masters research

Whilst searching for some direction in my life I stumbled across www.findamasters.com, a search engine that lets you look for masters courses using specific criteria. It allows you to search certain disciplines by area which is great for me as I would prefer to go back to Scotland if I continued to study. I did two searches, one for retail and one for creative courses in Scotland and it came up with a few interesting results.

Firstly was a MSc in Strategic Innovation Management Fashion & Textiles at Heriot-Watt University. The course outline states "The programme content challenges traditional and contemporary uses of fashion and textiles, as well as creating the opportunity, through well resourced workshops, to promote new approaches and processes in fashion and textiles." I really liked the sound of this course as it includes aspects of business and industry context.

Similarly Glasgow Caledonian University offer a MA in Creative and Cultural Business, the course descriptor says "Today’s creative & cultural industries demand flexible people who know how these industries work as businesses, understand the legal and creative context, the centrality of ideas and the use of technology, and yet who have specialist skills too: this programme lets you choose these – from Design, Events, Fashion, Film, Heritage, Journalism, Marketing, Public Relations & Communication, Sport, Tourism and TV." I felt this one was really relevant to me as I previously studied Fashion Textiles and I think I could have this as a speciality whilst learning about the industry as well.

My search for retail courses came up with a few, one which caught my interest at Stirling University, a MSc in Retail Management. The course seems a lot more business based than I am used to. The course descriptor states "This MSc reflects the growing demand for retail professionals who have the intellectual and practical abilities necessary to cope with the pace of change in this dynamic, global industry. You will learn how to take general management skills and apply them to a range of retail-specific issues such as developments in the supply chain, the role of buying and merchandising in the retail sector, retail marketing and retail strategy. These are all set into the context of the change to digital marketing and the pressures that come from multi-channel retailing." Although this course seems really theoretical it goes into digital retailing which I am really interested in since basing my dissertation on a similar topic.

Although I hadn't considered continuing on to a masters course this research has opened my eyes to the spectrum of courses available. I think I'll continue to look for employment but might consider undertaking a masters degree later in my life.