UDFMBSMN - BA Fashion Marketing and Business Management

Teaching, learning and assessment strategies are designed to engage, motivate and support students within an active learning environment. The course is modular in structure – core modules delivered over a 27-week teaching period, optional modules available in either, or both, of the two 13-week semesters – with the programme offered at each level building on the ‘scaffolding’ constructed during previous study. A course delivery plan involves developing a list of reliable Guest Speakers from industry and exploiting the wide-ranging expertise of GSBL staff through the time-tabling of teaching blocks addressing specialist topics, such as Consumer Law, where appropriate. A blended learning approach involves direct delivery of the syllabus though workshops or lectures-seminar combinations as appropriate to each topic, with content reiterated on the university’s e-learning platform. Supplementary materials and information regarding extra-curricular learning opportunities (relevant articles, information about exhibitions, trade fairs, symposia etc) are also made available via Weblearn. A range of assessment methods are mobilised to gauge the achievement of constructively aligned learning outcomes, with feedback disseminated in a timely, constructive and developmental manner. At Level 4 learners participate in an embedded key skills programme, and are introduced to the subject-specialist librarian. Student achievement is supported through regular, individualised contact sessions with a designated Academic Tutor and a range of generic activities offered by the Resource Centre. Students will be encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities to experience and learn from the fashion culture of the metropolis in the form of visits to exhibitions at the design-oriented museums, trade fairs and festivals as these arise. The merits of integrating a field-trip into the programme will be evaluated.

Rationale for developing the course is provision of an outstanding educational experience that meets increasing demand for, and builds on the success of, subject-specific degrees in marketing. Located in a global ‘fashion city’ it provides a comprehensive and holistic programme of study based on the commercial realities of the apparel sector. Engaging with practical aspects such as branding, buying, retailing and merchandising, learners are equipped with a range of skills and understandings necessary for graduate employment in the creative industries. In a burgeoning and competitive field, Fashion Marketing and Business Management is unique as the title of a degree programme and reflects an underlying philosophy that education should prepare individuals for specialist professional practice while nurturing critical and creative approaches to the wider issues that the discipline of fashion, as a driver of contemporary visual, material and intellectual culture, encompasses.

The course aims, informed by the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement on Business & Management 2015, are:

i) i) to facilitate students in gaining knowledge and understanding of the organisations involved in global apparel business, their management and the changing external environment in which they operate;
ii)
iii) ii) to prepare and develop students for particular careers paths within the creative economies;
iv)
v) iii) to enhance in students a range skills and attributes to enable them to become effective global citizens, all delivered in a motivational learning environment that promotes equality, diversity and inclusivity.

The course content is organized in a manner that provides students from differing educational and experiential learning backgrounds with introductions to the disciplines of management and marketing through consideration of the tasks and roles processes, procedures and practices of a variety of institutions, together with the application of theoretical models and frameworks. Generic understandings are complemented by more targeted approaches, addressing the cultural contexts and the commercial environments that fashion business operates in to ensure all students are operating at a similar level by the conclusion of Level 4. At Level 5 core modules focus on specialist tasks in the fashion industry – buying, branding, merchandising, (digital marketing is offered as an option) and entrepreneurship – familiarizing learners with the requirements of specific career paths. At Level 6 the core modules become broader in scope, engaging with international strategy and the impacts of a globalized industry from both academic and practitioner perspectives. Discussion of topics including sustainability, ethical consumption, the environment and corporate social responsibility is designed to encourage development of critical attitudes and innovative solutions towards individual and institutional behaviours. A final year dissertation completes the cycle of the educational journey from the generic to the specific

At each level there are opportunities to interact with industry professionals and a mandatory work-based learning module is taken at Levels 5. Acquisition of transferable skills is valorized throughout the programme alongside development of interpersonal skills including delegation, team-working, time-management. Overall, the syllabus meets course aims by providing students with differentiated experiences and ample opportunities to gain the knowledge, understanding and skills required to succeed in professional contexts in the disciplines of fashion marketing and business management.

