The Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design is to Offer a Two-year Intensive BA (Hons) Fashion Communication Degree From October 2016, Validated by the University of Buckingham.*

The two-year fast-track BA (Hons) Fashion Communication is a varied, industry-focused programme that introduces and explains the world of fashion and facilitates the development of vital transferable professional skills. It is a broad based course that examines a range of areas within fashion communication, from visual elements such as image making and graphic design, through to media and marketing and the approaches used to sell fashion in a competitive global market place. The BA (Hons) Fashion Communication degree programme will be validated by the University of Buckingham.

The programme’s key aims are to:

• Introduce students to a broad range of areas within the fashion industry and facilitate their understanding of the key issues surrounding its advancement in the 21st Century
• Develop students’ communication skills across a variety of media, with an emphasis on creative outputs and visual messages
• Provide opportunities for students to develop key transferable skills in research and analysis, intellectual autonomy and creative thinking, collaboration, organisation, and enterprise
• Enable each student to determine their own personal and professional strengths through critical reflection, with a view to identifying and pursuing a suitable career path within fashion

This intensive two-year degree offers a unique opportunity to learn about the fashion industry from within. The unparalleled industry links inform the curriculum and the project briefs students are set and supported by visiting lecturers and industry guests that are leaders in their fields. The programme also includes a ‘Collaborative Industry Project’ module, which will allow students to work on an industry brief set by a partner company. Previous industry project partners include: Vogue, Louis Vuitton, Jaeger, Modus PR, Fenwick and GQ.

Previous speakers at the College include Victoria Beckham, Tommy Hilfiger, Alexandra Shulman, Suzy Menkes, Roland Mouret, Anya Hindmarch, Sarah Harris, Matthew Williamson, Henry Holland, Lulu Kennedy, Miles Aldridge, Lucinda Chambers, Kate Phelan, Caroline Issa, Yasmin Le Bon, Tamara Mellon, Bella Freud, Nicholas Coleridge, and many, many others.

The BA (Hons) Fashion Communications degree is a fast-track two year programme, allowing students to gain an equivalent degree to one achieved in three years elsewhere. This is made possible by restructuring the academic year to provide an additional term each summer; fitting in the same number of teaching weeks as a conventional three-year programme, but ensuring the work-load in any term is no greater. In summary, a two-year degree offers:

• An intensive, fast track degree course offering as much academic content in two years as other institutions offer in three
• The opportunity to start working in the fashion industry one year earlier
• Full use of the whole year, including the long summer holiday period taken elsewhere, which is better preparation for the world of work
• A programme comprising of 360 credit units, just like other Bachelors degrees
• Four ten-week terms, with twelve weeks holiday

The programme is purposefully broad, allowing students to explore a variety of areas within fashion before deciding on a clear area of focus for their final projects in the last two terms. Each year of study also includes an elective module, providing the opportunity to focus on a personal area of interest. The summer term at the end of the first year includes an industry placement, which can be organised by the student* to take place in any relevant area of fashion and in any location. In the ‘Fashion Futures’ module students will examine possible and expected developments in the fashion industry in relation to their own career development, creating a relevant portfolio intended to assist with securing employment in their chosen field. Careers support is a significant aspect of the college and the programme and students will continue to be supported after graduation.

*The College will provide extensive support to assist with finding suitable work experience, however part of the module assessment is for students to search for and secure a suitable placement themselves. This is to facilitate learning and professional development and job seeking skills. Should they wish, international students can arrange a placement in their home country.

About the University of Buckingham

The University of Buckingham is The Times and The Sunday Times University of the Year for Teaching 2016 and is one of only two private universities in the UK. Sir Anthony Seldon, previously Master of Wellington College, was appointed as Vice Chancellor of Buckingham University in 2015.

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All images courtesy of Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design – condenastcollege.co.uk