Master of Arts in Community Development and Youth Studies

at University of Bolton United Kingdom

Our BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Studies degree runs in parallel with our dual accredited BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work course. Both courses involve work-based learning through fieldwork placements, and academic studies that support the development of knowledge and skills for practice.

Placing greater emphasis on academic skills development and research expertise, and requiring 200 placement hours, the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Studies is ideal if you’re seeking the flexible and adaptable skills and knowledge needed for a career changing lives by challenging discrimination and oppression through informal social inclusion, or if you’re considering Master’s level or postdoctoral study.

Our passionate and knowledgeable staff will guide you to explore issues such as social education, social policy, community engagement, politics, globalisation, social justice, equality and diversity, social history, housing and homelessness. You'll also be supported to develop key transferable skills such as communication, self-awareness and time management. Completing a dissertation in your final year offers an excellent preparation for higher level study.

Fieldwork placements or work-based learning could be in a number of distinct settings that work to improve the lives of people in communities and young people, preparing you to adapt to the changing environments in which you may be employed in future.

Highlights

• The course has been designed in consultation with employers, ensuring the relevance of the skills and knowledge gained by graduates.
• Work placements offer you the chance to gain 200 hours of practical and professional community development and youth work experience.
• Our excellent links with over 70 partners and external agencies means we can offer a wide variety of placements; for instance, in youth and community centres, schools, alternative education projects, women's refuges and community projects, or housing, health, leisure and youth training schemes, resettlement projects, and detached, outreach and mentoring projects.
• You have the chance to graduate with a wide range of practical and transferable skills that apply in all kinds of social, professional and academic areas.

Key Features

• Our programme gives you the chance to gain significant practice-based experience.
• You’ll have access to excellent academic and pastoral support from teaching staff who are also experienced professionals in community development and youth work.
• Throughout the course, we’ll support and encourage you as you develop your understanding and articulation of the key theories of personal and social change affecting young people and communities today.
• Specialists in the field of community development and youth work join us as guest speakers and lecturers throughout the course.
• You can change routes within the programme should you wish to – until the end of the first semester at HE4. If your circumstances change and you’re confident you can meet the placement requirements for the professionally endorsed route, you can transfer to our parallel course – the BA (Hons) Community Development and Youth Work.

Business management qualifications open doors and are considered essential whether you are looking to pursue a career in business, or achieve higher levels of responsibility in your current work.

Our BSc (Hons) in Business Management (People Management) offers a strong grounding in an essential range of contemporary business management subjects combined with the opportunity to focus your studies in the final year. When you successfully complete the course you’ll also receive the CMI Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management.

By studying core modules that are common between all our BSc (Hons) Business Management programmes, you’ll be exposed to key concepts in leadership and people management and areas such as business law, marketing, strategic management, information systems and big data, project management, finance, innovation and enterprise. This solid foundation will support your advanced studies into specialist areas including international human resource management, learning and development, and the employment relationship.

Developing your employability is a key focus of this dynamic and flexible programme. Real-life case studies, guest speakers and industry visits are designed to help you to understand the business environment and the needs of employers in local, national and international contexts. We’ll support you to develop sought-after skills such as communication, data analysis, time management, team working and problem solving.

We also aim to help you develop lifelong learning skills so that you can take ownership of your professional development for the future, maximising your potential for success.

Highlights

• Our team of highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic business management lecturers offer face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support, ensuring you can access help and advice when you need it.
• On successful completion of this dual award course you’ll receive both an academic degree and a professionally-recognised management qualification – the CMI Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management. You don’t need to take extra exams or coursework to achieve the Diploma – we combine our degree module and CMI assessments streamlining your route to both qualifications.
• This course is part of our Business Management suite of degrees. All students study the same modules at the first two levels of the course to gain an in depth knowledge of the major business disciplines. At Honours level, you can follow the specialist pathway in People Management, choose to transfer to one of our other specialist pathways in Law, Enterprise, Supply Chain, Finance, Marketing or Retail, or follow the core Business Management route.
• Face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support is offered by our team of highly experienced and enthusiastic lecturers who have worked in a wide range of businesses ranging from multinational organisation to SMEs.
• The University offers excellent 24/7 library and IT facilities, WiFi, and well-appointed learning areas.

