Things to look forward to about studying Business of the Creative Industries at York

Making your final decision of what university course to choose can feel extremely daunting, let alone with the whirlwind and utter chaos I’m sure the last year has been. While you will have been unable to visit the campus, I’m here to offer some insight of what things you can be looking forward to if you choose to study this entirely unique degree and hopefully make that decision just a bit easier for you!

Variety

I think one of the stand-out elements of the Business of the Creative Industries (BCI) degree is the sheer amount of variety it offers. When choosing a university course, while I knew I wanted a degree within the Creative Industries or Media, I was unsure which specific area I wished to go into. Within your first few terms, Business of the Creative Industries offers an almost equal delve into both the screen industries, from film to TV to digital gaming, alongside the performance industries, engaging with theatre, festivals and much more.

Additionally, the ‘Intro the Screen Production’ module offers the opportunity to engage with the more practical creative side, reflective of the industry. Before attending university, I knew I enjoyed both the practical elements alongside the more academic side of the creative industries and BCI was one of the only degree programmes I could find that gave me the perfect combination of both – alongside uniquely offering the all-important business know-how which I had no prior experience of.

Freedom

With the course offering such a wide variety of content, I particularly enjoy the freedom it gives me to choose my specific areas I wish to focus on. From screen to performance or practical to analysis, while the course initially allows you to learn and try out all areas of the creative industries, the option modules within second and third year allow you to mould your own journey to best suit you. Even if after first year you still don’t have an exact idea which area of the industry you want to enter into, the sheer number of modules on offer from a variety of courses, the largest selection of modules ever offered by TFTI to be exact, still allows you to delve into a variety of areas – the choice is up to you!

Additionally, even within the mandatory modules within first year there is still a lot of freedom. When writing an essay, you have a variety of questions to choose from that allow you to apply the skills developed within the lectures to pretty much any case study you wish to learn more about! Ultimately, this academic freedom champions the sense of independent study which university is all about. Furthermore, the briefs given within the practical ‘Intro to Screen Production’ gives both you and your team a vast sense of creative freedom allowing you to be as inventive and bold as you wish!

Collaboration

Finally, a huge component of the course is the huge sense of creative collaboration; seminars are led by group-discussion and the majority of modules are based around group work allowing you to meet and work with a large variety of people to really develop your team-building skills. From creative projects to group presentations, through working with so many fellow creatives and upcoming business minds from all different backgrounds, you are exposed to unique perspectives and ideas to truly expand your knowledge and widen your outlook on the creative industries. These partnerships you make through your time on the course are also a huge help for when you enter your career within the real industry, both helping you practice good networking skills as well as building lasting connections.

And so much more!

There’s so much more I could say about the BCI course as well as things you can look forward to in general if you choose to come to the University of York. The place itself is an amazing city full of culture and things to do, and the opportunities, experiences and societies I have been able to engage in since beginning last September have been incredible – and I hope to write more about them in the future. However, for now I hope this blog post helped you out, even just a little bit, with making your decision and look forward to seeing many of you in September!