Our learning and teaching approaches are based on the methodologies of peer learning, reflective practice and action research. Many postgraduate courses around the world make use of these techniques, but MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries places them at the very heart of its learning strategy.

The course is structured in two units: Unit One: Imagination, and Unit Two: Application.
 
During Unit One, you work in groups or teams, learning from each other, and forming genuine communities of practice where knowledge, skills and understanding are shared in an environment which closely resembles professional creative practice. The varied cultural, educational and professional backgrounds of our students accelerate the development and interaction of these communities. Visiting speakers, live projects, contacts with sponsors, collaborations with clients and other institutions of learning, and external research interventions extend this emerging student-led community of practice into London’s creative heartland, and – through the international character of the course – also far beyond the UK.
 
Unit Two further develops your grasp of reflective practice – the ability to evaluate and learn from your own experience, and to apply the understanding gained from such reflection to the future development of a project. Reflection is further honed through discussion with peers, tutors and external experts, as well as through the use of a diary or reflective journal.  The planning and development of a major action research project – achieved by making planned interventions in the outside world – strengthens students’ contacts within, and understanding of, the creative industry of their concern.  Your Unit Two project becomes an individual creative journey. For each student the journey is unique in its scope and ambition, but should have the potential to place you at the heart of contemporary practice and debate within your chosen field of interest.
 
The course reaches its climax with the planning and execution of the Degree Show, which, as well as being the occasion for assessment, is also an important showcase for our students’ individual and collective achievements.

MA Applied Imagination lasts 45 weeks full-time or 90 weeks part time over two years.

MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries is credit rated at 180 credits, and comprises 2 units. Unit 1 (60 credits) runs for 15 weeks full time, 30 weeks part time. Unit 2 (120 credits) follows the completion of Unit 1 and runs 30 weeks full time, 60 weeks part time.

Both units must be passed in order to achieve the MA, but the classification of the award of MA derives from your mark for Unit 2 only.

The difference between the two modes of study is that full time students are involved in more intensive study and, because they are not engaged in full time employment, test their ideas, research and working methods within the College environment with their peers as well as seeking out external verification and challenge.

Part time students spend less time in formal peer interaction but are expected to test their ideas within their own professional practice as well as with each other as much as is possible. For part time students, the developmental process is necessarily slower and less intense during the first year but timetables are constructed to provide maximum opportunity for preparatory critical engagement.

Course outline

We utilize a two-step strategy to enable you to develop and apply new creative knowledge

Unit One - Imagination

This unit involves opening and informing your imagination and we facilitate this by exploiting the interdisciplinary and cultural cross-fertilization that our postgraduate programme provides.

The principal strategy involves teamwork in which rotating groups of students work with each other to respond to projects that are deliberately created to get your adrenalin pumping. Briefs are freshly created each year to challenge contemporary expectations and assumptions.

Project are short and demanding, rarely lasting more than two weeks and deliberately asking questions that defy predictable answers: For example we might ask you: 'If money had a smell what should it smell like?'

A question like this tends to challenge everyone not least because it acknowledges our capacity to utilize our embodied knowledge in a strategy of sensuous scholarship that employs the full range of our multi-sensory capability.

This strategy of taking you outside of the familiar conventions of creativity tends to quickly locate the discipline and culturally condition resistances to change. We are concerned to build awareness of personal and collective resistances that may inhibit the creation of new paradigms.

Unit Two - Application

This unit becomes a much more personal journey in which each student devises and completes their own research project.

We never predict or prescribe the best way forward but we support our students in finding their own 'best way.'

For some students this will be personal and entrepreneurial, for others it may be the opportunity for a radical reassessment of themselves, their values and their potential.

We enable this ambition for productive change by a deceptively simple educational strategy that is based on the concept of a 'journey of discovery' in other words 'your journey.'

We require all students to create a question to frame their research mission and to give that question dimension through a series of artefacts that enable you to take your question into the real world in order to ascertain evidence of resistance and support.

The journey is fully documented in a series of diaries in which you record what you have done, why you did it and what you have learnt.

The MA Applied Imagination journey is completed with an exhibition that comprises evidence of the journey taken and the knowledge gained. The exhibition will feature your question, your artefacts, your diaries and a 650-word synopsis of the knowledge that you have gained.

Students graduating from MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries have taken up employment in almost every part of the creative sector in the world economy. Our alumni have diversified to become actors, architects, broadcasters, creative managers, entrepreneurs, film-makers, inventors, journalists, musicians, social innovators, web designers – and academics. Many have also moved on to PhD programmes. Others have returned to – or entered for the first time – fields such as advertising, curation, exhibition and museum design, film and television, fashion design and retailing, graphic design, marketing, product design, public relations, publishing (both print and digital), and web design.

The course has links with outstanding practitioners across the spectrum of the creative sector. These include: architecture and interior design; advertising and branding; design against crime; film; fashion design; furniture and textile design; graphic and communication design; the music business; photography; product design; museums and galleries; television.

Numerous leading international companies and institutions have been collaborators with, or sponsors of, MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries. These include: AiG, The Big Issue, Calvin Klein, Camberwell College of Arts and Design, Cosmopolitan, Camden Council, Cranfield University, The Design Museum, Dolce and Gabbana, Gloss Interior Design, Ideo, Jam Design, Kingston University, Nokia, Pentagram, PKF International, RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects), St Lukes, Swatch, Tangerine Design – and many others.