Key Features

• This course is offered within our vibrant Institute of Management environment in Bolton town centre.
• We use small group and tutorial teaching, so you have the opportunity to benefit from the excellent support offered by our teaching staff.
• We regularly invite guest speakers who hold senior positions in industry and practice, enabling you to benefit from their knowledge and advice.
• Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and make the most of the highly interactive in-class tuition.
• Contemporary research findings are woven into our teaching. We offer a robust academic underpinning to your studies of business management.
• Our dedicated team will support you as you develop critical thinking and research skills and apply these during your final year dissertation.

Professional recognition

• Graduates of the BSc (Hons) Business Management (People Management) pathway will receive a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management from the CMI (Chartered Management Institute).
• The Level 5 Diploma is the CMI’s benchmark qualification and offers the quickest exemption route towards Chartered Manager (CMgr MCMI) status. Chartered Manager status is only awarded by the CMI and is the highest status that can be achieved in the management profession.

Whatever sector you currently work in, this MBA is a full-time career development programme designed to help you develop the strategic thinking skills needed in today’s global economy.

The course covers vital skills and knowledge that can be applied in almost any organisation, such as developing awareness of management and leadership practices, developing creative and systematic approaches to underlying business issues, and understanding how business and management practices can be improved.

Over the course of one year, the programme seeks to cultivate key intellectual capabilities of research, critique, synthesis and innovation, culminating in a Master’s level dissertation.

We aim to optimise learning by employing a variety of teaching methods, including lectures, workshops, group tutorials, individual tuition and guest speakers. By tutoring you in strategic thinking skills, the course will give you the opportunity to develop the sought-after analytical and critical competencies that prestigious employers in today’s global economy value so highly.

Highlights

• This MBA course offers you the chance to join a well-established postgraduate community and study alongside fellow professionals aiming for a senior career in management.
• Teaching and supervision is delivered by a dedicated team of experienced and well-qualified staff drawn from business and academia.
• The University’s excellent libraries, 24/7 IT facilities, WiFi and learning areas are freely available for your use.
• You’ll be given access to a research and study skills module which will assist in your studies.
• You’ll have opportunities to work with experienced academics to undertake your own research and develop your own areas of expertise.
• We offer opportunities for you to engage directly with local and regional organisations, many with internationally significant presence, as part of the learning process.

Key Features

• This course aims to develop your critical knowledge of organisations, their management and the complex business issues they face.
• You’ll have the chance to apply research and analysis skills, culminating in a Master’s level dissertation.
• A Research and Study Skills module is available to all students on the full-time MBA programme. This module is designed to provide a strong base upon which to develop the academic skills required for study.
• Teaching is conducted by a highly-dedicated team, with specialist knowledge in a wide range of subject areas and close links to business and industry.
• Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and ensuring in-class learning is highly interactive.

Professional recognition

• After successfully completing your MBA programme you may apply for membership of the Chartered Management Institute. Please note that terms and conditions apply. More details are available from http://www.managers.org.uk/

Literature is an extraordinary resource for broadening your intellectual understanding. It’s one of the most powerful ways we can experience others’ lives, enjoy worlds we’ve never visited, and develop our appreciation for the sheer power of words in expressing ideas and emotions. Through in-depth study and analysis of a range of texts and formats – including prose, poetry and plays – you’ll have the chance to hone your critical skills and develop your prowess as a creative communicator.

We’ll guide and support you through a rich course of study that should help you extend your understanding of language and how it can inform, persuade, shock and delight. Join us on a journey into the world of literature, where we’ll help you develop a deeper understanding of the social, political, historical and cultural contexts, and the impact of literary texts.

Our experienced and highly qualified team offers you a supportive environment in which to explore the central role of language in the creation of meaning. Through research, discussion, argument and analysis, you’ll have opportunities to learn to use language, effectively and powerfully, to achieve your goals.

