Master of Arts in Textiles

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.

By bringing together our academic expertise with Manchester City F.C.’s City in the Community Foundation, this degree offers the very best of both worlds and an integrated path to rewarding career goals.

This course offers work-based learning in Premier League surroundings, equipping you with the skills, knowledge and experience you will need to find success as a coach or sports programme leader.

Academic experts deliver the programme, providing insight and support during your three years. In addition, you are continually mentored and supported by practitioners from City in the Community who provide perspectives from the real world of delivering community sport coaching and sport development initiatives.

You will learn how coaching sport improves aspects of mental and physical health. The programme will cover all angles of project development – from planning and delivering activity, through to measuring impact – to help understand the potential of sporting opportunities to make a positive difference in the community.  

Placement options

You can opt to spend your third year getting a taste of professional life in a sports or health organisation with the four-year placement route. The program is built around work-based learning and will include placements at each level working with City in the Community on a variety of their football schemes.

Work-based learning is built into the course and you will typically spend 12 hours per week completing the work-based modules. They will give you the opportunity to explore all project areas within City in the Community and gain valuable, hands-on experience with project planning and delivery, monitoring and evaluating processes and quality assurance.

Across all three years of the program, students will complete work-based learning across the core strands of Manchester City F.C.’s City in the Community Foundation.

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.

Optional internship year

When you have successfully completed your taught units, you will have the opportunity to undertake a 36-48 week internship. You will be supported by our Placement Office, who have extensive contacts with the industry and over 25 years of experience of helping students to find placements.

The Placement Office advertise a variety of opportunities, support and advise on the application and recruitment process and continue to support you whilst you are away from the University.

Zoos play a crucial role in animal conservation. Whether they’re carrying out important research into animal behaviour, taking part in breeding programmes, educating the public or advising policymakers, they are important players in international conservation.

Study our masters in Zoo Conservation Biology and you can play your part too, as you develop expertise in the science which underpins the management and maintenance of captive populations and explore the links with species conservation on a worldwide scale.

The main core unit is Zoo Conservation, which we deliver with the help of our partners at Chester Zoo – giving you access to the zoo’s collections and facilities. Within the course, you can participate in a field course in Poland, Ecuador or East Africa or apply for a three-month work placement at a zoo or aquarium. Other core units, delivered at our Manchester campus, include practical techniques and analysis, statistics and research design and organismal genetics. Amongst a wide range of option units, you’ll also have the chance to specialise in subjects like species recovery and behavioural biology.

This all then feeds back into your research project, where you’ll combine your own data collection with background research and data analysis, and communicate your findings in a comprehensive dissertation.

Over the course of our Biomedical Science degree, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of the biological principles that relate to the workings of the human body, as well as the characteristics and diagnosis of disease leading to possible therapeutic interventions.

After gaining a solid grounding in the principles of biomedical science, you’ll move on to specialist topics, acquiring the in-depth understanding and advanced techniques vital for professional practice. That means you’ll study a range of areas, from cell and molecular biology, physiological systems and research skills, to blood science, cellular science, and techniques and applications in biomedical science, to name but a few.

In your final year, you’ll get the chance to develop your own particular interests with a major project. With our excellent facilities and close links with local hospitals, by the time you graduate you’ll be ready for the next stage of your career.

Placement options
You can apply to transfer to the four-year BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science with Placement Year program, which provides the opportunity to go on a placement for at least 36 weeks, to get a taste of professional life in either a clinical or industrial setting. You will be required to secure your own placements for this route and as such the placements are not guaranteed. You will be required to pass a medical health check and be vaccinated to work in medical fields. You’ll also need a satisfactory Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate, which is completed through the University.

Once enrolled on this program, you will be also be given the opportunity to apply to transfer to the full-time four-year BSc (Hons) Applied Biomedical Science placement route. This very specific route provides the opportunity to complete a 48-week placement in an Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) approved training laboratory and work towards completion of the IBMS Registration Portfolio. Graduates from this degree route will be eligible to apply for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Biomedical Scientist. The number of placements are limited by the capacity of local placement providers, making this a highly competitive placement route.

MA Design Innovation considers how design acts as a catalyst for innovation, leading to new products, services and user experiences. It focusses on design thinking approaches, to address contemporary societal and business challenges to develop a rich understanding of where design can add value. It will provide you with the skills to strategically apply design to solve complex problems in the global market.

The application of design thinking is explored with the latest research and practice in design innovation, design management and design strategy, that supports you to develop a holistic view of design and creatively apply the theory in your specialist area. Design research, empathy and user-centered development are at the core of the program that reveals unmet user needs and, in turn, generate insights that lead to desirable products and services in a commercial and societal context.

