Master of Science in Craft

at Manchester Metropolitan University United Kingdom

This course is at the forefront of craft-making practices and is for materially engaged makers who are looking to explore craft practices across a range of materials and object types. It encourages the development of craft across specialist and multi-material making, investigating and exploring definitions of contemporary craft practice.

The program is an opportunity to pursue a making practice that might already be located within a specific material area or object definition such as glass, ceramics, textiles or jewellery, or to develop and expand the definitions and materials of craft practice. The program supports the exploration of genre-breaking approaches to making, to develop individual and personal methodologies and philosophies, and locate these within a deep understanding of historical, contemporary and future craft-making practices, and wider social and cultural contexts.

With access to the wide range of hand, machine and digital technologies at Manchester School of Art, you will work within, across and between definitions of craft, to evolve and progress a unique and personal making practice. In addition to traditional material workshops across ceramics, hot and cold glass, metal, wood, textile print, weave and embroidery, there are digital making facilities for laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC routing, and digital print for textiles and ceramics, with access to specialist academic and technical expertise from across the School of Art, to support the development of a wide range of craft making practices.

Marketing is a business function with the power to shape everything from sales and customer service to product development and brand loyalty. The best marketers see the big picture – when they look at the business landscape, they identify the opportunities to communicate and influence audiences, and spot the threats that could damage their brands. This marketing degree is all about exploring that landscape, taking those opportunities and avoiding those threats.

You’ll look at different media and methods of communication, study how to analyse and segment audiences, and discover how to craft and deliver the right message at the right time. To start with, you’ll learn about marketing fundamentals, but you’ll also have the flexibility to choose units that interest you most as you progress. By the time you leave us, you’ll not only understand the theory behind effective marketing – you’ll also have a range of practical, professional skills.

Above all, you’ll be ready for a career in marketing – following in the footsteps of graduates from this course now working in advertising, account management, media planning, public relations, event management and more.

The world of business is full of opportunities. So where do you start? This practical course will help you find your calling in international business with modules ranging from consultancy to enterprise.

BA (Hons) Business Management includes everything you could want from a business degree, from expertise in our research areas of sustainability, strategy, and enterprise to events like our leadership series of guest lectures.

Applied business skills
You’ll learn the theory behind what makes a successful business. We focus heavily on giving you the practical knowledge you’ll need for your career – whether that’s starting your own business or working your way up in a big corporation.

By the end of this course, you should be able to think strategically. You should have an entrepreneurial mindset. And you should have the skills to be a successful manager anywhere in the world.

The new sustainable business
Profits aren’t the only thing driving businesses. We believe you need to conduct business in a sustainable and ethical way to be an effective manager. Our values underpin everything we do here at Manchester Met.

In fact, you’ll live and breathe sustainability while you’re here, studying in the environmentally-friendly business school. You’ll also get to work alongside innovative start-ups at Manchester Met-based Innospace, were we support people with great business ideas and the commitment to turn them into reality.

The BA (Hons) Fashion Promotion course offers an exploratory and dynamic approach to studying promotion in the fashion industry. This distinctive course covers fashion promotion skills, visual and creative processes, underpinned with business content and cultural and contextual theory.

The flexible design of this course will allow you to explore creative areas such as fashion photography and film, digital communication, fashion styling, social media, website design, journalism and brand communication. You will be expected to explore your field of study through research, investigation and independent practice. The business elements of the course will encourage you to engage with entrepreneurial processes and practical activity, allowing you to apply your knowledge and skills to live professional and industry briefs.

You will have the opportunity to benefit from real-world learning experiences during study trips both in the UK and internationally. Previously, students have travelled to London, New York, Copenhagen and Shanghai as part of the course and have visited industry head offices, educational partners, studios, galleries and trade shows.   

We also offer a four-year sandwich route option that gives you the opportunity to spend your third year on an industry placement to enhance your employability.

You will complete the course with a strong, industry-ready portfolio of work relevant to your career preferences. Graduates will be able to apply for positions in areas such as online marketing, public relations, brand management, styling, and events. 

MA Painting provides a discipline-led environment in which to develop your practice in contemporary painting. Through a strong focus on your individual studio practice you will engage in the most significant current debates on painting and the histories from which they emerge. The MA Painting will encourage you to question the boundaries of your practice, embracing current ideas of ‘expanded painting’ and painting being ‘beyond self’ alongside questions posed within the more typical parameters of the picture plane and modes of representation.

Studying politics allows you to know what is happening today, how change is enacted, and how you can be a part of it. The principal focus of the degree is power relations between individuals, social groups and nations – so it is one of the most exciting ways to understand why things are the way they are. You’ll study a broad range of social and public policy areas and explore fundamental issues that affect communities in the UK and elsewhere, including: emancipatory political thought and theory, international politics, digital politics, and ‘issue’ politics such as environmentalism and climate change.

The course is underpinned by both the research specialisms of the staff who will teach you and a wide variety of options mean you can pursue your own interests, depending on what you choose to specialise in – with things becoming increasingly flexible as you progress through the course. In the final year, you will engage more directly with current academic debates and contemporary political developments.

