Fashion Buying - course unit details - BSc Fashion Buying and Merchandising - full details (2025 entry)

Duration: 3 years or 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: 6G49 / Institution code: M20

Key features:
Study abroad
Industrial experience
Scholarships available
Field trips
Accredited course

Typical A-level offer: AAB including specific subjects
Typical contextual A-level offer: ABB including specific subjects
Refugee/care-experienced offer: BBB including specific subjects
Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 35 points overall with 6,6,5 at HL

Full entry requirements How to apply

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Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £38,000 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

The University of Manchester is committed to attracting and supporting the very best students. We have a focus on nurturing talent and ability and we want to make sure that you have the opportunity to study here, regardless of your financial circumstances. For information about scholarships and bursaries please visit our undergraduate student finance pages and our the Department funding pages .

Course unit details:
Fashion Buying

Course unit fact file
Unit code	MATS11301
Credit rating	20
Unit level	Level 4
Teaching period(s)	Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit?	No

Overview

This unit develops skills in order to both understand trends, design and products considering various methods of communication utilised within fashion industry.

Aims

The unit aims to:

Develop an understanding of the structure and dynamics of the global fashion and textiles industry and the processes involved in the fashion marketplace.
Introduce the concept of fashion trends – research, identification, development, utilisation, analysis and application.
Develop skills in visual communication.

Learning outcomes

A greater depth of the learning outcomes are covered in the following sections:

Knowledge and understanding
Intellectual skills
Practical skills
Transferable skills and personal qualities

Teaching and learning methods

This unit makes use of a variety of learning and teaching processes including: videos, problem based learning, live sessions, case studies and discussions. Blackboard will be used to present videos, presentation slides and supporting materials for the unit. The online activities will develop the theoretical subject knowledge, whilst the case studies and discussions will evaluate the importance and application of techniques, with live sessions visualising these findings. The unit will include practical sessions in a specialist CAD cluster.

Students are expected to download all online activity videos and attend all the live sessions (academic and CAD). You are expected to work independently to complete the requirements for the unit, during which you are expected to carry out fieldwork to gain insight into the fashion marketplace and reading to supplement your theoretical knowledge and understanding. You will also need to carry out practical work on your project. The independent self-study session will be directly linked to the coursework and be followed up in the live sessions therefore students that attend all the sessions will find the assessments more straightforward: those who do not attend will find it more difficult!

General assistance throughout the unit includes:

The provision of reading lists for each topic covered: where possible copies or links will be available on the blackboard site for the unit;
An opportunity for you to speak briefly to the unit tutors in the online workshop live sessions or in dedicated online drop in sessions.
Formative feedback at key states of the unit to help you gauge your progress and understanding you will be informed of this during the unit

Knowledge and understanding

A. Analyse and identify the processes that take place in the fashion industry in relation to product development
B. Demonstrate a broad understanding of fashion trend development
C. Interpret various methods of communication within design and trends, including digital multi-media, with particular focus on communication in fashion product development

Intellectual skills

A. Describe the relevant theories related to fashion and trends and explain how they are applied in the fashion and textiles industry

B. Collect and evaluate market and trend information to make relevant decisions related to trends and product development in a commercial fashion context.

Practical skills

A. Use appropriate software tools and techniques to produce written and visual communications tools relevant for the fashion industry

B. Identify, collect and synthesise market and trend data through planning, conducting and evaluating research

Transferable skills and personal qualities

A. Identify and use appropriate presentation and communication methods, with due consideration for the context and the audience

B. Use design tools including digital multimedia effectively in all communication tools

C. Organise research findings into a written format

Assessment methods

Method	Weight
Portfolio	100%

Feedback methods

Feedback given written and oral.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures	40

Independent study hours
Independent study	160

Teaching staff

Staff member	Role
Rachel Studd	Unit coordinator

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BSc Fashion Buying and Merchandising