Highlights

• Our English and Creative Writing courses are ranked second in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2020.
• The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 also ranks our English subject area as top in the UK for student experience and second in the UK for teaching quality.
• You’ll get the opportunity to benefit from our strong links with external creative organisations, including the nationally acclaimed Octagon Theatre, Bolton, where you can gain behind-the-scenes access and workshop experience.
• To give you publishing experience, we encourage you to submit your work to our literary magazine The Bolton Review.
• Our dedicated and enthusiastic lecturers are professional writers and researchers whose work is published or produced on stage, screen or radio.
• We have excellent industry contacts and strong links to external creative organisations such as publishers, production companies, theatres, libraries, art galleries, schools, funding bodies and arts development agencies – so we can offer you work experience in a wide variety of settings.

Key Features

• We offer popular options in women’s writing, Gothic fiction, children’s literature, film adaptation and contemporary poetry, as well as a range of creative writing workshops in poetry, fiction and drama.
• You can benefit from the latest thinking and discoveries, as our course tutors are active researchers in poetry, prose and drama, and feed their knowledge back into the curriculum.
• We’ll help you develop a range of skills highly valued by employers, such as written and verbal communication, presenting information and ideas, argument and persuasion, working to tight deadlines, and research and critical analysis.
• You can attend guest lectures from literary scholars, and hear contemporary writers’ work at the University’s regular literature events.

In our ever-changing world, novel ideas can create new businesses, help them grow faster than ever and develop new industries overnight. We aim to prepare you to lead these changes. The University of Bolton’s MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation will build your knowledge in the three key areas of entrepreneurship, innovation and business development and help you gain the skills and self-confidence to showcase your worth. Our expert team will work to nurture your entrepreneurial mindset so you can realise your entrepreneurial potential.

Innovation for everyone
Entrepreneurship and innovation play vital roles in knowledge creation and exploitation to generate value and drive sustainable economic, social and organisational development. Organisations are increasingly seeking people with the ability to spot and take advantage of new opportunities so entrepreneurial and innovation skills are highly sought after. It doesn’t matter what your background or area of expertise is, this course is open to everyone with entrepreneurial drive and the desire to innovate.

Be the change
The need for professionals who can create and grow innovative companies and sustainable social enterprises has never been greater. We also want to prepare you to bring innovative insights into existing organisations so they can better respond to the complex challenges facing our society. Many business executives link the success of their businesses to innovation and as a result, put a lot of emphasis on it. Not only does it allow organisations to stay relevant in the competitive marketplace, but it also plays an important role in economic growth. Our MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is designed to help you develop the high-level skills and critical competencies you’ll need to become a successful innovator and an entrepreneur who can build ethical and sustainable businesses.

Study in one of the most innovative regions in the UK
The North West of England was a powerhouse of the industrial revolution, and Greater Manchester remains at the heart of innovation in the UK today. MediaCityUK is an international hub for innovation, technology, and creativity and has been chosen as a base by over 250 media and digital businesses. Moreover, industry heavyweights like Google, Amazon, Freshfields, LLP, the BBC and Microsoft have opened offices in the Manchester area. Overall, the diverse industry base and the region’s growing population offer rich opportunities for those with innovative ideas coupled with the skills, knowledge and self-belief needed to build a new business from the ground up. As a graduate of this master’s degree, you’ll be well placed to thrive in this environment.

Supporting you to become the ‘complete package’
To succeed as an entrepreneur, you’ll need a combination of high-level business development expertise coupled with essential interpersonal and thinking skills, such as persuasion, negotiation, critical thinking, collaborative working and problem-solving. We draw expertise from across the University to ensure you gain the vital mix of hard and soft skills necessary for career success. In addition, our extensive links with regional and national employers offer opportunities for masterclasses, networking and individual industry-based projects. Overall, this course supports you to develop extensive knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship, coupled with essential skills for business and leadership. Together these attributes will take your CV to the next level.

