Master of Arts in Product Design

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

This course is at the forefront of production design and manufacturing practices and brings together students from creative and technical backgrounds, to foster original approaches to product design for manufacture. It supports you to explore and develop personal design methodologies and philosophies, and locate these within a deep understanding of historical, contemporary and future design practices, and wider social and cultural contexts.

You will undertake core units, delivered by production design specialists, consisting of design theory and practice lectures, material and manufacturing workshops, group seminars, individual tutorials, live external projects, and research study trips. Practical design development is supported by extensive hand and machine workshops for wood, metal, ceramics, glass and plastics, and digital workshops for laser cutting and large scale CNC routing.

Optional units facilitate innovative cross-disciplinary opportunities, supporting the development of collaborative working with students from within the material making and manufacturing cluster of MA/MSc/MFA Craft and MA/MSc/MFA Textile, and across the wider postgraduate design community. There are cross-faculty options to study within the faculty of “Science and Engineering”, acquiring advanced 3D CAD skills for industrial production, and utilising the latest advanced 3D printing processes. The Manchester Metropolitan Business School option addresses commercial aspects of design, enabling students to locate their ambitions within a defined financial model.

You will able to explore and challenge all aspects of product design, embracing opportunities for innovation across markets and production levels, from one-off making and batch fabrication, to flexible digital manufacture and high volume industrial production.

BSc (Hons) Fashion Marketing equips students with the essential skills needed for a career in this exciting field of fashion. The increasingly competitive world of fashion relies on good marketing strategies to succeed. Students from this course will learn all aspects of fashion marketing in a global and circular economy. From a small business start-up, to the luxury brand catwalk, students will study a diverse range of subjects with industry experts, collaborations and self-directed study choices.

Marketing teams plan and design all communication between the brand and the customer, directly influencing the number of items sold and therefore the profitability of the business. Throughout this program, there is particular emphasis on the circular economy, and the influence that sustainable business models have on the environment and on the relationship with the customer.

Students will learn about interactive fashion marketing, digital marketing, artificial intelligence, personalised fashion marketing, micro-influencers, sustainability, and user-generated content.  Underpinning this is a thorough knowledge of the fashion industry, the product development process, and the local/global socio-economic influence on fashion and the marketing message.

Placement options

• Students can study the BSc (Hons) Fashion Marketing course on a 3 years full-time basis or with an optional placement year between the second and third year which extends the duration to 4 years.

In both the private and public sectors, there is demand for professionals with strong language skills who can work in culturally diverse environments. We have created our own multicultural community, including British, exchange and international students, along with foreign language assistants, allowing you to be absorbed into the everyday use of foreign languages.

We have been providing professional language courses for more than 30 years. Our strong local, national and global links will help to enhance your study and future employment opportunities. If you study Spanish as a major or equal subject, you will be required to spend a year abroad. The experience of being immersed in another culture for several months is one our students find both beneficial and rewarding. They return having made new friends, experienced new places and having grown in confidence.

This course places language learning within the wider context of Spanish studies including culture, society, literature, film and history. The language units emphasise communicating effectively and developing transferable skills such as translating, interpreting and interview techniques, with practical language classes embracing speaking, listening, reading and writing. You will also have the option to study Spanish from beginners level.

TESOL is a practical branch of applied linguistics and it will help you understand language learning and teaching approaches, as well as the English language itself. You will develop a new understanding of different types of communication and other cultures.

This course will help you improve your own fluency and accuracy in other languages. You will gain experience of how to help learners of all abilities to become fluent English speakers and you will be taught by highly qualified and experienced practitioners who have taught across the world. All of these skills will give you a head start if you decide to take a further qualification such as CELTA (Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or Trinity Certificate TESOL.

Placement options

• You will have the opportunity to spend your third year in Spain or Latin America and we will assist you in choosing from a choice of partner universities where you can study.

Photography offers an exciting range of career paths and specialisms and this course provides the perfect starting point for them.

You will have the opportunity to discover and push the boundaries of current practices and approaches. You’ll discover how photography can be used to tell powerful stories and communicate your personal interests within cultural and industry contexts. You will also have an opportunity to explore a wide range of different subject areas such as fashion, documentary, editorial and commercial photography. Throughout the course you will have the chance to experiment in a purpose-built studio, darkroom and digital facilities.

As a Photography student you will be part of the broad, dynamic creative community at the School of Digital Arts. As such, you will have units and classes taught across all our courses, with the chance to collaborate on projects with animators, sound designers, games developers and a range of other media-focused students. It’s an approach designed to mirror the cross-disciplinary practices you’ll find in the professional world, while giving you the chance to explore the creative directions that interest you most. Matching that professional approach, our purpose-built school provides professional-standard tools – a brand new creative playground for producing photographic work at the cutting edge of emerging digital technologies. It’s a school and a course designed to give you the vital industry and artist networking, technical and creative skills to prepare you for a career in the photographic and related industries.

Manchester offers a fantastic backdrop for it all. Studying here puts the country’s second-largest media and creative sector on your doorstep, with a globally recognised photographic industry and a substantial animation, film and digital/tech sector. At MediaCityUK, there’s a mix of national broadcasters and independent operators, while the city is home to a wide range of major media businesses. Manchester has a dynamic artistic and cultural scene that houses some of the best public and independent museums and galleries in the UK . So, whatever path you want to pursue in photography – or in the wider media, arts and digital tech industries – Manchester offers all sorts of opportunities for building a network, gaining experience and making a great start in your career.

Placement options

SODA Placement Year
As part of your studies with SODA, you will have the chance to take a year working on placement within the industry. During your year, you will spend at least 36 weeks working within an organisation in the industry, developing workplace skills, practical understanding and genuine industry experience.

