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International Fashion Business (one year top-up) BA (Hons)

UCAS code: W232

Start year

Information for 2025

About this course

BA (Hons) International Fashion Business is for aspiring fashion professionals. Designed as a one-year top-up, this course will build upon your prior knowledge and experience (whether it be from a design or business background), equipping you with the skills and insights needed to thrive in the ever-evolving global fashion industry.

With a strong emphasis on sustainability and innovation, you’ll take a global outlook, challenge conventions and help shape the future of fashion. You'll benefit from a highly personalised learning experience, collaborating with likeminded fashion lovers from all over the world while being supported by a team of experienced industry experts. Plus, you'll gain hands-on practical experience and expand your professional network through live projects and competitions.

This dynamic international fashion business course will help you stand out in a far-reaching, global industry, lending itself to roles in buying, merchandising, brand management and digital marketing. Get ready to embark on your journey to success in the vibrant world of fashion.

  • Tailor your degree to align with your career aspirations by specialising your independent projects.
  • Build a global network as you learn alongside students from across the world.
  • Learn from expert teachers with extensive industry experience and professional contacts.
  • Become a fashion pioneer as you push boundaries and champion sustainability and innovation.
Top
20
In the UK for Art and Design in Complete University Guide 2025

What you’ll study

Throughout the course, you'll explore the most critical areas of the global fashion industry. You'll learn about sustainability and how eco-friendly innovation can futureproof fashion; ethical business practices and the importance of doing business the right way; and how to stay ahead of the curve by identifying and analysing the latest trends. You’ll also delve into product management and marketing, learning how brands design, develop and promote their ranges to connect with customers. All your learning will be put into practice with hands-on opportunities like entering competitions and working on live projects for a diverse range of fashion brands.

Global Fashion Responsibility (20 Credit Points)

Gain the tools and insights needed to transform the fashion industry, empowering you to champion ethical practices and innovate for a more sustainable and equitable future.

Critically examine the concept of global fashion responsibility, addressing the urgent need to rethink traditional fashion business models in response to environmental and social challenges. Explore

topics such as supply chain management, responsible sourcing and sustainable production practices, and gain a comprehensive understanding of how and why they contribute to a more transparent, traceable and accountable industry. Integrating these principles and your research into real-world scenarios, you’ll investigate self-regulating business strategies that promote sustainable growth, including the principles of circular product economies and strategies for minimising waste and environmental impact.

The Future of Fashion (60 Credit Points)

Explore what the fashion industry could look like in years to come, and steer your own personal project addressing its most pressing challenges.

Examine the future of the fashion industry by analysing global macro and micro trends, consumer behaviours, and the impacts of economic, technological and environmental changes. In the second half of the year, use your understanding of these to choose a specialism for your personalised project, for which you'll merge strategic thinking with creativity to craft innovative solutions to real-world industry challenges. This is a chance to reflect on and refine your professional growth and aspirations, paving the way for your career in fashion.

Fashion Product Management & Marketing (40 Credit Points)

Delve into the process of developing and creating product ranges, exploring how brands design and bring products to market.

Develop a comprehensive understanding of how the fashion industry operates, from identifying target consumers and analysing markets to navigating the retail landscape. Through practical insights and case studies, you’ll build an understanding of the entire lifecycle of fashion products, and discover how brands engage with their audiences to foster strong consumer connections.

We regularly review and update our course content based on student and employer feedback, ensuring that all of our courses remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or module availability in future years.

Don’t just take our word for it, hear from our students themselves

Student Profiles

Kezia Anne Darmadi

I can learn about Fashion from a global perspective, including how culture influences people’s interpretation of fashion and whether the business operates differently. Coming here, particularly at NTU, has deepened my interest and passion for fashion even further.

Tamsin Johnson

This course is really great for increasing  your employability prospects as it provides you with in-depth insight into the different sectors of the industry, including buying and merchandising, marketing and branding, and trend prediction.

Emilie Machado

I would recommend my course to anyone who has a particular dream job in mind, because it will give you the tools to develop your interests in a constructive and comprehensive way.

Annie Meek

We have many speakers from industry who come in and talk to us.

Cara Presta

The best part was the freedom to choose my own research area, which meant I got to learn exactly what I wanted. The tutors challenged and pushed me to always do better, and I feel like they got the best out of me.