Would you prefer to complete your course over a longer time? We also offer this course with a duration of 18 months full-time or 24 months part-time. For full-time study, please visit our MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Extended course search web page for details and to apply. Alternatively, for part-time study, please visit our MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation course search web page.

Highlights

• Dr Selva Pankaj, the author of ‘Thinking into Character – A Proven Methodology for the Creation of Success & Self-Fulfilment’, is a valued partner of the University whose work will support you in the development of business and career planning, confidence and knowledge.
• We use small group and tutorial teaching, so you have the opportunity to benefit from the excellent and often personalised support offered by our teaching staff.
• Contemporary research findings are woven into our teaching and this is supplemented by colleagues from our enterprise lab who are on hand to offer practical support throughout the programme.
• Our industry?engaged staff have strong links with organisations across the range of public, commercial and industrial sectors, offering opportunities for industry masterclasses and lectures, joint projects, and networking.
• This MSc is part of the University of Bolton’s ‘Career Development Masters’ suite, offering shared modules that give you a wide business perspective. Inspired by the graduate training programmes of major companies, these modules will help you develop high-level employability and transferable skills and apply them in your career.

Key Features

• Course materials are available online, allowing you to prepare work at home and make the most of the highly interactive in-class tuition.
• Teaching and supervision are delivered by dedicated staff chosen for their expertise and experience in fields relevant to entrepreneurship, innovation and your professional development needs.
• We regularly invite guest speakers with varied and extensive experiences in industry and practice, enabling you to benefit from their knowledge and mentorship.
• You’ll benefit from opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and network building with students from our other Career Development Master’s degrees, including the Human Society, Data Analytics and Technologies, Professional Practice and Creative Industries courses.

If you’ve already successfully completed the University of Bolton’s Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education (or an equivalent 60 credit programme), and are currently employed in one or both of these fields, then this master’s course is ideal. With modules specifically designed for ambitious educationalists, you can access the knowledge required to achieve higher levels of responsibility and greater satisfaction in your work.

We aim to help you develop an enhanced and critical awareness of current key issues in the higher and professional education sector, as well as your knowledge and understanding of the principles and theories that underpin best practice in education. As well as reflecting on your own professional practice, we’ll encourage and guide you in formulating creative solutions to complex educational problems.

Our highly experienced and research active team will support you as you develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your independent master’s-level project. You’ll also have the chance to develop enhanced key skills in line with your personal and professional development needs; for instance, team working and leadership, problem solving, autonomy and professional accountability.

Highlights

• The course is designed to help you develop an enhanced and critical understanding of the local and national context and trends across the UK higher education and professional education sector.
• By committing to ongoing critical reflection, evaluation and action, you could develop master’s-level scholarship and research-informed practice.
• Intensive use of learning technologies and multimedia resources, such as virtual learning environments and eLearning tools, enhance your ICT skills and raise your awareness of resources from across the educational spectrum.
• We promote research and critical enquiry helping you learn to make sound, evidence-based independent judgements.
• We’ll support you as you learn to critically reflect on and evaluate your own teaching, mentoring and supervision skills, and develop innovative solutions for improvement considering national and local contextual influences.

Key Features

• You’ll have the chance to evaluate current developments and up-to-date research in teaching and learning in higher education and the health sector, as well as your own professional practice.
• Our team of highly experienced, enthusiastic and dedicated experts offer face-to-face and blended sessions as well as one-to-one support.
• Our academic team is actively involved in educational research, helping you to explore issues from a robust research-informed knowledge base.
• We’ll support you to develop critical thinking and research evaluation skills and apply these during your independent master’s-level project.
• Our well-stocked library offers a comprehensive selection of relevant texts and access to an extensive online database of multimedia sources including eJournals, podcasts, vodcasts and eBooks.

If you've been struggling to find a postgraduate course that exactly matches your ambition then the University of Bolton's MA (Specialist Title) via Creative Practice could be the answer. Our expert team will work with you to devise a series of projects that enable you to develop your creative practice. You may choose to focus on a single discipline, such as Animation, Illustration, Art and Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design, Media, Performance, Dance, Photography, Textiles and Surface Design, Fashion, Creative Writing, Live Events Design and Production, or an associated subject. Alternatively, you may combine several areas of practice to follow an interdisciplinary route. When you successfully complete the master's, your degree title will be chosen to reflect the focus of your studies.