The Combined Honours program offers you an opportunity to study two subjects at degree level.

English:
English is a well-established humanities discipline, which explores the role of the written word in defining and transforming human experience. The modern discipline of English is rooted in the study of literature and the language in which it is written. Students of English can expect to study all major periods and forms of literature and to learn how to analyse literary texts by drawing on disciplines such as history, sociology and politics. The study of English develops strong critical thinking and communication skills, attributes that are highly valued in humanities graduates by employers. The English department has access to a community of internationally renowned writers and critics through the Manchester Writing School, one of the most successful of its kind in the UK. The Creative Director is Carol Ann Duffy DBE (Poet Laureate 2009-2019). You will develop the necessary skills in critical thinking and communication that are of value to graduates entering a wide array of career paths.

Spanish:
Proficiency in modern languages will give you the competitive edge in the global jobs market. In both the private and public sectors, there is demand for professionals with strong language skills who can work in culturally diverse environments. Studying Spanish at Manchester Met will give you the opportunity to learn from native speakers. Our languages department have created their own multicultural community, including British, exchange and international students, along with foreign language assistants, allowing you to be absorbed into the everyday use of your chosen language.

We have been providing professional language courses for more than 30 years and our staff are nationally, and in many cases internationally, recognised experts in their field. Our strong local, national and global links will help to enhance your study and future employment opportunities.

Placement options
If you take Spanish as a major or equal subject you will spend your third year in Spain or Latin America and we will assist you in choosing from a wide choice of partner universities where you can study.

Smart technology is the future. Machines that talk to each other, learn from their surroundings and respond accordingly – think autonomous robots – are the shape of things to come. On this MSc Engineering Smart Systems course, you’ll put yourself at the centre of these exciting technological developments, working at the forefront of Industry 4.0.

Our new interdisciplinary master's course focuses on applied skills. It will give you the ability to manage forward-thinking technical strategies, and the skills to deploy the latest digital technologies across the engineering sector.

You’ll study a range of core units, exploring the key technological and manufacturing foundations of Industry 4.0. You’ll also develop professional skills with two project management units, where you will learn the principles behind delivering innovation to industry.

In our high-tech facilities, you’ll learn to use the tools and equipment you’ll come across in the workplace. Throughout it all, you’ll have the support of our experienced teaching and research staff, who will ensure that what you learn is 100% relevant to industry. And, with technical, real-world thinking and project management skills, you will have a proven ability, ready to play a constructive role in shaping our technological future.

Placement options

The optional industry placement provides you with the opportunity to apply your academic knowledge in the workplace. Through this, you’ll gain additional specialist expertise and transferable skills through responsibilities and contributions to the employer’s business.

Following completion of the taught elements of your MSc course, you can gain additional practice credits by working for a minimum of 36 weeks and maximum 42 weeks in an industrial setting, relevant to your course.

It’s your responsibility to search and apply for advertised placement opportunities, but you’ll be supported by academic staff and the University’s Careers and Employability Service to find a placement that is suited to you and your career ambitions.

All placements are approved and monitored in accordance with the University’s Institutional Code of Practice for Placement and Work?Based Learning, including additional checks for international students on study visas.

This course is a flexible and challenging master's, offering a range of potential specialist routes, such as Medieval and Early Modern, War and Conflict, Race and Gender, Country House, or a general History route.

We offer a wide range of modules that draw on the strengths of our research-active staff and the course aims to provide students with the skills to progress to higher research programs.

You can choose to undertake a placement related to your research interests, organized in collaboration with staff members, and drawn from our extensive network of regional contacts. Previous placements have included National Trust properties, the People's History Museum, and the Holocaust Exhibition and Learning Centre (Huddersfield).

Take on new and emerging markets in an international context. On this course, we'll help you to develop vital skills in international business management.

As well as ethical and global management, you’ll also refine your expertise by exploring the political economy and how it can affect global trade.

You can tailor the course to concentrate on areas that you find most interesting by selecting an option unit from a range of business specialisms.

We’ll also help you understand working practices from different territories and build the skills you need to effectively manage people from different cultures and backgrounds.

BA (Hons) Fine Art is a studio-based program that provides students with the platform to confidently enter the professional world of the artist and arts professional. Students will actively investigate universal approaches and practices in contemporary fine art that will test their knowledge, creativity and understanding. The program is taught by professional artists that are actively engaged in contemporary practice and will therefore will encourage students to explore the broader social, political and community context to define a personal mode of study that will equip them to continue their development post-degree.

The wide range of teaching approaches, facilities and opportunities will support students to acquire skills and varied methodologies that allow them to either specialise or engage with a pluralistic approach to exploring fine art.  The diversity of content creates a distinctive group of students that engage with and question a divergent range of approaches to studio practice and externally engaged projects.

Students also have the opportunity to develop their practice within an international context through the international exchange program, national and international study trips and the acquisition of foreign language skills. There are opportunities to engage in the contemporary art world through study trips, exhibitions, student exchange programs, visiting artists' lectures, specialist masterclasses and gallery talks at The Whitworth.

The innovative BSc (Hons) Fashion Business and Management is responding to the needs of the rapidly evolving global fashion industry where the customer is steering businesses to think and act smarter.

By joining the BSc (Hons) Fashion Business and Management, you will take a journey that will put you at the forefront of current thinking within the fashion industry and prepare you to excel as a graduate and a future leader. Successful companies are putting their customer at the heart of the brand. Marketing, buying, merchandising, data insight, digital channels and in store have to work together to design a service to bring about a total customer experience.  This requires fashion graduates with the vision, entreprenuerial thinking, business management and marketing skillsets to be successful within this vibrant industry.

By completing the program students will also be awarded the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Diploma in Management and Leadership, a business standard, valued by employers in the UK and Internationally.