International Fashion Management MBA

Postgraduate

Female student in smart dress sitting at a desk looking at a notebook and laptop hair looking at a tablet

Develop the vision, leadership, business management and entrepreneurial skills needed to build a successful career in the global fashion industry.

Year of entry

2024-25 2025-26

Location

Coventry University London (City of London)

Study mode

Full-time

Duration

1 year full-time

Course code

LONT066

Start date

January 2025

How to apply

Book an Open Day

Download a prospectus

Course overview

With the fashion industry contributing greatly to the UK economy, a new generation of business professionals with a strong foundation in cross-cultural communications and international fashion business management is needed to respond to the needs of a sensitive consumer and a competitive global fashion market.

Study on our challenging and stimulating course that combines the highest quality of academic and professional discipline, built on current research and advanced scholarship, with direct input from and exposure to the fashion industry.
Understand the leading theories and concepts of strategy, leadership, finance and entrepreneurship, along with specialised knowledge in fashion business management, communications, sustainability, creativity, brand development, and digital commerce/ enterprise.
Experience simulated learning (integrated into the flagship modules), experiential activities and interdisciplinary business-related live projects with industry clients².
Personalise your learning experience in the final semester, which gives you the opportunity to pursue an entrepreneurship module, an internship consultancy project² or a dissertation, that will shape your chosen future career.

Global ready

An international outlook, with global opportunities

Icon of human figure in front of a whiteboard

Teaching excellence

Taught by lecturers who are experts in their field

Employability

Career ready graduates, with the skills to succeed

Why you should study this course

CMI accreditation
Study on a course with professional accreditation¹ from one of the UK’s leading professional management bodies - the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Take the opportunity to obtain the CMI Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice (subject to the successful completion of specific modules).
Real-world experience
You will have the opportunity² to take part in teamwork, business simulations and real-industry fashion projects with fashion industry clients and professionals (subject to availability), which has previously included clients like The Accessories Circle, Nubian Skin, London Hat Week, Pringle of Scotland, PINKO, Sarah Haran, Endrime, Laura Lee Jewellery among others, all of which are underpinned by academic analysis and synthesis and offer you the opportunity to apply your academic knowledge and skills in professional practice.
Industry insight
You’ll be taught by helpful, supportive and highly qualified academics with extensive international career experience in fashion management across a range of disciplines. They will apply their experience to illustrate your learning, and they may use their extensive network of contacts to create networking opportunities for students. Please note that staff are subject to change.
London location
The course aims to utilise the unique campus location, London, as one of the key fashion cities in the world. Within the heart of London, you will have easy access to major global and local high-street and luxury retailers such as Harrods, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Bond Street and Savile Row to name a few. You may also get the opportunity to visit exciting museums and galleries such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fashion and Textile Museum, Design Museum, Vogue Archives, Museum of Brands, Tate Modern, amongst many more, where you have the opportunity to visit exhibitions, pursue your research interests and observe and build your future fashion business network (subject to additional costs).
Prepare for your future
You’ll have opportunities to network with employers and to build your CV. Should you wish to start your own business, we offer business start-up advice and support through our Enterprise Hub. MBA students also have the opportunity to take an optional Entrepreneurship module, and take part in our Professional Development Programme, developed in collaboration with corporate learning and development specialists to help you develop key industry competencies.

Accreditation and professional recognition

Chartered Management Institute (CMI)

The following modules are mapped to the requirements of the CMI:

7002MFH Marketing in a Global Age
7005MHR Leadership - Towards Mastery of Leading Change & Inclusivity
7002MHR Leadership - Towards Mastery of Leading Self & Global Cultures
7003MHR Entrepreneurship & Innovation
7022MFH Global Market Trends
7021MFH Brand Immersion

Upon successful completion of all these modules (achieving a pass grade), you will be eligible for the CMI Level 7 Diploma in Strategic Management and Leadership Practice subject to successful registration and CMI moderation. Coventry University’s accreditation with CMI is ongoing for the relevant modules and is regularly reviewed and monitored by the CMI through its quality systems.

What you'll study

Your main study themes are:

Identifying global and local market trends
Leaders must respond to the change which is inherent in fashion. The ability to identify and react to rapid shifts in consumer appetites and designer tastes is critical to sustainable success.
Change and leadership
Those shifting micro trends, coupled with rapidly changing macro issues (global economics, resource availability, digital enterprise, environmental concerns and geo-politics), require fashion leaders to accept and manage the inevitability of change and to be agile in their approach and decision making.
Profiling consumers and brands
Fashion spans every possible socio-demographic and every culture. Leaders must identify, understand and communicate with the right customers for their brands in a two-way conversation involving both listening and informing in order to sustain strong commercial enterprise.
Sustainability and future enhancements
Fashion is the second biggest industrial polluter, after oil. Leaders in fashion must therefore find solutions to protect the environment, resources, people and the industry itself. Consumption of luxury and fashion products are the key focus in understanding the complexity of the supply chain and to build on the future of this supply chain for generations to come.