Video Gallery

 

How you're taught

Teaching and learning experiences will include:

  • lectures
  • seminars
  • tutorials
  • workshops
  • personal development plan
  • visits to industry head offices and retail stores
  • creative IT skills workshops
  • fashion trade exhibitions.

Optional trips and study visits

There may also be an opportunity to take part in optional field trip to a European destination that will be tailored to suit your course.

Showcase

You will be given the opportunity to exhibit your work during your time at NTU to members of the creative industries. Visit our ‘We Are Creatives’ showcase to take a look at the work of this year's graduating students’.

How you're assessed

Depending on the module, you may be assessed through:

  • Reports
  • Presentations
  • Written assignments
  • Visually led projects
  • Creative outputs
  • Portfolio
  • Essays

The majority of assessments are for you to complete on your own. There are two group projects where you will receive ongoing feedback to help you identify ways of improvement. Assessment tasks are designed to challenge you over the year to increasingly demonstrate your own creativity, reflect your own interests, and include independent research.

Staff Profiles

Jo O'Rourke - Senior Lecturer

Nottingham School of Art & Design

Jo O'Rourke is a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, who's role involves helping potential industry employees to gain an invaluable understanding of the industry and to achieve a highly professional approach.

Timothy Rundle - Principal Lecturer

Nottingham School of Art & Design

Principle Lecturer across the Department of Fashion Management, Marketing and Communication, contributing to 6 Undergraduate course and 4 Postgraduate programmes. Subject specialist in Visual Literacy and design communication, with a…

Justine Davidson - Principal Lecturer

Nottingham School of Art & Design

Justine is a Principal Lecturer leading the teaching and learning for the BA (Hons) Fashion Management course. She specialises in fashion retail and management strategy, actively building on her wide…

Karen Priestley - Lecturer

Nottingham School of Art & Design

I am course lead for International Fashion Business, the role entails managing day to day operations of the course, arranging teaching and learning, for our UK cohort as well as…

Bernadette Coughlan - Lecturer

Nottingham School of Art & Design

Bernadette is a Lecturer teaching on BA (Hons) Fashion Management. Bernadette is the module leader for Global Fashion Business delivering teaching on all elements of the Fashion industry. Being the…

Careers and employability

Graduate roles include buying, merchandising, digital marketing, design, visual merchandising and account management. You may also wish to pursue further education or self-employment.

Recent graduate roles and destinations include:

  • Next, trainee buyer
  • Adidas, visual merchandiser, Amsterdam
  • Calvin Klein, brand coordinator, Hong Kong
  • Eland Fashion, assistant buyer, Hong Kong
  • YM INC, ecommerce coordinator, Canada.

YouFirst – working with our Employability team

Studying a creative degree in a large university has many benefits, none more so than having access to a large employability team.

Our friendly, experienced careers consultants will work closely with you at every stage of your career planning, providing personal support and advice you won't find in a book or on the internet. You can benefit from this at any time during your studies, and for up to three years after completing your course.

Connecting with industry

This course has developed strong collaborations with industry partners at local, national and international levels. Recent visitors have included:

  • Carol Rose, an expert in sustainable fashion life cycle solutions
  • Matthew Dixon, director of Hudson Walker International
  • Food Futurologist Dr Morgaine Gaye
  • Andrew and Iain Foxall from Foxall Studio
  • Marketing Consultancy BDA London
  • representatives from Wedgewood, Next, and Whistles
  • visiting alumni who come to share their industry experience.

You’ll have the opportunity to work on live projects and competitions with brands and organisations within the fashion and related industries. This has recently included a fashion buying and range planning competition with Next, leading to a graduate intern position.

Creative Industries Federation

We are members of the Creative Industries Federation (CIF), which means students in the Nottingham School of Art & Design have the opportunity to sign up to free student membership. Creative Industries Federation are an organisation that represents, champions and supports the UK’s creative industries and membership grants students exclusive access to their selection of resources and events to help advance your career and connect with industry.

Campus and facilities

You will be based in the Barnes Wallis building at the heart of the City Campus, with its modern teaching rooms, collaborative working spaces and Mac suite. View our Nottingham School of Art & Design Facilities Hub here.

These facilities are dedicated to students studying:

  • BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Promotion
  • BA (Hons) Fashion Management
  • BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and Branding
  • BA (Hons) International Fashion Business (1 year top up).

Our Masters students are also based in Barnes Wallis, providing opportunities for mentoring our undergraduate students.