We'll support you to develop a unique body of creative work through a series of negotiated projects that will be underpinned and informed by industry practice. You'll work with a specialist supervisor who will provide support and guidance throughout the developmental process. Alongside this, you'll undertake two taught modules. The first investigates current contexts for creative practice and offers you the necessary skills to undertake research at an advanced level. The second invites you to place your practice within a professional landscape to help you gain the skills to develop your industry profile and ensure your work reaches your desired audience.

With a strong theoretical underpinning, this MA is designed to develop your skills in research, critique and synthesis. We’ll guide you as you learn to work with self?direction and originality and develop your analytical and critical competencies. This combination of academic, creative and professional skills development helps to prepare you for a career in the creative industries, as well as providing a sound basis for doctoral-level study.

The MA is designed to enable you to develop a considerable body of work and a plan for its future development beyond the course. This may take the form of applications for funding, exhibitions, publication, or small?scale tours.

Our industry?engaged staff are practising artists, writers and performers. You'll benefit from our strong industry links with a range of arts and cultural organisations across Greater Manchester and the North West region, which offers opportunities for industry masterclasses and lectures, joint projects and networking.

Highlights

• You can develop your unique body of creative practice under the supervision of our experienced teaching team.
• We'll support you to prepare your creative practice for industry via funding applications, business plans, exhibitions, publication or small?scale tours.
• You'll be able to make use of specialist facilities across the University of Bolton's Schools of the Arts and Creative Technologies to develop high-quality creative outputs.
• We'll help you learn about tax self-assessment, invoicing, intellectual property and risk assessments, as well as offer business start-up sessions to prepare you to take advantage of opportunities for enterprise development.

Key Features

• Teaching and supervision are delivered by our dedicated team of experienced and well-qualified staff.
• The programme provides opportunities to engage with and learn from industry professionals, including visiting speakers and practitioners.
• We'll offer you opportunities for interdisciplinary work and collaboration.
• You'll benefit from our strong industry links with local and regional arts, culture and trade organisations, studios, galleries, publishers, manufacturers and companies specialising in creative art and design practice.
• Your final master’s degree title will reflect your specialist areas of practice (please note that the final award title will be selected in agreement with the University within the parameters specified in programme documentation). For example, your title might be something like MA Animation via Creative Practice, MA Dance via Creative Practice or MA Fashion Photography via Creative Practice.

The MSc in Cloud and Network Security offers graduates with a background in networking, system administration or cloud computing the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of security and operations of computer systems.

You’ll have the opportunity to study the latest methodologies and development techniques and develop a detailed understanding of computer operating systems, virtualisation and networking. We’ll support you as you acquire the capacity to adapt and learn new skills ready to respond as the computer industry evolves throughout your career.

The programme has been designed collaboratively with industrial partners, giving you to the chance to equip yourself with professional skills, and understand the ethical and environmental issues you’ll encounter in your professional life.

You’ll also be encouraged to prepare for your postgraduate career with coursework based on a series of realistic scenarios covering technical issues, proposals and reports.

PLEASE NOTE  If you start this programme in January then the course duration is 18 months.

Highlights

• We continually monitor and update the content of our MSc programmes so they offer the best preparation for the employment marketplace.
• Our teaching staff all have comprehensive industry experience, enabling them to offer practical insights to students grappling with real-world problems.
• During the course, you’ll have the opportunity to learn the necessary skills to scale from small infrastructure to major cloud infrastructure applications.
• We take pride in our approach to our students, taking time to give all individuals the help and support they need to succeed.
• Our commitment to provide the best possible learning environments has seen us make significant investments in our IT facilities.

