BA (Hons) Fashion (HE6 top-up)
Our BA (Hons) Fashion (Top-up) course responds to contemporary practice in the fashion industry and is ideal if you’ve already completed a related foundation degree or HND. If you wish to pursue a career within the wider scope of fashion, our course offers you honours-level skills and knowledge. Individual self-expression is balanced with the need to understand commercial design and manufacturing processes, and an awareness of key critical issues affecting the industry.
BA (Hons) Fashion (HE6 top-up)
Award
BA (Hons)
Start Date
To be confirmed
Duration
1 year
Mode
Full-time
Location
University of Greater Manchester
UCAS Code
W265
Our BA (Hons) Fashion (Top-up) course responds to contemporary practice in the fashion industry and is ideal if you’ve already completed a related foundation degree or HND. If you wish to pursue a career within the wider scope of fashion, our course offers you honours-level skills and knowledge. Individual self-expression is balanced with the need to understand commercial design and manufacturing processes, and an awareness of key critical issues affecting the industry.
Course Overview
We’ll support you to enhance your existing foundation degree or HND-level knowledge and skills, ready to achieve the status of BA (Hons) Fashion (Top-up) graduate. You can study key aspects of fashion and boost your employability.At honours-level, we’ll focus on supporting the development of your personal studio-based practice, and helping you gain critical inquiry and research skills to inspire your work and enhance its quality and relevance. We’ll encourage you to explore the cultural, historical, theoretical and conceptual elements of fashion to enrich your knowledge and understanding of forecasted trends, fashion design history, commercial design and manufacturing processes, and material understanding.
Our experienced and dedicated staff will support you as you work to demonstrate your skills in pattern cutting, garment manufacture, fashion illustration and visualisation techniques, and the application of surface design and embellishment by creating a portfolio and sample garments to impress potential employers. We’ll encourage you to balance your individual creative expression with industry awareness for the production of innovative fashion outcomes.
We’ll also focus on helping you develop your visual display, promotion and fashion communication skills, to help give you the edge when giving professional pitches and succeed at interviews.
Highlights
- Our Art and Design courses are placed fourth in the UK and top in the North West of England for teaching quality by the Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021.
- Our team of highly knowledgeable and enthusiastic fashion lecturers offer face-to-face sessions and one-to-one support, ensuring you can access help and advice when you need it.
- We’ll encourage you to enter national and international design competitions.
- You’ll be exposed to fashion and fabric companies from the contemporary design world through our links to design groups, manufacturers and supporting agencies. You'll also have the chance to attend exhibitions and dedicated trade shows for fabric and sustainability issues in the UK and overseas.
- You’ll have the chance to exhibit and showcase your work at national and international events, such as Graduate Fashion Week.
- Guest lectures from specialists in different fashion fields ensure you have opportunities to learn about the industry directly from its current leaders.
Key Features
- You’ll have access to the latest technologies for design and visualisation, including Adobe Creative Suite, our Mimaki TX fabric printer, laser cutting equipment, and digital embroidery.
- You’ll have the chance to develop transferable skills valuable for work in the wider fashion industry, as well as for related fields such as PR, events management, cultural policy and the media.
- We offer opportunities to work on live briefs for established clients sourced from national and international trade events and professional bodies.
- We’ll support you to explore innovations in fabrics and technology as you develop fundamental skills in fashion design, visualisation and garment manufacture and range building.
- By choosing to study with us, you'll have the chance to enjoy Bolton's many shops, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities. Manchester, one of the UK's most multicultural and lively cities, is less than 20 minutes away by train. Not forgetting, the North West of England is renowned for its beautiful countryside, coastline and heritage. This makes Bolton an ideal base from which to explore some of the best cultural and outdoor activities the UK offers.
Entry Requirements
- You’ll have successfully completed a recognised fashion-related qualification comprising at least 120 credits at HE4 and 120 credits at HE5; for example, a foundation degree (FdA), higher national diploma (HND), or diploma of higher education (DipHE).
- You'll be required to attend an interview and provide a portfolio of appropriate work.
- If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 6.0 with no less than 5.5 in any band (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.
Career Opportunities
If you're excited at the thought of a career in fashion, one which shows off your creative flair and drive for contemporary design, this course could be the perfect stepping stone for you. As a BA (Hons) Fashion (Top-up) degree graduate, you’ll possess a range of practical and transferable skills such as technical drawing, pattern cutting, tailoring, sewing and the use of digital technology, as well as communication skills, self-promotion, creativity, commercial awareness and teamwork.