During the first semester, learning will focus on the originality in the application of knowledge, together with practical business understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline together with evaluation of the methodologies and developing their critiques and, where appropriate, proposing new hypotheses relevant to fashion business management and marketing.

The second semester is designed to build on your comprehensive understanding of academic knowledge, in order to try and apply these new skills and knowledge through advanced scholarship in a more advanced sectoral setting and work on a project with a real industry client².

The academic year concludes with several final semester options to choose from, which offer you the opportunity to specialise your award to the career option you intend to pursue after graduation. You can choose from doing a dissertation, applying for work experience in an internship² and consulting project², or work on an entrepreneurship business plan in preparation for launching your own business.

Modules

Leadership Towards Mastery of Leading Self and Global Cultures - 15 credits

This module is about leadership as a living practice through the mastery of leading self and others in the context of organisational cultures and a complex global environment. To understand your role as an effective leader and the impact you will have on individuals, groups, organisations and the environment, it is necessary to explore the dual aspect of leading self and others as a living practice and bring to a level of mastery the ability to lead self and others. The module is designed to help you to develop your leadership skills in preparation for a career in international business or to establish your own business.

Compulsory

Marketing in a Global Age - 15 credits

This module aims to deepen your understanding of global marketing and its role within business, and help you understand how to meet the needs of a range of stakeholders. After successfully completing this module, you will be able to: track and respond to complex and cross-cultural macro and micro- environments; apply marketing strategies and concepts to multinational business environments; assess the effectiveness of marketing, discuss new opportunities and challenges (e.g. globalisation, digitalisation, and social responsibility) in affecting marketing management. This module will facilitate your understanding of applied marketing.

Compulsory

Global Market Trends and Strategic Fashion Branding - 30 credits

In a highly competitive global market, the significance of the brand and its strategic positioning is vital to the financial success of fashion brands. This module will provide you with the opportunity to explore macro and micro trends, and the key concepts of branding and develop an understanding of the branding process and its application within a contemporary omni-channel fashion context. A significant component of the module delivery will focus on the increasing digitalisation of international fashion brands and their impact across the global fashion market. You will explore how the use of digital innovation and communication has impacted on the strategic growth of global brands across the fashion industry, from high street to luxury fashion retailers. The module will explore how different fashion organisations create and establish their own distinctiveness and how they have used brand identity to strategically and globally position themselves in a contemporary marketplace. You will investigate brand influence across different levels of the global fashion industry and the importance of branding and product strategy in responding to the ever-changing consumer behaviour.

Compulsory

Leadership Towards Mastery of Leading Change and Inclusivity - 15 credits

In a highly competitive global market, the significance of the brand and its strategic positioning is vital to the financial success of fashion brands. This module will provide you with the opportunity to explore the key concepts of branding and develop an understanding of the branding process and its application within a contemporary omni-channel fashion context. A significant component of the module delivery will focus on the increasing digitalisation of international fashion brands and their impact across the global fashion market. You will explore how the use of digital innovation and communication has impacted on the strategic growth of global brands across the fashion industry, from high street to luxury fashion retailers. The module will explore how different fashion organisations create and establish their own distinctiveness and how they have used brand identity to strategically and globally position themselves in a contemporary marketplace. You will investigate brand influence across different levels of the global fashion industry and the increasing importance of brands, branding and brand-engagement in relation to consumer behaviour.

Compulsory

Entrepreneurship and Innovation - 15 credits

This module is designed to create a shared and critical assessment of the knowledge, skills and attitudes that make up what it means to be entrepreneurial and innovative – discovering and acting upon opportunities and ideas, and transforming them into social, cultural, or financial value for oneself and others. This should allow you to critically reflect on the core competencies that are needed to lead and manage new venture creation, including initiative taking, resilience, problem solving, open-mindedness, as well as the ability to turn external knowledge into internal capabilities. The module will cover fundamental theories and concepts in entrepreneurship and innovation, and you will be encouraged to evaluate them in relation to other operational and strategic aspects of the firm, including marketing, finances and leadership. This will also enable you to reflect on the idea that entrepreneurial and innovation activities are often subject to resource constraints with regard to time, money, raw materials, and knowledge, although these may differ for new and existing firms. A customer-focused approach will be the centre of these reflections as it will teach you to identify windows of opportunities and avenues for strategic growth.

