Program Overview

MSc International Fashion Business Management

The MSc International Fashion Business Management is a postgraduate program aimed at applicants from various backgrounds who want to gain a professional understanding of the fashion industry. The program focuses on employability and social responsibility, equipping graduates with the key skills required to help evolve the fashion industry into a more ethically conscious, socially progressive, and environmentally sustainable sector.

Course Overview

The program structure allows fashion creatives to continue their creative practice while gaining a sound knowledge of international fashion business. It also enables applicants who want to establish their own fashion brand or business in the competitive globalized industry. The course will equip graduates with the essential knowledge and skills needed to drive competitive advantage and thrive in a climate of continuous change in the design, communication, and business areas.

Features and Benefits

• Flexibility: Select from a range of topics in assessments to tailor studies to interests and career aspirations.
• Fashion Community: An international and culturally diverse city, Manchester hosts global brands in addition to a flourishing independent fashion economy and creative industries.
• Expertise: Staff are researchers and industry specialists, covering the breadth of the fashion world from design, supply chain, and production to marketing, merchandising, and management.
• The Future of Fashion: Students will be equipped with the essential knowledge and key skills needed to help evolve the fashion industry to become more environmentally sustainable, socially progressive, and ethically conscious.
• Industry Links: Connected with over 400 industrial partners, ensuring programs are shaped to meet the needs of an ever-changing sector through live projects, external visits, and networking opportunities.

Accreditations, Awards, and Endorsements

The program is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), offering students the opportunity to fast-track towards globally recognized professional marketing qualifications upon graduation by gaining exemptions on CIM modules.

Year 1

Core Modules

• Fashion and Business Practices: An intensive introduction to the commercial and cultural contexts of the ethical, responsible, and sustainable fashion industry.
• Brands and Consumer Culture: Exposes students to concepts and theories of branding and the relationship between brands, consumers, and culture.
• Fashion Enquiry: Students identify and define their own individual research specialisms through exposure and debate around contemporary issues critical to the fashion industry.
• Global Brand Development and Strategic Management: Introduces strategic brand management theories and tools, including brand equity, brand extension, and portfolio management techniques.
• Masters Project: Students propose, negotiate, and produce a substantial piece of original project work in an appropriate professional format.

Study and Assessment

• Full-time: 25% lectures, seminars, or similar; 0% placement; 75% independent study.
• Assessment: 100% coursework; 0% practical; 0% examination.

Entry Requirements

A minimum of 2:2 Honours degree is required. Equivalent EU/international qualifications are also accepted. Overseas applicants will require IELTS with an overall score of 6.5 with no less than 5.5 in any category, or an equivalent accepted English qualification.

Fees and Funding

• UK and Channel Island students: Full-time fee £10,250 per year.
• EU and non-EU international students: Full-time fee £20,000 per year.
• Tuition fees will remain the same for each year of the course, provided it is completed in the normal timeframe.

Careers Support and Prospects

Upon successful completion, graduates will be equipped to lead on the development of innovative new products and technological practice, establish their own fashion business, drive competitive advantage, and thrive in a climate of continuous change. Previous graduates have gone on to work in roles across the world, such as business manager, branding/marketing executive, social media marketing executive, buyer, and merchandiser.

Additional Information

The program undergoes annual and major reviews to ensure an up-to-date curriculum supported by the latest online learning technology. The University is regulated by the Office for Students (OfS), and all higher education providers registered with the OfS must have a student protection plan in place.