Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Product Design (with Placement Year)

at De Montfort University United Kingdom

The English language is one of the most widely spoken across the world. This program will enrich your understanding of the form, culture and function of today’s use of the English language, alongside teaching you a second language of either French, Mandarin or Spanish. 

English language is a stimulating, thought-provoking course designed to make you analyse and reflect on how language in general, and English in particular, functions in the world today. You will examine the origins of English and how it could evolve in an era of global change and technological innovation. You will discover how the importance and impact of language in a variety of contexts, both as a complex system for embodying ideas, emotions, and beliefs, and as a means of influencing, persuading, and moving others.

You will be able to develop a set of linguistic and analytical skills which will help you become a highly effective communicator. This is a course about how language shapes your world – by learning and understanding how language works, we can help the world open up to you.

Alongside your English language curriculum, you can choose to study French, Mandarin or Spanish from either beginner level or post-beginner level. You will develop your linguistic skills and gain an understanding of the social, cultural, political, historical, and artistic topics from the Francophone, Chinese or Hispanophone world.

If you’d like to gain an advanced knowledge of international business and management principles, through both practical application and critical thinking, this course is ideal for you.

You will enhance your understanding of core business knowledge and develop the ability to identify and manage important issues relevant to international businesses.

By embracing two different business approaches, you will learn how to make the most of opportunities to launch a business or grow an existing organisation.

You will also have the chance to personalise your learning and specialise in an area of international management of your choosing. This includes areas relating to international trade, supply chain management, contemporary business models, creativity, leadership, innovation, and managing on a global scale.

Arts and Festivals Management is the longest-running degree course of its kind in the UK and boasts enviable industry links.

In addition to deepening your understanding of academic debates, our course will equip you with the practical tools and skills needed to become a leader in key areas of the cultural arena, including theatres, music venues, galleries, museums and festivals.

You will develop a range of interdisciplinary skills such as teamwork, marketing and management theory, fundraising, business planning, licensing, health and safety, programming and cultural policy.

In your final year, you will have the opportunity either to produce a large-scale arts event of your choice or be part of the team producing, programming and running the high-profile annual Cultural eXchanges Festival. Previous events have featured inspiring guests such as Benjamin Zephaniah, Grayson Perry, and Meera Syal.

We will teach you to become an adept problem solver, with the ability to provide dynamic solutions within this continually changing and diversifying sector.

This highly practical course has been designed with the future in mind. Taking into consideration growing disciplines such as artificial intelligence, you will study several defined business areas that reflect the ever-changing needs of the market. These include modules such as Digital Transformation and Innovation in Business and Ethical and Responsible Leadership.

Employability is at the heart of our Business Management course. Alongside the opportunity of a year-long placement, you will also work on integrated case studies, which will give you the opportunity to hear from and gain insight into global brands such as Apple and Amazon. You will step away from the confines of your text books and apply your theoretical knowledge to practical business simulations set by executives from these global businesses.

You will receive an excellent grounding in all aspects of business management, incorporating knowledge from a range of disciplines such as accounting, economics, finance, human resource management, marketing, and sustainability.

A Business Management degree at DMU can open up an exciting career path in a wide range of specialist areas such as project consulting, project management, and digital transformation. Previous graduates from this degree have gone on to successful careers in world-renowned organisations, including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar, HP and The Body Shop.

Our course encompasses two distinct practical themes - concept art and comic art, both of which focus on fundamental, traditional art skills and contemporary digital techniques.

In concept art you will be helped to master a range of industry-focused tools and techniques for developing pre-production, production and post-production art for the film and video game industries. In comic art you will develop a practical understanding of idea generation, visual storytelling and visual communication.

These two themes mean you will access a wide range of creative possibilities and opportunities. They are underpinned by contextual studies to inform and enhance your practice through an exploration of the historical, cultural and social contexts of the wider world of print and web-based comic arts, graphic novels and visual communication.

The course features regular guest lectures and workshops, giving you an opportunity to experience first-hand what it takes to design successful content. Our studio culture encourages peer collaboration and networking with industry professionals to support you as you create your portfolio.

You will be able to develop skills in your own special interests and graduate as a skilled comic and concept artist, ready to work in a range of roles across the creative industries.

Undertake in-depth investigation of how media and communications saturate our lives and the role that they play in society. Competence in multiple languages is key to success in the global job market, so by combining your studies with a language, you will distinguish yourself from other graduates and enhance your employability.

