You will be taught by expert staff who will support you in reaching your potential and challenge you to extend beyond it. Through a mixture of lectures, collaborative team assignments, case study analyses, work experience placements, management training, performance-based skills coaching and interpersonal skills development you will develop your communication skills and confidence to take ideas from formation through to fruition.
First term
During the first term you will discover how ideas are created, where they originate from and how best to inspire them. From blue-sky thinking and conceptual development to understanding best practice for business incubators and managed workspaces, you’ll learn how successful businesses have turned abstract ideas into tangible products and services. You will acquire fundamental skills such as business planning, creative project management, pitching, presenting and value chain modelling. With this will come in depth investigation into the motivations of customers, to fully understand how and why they choose to buy from a particular company or organisation.
Second term
In your second term, you will focus on one of the most vital elements for success within the creative industry; motivating, inspiring and managing creative talent. Learning how to get the best out of people (both individuals and teams) is key to creating something different and special that will catch the attention of your target audience. Equally important is knowing how to avoid blocking creative development and ensuring that the environment in which a team works is one that encourages successful and dynamic growth. You will also explore characteristics and attributes that make for a thriving creative business such as adaptability, mental agility, cultural competence, empathy and unwavering curiosity. During this term, you can also choose two modules from a range of supporting subject areas such as management, entrepreneurship and global challenges, pursuing what interests you most. Your fifth module will either be a written dissertation of up to 15,000 words or a project dissertation.
Dissertation
The Project Dissertation allows you to produce a ‘virtual’ case study contained within a portfolio of practical and written work that reflects the practical application of a selected sector of the creative industries. Both dissertation pathways offer you flexibility for you to focus on an area you are passionate about including for example; business planning/modelling, creative project development, intellectual property or a growing area of business such as app development or augmented reality.
Skills
This course will also enable you to enhance your interpersonal skills to develop in areas most useful for entrepreneurial pursuits and/or attractive to potential employers. It is well documented that people with strong interpersonal skills succeed both in their personal and professional lives. With the guidance of expert staff and industry mentors you will learn the art of persuasion, influencing, decision-making, problem solving, mediation and conflict resolution to find the best course of action, even if the most difficult of situations.