We place a heavy emphasis on employability and offer practical skills training, including advanced analytical approaches, which many employers look for when offering placement opportunities. This, alongside the opportunity to study a foreign language or do an exchange abroad, means that a politics degree opens doors to a range of interesting and rewarding career possibilities, as well as providing you with a much better understanding of what is happening right now.

You can also combine politics with another subject and broaden your outlook still further. In your third year, you may have the opportunity to take a placement year with an employer or study abroad, broadening your horizons and boosting your employability.

Smart technology is the future. Machines that talk to each other, learn from their surroundings and respond accordingly – think autonomous robots – are the shape of things to come. On this MSc Engineering Smart Systems course, you’ll put yourself at the centre of these exciting technological developments, working at the forefront of Industry 4.0.

Our new interdisciplinary master's course focuses on applied skills. It will give you the ability to manage forward-thinking technical strategies, and the skills to deploy the latest digital technologies across the engineering sector.

You’ll study a range of core units, exploring the key technological and manufacturing foundations of Industry 4.0. You’ll also develop professional skills with two project management units, where you will learn the principles behind delivering innovation to industry.

In our high-tech facilities, you’ll learn to use the tools and equipment you’ll come across in the workplace. Throughout it all, you’ll have the support of our experienced teaching and research staff, who will ensure that what you learn is 100% relevant to industry. And, with technical, real-world thinking and project management skills, you will have a proven ability, ready to play a constructive role in shaping our technological future.

BSc Sociology with Quantitative Methods offers exciting opportunities for you to study the cutting-edge discipline of sociology in the vibrant city of Manchester, whilst gaining extensive quantitative skills. It is aimed at students who want to understand and analyse contemporary social phenomena, trends and problems as well as develop a specialism in quantitative methods to study society.

The first year introduces you to the building blocks of sociology: key sociological concepts and theories, social divisions and problems, and major transformations – such as globalisation or digital culture – which are altering the fabric of contemporary society. You will receive training in a wide range of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, during the first two years. In the final year, you will focus on quantitative research methods for designing, implementing and analysing social issues and complete an independent project.

Our large, multi-disciplinary department believes in offering extensive optionality to study specific areas of sociology in depth. Throughout the degree, there is an emphasis on developing skills and experiences that are relevant to professional careers, including work experience, study-abroad schemes, and independent project work. In the final year, there is the opportunity to complete a placement in a relevant organisation. You may also have the opportunity to spend an extra year expanding your horizons studying with one of our partner universities overseas.

There is an increased need to visually communicate fashion-based ideas. This requires a creative who has a clear appreciation of and experience in developing fashion concepts, understanding and dealing with the associated critical pathways and the practical means by which to communicate. On this course, you will be encouraged to critically evaluate and creatively respond to these conditions and define your own new role within fashion.

You will be interested in the way fashion is consumed (beyond wearing it) and the opportunities this presents for developing innovative visual practice-based work. Fashion is changing due to many external factors such as digital platforms and media, and issues around sustainability. There are also changes in the role fashion plays and how it has become increasingly an exciting area for inter-disciplinary exploration within design, culture and society. At the heart of this are the new ways that fashion is becoming explored, extended, designed and consumed.

We will develop you to be a highly creative fashion visionary, with an emphasis to engage, explore, question, visualise, illustrate, develop and communicate fashion concepts, trends, products and ideas through publication, exhibition, art direction and styling.

Placement options
Contacts in all areas of the creative industries help with providing placements to enhance your experience of working in the fashion and design industry. You will be encouraged to take placements during your period of study.

There is politics in almost everything we do. It is the study of power: who gets it, why they seek it and by what means they obtain it. Its principal focus is on power relations among individuals, social groups and nations. Studying history will help you to understand how the past affects every aspect of our lives - from the language we speak, to the politics of race, gender, religion and identity. This Joint Honours degree will provide you with the skills to explore the social and political landscape of human consciousness throughout time and place. You will discover how people lived, and how they perceived and interacted with the world around them. Investigating past events, you will encounter war, injustice, new frontiers, political upheaval, ancient civilisations, invasions, conspiracies, catastrophes and revolutions. You will gain a firm grasp of political and current affairs, understand the news headlines, seeing beyond them to the real issues of politics, and be in a better position to comment upon and understand what the politicians are really saying.

The Joint Honours degree offers you an opportunity to study two subjects at degree level, enabling you to benefit from high quality teaching across more than one subject.

A wide variety of options means that you can pursue your own interests – with increasing flexibility as you progress through the course. With practical skills training, including advanced analytical approaches, – this degree opens up doors to a range of interesting and rewarding career possibilities and provides the skills needed to progress to higher research programs.

Placement options

You may have the chance to spend a year getting a taste of professional life. It is an opportunity to develop core skills and explore how this course can relate to the graduate world. It shows employers that you’re ready to get to work.

Students are free to choose Placement opportunities from a wide range of roles both in the UK and abroad. Students choosing this option are supported by a dedicated placement team who provide links to employers through presentations, events, and fairs, and provide a specialist program of guidance on recruitment procedures including CV and interview preparation, as well as work readiness and working overseas.