Key Features

• Free or significantly reduced software available to our students from our educational partners including RedHat, Fedora, Adobe and Microsoft.
• Access to vendor qualifications from Cisco and RedHat through our unique access to the RedHat academy.
• You’ll have access to our server architecture, enabling you to develop your cloud computing skills both on and off campus.
• Industry partners provide relevant, up-to-date input to our teaching and live student projects.
• Our MSc programme is supported by dedicated laboratories, servers and end hosts with industry-standard hardware and software.
• Our lecturers take time to build strong personal relationships with all students, enabling questions to be answered quickly and easily.

Visual effects (VFX) and animation is at the heart of creating spectacular imagery for the film, TV, commercial and music video industries. VFX is an integral part of nearly every global blockbuster film in the modern era. Whether it’s the creation of hideous monsters, futuristic vehicles, or epic alien landscapes, VFX is the driving force behind the magic that you see on screen.

Our BSc (Hons) Visual Effects and Animation course is ideal if you wish to combine design creativity with cutting-edge 2D and 3D computer generated imagery and animation to create visual effects. We offer hands-on experience covering the whole workflow of a digital VFX pipeline – from concept design, pre-production and visualisation, to the production of photorealistic 3D models/environments, and computer generated and composited images.

Our dedicated and experienced team will lead you in an exploration of 3D computer modelling, texturing, lighting, rendering, rigging and animation, as well as the established areas of compositing, matte paintings and environments.

VFX artists need transferable skills too, including communication, project and time management, team-working and entrepreneurship. We aim to support you to develop these attributes, alongside the imagination, flair and curiosity that will enable you to design and deliver inventive VFX and animation solutions for film, TV and advertising.

Highlights

• Each year our final year students are set industry briefs by Oscar-winning VFX studios such as DNEG. Getting involved with these industry projects can help you form great links with top VFX studios, as well as give you direct feedback on your work from leading industry artists and professionals.
• You’ll have access to our fantastic range of VFX facilities, including our dedicated effects studio with infinity curve green screen, our site-wide renderfarm that uses distributed computing to render high quality, complex photo realistic scenes and environments, and our boutique film studio that includes broadcast standard cameras and lighting equipment.
• You’ll also use industry-standard software, such as Autodesk Maya for 3D work, The Foundry’s Nuke and Mari for compositing and digital painting, Houdini for technical effects and dynamics, and ZBrush for digital sculpting.
• We’re committed to helping develop your employability and career network. You’ll be encouraged to attend guest lectures that enhance your learning and help you make contacts in the industry. For instance, Malcolm Watts, a Lead Modeller at Oscar Award-winning visual effects studio DNEG (and University of Bolton VFX graduate) has recently shared his expertise with students on our film FX courses.
• Alongside your visual effects skills and knowledge, we’ll support you to develop a broader understanding of production design, including concepting, cinematography and composition. This will help you appreciate the roles, skills and expectations of other professionals working in the industry.

Key Features

• The course is designed and regularly reviewed in collaboration with professional visual effects artists and studio directors. This ensures that the content is industry-relevant and includes the latest techniques and innovations.
• We’ll help and support you to develop a portfolio of work/show reel that demonstrates your skills in readiness to impress potential employers.
• Course assignments and projects mimic industry pipelines and standards so your experience is a realistic preparation for a career in visual effects and animation.
• Our dedicated staff team have a wide range of professional experience, industry knowledge, technical expertise and academic credentials, offering you a variety of perspectives and broadening your horizons.
• We prefer to keep student numbers relatively small in lecture and practical classes, so that you have plenty of opportunities to ask us questions and get individual help, as well as benefit from the ideas and support offered by your classmates.
• We’ll encourage you to research, analyse, design and develop visual effects techniques so that you can take an idea from a brief or script scene and find the most time-efficient, cost-effective and visually impressive way to turn that vision into reality.

Professional recognition

• The University of Bolton’s BSc (Hons) Visual Effects and Animation degree holds Tick accreditation from Screen Skills, the industry-led skills body for the UK's screen-based creative industries, including animation, film, games, television including children's TV and high-end drama, VFX and immersive technology. Working with industry experts, ScreenSkills awards the quality mark of the Tick to practice-based degree courses that most effectively provide students with the skills and knowledge required by employers in the screen industries. ScreenSkills provides the highest level of industry-led accreditation for VFX focused degrees, meaning our degree is globally recognised for its outstanding levels of teaching, employability and links into the VFX industry.

