Master of Science in Craft

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

The MFA in Graphic Design & Art Direction program is designed for creative practitioners who wish to advance their knowledge, skills and specialism within the field of visual communication.

Each student will develop a practice-led investigation within this broader context, actively constructing a bespoke body of design knowledge which combines theory, practice, research, entrepreneurship and innovation from a wide range of creative activities.

They will be taught to question and expand their creative thinking and generic design process by developing their analytical skills; engaging in critical dialogues; work independently, collaboratively and interdisciplinary; experimenting in a range of directions before delivering professional and innovative outcomes to defined audiences with confidence. All creative activities are supported by strategic thinking, robust methodologies and informed by practice-led research.

This course offers you the opportunity to choose your own route through the field of animation, studying either MA Animation or the bracketed specialism, Visual Effects.

Animation is a discipline that adapts, challenges and leads the moving image industry. It is in the DNA that we all share since it can be applied equally to live action, games, XR, live performance, online, and any number of time-based media as well as being an important form in itself.

Creating animation is a collaboration, and at the heart of this course we encourage students to develop a strong network within the School of Digital Arts and industry focussed links. Animation is not a mono-discipline but multi-faceted, and our bracketed animation specialism reflects the many ways that animation can be applied and examined. From science communication, to award winning short films, to mind-bending VFX, animation touches and transforms many areas.

You will drive your creative projects in your chosen practice with staff who will guide and challenge you. Our postgraduate community is led by a specialist team of academic staff and visiting speakers who are practising artists, animators and researchers. They bring their passion and knowledge of the varied industries that animation feeds and share advice and expertise about how students will join them.

The postgraduate student experience is designed to provide you with opportunities to hone your specialist technical skills, challenge your thinking, and make professional links with the global creative community and industry.

As computing continues to evolve at a remarkable pace, the expertise to harness the latest technology become more vital every day for organisations in every sector. Our MSc Computer Science course provides that expertise – helping you develop the specialist skills for a career in computing.

On this computer science masters, you’ll explore themes around object-oriented programming, advanced computer networks, cloud software development and information systems and databases. You will learn advanced concepts, techniques and technologies to equip you for the practical side of investigating an issue and creating a system or solution to match. Through this, you’ll gain a set of skills made for the modern professional world of computing.

You’ll also have the flexibility to set the direction for your postgraduate studies with a master's project of your own design. While you’ll have the one-to-one support of your supervisor, it’s a solo project – as much about developing computing skills as it is about building confidence and autonomy, vital skills for the workplace.

By the time you’re finished, you’ll be equipped with both theoretical understanding and practical abilities in computer science – ready to apply your advanced knowledge to real-world situations.

Placement options

Strengthen your skillset by spending time in industry on a placement year, applying the skills you’ve learned throughout your academic studies in a practical, real-world environment. It’s an excellent opportunity to develop a professional career development plan and gain transferable workplace skills that can boost your employability.

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 a maximum of 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. However, not all students can be guaranteed a placement.

All placements are approved and monitored in accordance with the University’s Institutional Code of Practice for Placement and Work?Based Learning. For international students, this includes additional checks on study visas to ensure the appropriate visa status.

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.

The MA/MFA Performance is an exciting taught masters programme that offers a practical, versatile and interdisciplinary approach to performance-making and training. The programme provides students with an advanced and practical understanding of current performance practices, drawing on a broad range of artistic and theoretical influences. The development of new creative practice is at the core of the programme, as well as how this work might be developed and profiled in a professional context.

Furthermore, MA/MFA Performance also offers students the chance to specialise in either of the distinctive areas of laboratory theatre or contemporary performance, or to combine elements from both with direct experience of a current professional arts context. The experience of these options is fed through a further process of critical and professional contextualisation, before students embark on the creation of their own major projects as the culmination of the degree.

Film and media studies focuses on the in-depth exploration of both cinematic and media forms, from the established to the new and emergent, from TV to games.

Taught by a large team with a diverse range of interests, you’ll have access to cutting-edge research expertise and excellent resources in a department as dedicated to supporting students as it is to inspiring them.

Film units introduce you to the history of cinema and its many forms and genres. This course will broaden your horizons from Anglo-American film to world cinemas, and develop your skills as a critical interpreter of the cinematic text. Media units explore the development of media industries, forms and criticism, but focus particularly on current and emerging platforms and industries. In your final year you can explore your interests in depth by completing an independent project on a topic of your own choice, working with academics who are experts in their fields.

The creative industries sector in Manchester offers a broad range of opportunities in professions linked to film and media. The city is an excellent place to study this subject and to begin gaining experience and building your networks. We’ll help you to be ready for the world beyond university by giving you the opportunity to engage with external partners, and you may have the chance to study abroad as part of your course, or to spend a year on a placement in industry in Britain or abroad.

