MA Design Management

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Delivery:
Full time according to Funding Council definitions, Part-Time, Sandwich (Thick) out of college.

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The role of design management covers aspects of project management, design and strategic planning to administer the creative process in a professional environment. By covering these topics with a focus on academic underpinning to real-life situations, our Master's degree prepares you for a career in innovation and leadership within the fast-moving creative industries.

This Master's will appeal to design organisations, employers in organisations that design new products, and candidates holding a first degree or equivalent qualification in a design-related field. The aim is to enhance existing skills and abilities by enabling a systematic approach to design and the decision-making process.

On this course you can benefit from opting to take a 30-week placement in industry, extending your course by a year, although this is not mandatory. This will give you essential real-world experience, placing your theory and skills into practice, and enabling you to harvest a network of professional contacts – all of which are vital for successfully launching a career.

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Key information

Next start date:

January 2021, September 2021, January 2022, September 2022

Location:

Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Duration:

1 year full-time (15 months for January starts), 2 years with an optional work placement, or 2 years part-time

Required subjects:

Design

Entry requirements:

A Bachelor's Honours degree with 2:2 in a required subject, or equivalent. For more information see our full entry requirements.

International entry requirements:

If English is not your first language you'll need IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with minimum 5.5 in each component. For more information check out our international entry requirements.

Course details

The course is designed to provide industry with personnel who understand and can employ management and technical tools, and are able to spearhead and manage the development of new products and projects appropriate for the technological industries.

Contact hours and assessment

Details of the assessment methods and contact hours for each unit of the course can be found in the programme specification.

Download the programme specification (pdf 370kb)

Core units

Competitive Product Development: Developing an understanding of the factors that affect competitive product development with both the domestic and the international markets, this unit will cover marketing, product design, manufacturing, component and product sourcing, market evaluation and the benefits of partnership working within the supply and distribution chains.
Design Management: Relating studies to decision making, you will be educated on societal marketing business philosophies and how to use them as a tool in management. The unit will focus on employing a systematic design process for analysing and solving design problems effectively and efficiently.
Strategic Management: The role of strategy in a business context is paramount. You will examine the role of analysis in strategy formulation while analysing concepts and frameworks that can be used for assessing an organisation’s strategic position. The aim of the unit is to develop an understanding of how implementing effective strategies that match the company’s resource to its industry environment can make an impact.
Knowledge Transfer: Considering the history of the higher education landscape and its contemporary space as a supplier of knowledge, this unit will give you an in-depth critical understanding of the methods and processes of knowledge transfer. By establishing an understanding of IPR mechanisms, you will have the ability to critically evaluate innovation drivers within the commercial sector.
Design Thinking: Taking a research-based approach you will investigate the latest ideas in advanced design methods and user experience design to move the notion of the product from the traditional physical form to include seeing the product as a service, taking the product into the virtual and the inter-faceless.
Research Methods: This unit will adequately prepare you for writing a project proposal and for conducting and disseminating the Individual Master’s Project. You will use key research skills in areas such as literature reviews, critical analysis of research findings, project proposals, planning, experiment design and analysis, and dissemination.
Individual Master's Project: Using real-life problems you will use your knowledge gained from the programme, research findings and industrial experiences to produce an independently conducted piece of work. Your project may be linked to your workplace or to research being undertaken within one of BU’s research themes. This project will develop your knowledge of philosophy, methodologies and techniques of research provide you with an opportunity to critically investigate and report on a particular issue in depth and enable you to engage in complex issues and present an analytically rigorous and well-argued case.

Programme specification

Programme specifications provide definitive records of the University's taught degrees in line with Quality Assurance Agency requirements. Every taught course leading to a BU Award has a programme specification which describes its aims, structure, content and learning outcomes, plus the teaching, learning and assessment methods used.

Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the programme specification, the information is liable to change to take advantage of exciting new approaches to teaching and learning as well as developments in industry.

If you have been unable to locate the programme specification for the course you are interested in, it will be available as soon as the latest version is ready. Alternatively please contact us for assistance.

Placements

If you choose to take the optional placement, it will begin after completion of the taught units, providing an excellent opportunity for you to gain first-hand industry experience and apply the learning that you have achieved through the course. The placement should be a paid job but voluntary work can be just as enjoyable.

Find out more about postgraduate placements

How placements benefit you

Experience gained on the placement is invaluable in helping you to make informed decisions about your future career path, as well as enhancing your employment prospects upon graduation. Our dedicated Placements Office helps you to obtain placements and you will receive support throughout the placement experience.

Interview techniques and advice are also provided to help you successfully gain a placement. A number of companies habitually accept students from this course for the placement year.

Your application

What we’re looking for

For Design Management we are looking for applicants who:

Want to gain the ability and confidence to apply their knowledge and skills to specific design problems individually or in a group
Want to gain an understanding of sustainable development concepts and its framework and principal facets involving environmental, social and economic issues
Want to be fully conversant with contemporary information resources and use them effectively and efficiently
Want to be able to document and communicate, using oral and written presentations, project plans and results
Want to be able to plan, conduct and report on small research projects.

This course will be of particular relevance to knowledge transfer partnership associates engaged in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

How and when to apply

There is no application deadline for this course. However, if you will need a visa to come to the UK to study, think carefully about the length of time it will take for your visa application to be processed and make sure your visa will be ready in time for the beginning of your course.

