Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Product Design

at De Montfort University United Kingdom

This course is designed for both recent graduates hoping to make their first move into engineering management and for established professional engineers who wish to work in a management role and need to extend their knowledge beyond their technical field into management and business.  

Linking business knowledge with engineering and sustainable development issues, this course emphasises key areas of modern management required by engineers and develops your skills in project management, information systems management and people management.  

You will choose from a range of optional modules, which offer opportunities for technical advancement in areas such as mechanical engineering, sustainability, and computer networks and e-commerce systems. Our technicians and academics will support you in your individual project – a substantial piece of work in your final semester that will link your technical specialism with core aspects of management.  

You will be taught by expert research and teaching staff from across the university, including from the School of Engineering and Sustainable Development and Leicester Castle Business School, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the course.

The broad and challenging content will help equip you with the knowledge needed to work in management positions within engineering companies and in technical roles in business settings. Our graduates are working for companies including Rolls-Royce, Network Rail and Airbus UK.

Our top-up one-year BA (Hons) in Business Administration will help you to build up on your current business skills and knowledge by offering you a wide range of specialist areas.

You can tailor your degree to reflect your interests and career ambitions. In addition to a range of modules that will equip you with a wider vision of how to administer a business, we offer three streams of specialisation: Finance, Marketing and Strategy & Management.

This programme is designed to combine theoretical knowledge with a wide range of practical activities where you can apply and test your skills. Our research-led teaching will bring you up to date with the most innovative debates in Business. This will prepare you to enter the job market with a thorough understanding of what it takes to administer Businesses in our fast-paced global environment, while giving you a unique set of specialist skills if you wish to carry on your studies at postgraduate level.

You will also have the opportunity to experience student life at our global focused university, using our unique facilities like our Trading Room and exploring opportunities through our extensive links with local and national employers.

Established in 1947, our course has unparalleled links with the UK and global intimate apparel industry, providing opportunities to work with big brands on live projects, work placements and competitions.

With a focus on sustainability and innovation, this course covers a range of specialist areas and will prepare you for the changing demands within this dynamic sector. Specialise in lingerie, athleisure, swimwear, loungewear, nightwear, corsetry, menswear, sportswear or medical applications. You will develop specialist skills in conceptual design and application, pattern cutting, grading, fit methodologies, technical excellence and manufacturing. In your final year, you will choose to specialise in either an aesthetic or a technical route.

Your base will be the award-winning Vijay Patel Building, home to all of our art and design students, which provides both the space and facilities to foster creative thinking.

Computational Intelligence (CI) encompasses the techniques and methods used to tackle problems that traditional approaches to computing struggle to solve. The four areas of fuzzy logic, neural networks, CI optimisation and knowledge-based systems encompass much of what is considered to be computational (or artificial) intelligence. There are also opportunities to apply what you learn in areas such as robot control and games development, depending on your interests.

You can choose from a number of specialist modules including natural language processing, artificial neural networks and data mining techniques, while developing your skills in our dedicated robotics laboratory, equipped with a variety of mobile robots. The applied computational intelligence module considers knowledge-based systems, as well as the historical, philosophical and future implications of AI, and focuses on current research and applications in the area.   

The world of marketing is both popular and challenging, offering many creative and fast-paced job opportunities. It’s an exciting and innovative field of work and this course reflects the ever-changing landscape of the industry.

You’ll learn how to analyse markets, apply marketing theories to different scenarios and contexts, identify marketing opportunities and use these to help resolve business issues, and learn about the important role social media and digital marketing play for companies and organisations.

Grounded in the latest theory and with a strong focus on practical elements, you’ll develop marketing expertise that can be applied across many different contexts and enhance your employability across a multitude of career paths. Key topics such as developments in social and digital media are embedded throughout the course and integral to certain modules.

This programme is an ideal choice if you’re looking to start a career in marketing, and offers students the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the industry, so it’s suitable even if you’ve previously studied other subjects such as finance, the arts, computing, engineering or architecture.

Focusing on employability and enhancing your abilities, this course will also help develop your general communication and interpersonal skills, making it perfect for early career professionals and graduates. It will also help you to better articulate your skills, abilities and achievements to create a personal development portfolio for use in your CV and job applications.

Emphasis is placed on gaining an advanced and applied understanding of the key aspects of international business, enabling you to converse with global business through practical application and contemporary theory.

With a flexible curriculum to accommodate your creative ambitions, this course will prepare you to take a critical position to forge a successful career in the globalised creative world. The key business skills that you will gain - project management, marketing, website design, branding and business planning – make this course the ideal platform for creative entrepreneurs to launch their own design businesses and consultancies, or for those who hope to take up senior roles in design strategy or brand management. The course is designed for students with a good working knowledge of Adobe Creative Suite applications, such as Photoshop, Acrobat and InDesign, and will develop these technical skills to an advanced level.

You will select a specialist area of study from diverse options, ranging from retail, museum and exhibition, and product design, to interior, footwear, visual communication, and design innovation. Learn to devise creative solutions to complex issues surrounding sustainability and explore the role of design and innovation as a driver for change.

The opportunity to work on live projects will enhance your professional portfolio, and you will complete an individual major project (either creative practice based or research focused) which runs throughout the course, drawing on the professional expertise and specialist knowledge of our academics.  

Throughout the course we will empower you to experiment boldly and support you to take risks. You will be encouraged challenge conventions and develop innovative approaches to tackling contemporary design challenges, with the cutting-edge facilities for you to refine your talents and realise your creative visions.

Mechanical engineering touches virtually every aspect of modern life. It’s at the forefront of developing new technologies for a multitude of industries including transport, healthcare, construction, and robotics.

You will learn fundamental skills and knowledge by studying core modules such as Engineering Mathematics, Mechanical Principles and Machines and Mechanisms. You will be able to take optional modules such as Design for 3D Printing, Bioengineering and Emerging Materials and Processes to tailor the course to your interests. Modules such as Product Design, Project Management and Engineering Business Environment equip you with the professional skills you need to work in industry.

Risk management is relevant to all aspects of industry, commerce, consultancy and the public sector. Over the past couple of years there has been a strong realisation that risk needs to be managed and not avoided, which in turn has a major impact on organisational strategy. To this end, this course has been designed for those wanting to have a career in Risk Management as well as professionals from a variety of sectors who are interested in strengthening their careers in risk management. This includes but is not limited to: accountants, project managers, insurers, chartered surveyors, health care professionals, lawyers, bankers, auditors, health and safety professionals and engineers and recognises the interdisciplinary nature of the subject.

Reducing energy consumption which contributes to global climate change and pollution is an international imperative, and the future architect must be equipped with the skills and vision to tackle this challenge both innovatively and responsibly. This course helps you master the knowledge and skills required to produce thermally comfortable, healthy, and habitable building designs while minimising energy consumptions. The curriculum embraces the interface between the environmental, economical and socio-cultural dimensions of sustainability in terms of building design and carbon neutrality.

You will join a community that is co-designing new ways of thinking and challenging architectural conventions through bold experimentation and boundless enquiry. This enquiry-led approach to education will encourage you to take creative risks and to learn from your mistakes in a way that will shape your future design choices.

We provide state-of-the-art facilities for you to realise your ambitions, with workshops offering cutting-edge digital fabrication facilities, alongside a wide range of craft workshops, where you can innovate with materials and processes. We’ll help you to graduate with the tools to take your own personal and critical position on embracing the challenges of sustainability in the globalised architectural world.