Compulsory

Fashion Brand Immersion: Retail, Finance and Risk Management - 30 credits

The contemporary global fashion industry relies on these agnostic omni-channels for its business strategy, sales (buying and merchandising and clienteling), communication, promotion and customer engagement. Consumer segmentation and profile analysis help to digitally engage with existing and new audiences, both local and abroad. Brand marketing, buying and merchandising, budgeting and financial forecasting, clienteling, communication, and successful project and financial management play important roles to ensure the successful implementation of these online and offline integrated promotional strategies. This module is designed to guide you, acting as aspiring consultants to fashion entrepreneurs. You will critically appraise how the finance function supports the organisation’s success and propose online and/or offline brand development and omni-channel retail opportunities working closely with a real fashion industry client.

The module is designed to enable you to critically assess current and emerging technological factors which impact on financial strategy, practice industry networking, team work, project and risk management, leadership, as well as online and offline marketing strategies in line with consumer profile building. The aims are to provide an opportunity to research, to engage with the industry and to develop your critical and creative thinking, in-depth business research and efficient decision making on contemporary financial, management, and cost accounting and omni-channel retail strategies.

Compulsory

Research Methods - 0 credits

This is a compulsory module, delivered in the final semester and assessed within the output from your final semester research project. The aims of the module are to equip you with the skills to be able to sensitively and critically design, carry out, report, read, and evaluate the quality of qualitative and quantitative research projects. Consequently, to provide you with an understanding of the major philosophical issues within business and management research and enable you to identify the nature and characteristics of different research approaches. Over the course, you will learn to formulate good research questions, using different methods of data collection and data analysis, and critically evaluate the research. During researching learning activities you will cover fundamentals of a good research design. The module will cover the steps necessary to prepare you to identify which research approach or method is appropriate for the final term module options, i.e., Dissertation, Internship Consulting Project² or Entrepreneurship Business Plan. You will be encouraged to be critical and analytical, to work independently and to benefit from receiving feedback from both the lecturer and peers.

Compulsory

Final Project - choose from one of the following:

Compulsory

We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.

How you'll learn

Although your studies are designed to be underpinned by solid academic theory, this course provides you with the opportunity to apply what you should have learnt to the real business context, both on and off campus².

You will engage via a number of learning blocks in each module:

Knowledge and understanding; this block is concerned with the sharing of academic theory and concepts to ensure you have mastered a critical appreciation of current and relevant research in the subject area.
Application; this block brings the knowledge and understanding ‘to life’ by relating it to current practice. It takes a critical view of the theory and concepts as they are employed in the workplace in order to encourage you to evaluate their significance and merit.
Analysis and problem solving; this block requires you to develop and demonstrate your analytical skills and present a rationale and strategic set of decisions, which identify risks and generate a range of hypotheses to understand their cause and effect.

Teaching contact hours

The number of full-time contact hours may vary from semester to semester, however, on average, it is likely to be around 10 contact hours per week. The contact hours may be made up of a combination of face-to-face teaching, individual and group tutorials, and online classes and tutorials.

Additionally, you will be expected to undertake significant self-directed study of approximately 10 hours each week, depending on the demands of individual modules.

As an innovative and enterprising institution, the university may seek to utilise emerging technologies within the student experience. For all courses (whether on-campus, blended, or distance learning), the university may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via online technologies and methods.

Since COVID-19, we have delivered our courses in a variety of forms, in line with public authority guidance, decisions, or orders and we will continue to adapt our delivery as appropriate. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.

Assessment

This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module.

Assessment methods may include:

Essays
Group work
Presentations
Reports
Projects
Coursework
Individual Assignments

The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards achieving the intended learning outcomes.

International experience opportunities

As reflected in the course title, this programme explores the world of international fashion management from a truly global perspective. Every aspect of your learning will be set within an international and intercultural context, whether you’re exploring ethics and sustainability, accounting standards, digital technologies, logistics and the supply chain, or the globalisation of fashion.

You’ll have the opportunity for domestic and overseas field trips², and you could arrange to do your internship consultancy project² outside of the UK. You may also have an opportunity to study with international students.

Coventry University Group aims to give you the global opportunities needed to become a truly global graduate, enhancing your employability on a global scale. Choose from language classes, studying or working abroad, international field trips, summer schools, leadership development or work experience². Opportunities such as these have enabled previous students to obtain higher starting salaries and develop the global skills employers require and achieve better career progression.