Click the green ‘Apply now’ button to submit your application free of charge online through myHub, our application portal. You will create your own myHub account so that you can track the progress of your application. Don’t forget to save your application as you go; you can return to it at as many times as you want before you submit it. For more information visit our How to apply section.

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

The normal requirements for embarking upon this course are:

A Bachelors Honours degree with 2:2 in a required subject.
Required subjects: Design

If you lack the formal academic qualifications needed to enter a postgraduate or post-experience degree, there are several alternative routes to follow - some based on experience. Contact the Future Students Enquiry Team for more information.

International entry requirements

You can find details of the international qualifications we accept, and what level of study they apply to, on our entry requirements for non-UK students' page.

Please see below some examples of the qualifications for entry:

China: 学士学位 (Bachelor degree) with a minimum of 65% overall
Nigeria: Bachelor's degree from a recognised institution in Nigeria
Thailand: Thai Bachelor's (Honours) degree from a recognised higher education institution.
Vietnam: Bachelor's degree/Bang tot nghiep dai hoc with an average score of at least 7.0, or a Master’s degree/Thac si.
Turkey: Bachelor’s Degree (Lisans Diplomasi -four years) to be considered for a postgraduate course at BU.

All applications will be subject to a minimum grade and your degree may need to be in a relevant subject area.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide evidence that you understand English to a satisfactory level. English language requirements for this course are normally:

IELTS (Academic) 6.0 with minimum 5.5 in each component, or equivalent.

View further information about our English language requirements.

Bournemouth University International College offers a number of pre-sessional English and preparatory programmes to prepare international students for postgraduate study at BU. Admission to the degree is guaranteed on successful completion of your course to the required level.

Careers

This course will empower you with the business skills, industry knowledge and confidence needed to spearhead and manage the development of new products and projects within the technological industries, providing you with a route to becoming a successful, dynamic leader in the engineering industry. Good project managers are indispensable to all organisations competing in today’s international businesses, meaning you will be able to enjoy career opportunities in a wide range of industries.

Potential job roles

Further study

Costs and fees

You can find full information about the deposits required and how to pay your fees in our postgraduate fees and funding section, including details of the Postgraduate Loan (subject to fee status).

All fees are quoted in pounds sterling and are per annum. Fees quoted are for tuition only unless stated otherwise. Your tuition fees will be the same for each year of your course.

Find out more about living expenses for postgraduate students

No hidden extras

What’s included in your tuition fee?

Your tuition fee covers expenses associated with your course including tuition materials, access to facilities, mandatory field trips and the following:

Materials for laboratory and field-based teaching activity
Support for finding placements (UK or abroad) and fieldwork, and non-financial support whilst on placement
A range of student services – advisors, help desks, counsellors, placement support and careers service
The Library – access to a wide range of electronic resources (databases, e-journals and e-books), print and multimedia collections, subject librarians and study spaces
Access to Brightspace, our virtual learning environment, which offers a responsive and personalised learning experience with powerful learning analytics capabilities, integrated social media and advanced video features.
IT labs (some open 24/7), wireless network, AV equipment to borrow
Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme
Disability and additional learning support
The BU Language Centre to help you develop/improve foreign or English language skills
24 hours a day, 365 days a year security team.

Costs of living and other expenses you need to consider

Additional costs

We are committed to offering you value for money and ensuring there are no hidden costs while you are studying with us, therefore we have listed below any additional costs you may incur that are not covered by your tuition fee:

Laptops, tablets and mobile devices.
Accommodation and living costs. Our accommodation price guide can be found on our website.
Travel costs, outdoor wear and footwear for optional field trips (where applicable)
Text books, general stationery and other supplies. Our award-winning library is stocked with a large range of text books and online resources, free of charge. The Students’ Union shops stock a wide range of stationery supplies on both campuses
Any expenses relating to placements e.g. travel, specialist clothing etc.
SportBU membership.

Repeat units

Deposits

January 2021 entry

International (non-EU) students need to pay a non-refundable £2,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

September 2021 and January 2022 entry

International (not Rep. of Ireland) students need to pay a non-refundable £3,000 deposit to secure their place on a postgraduate course. You will need to pay your deposit by the date stated in your offer letter. The remainder of your fee will be payable on registration/enrolment. There are two exceptions to the non-refundable rule on the deposit:

You fail to meet the academic or English requirements of your offer
You are refused a visa to enter the UK, provided the reason for the refusal is not a fraudulent application.

Financial help available from BU

Our staff

On this course you will be taught by staff with relevant expertise and knowledge appropriate to the content of the unit. This could include senior academic staff, qualified professional practitioners and research students, many of whom are actively engaged in research and/or professional practice which is integrated into the teaching of this course. You may also benefit from guest lectures from industry, including our alumni. Please note that teaching staff can change.

You can find out more about some of the staff that are currently teaching on the course and their research activities below.

Read more about the expertise of other members of the Department of Design & Engineering, and book an Open Day to come along and meet some of them.

Mehran Koohgilani – Senior Lecturer in Product Design

All statistics shown throughout this page are taken from Unistats, Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE), BU institutional data and Ipsos MORI (National Student Survey) unless otherwise stated.