Master of Science (M.Sc.) in Business of Fashion

Course Description

The global fashion market is approximately worth 2 trillion Euro each year, representing 2 per cent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product. In such a rich and highly competitive industry, fashion designers, product managers, and fashion marketing and communication professionals cannot work independently.

This Master of Science in Business of Fashion aims to equip you with an in-depth understanding of the fashion industry, including its development, its sociological, economic and cultural aspects, as well as glance forward into future developments in the fashion business.

This programme will also develop your business management and data handling skills. Additionally, it will provide you with an appreciation for the complexities related to the fashion industry, whilst fostering the development of judgemental abilities and soft skills that are crucial for successfully navigating the industry.

You can also tailor the programme to reflect your particular interests or career aspirations by specialising in one of three areas: Fashion Management, Sustainable Fashion or  Fashion Marketing.

The overall course objectives are:

Knowledge

General Core Modules:

• Critically analyse the manner in which fashion emerges, is constructed, and develops across cultures, historical and social boundaries.
• Evaluate and assess the place and role of fashion in society and how it translates to provision of contemporary fashion products and services.
• Critically examine macro- and micro- environments to develop understanding how the fashion industry is transforming in order to forecast future fashion trends and suggest new avenues for innovation in the fashion industry.

Sustainability Specialisation:

• Examine sustainability issues and opportunities, agendas and contexts associated with business strategy in fashion enterprise.
• Analyse and evaluate the existing and potential resources to support the brand’s repositioning in an environmentally, ethically, socially and economically sustainable way.

Management Specialisation:

• Critically analyse the national and international economic impact of fashion industry and the role it plays in choosing how the fashion enterprise is managed.
• Evaluate the importance of managing change in the fast-paced fashion world at different management levels in the context of change management and implementation theory.

Marketing Specialisation:

• Evaluate the key analytical and integration frameworks and tools used in marketing.
• Critically analyse the marketing function in fashion industry and the role it plays in achieving organisational success both in commercial and non-commercial settings.

Skills

General Core Modules:

• Assess trends and their impact on fashion in the context of cultural, ethical, social, and technological developments;
• Interpret traditional and historical fashion and costume languages, in order to create contemporary fashion moods.
• Apply analytical skills in handling data including data collection, analysis and interpretation.

Sustainability Specialisation:

• Create and recommend best business sustainability practices considering different business activities in the fashion industry.
• Critically appraise and apply relevant processes and procedures related to managing sustainable fashion enterprise and managing teams.

Management Specialisation:

• Apply theories and methodologies related to management, finance and supply chain in fashion industry context.
• Critically assess current issues and developments in the subject of management in relation to change management theories

Marketing Specialisation:

• Critically appraise the needs of fashion consumers and implement findings for improvement of fashion products and services.
• Evaluate, integrate and deploy marketing theory and practice in order to perform consumer research in fashion industry context.
• Critically evaluate and apply tools and techniques relevant to market and marketing research.

Competences:

General Core Modules:

• Critically evaluate the relevance of economic, social, cultural and historical issues in the fashion industry development.
• Derive and be able to apply the processes from recognised case studies.

Sustainability Specialisation:

• Propose strategic business solutions to new situations in sustainable fashion and other areas of sustainable management practice.
• Recommend how to adopt complex, social-ecological systems and frameworks to address dynamic aspects of sustainability in fashion.

Management Specialisation:

• Retrieve and interpret fashion management information in order to make sound decisions in complex and unpredictable entrepreneurial situations.
• Design strategies for achieving objectives relating to the fashion buying process in the context of global sourcing and supply chain.

Marketing Specialisation:

• Make recommendations relating to consumer trends, market research, and marketing analytics in the field of fashion.
• Apply key marketing theories, frameworks and tools to solve Marketing problems in context of fashion industry.

Entry Requirements

Candidates who apply for this course must possess one of the following:

• a Level 6 degree in a related field;

OR

• a Level 5 diploma or higher diploma and 5 years’ work experience in a supervisory or managerial role.

Preference is given to applicants having a Level 6 degree in a discipline related to fashion and a minimum of 3 years’ work experience in management in fashion.

Students whose first language is not English will be required to demonstrate English language capability at IELTS level 6.0 or equivalent.

Target Audience

The target group covers, but is not limited to:

• Professionals seeking a career in the fashion industry.
• Professionals already working in the fashion industry who aim to gain a postgraduate qualification and a specialisation in Fashion Management, Fashion Sustainability or Fashion Marketing.
• Level 6 graduates interested in strengthening both their professional and academic credentials, thus preparing them for a higher-level qualification.

Career Paths

The possible positions for which this programme aims to prepare you for include, but are not limited to:

• Fashion Marketing and Brand Manager
• Product Manager
• Fashion Events Manager
• Fashion Advertising Manager
• Design Studio Manager/ Managing Director

Modules

You are required to complete all 5 compulsory modules (30 ECTS), and only 1 selected area of specialisation with 5 elective modules (30 ECTS), as well as the dissertation (30 ECTS) to fulfil the requirements of this master’s degree.

How you’ll be assessed

This is a part-time programme that will typically take 30 months to complete. The programme comprises a total of 10 modules. The method of assessment is assignment-based.

The course comprises:

• 6 lectures per module;
• 3-hour lectures (evening);
• 12 hours of guided learning, presentations, comprising synchronous online discussions, tutorials and/or videos;
• Self-study hours comprising research, reading and assignment work.

The course also includes additional, specialised support to help you write your Dissertation, including classes on Qualitative/Quantitative data analysis tools, as well as Dissertation Workshops.

Assessment

Overall assessment of this programme consists of two main components: 1. Modular Assessment carries 60% of the final grade. 2. The Dissertation carries 40% of the final grade.

The formative and summative assessment tasks may include an in-class assignment and/or a home-based written assignment using diverse assessment tools which may take the form of online and in-class discussions, examinations, case studies, reports, proposals, essays, and presentations, etc., as applicable to the diverse modules.

1. Modular Assessment

The modular score achieved at the end of the study programme modules is calculated by summing up and working an average of the overall grades obtained in all of the study modules. The final grade achieved by the modular component of the programme is calculated by working out 60% of the modular score obtained for the study modules.

Overall assessment weighting for each module consists of two assessment tasks, each carrying a weighting as below:

a) One Formative assignment carries 20% of total module mark achieved. b) One Summative assignment carries 80% of total module mark achieved.

2. Dissertation Assessment

Assessment of dissertations is primarily based on:

• Depth of critical understanding of the theoretical framework;
• Application of appropriate research tools;
• Critical approach to analysis, interpretation and evaluation of research findings;
• Depth and level of argumentation build-up;
• Original contribution to the generation of new knowledge/hypothesis/models;
• Scholarly presentation meeting academic standards