On this course you will explore a diverse range of modules such as photography and video, television studies, and music industry management. You’ll have the chance to ask questions about representation in the media, and the place of audiences and fandoms. You will be able to choose from modules exploring journalism, political communication, advertising and consumption, and writing for the screen, gaining a range of skills that make you attractive to global employers.

For your language studies you can choose from French, the official language in 32 countries, or Mandarin, the world’s most natively spoken language. You can start your study of languages at DMU at beginner (French or Mandarin), intermediate, or advanced level.

The Fine Art MA is designed to prepare you for continuous artistic, professional and academic development. We will support you to develop research methods and personal goals tailored to your creative practice and professional ambitions. You’ll be introduced to emerging trends in contemporary practice including presentation, installation, curatorial and representational issues, and learn how to develop research methods to inform your creative decisions.

You will be encouraged to ask questions and take a personal and critical position in the globalised creative world, equipped with the skills to produce and exhibit your work, to embrace change in the fast-evolving creative industries and challenge artistic conventions.

Teaching takes place in our creative studio environment with support from a highly skilled team of technicians, and you will have access to a range of workshops to experiment and innovate with materials and processes. Our exhibiting artists and research-active academics have interdisciplinary expertise in drawing, painting, sculpture, analogue and digital photography, digital media, printmaking, public art, installation and relational practice. You will build important professional practice skills throughout the course with opportunities to curate and exhibit your work. Develop a dialogue around your work by participating in discussion groups and seminars and be part of a dynamic cohort of Fine Art students, from BA to PhD.

Grounded in the latest theory, this is a practical programme that will enable you to develop advanced strategic and digital marketing skills. You will learn how to be analytical, create creative campaigns, and develop research skills that will help you assess markets in-depth. You’ll be taught by a diverse team of experts who can offer you first-hand knowledge and insight into the industry with years of commercial experience to draw from.

This course will help you expand your knowledge of the strategic and critical analytical approaches to marketing, and how digital marketing and social media is planned and executed. You’ll learn about contemporary marketing issues and social and digital media scenarios, which are embedded throughout the course.

Other key themes include insight management, innovation and entrepreneurship, customer management, campaign planning, paid, owned and earned media planning, marketing metrics, working with agencies and international marketing perspectives. Completion of the Direct and Digital Marketing module will give you significant exemptions from the Institute of Direct Marketing’s Certificate in Direct and Digital Marketing.

This is a specialist master's degree for students who already have qualifications in marketing or substantial marketing experience. If you don’t have any previous marketing qualifications or experience in the field, then our Marketing Management MSc is an ideal choice if you’d like to start a career in the industry.

We will help you develop into a creative professional such as craftsperson, jeweller, ceramicist, textile artist, designer-maker, glass artist, designer, researcher, consultant, curator, buyer, stylist or educator. You will be encouraged to select a specialism, helping you establish your own personal creative voice and be capable of producing inspiring work.

You will explore both traditional hand skills and emerging technologies while working with a wide range of materials such as hot glass, clay, paper, fine metals, plastics, resin, wood and textiles. Students produce a wide range of objects, including individual artefacts for galleries and to commission, small batches of similar items, limited editions, public installations and designs for industry. Bespoke objects are produced for domestic, interior spaces, exterior spaces, to be worn on the body, and can be hand-held or large-scale sculptural pieces.

Professional practice is embedded throughout the course to grow your entrepreneurial and business skills, preparing you for your career. Graduates have gone on to set up their own craft workshops, secure roles in design studios with brands including Sainsbury’s, work in the craft industry with leading ceramicists, for example Sue Pryke and Hannah Tounsend, as well as to collaborate with the likes of the National Trust.

This course incorporates many contemporary arts disciplines, such as acting, dance, voice, physical theatre, music theatre, sound design and digital video. It celebrates and investigates the possibilities of live and digital arts in a range of performance contexts, from the traditional to the avant-garde.

With a focus on making performance, you can tailor your studies to your own passions and aspirations in areas such as contemporary performance, digital performance and applied arts and education. You will be supported to develop as an innovative artist able to create, perform and manage yourself, and others, within the national and international performing arts industries.

Our graduates are dynamic, creative practitioners who can take a piece of performance right through from creative brief to public performance – skills that are attractive to potential employers. As a graduate, you will be equipped with a high level of resilience and a range of skills and experience that will enable you to respond flexibly to the changing landscape of the sector.