent an in-depth investigation and requires you to approach a real problem or opportunity in your specialist area, analyse it, and then develop a tangible strategy and implementation plan, while applying contemporary concepts and frameworks from your studied programme.

Creative Industries: Global Industry & Futures
Delivered in parallel with the Creative Industries: Leadership unit, you will enjoy an integrated series of guest lectures, interactive presentations, fireside chats and engaging PechaKucha sessions scheduled across 45 weeks of programming. The focus of the series is your individual development providing rich insights applicable to your personal transformational learning journey and provides a holistic view of the global creative industries context and foresight for future trends.

Creative Industries: Leadership
Delivered in parallel with Creative Industries: Global Industry and Futures, this is another integrated series following the same format.

MA students choose one unit from:

Behavioural Studies & Consumption
In this unit, you will overview main behaviour theories from marketing, sociology and psychology, and their recent trends, to analyse and get acquainted with the decision-making processes of consumers, and their main factors, with a particular application to cultural and creative goods.

Trends & Forecasting
This unit will require you to engage in both perceptive and analytical approaches to trends research. You will be introduced to the key theories of prediction and forecasting alongside the fundamental framework of trend research (recognise, analyse, and translate).

Fashion Branding
Branding across creative disciplines has grown in importance in contemporary society. This unit gives you a theoretical framework and critical knowledge of fashion branding and strategic brand management. It will enable you to position your own creative business practice using your critical knowledge of how brands create value for the consumer through the marketing mix, developing new brand concepts and strategies.

MSc students choose one unit from:

Managerial Accounting & Finance
You will examine the perspectives and techniques in accounting and financial control and consider how they are used by modern enterprises to effectively manage competitive business environments.

Trends & Forecasting
This unit will require you to engage in both perceptive and analytical approaches to trends research. You will be introduced to the key theories of prediction and forecasting alongside the fundamental framework of trend research (recognise, analyse, and translate).

Behavioural Studies & Consumption
In this unit, you will overview main behaviour theories from marketing, sociology and psychology, and their recent trends, to analyse and get acquainted with the decision-making processes of consumers, and their main factors, with a particular application to cultural and creative goods.

Business Analytics
You will explore how to acquire, process, analyse and interpret data to provide meaningful value for creative organisations, and look at how data is used in the creative industries, how AI and machine learning are advancing this area, and what the future may look like for the creative industries.

Tuition fees - 2023 entry

UK students:

• Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
• MA/MSc course - £10,500

EU students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
• MA/MSc course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)

International students:

• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (30 weeks) - £17,500
• Integrated International Pre-Masters course (15 weeks) - £8,750
• MA/MSc course - £17,500

Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources.

Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.

Additional course costs
In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.

You may also like to consider continuing your studies at MPhil or PhD level with us at UCA

MA/MSc course

• A good honours degree or equivalent qualification in a related discipline
  
  

and/or

• Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.
  
  

Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

MA/MSc course

The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:

• Non-UK equivalent qualifications

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

MA/MSc course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course

A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.

Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.

Portfolio requirements

This course does not require a portfolio.

English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please chcek the level of English language required:

• English language requirements