Program Overview

BA (Hons) International Product Design (Top Up)

The BA (Hons) International Product Design top-up will support you to think innovatively and respond to global trends in design. The course will expand your critical and conceptual thinking and encourage an understanding of wider global and creative professional design practice, whilst enabling you to develop an individual positioning for your professional design practice.

Course Overview

• The one year programmes offer direct entry into the final year of a Bachelor’s degree to students who have successfully completed a relevant HND (or equivalent), or who have completed the second year of a relevant undergraduate degree, who wish to further develop their knowledge and skills in design.
• Collaboration is at the heart of the course - you will undertake design practice modules with current final year students, work on projects with external industry and academic research partners, and exhibit your final projects as part of our annual Degree Shows events.

Features and Benefits

• This is an ideal degree if you want to top up your existing qualifications and achieve a BA (Hons) degree in just one year.
• Successful completion of the course will also enable those with a high enough grade to join one of Manchester School of Art’s MA programmes
• Opportunity to work alongside a student group with diverse experiences and educational and cultural backgrounds
• Collaborate with current students and industry partners as part of the interdisciplinary Unit X module

Accreditations, Awards, and Endorsements

• Teaching Excellence Framework: We have received an overall gold status in the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), meaning we're rated as an outstanding university for our student experience.

Year 1

You will work more independently and focus on your particular strengths, deciding which contexts are most suitable for your visual language. We aim to give you the courage to be yourself and the understanding of how and where you may contribute to the wider world of visual communication and practice.

Core Modules

• Unit X: On the third year Unit X, there is a student-authored final project leading to a showcase of finished work. The module includes a brief generated by the student, which leads to the presentation of a significant body of final work. Collaborative and interdisciplinary work can be incorporated into the project in relation to the professional context and ambition of the student.
• Product Design Practice: This module will focus on developing, refining, and resolving a major design project. The module enables you to pursue areas of personal interest aligned to professional practice ambitions. As such, it draws together all the skills, knowledge, and understanding that has been built through the first two years of study. This project may engage external partners, collaborators, and key industry contacts to support the development of design projects resolved to a professional practice standard.
• Global Design: Cultures, Contexts, and Methods: This module will equip students with a thorough knowledge and understanding into the extensive contexts that impact contemporary international design practice, including social and economic models, individual and societal cultures, and global sustainability issues. Lectures, seminars, tutorials, and presentations will support students to build on their academic and creative skills before submitting a final illustrated written report, which evidences research and analysis of a range of historical and contemporary design cultures, and the development of an individual positioning for their own design practice.

Study and Assessment

• Study: Year 1 - 40% lectures, seminars, or similar; 60% independent study
• Assessment: Year 1 - 100% coursework

Entry Requirements

• Portfolio: We will ask for a portfolio of your work as part of your application
• UK Students:
  • Typical entry requirements may be subject to change for the 2026/27 academic year.
• International Students:
  • IELTS: Find out about English language requirements
  • If you are an international student, you will usually need to get a student visa before you can study in the UK.
• Country-Specific Entry Requirements: Find your country for specific entry requirements

Fees and Funding

• Tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year are still being finalized for all courses.

Careers Support and Prospects

• Employed or in Further Study: 88.7% of our UK-domiciled, full-time, first-degree graduates are employed or in further study 15 months after graduation.
• Graduate Outcomes Survey: 2021/22 leavers, HESA data.
• Explore Your Options and Build Sought-After Skills: Through our Careers Service, you will be supported and encouraged to get ready for further study or working life, including starting your own business.
• A Career as Unique as You: Graduates of Product Design have gone on to establish their own creative businesses as self-employed practitioners, or pursue careers as product designers, furniture designers, ceramicists, jewellers, retailers, gallery owners, retail buyers, design managers, design consultants, teachers, and lecturers.