MA in Creative and Cultural Industries

The MA Creative and Cultural Industries course will deliver comprehensive knowledge and understanding of theory and practice relevant to the broad field of Creative and Cultural Industries (CCIs). Students will encounter key global theoretical perspectives and policy approaches, sector-based practices, issues and debates, tools and insights into evidence and decision-making for strategy and enterprise at the individual, organisational and governmental levels. Through taught course units, practice-based learning and research, students will be prepared to undertake qualified management, lead business strategies, design policies and exercise entrepreneurship in CCIs.

We aim to:

• develop knowledge and critical evaluation of key debates and theoretical perspectives and enable the application of this understanding to contemporary policy contexts, technological innovations and professional practices in the global creative and cultural industries;
• offer students an insight into, and direct experience of, the diverse range of professional opportunities in the creative and cultural sector and support the development of relevant and transferrable skills for employability;
• prepare students to develop careers in the creative and cultural industries and support the advancement of the sector through both the education of entry-level recruits and the continuing development of in-service professionals;
• contribute to the development of creative and cultural industries as a focus for interdisciplinary teaching and research both within and beyond the School of Arts Languages and Cultures, including the forming of academic and professional partnerships with external organisations;
• develop student's academic and intellectual skills, including independent research, data analysis and evidence to the point that students are capable of embarking upon further research at the highest level.

Course unit details

This MA is a modular degree made up of 180 credits. You will take 120 credits of core and optional course units plus a dissertation worth 60 credits.

Part-time students take 30 credits of optional course units each year. You may choose to take one optional course unit in a related subject area, eg Marketing, Fashion or Urban Studies. Note that not all optional course units may be available every year.

Dissertation (Semester 2 and summer)

On successful completion of the coursework, you proceed to write a dissertation (60 credits) on a topic of your choice, agreed upon in conjunction with your dissertation supervisor. Dissertations, like articles (depending on the journal), may be strongly based on original primary source research. They might aim to re-interpret an already well-trawled area of the subject, or they might take up an approach somewhere between these two extremes. In all cases, however, the authors will have chosen and elaborated a body of relevant material which they bring to bear on a clearly defined issue.

Dissertation planning and supervision take place in Semester 2 (February-end of June) and you continue with your independent writing in July and August. You can either undertake a standard dissertation or a practice-based dissertation.

Course unit list

The course unit details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available for this course of study.

• Cultural Policy
• Dissertation
• Theories and Practices in Creative and Cultural Industries
• Creative Learning
• Business Strategies for Arts, Culture and Creative Industries
• Innovation, Digitisation and New Markets in Creative and Cultural Industries
• Creative Places
• Creative Work
• Global, Cultural and Creative Industries
• Creative Learning

Students will be professionally prepared for careers in the growing creative and cultural industries sectors, including visual arts, performing arts, music, publishing, design, fashion, film and digital media, policy and leadership, and transferrable skills into broader industrial sectors and the digital and creative economy.

You will benefit from lots of CV-building opportunities on the course, and your supervisor provides you with personal and career development support.

You'll also have access to the award-winning Careers Service of the University, which provides support and advice in career development.