MA/MSc Global Marketing & Communications

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.

Understanding Consumers
Through looking at the evolution of consumer behaviour, and learning about the consumer of the 21st Century, you will be expected to demonstrate the ability to integrate and apply academic and practical knowledge. Specifically, this unit provides you with an ability to gain in-depth and advanced knowledge and understanding of consumer insights and behaviour.

Principles of Advertising
Understanding the history and evolution of advertising enables us to understand the established infrastructure of this industry and how it might develop in the future. This unit covers the history of the industry, the anatomy of an advertising agency, understanding clients, the concepts of advertising and the role of brands, and the current issues facing the industry.

Global Marketing Planning and Strategy
This unit provides you with the opportunity to gain insight into international marketing environments through the wider framework of the global market. By examining case studies of global brands and their strategies, you will learn how to see opportunity and identify problems that may occur in the planning and implementation of global strategy and therefore develop an understanding of best practice.

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.

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 study:

Marketing Management
You will explore, and challenge, the foundations and principles of marketing management - the relationship between building brands and brand equity, developing effective strategies for the brand, and analysing the competition. By the end, you will understand the role and process of marketing management and have the practice and experience to develop a brand blueprint, a marketing brief, and an advertising and marketing plan, as well as learning the soft skills to navigate the multiple stakeholder relationships between agencies, in-house teams and other suppliers.

MSc students study:

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.

All students choose one unit from:

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.

Global Luxury Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Luxury 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.

Global Music Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Music 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.

Global Games Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Games 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.

Global Fine Art Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Fine Art 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.

Global Cosmetics & Beauty Industry & Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Cosmetics and Beauty 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.

Global Media Industry and Business
This unit will give you comprehensive knowledge of current theories and practices for managing Media 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.

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 and 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).

MSc students choose one unit from:

Behavioural Studies and 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).

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 want to undertake further study or research to specialise even more.

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