Entry requirements

UK students

  • completion of Year Two of a Fashion or Textiles-related degree course; or
  • completion of a HND course in Fashion or Textiles; or
  • completion of a Foundation degree in a related Fashion or Textiles discipline.
  • a personal statement along with a sample of creative and written academic work.

To find out what qualifications have tariff points, please use our tariff calculator.

International students

We accept equivalent qualifications from all over the world. Please check your international entry requirements by country.

English language requirements: See our English language requirements page for requirements for your subject and information on alternative tests and Pre-sessional English.

Policies

We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.

Fees and funding

UK students

- see the fees for this course, as well as information about funding and support.

£9,535 per year

Find out about the extra support we may be able to provide to help pay for uni, including NTU bursaries and scholarships.

The annual fee for our undergraduate degree courses includes a number of items. In addition to expert tuition and access to our first-class workshop and IT resources, you'll receive:

  • mandatory field trips, exhibitions and events required as part of your core studies
  • materials for induction workshops and activities within the workshops and laboratories
  • professional body course accreditation (where applicable)
  • infrastructure costs for final year Showcases (where applicable).

You will need to pay tuition fees for each year that you are at university. The tuition fees, including the placement year and study abroad options are subject to government policy and may change in future years of study.

Preparing for the financial side of student life is important, but we don’t want you to feel anxious or confused about it. Visit our fees and funding pages if you have any concerns.

International students

- see the fees for this course, as well as payment advice and scholarships.
  • £18,250 per year

The annual fee for our undergraduate degree courses includes a number of items. In addition to expert tuition and access to our first-class workshop and IT resources, you'll receive:

  • mandatory field trips, exhibitions and events required as part of your core studies
  • materials for induction workshops and activities within the workshops and laboratories
  • professional body course accreditation (where applicable)
  • infrastructure costs for final year Showcases (where applicable).

You will need to pay tuition fees for each year that you are at university. The tuition fees might increase from the second year of your undergraduate course, in line with inflation and as specified by the UK government.

Scholarships

We offer international scholarships of up to 50% of your tuition fee. You can apply for a scholarship when you have an offer to study at NTU.

Living costs

See our advice on managing your money and the cost of living as an international student in Nottingham.

Paying fees

As an international student, you'll need to make an advance payment of £6,000 when you've accepted your offer to study at NTU. You'll then need to pay your tuition fees in full, or have an agreement to pay in two further instalments, before the start date of your course.

Find out how and when to pay your fees, including information about advance payments, instalment dates and how to make payments securely to the University.

Enquiries

If you have any queries relating to advance payments or arrangements to pay, please contact our friendly and experienced international enquiries team.

Additional costs

Your course fees cover the cost of studies and include loads of great benefits, such as the use of our library, support from our expert Employability team and free use of the IT equipment across our campuses. There are just a few additional things you may need to budget for:

Textbooks and library books

Most modules will recommend one or more core textbooks, which most students choose to purchase. Book costs vary and further information is available in the University’s bookshop. Our libraries provide a good supply of essential textbooks, journals and materials (many of which you can access online) - meaning you may not need to purchase as many books as you might think! There may also be a supply of second-hand books available for purchase from previous year students.

Printing and photocopying costs

The University allocates an annual printing and copying allowance of £20 depending on the course you are studying. For more details about costs for additional print and copying required over and above the annual allowance please see the printing and photocopying information on the Library website.

Field trips

All essential field trip costs will be included in your course fees. There may be the opportunity to take part in optional field trips, which do incur additional costs.

Fees and funding advice

For more advice and guidance, you can email our Student Money Team or phone us on +44 (0)115 848 2494.

Cost of living information and support

Managing your money can help you make the most of life at NTU. Here's how we can support you, and now you can make your funding go further.

How to apply

Apply through UCAS.

You can apply for this course through UCAS. If you are not applying to any other UK universities, you can apply directly to us on our NTU applicant portal.

Application advice

Apply early so that you have enough time to prepare – processing times for Student visas can vary, for example.  After you've applied, we'll be sending you important emails throughout the application process – so check your emails regularly, including your junk mail folder.

Writing your personal statement

Be honest, thorough, and persuasive – we can only make a decision about your application based on what you tell us:

Would you like some advice on your study plans? 

Our international teams are highly experienced in answering queries from students all over the world. We also have members of staff based in Vietnam, China, India and Nigeria and work with a worldwide network of education counsellors.

The University's commitment to delivering the educational services advertised.