On completing the course it is expected that learners will:

LO1: command both practical and theoretical understandings of the disciplines of marketing and management, and to be able to integrate and apply this knowledge appropriately to a broad range of areas within the apparel industry

LO2: have acquired subject-specific skills that engender career opportunities in the fashion business, alongside practical experiences deriving from work-based-learning opportunities that together boost employability in areas such as marketing, buying, merchandising and brand management

LO3: have experience of the research process and proficiency in accessing, interpretation, analysis, evaluation and presentation of material derived from a wide range of fashion-related sources in an academic format appropriate for admission to post-graduate level programmes of study.

LO4: have embraced the concept of entrepreneurship and developed a level of expertise regarding the pitching of business ‘start-up’ plans in a professional context together with the ability to suggest solutions to issues identified as having potential commercial, creative or practical impacts on the original ideas.

LO5: have developed critical perspectives on the environmental and ethical impacts of mass consumption of the outputs of a global apparel production system that enables exploration of alternative solutions to these issues and underpins their personal development into effective and responsible global citizens.

LO6: possess a range of transferable cognitive, intellectual and study skills – critical thinking, pro-active independent learning, collaboration, communicative abilities (oral & written), problem-solving, net-working, numeracy, business acumen, self-reflective abilities, digital literacy – and consistently demonstrate these in a manner that enhances their employability in professional contexts.

Fundamentals of Management MN4002
Principles and Practices of Marketing MC4004
The Business of Fashion MC4013
Fashion and Popular Culture MC4056
Contextualising Fashion MC4057
Fashion Branding and Communications MC5013
Fashion Buying and Merchandising MC5014
Leading Innovation & Entrepreneurship MN5004
On-line Fashion Retailing MC5062
Creating a Winning Business 1 MN5W50
Learning Through Work 1 MN5W55
International Fashion Strategy MC6006
Global Issues in Fashion Markets MC6007
Fashion Project MC6P06
Managing the Creative Environment MC6085
Driving Innovation in Marketing MC6084
Open Language OL0000
Professional Experience Year Placement MN6W04

Learning Outcomes cover LO1-6

Business and Management 2015

The course exploits are range of assessment methods including: formal examinations; in-class tests; structured literature-based assignments in the form of essays, case studies, reports; and semi-structured coursework, such as oral presentations, portfolio work and blogs. Level 6 features a research project/dissertation.

• Assessment and feedback practices are informed by subject-specific and educational scholarship of individual members of staff and are constantly reviewed in light of reflection on opportunities such as staff development days, conference participation and consideration of professional initiatives practice

• Dialogue between students and staff regarding the basis on which academic judgements are made takes place specifically in the introduction to each assessment task and more generally in trouble-shooting sessions. Descriptors for each assessed criteria are articulated in the module handbooks

• Good academic practice is disseminated to students specifically through critiques of student responses to previous tasks and more generally through seminar discussions of scholarly articles, reports and case studies. The basic skills of citation, referencing and narrative structure are reiterated at regular intervals and posted on the course page.

• The course is organised is a manner that, as far as possible, avoids the clumping of assessments and the variety in the nature of these is designed to take account of the range of student learning styles, thereby promoting inclusivity. The volume of assessment, determined by the university tariff, allows students ample opportunity to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes for the course.

• Formative assessments are embedded at each level of the programme. At L4 this exercise is extended into an assessed component and all modules take advantage of the opportunity of feeding-forward to support student achievement.

• The course page lists the dates by which students may expect to have received feedback on all assessed components (usually 10 working days). It is expected that feedback will identify areas of strength in addition to articulating how areas of weakness might be improved, and suggests how students may use the commentary in a manner that has a developmental impact on future responses to assessment tasks.