International Fashion Business Management is the core to the success of flourishing fashion enterprises. Working together with you on exploring new, innovative and financially sustainable angles will make you the future leaders and drivers of market and product trends, product innovation and internationally successful businesses within the fashion and luxury goods industry.
Frederik Willems, MBA International Fashion Management Course Director, quoted in 2023

Frederik Willems, MBA International Fashion Management Course Director

Entry requirements

Typical offer for 2024/25 entry.

An honours undergraduate degree (minimum 2:2) or equivalent in a relevant academic discipline. Applicants with a degree in another discipline may be admitted after consideration on a case-by-case basis.

Applications from candidates with relevant experience or professional qualifications are encouraged to apply and will be considered on an individual basis. Careful monitoring of applications to ensure that applicants are suited to the course takes place. Where necessary, applicants are interviewed, especially those that do not appear to meet standard admissions criteria. Where deemed appropriate, a written exercise may be administered to establish suitability.

We recognise a breadth of qualifications, speak to one of our advisers today to find out how we can help you.

Select your region to find detailed information about entry requirements:

You can view our full list of country specific entry requirements on our Entry requirements page.

Alternatively, visit our International hub for further advice and guidance on finding in-country agents and representatives, joining our in-country events and how to apply.

If you do not have the typical entry requirements, you may want to consider studying this course with the International Pathways Programme. Upon successful completion our International Pre-Master's - Business will provide you with the knowledge and skills you need to progress onto this postgraduate degree.

Alternatively, visit our International hub for further advice and guidance on finding in-country agents and representatives, joining our in-country events and how to apply.

Typical entry requirements

English language requirements

IELTS: This course requires IELTS of 6.5 overall, with no component lower than 5.5

If you don't meet the English language requirements, you can achieve the level you need by successfully completing a pre-sessional English programme before you start your course.

For more information on our approved English language tests visit our English language requirements page.

Fees and funding

2024/25 tuition fees.

Student	Full-time	Part-time
UK, Ireland*, Channel Islands or Isle of Man	£20,350	Not available
EU	£20,350 per year with EU Support Bursary £22,550 per year without EU Support Bursary	Not available
International	£22,550	Not available

If you choose to do a work placement², you should consider travel and living costs to cover this. There is also a tuition fee³ of £1,250 that will cover your academic support throughout your placement year.

For advice and guidance on tuition fees³ and student loans visit our Fees and Finance page.

We offer a range of international scholarships to students all over the world. For more information, visit our international scholarships page.

The following are additional costs not included in the tuition fees:

Additional overseas ﬁeld trips or visits: £400+ per trip.
Any costs associated with securing, attending or completing a placement (whether in the UK or abroad).

*Irish student fees

The rights of Irish residents to study in the UK are preserved under the Common Travel Area arrangement. If you are an Irish student and meet the residency criteria, you can study in England, pay the same level of tuition fees as English students and utilise the Tuition Fee Loan.

**EU Support Bursary

Following the UK's exit from the European Union, we are offering financial support to all eligible EU students who wish to study an undergraduate or a postgraduate degree with us full-time. This bursary will be used to offset the cost of your tuition fees to bring them in line with that of UK students. Students studying a degree with a foundation year with us are not eligible for the bursary.

How do you know if you need to pay UK or international tuition fees?

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Your fee status determines your tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available to you. The rules about who pays UK (home) or international (overseas) fees for higher education courses in England are set by the Department for Education. The regulations identify all the different categories of student who can insist on paying the home rate. The regulations can be difficult to understand, so the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) has provided fee status guidance to help you identify whether you are eligible to pay the home or overseas rate.

If you meet all the criteria required by any one category, including any residence requirements, your institution must charge you the home rate. You only need to find one category that you fit into.

Facilities

Our International Fashion Management MBA students have access to a wide range of facilities⁴ to help you apply your academic knowledge, creative and tangible skills in professional practice, in preparation for a professional career in the exciting international fashion industry.

Take a virtual tour of our campus to explore all of the facilities available to you.

Fashion studio with tables and chairs and four mannequins

Fashion studios

Our fashion students have access to two fashion studios, which offer versatile spaces for lectures, group work, networking and utilising industry technologies. These contemporary spaces allow you to harness your creativity, experimentation and design skills.

Mac suite

There is a fully equipped Mac suite for digital and creative work. Here you could learn to create digital marketing and social media campaigns and engage with consumers in effective ways. Our Mac suite has the latest industry standard software such as Adobe Creative Cloud.

Photography and visual merchandising suite

We have a combined photography and visual merchandising suite for practical workshops and styling sessions. Here you could learn to design global retailing and visual merchandising strategies and learn how luxury goods and services are branded.

