The Post-Graduate certificate in Fashion Buying and Merchandising is a 15 week course, it’s
short, sharp and intensive but extremely rewarding and vocationally focused.
It takes the theory of business and management and applies it very acutely to the buying
and merchandising reality that’s required.
We have three units, one is Buying and Merchandising, the second is supply chain management and
marketing which really gives a market context, and the third is an integrated project which
allows students to take the learning that they’ve acquired from the two previous units,
and apply it to a complex scenario, which really helps them to use their negotiation
and problem solving skills to their best.
The course really takes into consideration the current trends and issues that’s going
on in fashion retail by having practictioners that are out there working in the industry
teaching on our course, on a weekly basis.
We also embed guest lecturers on a weekly basis so that there is constant relevance
to what is going on in the marketplace.
We’re really looking for students that have a real desire to work with fashion product
in role of fashion merchandising or production or product development, but whilst they might
come from a variety of different backgrounds, it really gives them that springboard to enter
into the fashion product arena.
There’s a lot of current industry input on the course, because all of our teachers
have worked in the industry, so they’ve all got so much experience which is great
and we’re really learning from the best and their own experiences.
We also have lots of guest lecturers which has been really great.
We also had a live brief last term with Debenhams, so the project we was working on was influenced
by what is happening in the industry now, and we actually got the input from the Debenhams
Buying Team themselves which was really exciting.
I think the best bit of the course is because I like just a few people inside of the course,
the class, and you know our teachers have a lot of experience in actual industry, and
they can know directly about everyone’s business and their situation and they also
help us go through the course and the problems.
I think some of the key skills we learnt throughout the course was first of all you gain a lot
of confidence in what you do, because you’re introduced to all the buying practices and
that role that buyers will be doing in their jobs on a daily basis, so it also gives you
scope on fashion marketing, supply chain management, merchandising, so actually you’re really
kind of supported with everything that you need so you’re really confident.
I think you gain a lot of confidence.
The best bit of the course for me was when we were given a real life brief where we had
to solve one of the problems the high street stores were facing, and for me, it was really
enjoyable because we were able to get into the nuts and bolts into why this retailer
was facing this problem, it was, you know experiencing.
And we had to conduct research to make recommendations, and the team that I belonged to actually won
the task, and we had to present it back to the business and won a prize, so that was
really exciting for me.
I think that you really have to be prepared to work hard if you’re going to do this
course, it is very intense.
So you really have to, for these 15 weeks, drop everything else and really focus on the
course.
Because it’s great, it’s exciting, but it’s very fast paced.
As long as you start working hard from the beginning I think you can really get a lot
out of it.
I think if I had any advice to give to the people who are going to study, I would say
that you really have to make that you’re really a fashion person who really lives and
breaths fashion, because basically this is like you’re way into the fashion world,
so you really have to make sure that you’re going to be dedicated to the fashion world
in every aspect.