The course provides a balance of theory and practices through a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, cross-disciplinary collaborations, research visits and live projects to provide you with comprehensive knowledge of design innovation while giving practical skills to excel professionally.

Creating art for games is both specialised and rewarding – a mix of technical know-how and creative thinking that can make a huge impact on the look, feel and experience of any computer game. A game artist can create entire living and breathing virtual worlds, dynamic animated characters and beautiful atmospheric effects in one of the most challenging and exciting roles in the creative industry. Our BA (Hons) Games Art course offers this mix, with core skills and vital understanding that will equip you for your future career in the games industry.

While it’s a specialist course offering a specialist skill set, being part of the School of Digital Arts (SODA) offers the unique opportunity to work with others from across our broad creative community. By working in collaboration with students of photography, animation, sound design and more, as well as students from the Department of Computing and Mathematics, you’ll get a taste of the kind of cross-disciplinary teamwork that’s essential in the fast-moving digital sector. It’s not only a creative environment, but a well-equipped one too. SODA has been purpose-built to develop industry-standard skills, so it offers industry-standard facilities – giving you every opportunity to get to grips with professional-grade development and design technology.

Just as SODA provides a vibrant, dynamic environment for studying games art, Manchester provides an exciting, creative setting. The city is not only home to one of the largest media and creative sectors outside of London, but also has a rich history of video games creation, from Ocean Software in the 1980’s to TT Games and much more today. On our doorstep, you can find renowned CG, visual effects and VR/AR agencies like Flipbook and Carbon Digital, not to mention the BBC’s entire digital and games teams. In short, it’s much more than an exciting city for students, for qualified, well-rounded game artists, Manchester can provide the perfect launch pad for a rewarding 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.

Our MSc Finance and Business course is designed to give you the chance to explore modern business principles, techniques and contextual conditions.

You’ll study topics relating to international finance processes, focusing on assessing performance management, risk and management accounting. Understanding organisations as a whole will help you provide recommendations and make an impact.

Political and economic developments such as Brexit mean that international trade agreements, foreign direct investment and the attractiveness of where a company does business and accesses talent are more important than ever.

In the digital age, almost every business operates on the world stage and supplies to multiple countries. To help you compete in a hugely competitive global landscape, our International Business Management degree will give you a greater understanding of the nuances, challenges and opportunities of operating overseas.

Exploring enterprise, entrepreneurship and emerging markets

We’ll help you gain specialist knowledge in managing people of different cultures and backgrounds, and the political and governing structures of different markets that influence how businesses operate.

You’ll also develop the cross-cultural management skills you need to build international business relationships in often volatile political, cultural and economic environments.

Our International Business Management degree offers four-year routes where you can spend your third year on placement or study abroad at one of our overseas partner universities. Past students have worked for Johnson and Johnson in Tokyo, Hellman Worldwide Logistics in the USA and Warner Bros in London.

By the time you leave our business school, you’ll have the business knowledge and cross-cultural management skills to kick-start your career in the UK and abroad.

From breaking news to cultural reviews, sports reporting to in-depth investigations, we’ll help you scrutinise, interrogate and report on the issues that really matter.

This degree is geared towards inquiring minds and creative thinkers seeking a career in journalism and the creative media industries. Throughout the program, we’ll encourage you to carve out your own creative identity as you express yourself through a variety of media and genres – including print, broadcast and digital publishing.

You’ll start with the core skills of interviewing and reporting, before going on to look at specialist areas like media law and ethics, magazine journalism, editing and production. You’ll also get the chance to work on live events and learn how to cover breaking news – all under the pressure of tight deadlines.

In your third year you’ll be able to focus on your own particular interests, such as sports and music journalism. You’ll also create a portfolio of original journalism, rooted in the real world – real people, real issues, real events.

Throughout it all, you’ll have access to the multimedia newsroom, TV studio and radio production facilities, getting you up to speed with all the latest technology. So, by the time you’re finished, you’ll have acquired the wide range of skills necessary to work in today’s multiplatform digital environments.

You may also have the opportunity to spend an extra year expanding your horizons, either studying with one of our partner universities overseas, or working on a placement with an organisation.

Placement options

You may have the opportunity to take advantage of placement opportunities both in the UK and abroad. Students currently on placement are working in a variety of roles over a huge span of industries.

Our dedicated placement team has developed excellent links with various industries. You will be offered support through a preparation program of activities, including guidance on selection procedures, working overseas, CV preparation, interview and selection techniques.