Careers and opportunities

On successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

Appraise the influence and be able to respond accordingly to complex, dynamic and contextual forces on global fashion organisations: including legal systems; ethical, economic, environmental, social and technological factors; international fashion trends and corporate governance.
Undertake the critical analysis of global fashion markets and customers: the trends of development and operation of markets for fashion resources, goods and services; expectations of customers and stakeholders, service and orientation.
Efficiently apply the concepts and processes to development and marketing of fashion goods and/or services; the management of resources and operations in global fashion industry.
Critically evaluate the available options for financing of the fashion business enterprise or other forms of organisations: sources, uses and management of finance; use of accounting for managerial and financial reporting applications.
Undertake the management and development of people within fashion organisations: organisational theory, behaviour, employee relations, human resource management and change management.
Professionally apply a range of research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, and evaluate their strengths and limitations when working with information and evaluating options in an uncertain organisational environment in the fashion industry.
Efficiently exploit the relevant fashion information systems and technologies and evaluate their impact on communication of organisations operation within an international knowledge-based economy.
Develop and apply appropriate business processes and strategies within a changing global fashion context, while addressing stakeholder interests.

Fashion is a huge, highly competitive and growing industry, which means that strong business leaders are always in high demand. On this course, you will explore in-depth how the international fashion business operates and where its opportunities and challenges lie. Your global perspective should deliver a strong foundation in cross-cultural communication and international business management skills.

The course offers a springboard, upon successful completion, to a potential career culminating in management roles and should accelerate your promotion to rewarding leadership positions. Upon graduation, you should be able take your place among a new generation of fashion business leaders, being able to respond effectively to the demands of an unknowable future.

Where our graduates work

Previous graduates from this course have well-developed powers of analysis, strategic thinking and communication, effective decision making and are well-equipped to meet the leadership challenges of today and tomorrow. You could develop a successful career, upon graduation, in a range of disciplines within fashion, including garment production, the supply chain, buying, advertising, fashion retailing, retail management, finance, brand management, visual merchandising, digital communications, marketing, PR, publishing, journalism, IT, event production or consultancy. You might choose to be employed or to start your own business.

Past students have gone on to exciting careers for leading brands such as Ralph Lauren, Hermes, Net-a-Porter, Karlo Otto PR, Louis Vuitton, Fortnum & Mason, Uniqlo, Coach, Emporium department store to name a few, in Europe, Japan, China, and Thailand.

How to apply

UK students

International students

Students applying to start in September should apply directly to the university. Read our application pages to find out your next steps to apply.

How to apply

For further support for international applicants applying for an postgraduate degree view our International hub.

Get in touch with us today for further advice and guidance.

(+44) 024 7765 2152

ioadmissions@coventry.ac.uk

Complete our contact form.

Disclaimers

Coventry University together with Coventry University London, Coventry University Wrocław, CU Coventry, CU London, CU Scarborough, and Coventry University Online come together to form part of the Coventry University Group (the University) with all degrees awarded by Coventry University.

¹Accreditations

The majority of our courses have been formally recognised by professional bodies, which means the courses have been reviewed and tested to ensure they reach a set standard. In some instances, studying on an accredited course can give you additional benefits such as exemptions from professional exams (subject to availability, fees may apply). Accreditations, partnerships, exemptions and memberships shall be renewed in accordance with the relevant bodies’ standard review process and subject to the university maintaining the same high standards of course delivery.

²UK and international opportunities

Please note that we are unable to guarantee any UK or international opportunities (whether required or optional) such as internships, work experience, field trips, conferences, placements or study abroad opportunities and that all such opportunities may be unpaid and/or subject to additional costs (which could include, but is not limited to, equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas), competitive application, availability and/or meeting any applicable travel, public authority guidance, decisions or orders and visa requirements. To ensure that you fully understand any visa requirements, please contact the International Office.

³Tuition fees

The University will charge the tuition fees that are stated in the above table for the first Academic Year of study. The University will review tuition fees each year. For UK (home) students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, the University may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation.

For international students, we may increase fees each year, but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation. If you defer your course start date or have to extend your studies beyond the normal duration of the course (e.g. to repeat a year or resit examinations) the University reserves the right to charge you fees at a higher rate and/or in accordance with any legislative changes during the additional period of study.

⁴Facilities

Facilities are subject to availability. Access to some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) may vary from those advertised and/or may have reduced availability or restrictions where the university is following public authority guidance, decisions or orders.

Student Contract

By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the current 2024/2025 contract is available on the website. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.