During your studies, you’ll be expected to spend time following and observing the latest fashion trends, consumer behaviour regarding buying fashion, brand awareness and ethical issues facing the industry. You’ll also be encouraged to develop a portfolio that will be crucial when you apply for employment.
Completing your honours-level studies should prove valuable in helping you achieve your career goals.
What can I do with this qualification?
You could also study for a master’s qualification. Popular options at the University of Bolton include our MA (Specialist Title) via Creative Practice, MA Arts Management, MA Applied and Community Arts and MSc Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Alternative career options
Graduates can also use the qualification as a stepping-stone into a range of other careers. For some of these roles, relevant experience and postgraduate study may be required. These careers include:
- Event management
- Sales
- Tailor
- Costume design
- Wardrobe management
- Personal shopping
- Fashion styling
- Photography
- Modelling
- Jewellery design
- Retail management
- Textile design
- Teaching and education
- Research and development
- Writing and illustration
- Public relations
- Self-employment
Fees & Funding
Home/EU Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Greater Manchester’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@greatermanchester.ac.uk for more information.
International Fees
No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Greater Manchester’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@greatermanchester.ac.uk for more information.
Bursaries
Important note regarding tuition fees: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.
Home Undergraduate Tuition Fee Adjustment
The tuition fee applicable to the first year of your programme of study is confirmed in your offer letter. The tuition fee set is based on the regulations and guidance in force at the time of offer but remains subject to adjustment in accordance with any government-approved inflationary increase. The University reserves the right to amend tuition fees for all years of study, including the first year, by no more than the maximum increase permitted under legislation and regulatory guidance issued by the UK Government and the Office for Students.
Where such increases are approved, they will not exceed the rate of inflation, as measured by an appropriate index such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or any successor measure specified by government. The University will apply any adjustment consistently across affected student cohorts and will give reasonable notice to students of any confirmed change to the published fee before the start of the relevant academic year.
This approach ensures that tuition fees remain compliant with applicable legislation, proportionate to inflationary changes, and consistent with government policy linking permitted fee uplifts to the maintenance of high-quality education and outcomes. For more information, please refer to the government guidance at: gov.uk – Universities to deliver better outcomes in return for full fees.
Postgraduate and International Tuition Fee Adjustment
The tuition fee applicable to the first year of your programme of study is confirmed in your offer letter. The University reserves the right to amend tuition fees for subsequent years of study in accordance with its Course Fees Policy. Where such increases are approved, they will not exceed the rate of inflation, as measured by an appropriate index such as the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or any successor measure specified by government. The University will apply any adjustment consistently across affected student cohorts and will give reasonable notice to students of any confirmed change to the published fee before the start of the relevant academic year.
How to apply
Teaching & Assessment
We use a blended approach to teaching and learning. You’ll have face-to-face sessions and workshops and take part in online learning. Studio and computer suite-based activities are important features of the course, alongside lectures, seminars and practical-based workshops. We'll encourage you to participate in visits to locations such as factories, galleries and museums, go on garment research trips and attend presentations by our visiting speakers. You’ll also be expected to engage in self-directed study, with support from a range of staff including technicians and library/learning resources staff.
Module briefs include a wide range of activities such as commercially-based design projects, live briefs, competitions and commissions, and self-initiated projects. In addition, there are opportunities for collaborative design briefs that involve working with students from other creative areas within the Bolton School of the Arts. The sharing of ideas and practices across disciplines helps you to gain a broader understanding of the position of fashion in the wider creative and global creative industries.
In terms of assessment, you’ll have formative assessment to help you learn and develop your knowledge and skills, and summative assessment on which you are graded. You’ll receive individual help and advice on your personal work in one-to-one tutorials. Peer reviews, where you present your work to a small group of your fellow students for their comment, also provide useful feedback.
Formal assessment is by coursework. This may involve you presenting your portfolio of drawings/design work, samples or practical outcomes, along with supporting design work of developmental ideas, technical note files, and a written research journal. It can also take the form of essays, reports, verbal presentations, assignments, projects and other written work.
Modules
The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.
- Fashion Contexts - Research in Context
- Fashion Practices - Concept to Collection
- Major Project - Final Collection
Assessment methods
| Level | Assessment method |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Coursework 93% Practical exams 7% |
Learning Activities
| Level | Activity |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Guided independent study 68% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 32% |
The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.
Postgraduate Options
Programme Contacts
Disclaimer: The “Greater Manchester Way” represents our preferred teaching and learning approach; however, not all courses follow a block-teaching model. While course structures and delivery patterns may vary to meet Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Body (PSRB) requirements, all courses benefit from the GM Way approach to curriculum design and assessment. Applicants and students should refer to individual course specifications for the most accurate and up-to-date information.