Placement options

You will have the opportunity to undertake a placement for your third year of study, returning to Manchester Met for your fourth year. The Department of English works closely with a number of local schools and voluntary organisations that give students the opportunity to gain experience in a range of areas, including youth work, education, creative workshopping and video production.

Banking and finance are not only central to the country’s (and the world’s) economy – they also offer a diverse range of opportunities for your future. Whether you’re considering a career in personal banking, wealth management or corporate finance (to name but a few), our BSc (Hons) Banking and Finance program offers the skills and knowledge you’ll need to get started.

You’ll start off getting a good grounding in financial theory and practice, before exploring specialist areas in more depth – from retail banking and corporate finance, to risk management and the industry’s most influential institutions. You can also choose to spend a year working on a placement or studying abroad, developing valuable skills and boosting your career prospects.

Whether you take the three or four-year route – and whatever specialist areas you choose in your final year – you’ll find a practical focus throughout your studies. Not only is everything we teach rooted in real-world experience and expertise, but we’ve designed the course to give you the kind of transferrable skills employers across the industry demand.

Study Abroad
Instead of a placement, you’ll have the opportunity to spend up to a year overseas, studying with one of our partner institutions across Europe, or beyond. Go abroad in the third year of your degree, and you’ll not only learn about other cultures, improve your language skills and discover more about yourself – you’ll also boost your career prospects.

Having first-hand knowledge of another country’s cultures and traditions can take you far in a range of careers. And, by going abroad you’ll also demonstrate the kind of independent spirit and adaptability that many employers want.

The roles of buyers and merchandisers are key to the success of any fashion business. They are responsible for generating revenue through trading the product by assessing sales, customer demand, market trends, selecting, sourcing and managing products to maximize sales. The performance of these two roles is crucial to the success of the business.

The BSc (Hons) Fashion Buying and Merchandising course provide students with a thorough understanding of all aspects of the management of the product from concept to consumer, including the strategies needed to start a new business and improve business performance, helping students to succeed in a truly exciting field of work.

The breadth of knowledge gained from this course also includes product innovation, market analysis and business analytics with the essential skills needed to not only to secure graduate employment or start a new business, but for career progression to more senior functions through the focus on business strategy, supply chain and the management of people.

Students who graduate from this programme will have the ability to experiment with fresh approaches and have creativity and commercial acumen for the future buying and merchandising roles.

Placement options
At Manchester Fashion Institute, employability is at the heart of our teaching. All of our undergraduate courses offer an optional sandwich year route that gives you the opportunity to apply for an industry placement between your second and final year. If you choose this route, you will commit to working full-time in the fashion industry for the entirety of your third year, before returning to complete your degree in your fourth year.

A placement year is an incredibly valuable element of your course as it allows you to apply your university-based knowledge, skills and understanding to your job role. During your placement, you will make your own industry contacts and enhance your CV by gaining real-world industry experience. Currently around 40% of our student cohort take part in a one-year full-time industry placement.

We have a dedicated placements team with over three decades of experience sourcing and securing outstanding placement opportunities. They will provide you with extensive support and advice prior to and during your industry placement.

Placement opportunities are available both in the UK and internationally, with students previously working in countries such as Austria, Germany, Norway, Hong Kong SAR, Sri Lanka and the USA.

Sustainability is at the forefront of a global agenda. From how it influences individuals’ decision making, to the impact it has on the strategic direction of multinational organisations.

With the growing recognition of sustainability as a core business practice, there’s no better time to study a postgraduate management degree with sustainability at its heart.

Developing your career
On this course you’ll gain a thorough introduction to management practices, studying alongside students on our long-standing MSc Management course. Here you’ll explore units on organisational strategy and supply chain, amongst others, to give you key insights into various areas of business, management and leadership.

As the focus of your studies, you’ll also have the opportunity to learn about sustainability and sustainable development, studying specialist units looking at topics such as the circular economy and social, ethical and environmental challenges. You’ll then work towards completing a sustainability research project on a topic of your choice.

Marketing has changed with the arrival of the digital era. Today, any business can operate on an international scale via different online channels. With so much competition, connecting with customers has never been more important.

This industry-accredited master's offers you the chance to explore the latest thinking and techniques in this rapidly changing field.

You'll look at both traditional and digital marketing principles and strategies, as you develop an in-depth understanding of the marketing role in organisations of all shapes and sizes.

You’ll also examine the issues and opportunities in marketing, strategy and consumer behaviour.

Optional internship year

If you choose to take the optional one-year internship, you’ll do so once you have successfully completed your taught units. The internship takes place over 36-48 weeks – you will be supported by our Placement Office, who have extensive contacts within the industry and over 25 years’ 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.