For details of the wide range of careers support provided for students, please visit our Careers Support page.

Minimum entry requirements

MA Applied Imagination entry requirements are: Honours degree; evidence of experiential learning equivalent to a degree; or 3 years relevant professional experience.

For the part-time mode you'd need to be working in a design-related profession. Your research interests, professional experience and personal goals are more important than the quality of your portfolio.

English language requirement

All classes are conducted in English. If English is not your first language, we strongly recommend you send us an English language test score together with your application to prove your level of proficiency. If you have booked a test or are awaiting your results, please clearly indicate this on your application form. When you have received your test score, please send it to us immediately. The standard English language requirement for entry is IELTS 6.5 with a minimum of 5.5 in any one paper, or equivalent. For further information visit the English Language requirements page.
 
Applicants who will need a Tier 4 General Student Visa should check the Visa and Immigration page which provides important information about UK Border Agency (UKBA) requirements. 

What we look for

MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries is aimed at graduates with a suitable background in any creative discipline. This includes all the established areas of design, but also the fine arts, performance art, curation and art business, journalism, advertising and marketing, management, economics – and potentially also science and technology. 
 
We are looking for talented, ambitious and open-minded students who enjoy working with others, but who are also capable of planning and completing a self-directed major project. Above all, we are looking for creative thinkers who wish to channel their talents in order to achieve their personal goals – and are ready to accept the challenge of a student-centred curriculum in which they are able to define and pursue their own programme of study. Our cohort reflects this recruitment policy, and represents a very broad cultural, educational and professional mix.
Our students come from all over the world and we celebrate and include their diverse cultural knowledge in our quest to create alternative paradigms. Students draw on each other’s professional and diverse cultural experience to provide critical and constructive insights that open up new ways of thinking and doing.

Student selection criteria

Applicants to MA Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries will be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• A BA qualification or equivalent level of skills and knowledge in your own discipline
• A Personal Statement and Study Proposal
• Self motivation, ambition and a commitment to the postgraduate programme
• A readiness to engage in collaborative and reflective practice, and in externally-targeted action research
• A readiness to engage with students from a very wide variety of cultural, educational and professional backgrounds

Application advice

Interviews

Interviews, which normally last up to 40 minutes, focus on your background and interests. You don't have to bring examples of your work unless you feel they'll help you demonstrate your interests.

Home/EU and International applicants

Download your MA Applied Imagination application form:

• MA Applied Imagination application form - international [Word, 0.5mb]
• MA Applied Imagination reference form - international [Word, 0.3mb]    
• MA Applied Imagination reference form - home/EU [Word, 0.3mb]  

The application form contains detailed information on the application process.

Your application must include:

• A completed application form
• A study proposal
• A personal statement
• Two references from your tutor or someone who knows your work
• Copies of your latest examination results where applicable

Please ensure your application is complete. If you're sending references separately, please state this clearly. We recommend you send your application by recorded mail. Due to the large number of applications we get, we cannot send confirmation that your application has been received.

Further information for Home / EU applicants

Our website includes all the information you need to successfully apply. However, if you still have unanswered questions about the admissions process, please contact us. Email: info@csm.arts.ac.uk

Further information for International applicants

Our website includes all the information you need to successfully apply. However, if you still have unanswered questions about the admissions process, please contact us. Email: international@csm.arts.ac.uk 

The University has a dedicated team to help prepare you for your studies. For help on visa requirements, housing, tuition fees and language requirements visit the University's International section.

The Language Centre offers international students quality language training from qualified and experienced teachers. The Pre-sessional Academic English Programme is available to all international (non-EU) students who have been offered a place on a full time course at the University of the Arts. For further information visit the Language Centre section.

We also offer a number of short courses that enable students to improve their portfolios and English skills before applying to their chosen course. For further information visit our Short Course section.

Home/EU applicants please send your completed application to: Student Administration, MA Applied Imagination, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA

International applicants please send your completed application to: International Office, MA Applied Imagination, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London, Granary Building, 1 Granary Square, London N1C 4AA

When to apply

Please note that this course runs from January through to December. Applications can be submitted throughout the academic year. However, places are limited so it is advisable for you to submit your application as early as possible (November) to avoid disappointment. Late applications will be considered by the course team in consultation with the Course Leader.

Home/EU applicants who wish to apply for the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) bursary should apply to the college before 1 March. For detailed information please see the University AHRC Master Award web page.

Deferred entry

Entry can only be deferred in exceptional circumstances. Please contact us before submitting your application if you're considering applying for deferred entry.

What happens next?

We read and consider all application forms and personal references. Please note we give particular attention to your study statement and references.

Subject to your meeting the entry requirements and consideration of your application form, preliminary selection is based on your study proposal, documentation of work and supporting information. You may then be contacted for a telephone interview. For candidates applying for external funding, interviews will be scheduled prior to funding body deadlines.

Can't attend the interview?

In the case of applicants unable to discuss their application by telephone, a decision regarding the offer of a place on the course will be made on the basis of a review of the application materials. We keep notes about decisions made following the initial application review and the interview process.

Selection is by two members of staff (normally the Course Leader and one other), and offers of places are made on the basis of our selection criteria. Applicants are informed of the decision via either the Student Administration Office or the International Office.

Open days

Open days are a great opportunity to meet staff and students and to find out at first hand about courses, teaching and student life. Visit the open day section for dates to book your session. Bookings can only be made online, not by phone or email.