Fashion and Textiles (top-up) - BA (Hons)

Course structure

Duration: 1 year full-time

You will study four modules, consisting of three core modules and one optional module from a choice of two. 

Core modules

• Concept Realisation and Development (30 credits) 
• Business, Promotion and Portfolio (30 credits) 
• Dissertation (15 credits) 

Optional modules

• A choice of Final Major Project: Fashion or Final Major Project: Textiles (45 credits)

Teaching and assessment

Teaching is predominantly practical, utilising methods such as demonstrations, studio workshops, group lectures, seminars and individual tutorials. 

Assessment is largely coursework-based, with a small percentage of certain modules ‘exam’ or presentation-based. This will usually include a digital presentation of images of work where you will develop communication and professional practice skills.

Contact hours

For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours.  The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules.  Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.

Programme aims

The programme aims to:

• Provide a high standard of higher education.
• Promote flexibility and creativity through active experimentation and innovation in a range of fashion and textile based assignments.
• Provide a teaching and learning experience in which students learn from professionals in the industry.
• Be vocationally focused and to develop students who have work-related skills relevant to the fashion and textiles sector, building on students’ previous experience.
• Deliver students with a higher level of knowledge and understanding in order to reinforce and support the development of vocational skills.
• Provide a teaching and learning experience which is contemporary and up to date with the changing requirements of the fashion and textiles industry and emerging technologies.
• Provide students with the opportunity to focus on student centred work which allows them to develop a creative and innovative approach to fashion and textiles design work. This will be driven by lectures and workshop support allowing students to develop and pursue their own passions and form the basis of an innovative and creative fashion and/or textiles collection.
• Produce graduating students who are a credit to the region and the nation, in possession of generic skills enabling them to develop their capacity to learn and to go on to further study or employment with an awareness of sustainability and their contribution to society, the economy and the environment.
• Provide learning opportunities that are enjoyable experiences, involve realistic workloads, are relevant and in line with standards and offer support for students from a diverse range of backgrounds.
• Provide high quality teaching in a suitable environment with industrial equipment and appropriately qualified and trained staff.
• Enhance the students learning experience by offering specialist lectures and facilities.
• To provide flexibility, knowledge and skills, plus a range of personal qualities and attitudes essential for successful performance in professional working life.
• To provide students with the academic skills required for a higher level of qualification. Develop opportunities for students to access specialist subject resources and encourage staff and student collaboration.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

You gain a knowledge and understanding of:

• Specific design and production techniques for communication and expression through creation of fashion or textile collections.
• The critical and contextual dimensions of fashion and textiles, including the business, cultural, economic, environmental, ethical, global, historical, political, societal and theoretical contexts.
• The designer’s required relationship with audiences, clients, markets, users, consumers and other participants.
• The implications and potential of the key developments in current and emerging media and technologies in the fashion and textiles industry.
• The implications and potential uses of experimental approaches to fashion and textile design to communicate ideas effectively.
• The interaction between intention, process, outcome, context and methods with regard to commercial marketing, production and making of designs.
• Show judgement and self-critique in relation to the development from ideas to intended function of the garment or textile, process, system or text.
• Use a range of materials, media, technologies and tools associated with fashion and textiles showing understanding of quality standards and attention to detail.

Intellectual skills

You gain the following intellectual skills:

• The articulation and synthesis of knowledge and understanding, attributes and skills in effective ways in the contexts of creative practice, employment, further study, research and self-fulfilment.
• The application, consolidation and extension of learning in different contextual frameworks and situations, both within and beyond the traditional fields of fashion and textiles. 
• The investigation, analysis, interpretation, development and articulation of ideas and information through the use of visual languages. 

Subject-specific skills

You gain the following subject-specific skills:

• The generation of ideas, concepts, proposals, solutions or arguments independently and/or collaboratively in response to set briefs and/or as self-initiated activity.
• The employment of both convergent and divergent thinking in the processes of observation, investigation, speculative enquiry, visualisation, designing and/or making through a range of activities based upon fashion and textiles.
• The personal selection, testing, use and exploitation of materials, processes technologies and environments. 
• The development of ideas through to material outcomes, including, for example, fashion/textile collections, images, artefacts, products, systems and processes, or texts. 
• The management and exploitation of the interaction between intention, process, outcome, context, and the methods of dissemination. 
• The application of resourcefulness and entrepreneurial skills to support the student’s own practice, and/or the practice of others.

Transferable skills

You gain the following transferable skills:

• Self-management - the ability to study independently, set goals, manage own roles and responsibilities, to manage own time in achieving objectives, to anticipate and accommodate change, to undertake personal and career development, to transfer skills gained to new and changing situations and contexts. 
• Team working and interpersonal skills– the ability to treat others’ values, beliefs and opinions with respect, to relate to and interact effectively with individuals and groups, to work effectively as a team member, to work effectively with other professionals in the workplace and to negotiate with colleagues and others. 
• Communication and presentation – the ability to receive and respond to a variety of information, present information in a variety of visual forms, to communicate in writing, to participate in oral and non-verbal communication, to articulate ideas and information comprehensively.
• Management and problem solving skills, the ability to solve problems and to use information sources, deal with a combination of routine and non-routine tasks, to identify and solve routine and non-routine problems.
• Numeracy – the ability to apply numerical skills and techniques to a wide variety of tasks involved in fashion and textiles.
• Applying design and creativity – the ability to apply a range of skills and techniques to develop a variety of ideas in the creation of new/modified products, services and situations, to use a range of thought processes.
• Information skills – the ability to use information technology in a variety of ways. The ability to source, navigate, select, retrieve, evaluate, manipulate and manage information from a variety of sources.
• Critical awareness – the ability to identify the strengths and weaknesses in fashion and textiles design work and to formulate criteria for quality from contextual investigation. Formulate independent judgements and articulate reasoned arguments through reflection, review and evaluation; the ability to formulate reasoned responses to the critical judgements of others. Ability to identify personal strengths and needs.
  

Careers

Graduates of this programme have progressed to a wide range of internships or employment in industry roles such as fashion designer, textile designer, independent designer maker, pattern cutter, fashion illustrator and digital print designer. Others have progressed to further study, including teacher training and Masters level programmes.