• Marking and moderation procedures are set out in all module handbooks and discussions between members of the teaching teams ensure consistency in gauging achievement of assessment criteria. The course leader has access to detailed metrics that facilitate identification of outlier modules.

Mandatory 15-credit Work-based Learning modules are embedded in the syllabus and appropriate work opportunities are disseminated via the course page. Students are able to programme plan a work experience year between Levels 5 and 6 (30-credits, non-contributory to the award) and to take advantage of opportunities to study abroad via reciprocal agreements in the Erasmus programme

The course conforms to both framework and University Academic Regulations

Level 4
Contextualising Fashion
Fashion and Popular Culture
Principles and Practice of Marketing
Fundamentals of Management
The Business of Fashion

Level 5
Fashion Branding and Communications
Fashion Buying and Merchandising
Leading Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Level 6
Global Issues in Fashion Markets
International Fashion Strategy
Fashion Project

Note: Either Learning Through Work or Creating a Winning Business must also be taken at Level 5 (unless Professional Experience Placement Year is to be taken between levels 5 and 6).

Reflective learning strategies are mobilised throughout the course. Seminars featuring articles, visual resources and/or other relevant materials provide students with opportunities to identify and reinforce learning outcomes achieved in the workshops and lectures. Supplementary material posted on Weblearn facilitates further reflection in order to inform the level of subsequent discussion. In Level 6 the research module is predicated on the idea that a dissertation/project is, in essence, a series of reflective learning opportunities compiled over an extended period of self-directed study; in certain modules students are tasked with self-assessing their performance in the context of a group project

Personal Development Planning starts informally during the induction sessions when new learners are asked to consider their own learning styles and what they hope/expect to gain from the course. The Developing Your Potential study skills sessions are embedded into one of the core modules taken at Level 4. These elements of the learning experience are supported through the entitlement of all students to three meetings per year with their Academic Tutor where issues such as engagement, attendance, academic performance and the development of action plans addressing agreed targets are discussed. In Levels 5 and 6 such meetings also encompass strategic programme planning, career aspirations and learning strategies designed to achieve the optimal degree classification.

The programme furnishes graduates with the skills and abilities appropriate for a range of career opportunities in the fashion business or other sectors of the creative industries. Specifically, the course delivers the numerical abilities required of fashion buyers or merchandisers, the visual literacy that underpins fashion marketing practice and understandings of entrepreneurship necessary for fashion business start-ups. More generally, practical experience gained in work-based learning modules adds to employability and the digital literacy developed throughout the programme is considered a basic skill in graduate level positions. Career education is also embedded into the curriculum in the form of the Fast-forward Festival, guest speakers from industry and input from Employment Outcomes. The potential for input from bodies including UK Trade & Export Council and the Textile Institute will be explored going forward as will possibilities for affiliation with the Chartered Institute for Procurement & Supply. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the university-wide learning opportunities that become available, such as Master Classes in digital skills and training in the Bloomberg Room. Applications to post-graduate programmes are encouraged and the course’s dissertation modules provide opportunities for students who wish to progress to further study destinations to demonstrate to develop research proposals and hone their academic skills.

On completion of the course, you’ll have the skills and experience you need for a wide range of graduate opportunities across the fashion industry, including specific head office roles within retail organisations and clothing companies.

Alternatively, you could take inspiration from former graduates and set up your own fashion business start-up, develop a work-at-home business or become a one-person firm. To help you succeed, you can access help and guidance on developing your start-up at our Accelerator, London business incubator.

You could also follow in the footsteps of Armando Cabral, a London Metropolitan University graduate who has built his own fashion empire and been part of Paris Fashion Week whilst modelling for H&M.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• a minimum grade C in three A levels or minimum grades BC in at least two A levels in academic or business subjects (or a minimum of 96 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National, OCR Diploma or Advanced Diploma)
• English Language and Mathematics GCSE at grade C (grade 4 from 2017) or above (or equivalent)

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.