Textiles and surface design is a fast-moving global industry encompassing a wide range of commercial contexts – from fashion fabrics and accessories, through stationery products and packaging, to interior fabrics and wall coverings, as well as contemporary gallery/design led pieces. Our creative and challenging degree is taught by a dedicated and passionate team with extensive professional experience of researching, designing, creating, selling and exhibiting textile/surface design work. We understand the skills and knowledge you’ll need to succeed as a professional designer.

Our intensely practical approach aims to help you gain a broad portfolio of traditional and digital design skills. You’ll have space to experiment with different approaches, materials and techniques, and we’ll support and encourage you to ‘cross the boundaries’ of textile disciplines and develop your own innovative approaches to designing and making. Historical and contextual studies help to underpin your practical knowledge and provide sources of inspiration.

Our professional design studios are equipped with work spaces, and high-specification facilities for embroidery, digital printing, non-woven textiles, garment manufacture, felt making, printed and dyed textiles, and computer aided design are available.

We’ll also support you to develop commercial awareness and entrepreneurial skills, including how to market, exhibit, work with design studios and set up in business, ready for success in this often freelance career.

Highlights

• Our Art courses are placed in the top ten in the UK for student-to-staff ratio by the Guardian University League Tables 2020, so you have access to individual tutor support and small group teaching.
• We’ll encourage you to enter national and international competitions, and are proud that many of our students have gained prestigious awards through the Bradford Textile Society, Première Vision Paris, New Designers Awards, Embroiderers Guild and the Society of Dyers and Colourists.
• In 2016, second year student Kera Allen won top award at the highly esteemed Surtex Designext Awards in New York.
• We offer numerous opportunities to visit national and international trade fairs. In recent years we’ve organised study trips to Surtex New York, Indigo Paris, The British Craft Trade Fair and New Designers in London.
• Our dedicated and specialist tutors have industry connections and extensive experience in researching, making, exhibiting and selling textiles, surface and design work, and are engaged in PhD research that feeds into the content of the programme.
• You’ll be introduced to the varied working practices of studio designers in industry, contemporary textile artists and designer-makers and explore the range of materials and products textile and surface designers use and create – everything from fashion and interior fabrics, through wallcoverings, gift wrap, stationery, and cards, to ceramic tableware.
• You’ll benefit from the opportunity to work on a major personal project and present it to the public as part of the Bolton School of the Arts final-year Creative Show.

Key Features

• Bolton has an impressive history of textile manufacturing and engineering spanning over 650 years, so you’ll be studying at a historic home of textile innovation in the UK. The University of Bolton maintains this tradition and is a leading centre of textile and materials research of global importance.
• Facilities on campus include design studios, computer suites, a printed textile workshop, digital textile printing, embroidery and textile workshops, and paper print facilities. We offer industry-standard software and access to the latest global trend prediction sites. You’ll also have access to our wider arts and design facilities, including photographic studios, fine print and ceramic workshops.
• Our long-standing reputation in the teaching and development of textile subjects means we can attract outstanding visiting speakers from across the commercial design and craft-led sectors. Recent speakers include Concetta Gallo MA Royal College of Art (RCA) designer for Habitat, Leigh Cooke designer for Salvatore Ferragamo and Hermes Paris, and Alison Willoughby MA RCA.
• Our close proximity to Manchester, and links with the North West Craft Network and major galleries, workshops and associations in the region, mean you’ll be well-placed to take advantage of work placement opportunities.
• We regularly set-up industry-relevant live projects with external organisations and companies in our practical modules. These are designed to give you experience of working to industry standards, help you learn the realities of working to design briefs, and offer insights into current design practice.
• We pride ourselves on the small group learning and one-to-one support we offer. You can expect to receive individual attention and guidance from our expert tutors, as well as online support through the University’s eLearning system Moodle.