MMU or University of Salford?

The courses I'm interested in at Salford are digital video and marketing and fashion image and styling. The courses I'm interested in at MMU are future media production and photography. I'm not sure which university is better for media and getting connections or helping in securing a job in the industry. I don't want to pick a course I regret and I'm 100% sure what future media production is all about as the MMU website isn't that clear.

The courses I'm interested in at Salford are digital video and marketing and fashion image and styling. The courses I'm interested in at MMU are future media production and photography. I'm not sure which university is better for media and getting connections or helping in securing a job in the industry. I don't want to pick a course I regret and I'm 100% sure what future media production is all about as the MMU website isn't that clear.

Hi @elste2049
That's great to hear you are considering studying at the University of Salford. I am a current mature student studying Theatre and Performance Practice and decided to study at the University of Salford for several reasons:

I am sure you have looked at both of the courses you are considering on our website, but I have popped the links below in case you haven't had a chance:
BA (Hons) Digital Video Production & Marketing
BA (Hons) Fashion Image Making and Styling
As you will see from each course, they are taught by industry professionals. Many of our tutors still work part-time in the industry, so they have not only past but also current work experience and industry connections to share with students. At the University of Salford, there is a focus on work experience and employability. Students are given opportunities and encouraged to gain experience in their desired field so they can learn, gain experience and the confidence to utilise this when entering the workplace, whether that is via voluntary or paid work placements. You will see on the website under the heading "Career Links" that each course details who they have connections with, for example, 100 e-commerce companies for our Digital Video Production and Marketing course and links with Selfridges and X Factor for our Fashion Image Making & Styling course.
The facilities and equipment students use at the Uni of Salford are industry-standard as we want you to be prepared for working in this field and have access to state-of-the-art equipment, e.g. the makerspace and TV studios.
Both of these courses are part of the School of Arts and Media here, which is the same school I am part of, this school is collaborative across courses. For example, I needed a traditional British dress for an important event, so I contacted the fashion department with an advert handed ended up with a fantastic final-year student custom-making me a dress. She could say she was already receiving paid commissions and add this to her portfolio. The university shared this on their social media, boosting her profile, and I got a beautiful dress out of it.
Although it isn't necessarily course-related, I just thought I would share another reason I chose to study here specifically. It is the international opportunities: I participated in a partially funded Global Summer School in Canada last year, where I learnt how to podcast and had one of the best months of my life. So this might be something to consider when looking at universities - what do they offer outside of the course?
If you're able to, I would recommend coming to one of our future Open Days: the next one is on Saturday, 14th June.
Open Days are a fantastic opportunity to:
💫 Meet academic staff and find out more about your chosen course.
💫 Meet fellow students and get an insight into student life at that university
💫 Speak to other departments, e.g., student support.
💫 Have a campus tour and view the course facilities!
💫 Explore local accommodation options to see whether you feel at home in them.

I hope that helps a little; feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.
Lucy 🙂
(Official Uni of Salford Student Rep)

Go to the Uni Open Days, listen to the course presentations, look around, ask questions about what each Uni looks for in an application, and then think carefully about what you want to do, and what is a realistic option.
You have until next January to make the decision about whereto apply - so no need to panic right now.

Thank you for the in depth response 🙏 I have attended an open day at Salford and I did enjoy it, but I am still undecided. I am going to think it over more and come to a decision in the near future. Thanks again 😊

the FIMS course at salford is fab, i have a lot of friends on it and they are super happy and there’s a lot of career progression and opportunities involved from first year. You can take the course in multiple directions and actively get involved with the fashion scene in manchester and help out other fashion courses too. The facilities are great and you also get a a £150? bursary you can put towards studio costs, fabrics and styling costs, and supplies!

The courses I'm interested in at Salford are digital video and marketing and fashion image and styling. The courses I'm interested in at MMU are future media production and photography. I'm not sure which university is better for media and getting connections or helping in securing a job in the industry. I don't want to pick a course I regret and I'm 100% sure what future media production is all about as the MMU website isn't that clear.

the FIMS course at salford is fab, i have a lot of friends on it and they are super happy and there’s a lot of career progression and opportunities involved from first year. You can take the course in multiple directions and actively get involved with the fashion scene in manchester and help out other fashion courses too. The facilities are great and you also get a a £150? bursary you can put towards studio costs, fabrics and styling costs, and supplies!

Hi @elste2049
Great to hear you're considering Manchester Met for your studies!
If you're looking at September 2026 entry, I would encourage you to attend our upcoming Open Day on 18th June as you'll be able to meet with the digital arts academics and attend subject talks for the degrees you're interested in. They usually offer a tour of the SODA facilities too. If you can't make the June event, there will be more dates in Autumn, so hopefully you can make one of them.
Both our Future Media Production and Photography degree courses are based in our innovative School of Digital Arts (SODA), which enjoys strong industry connections as well as leading industry partners, such as Danny Boyle no less!
You can take a look at the industry standard SODA facilities here.
Both these courses also give you the option to include a placement year, getting invaluable industry experience, or you can go for a study year abroad.
I noticed you were a bit unclear about our BA (Hons) Future Media Production course. This degree allows you to focus project briefs on technical, creative and storytelling aspects that you want to bring into your work. We don't have any expectation of technical ability when starting the course, just that you are keen to play, explore and develop work that seeks to find innovation in storytelling and creating engaging experiences.
We encourage cross-disciplinary working, so look for opportunities to tell stories in new ways that can capture audiences and inform, inspire, educate and entertain in a rapidly evolving world of media production and new opportunities, using emerging technologies and techniques. You will be introduced to a lot of media production technologies, supported by our large technical team, although we also embrace traditional media production too, so many of our students work with film, photography, collage, sculpture.
Much of the work you do is practical and you end up with a rich and diverse portfolio when you graduate, that aims to get employers' attention. Students who get the most out of the course are curious, creative, like to make things, are willing to experiment and play with the projects and the resources here at SODA. Employment wise, there are opportunities across many industries and disciplines: TV, marketing, film, VR, AR, AI, 3D, streaming, freelancers, artists.. to name a few.
To give you an idea of the course structure, the first year focusses on developing skills in narrative development, short form content and fundamental digital skills, across motion graphics, film, graphics and type as well as touching on elements of emerging tech, 3D scanning/ printing, AR, metahumans and more. 2nd year moves onto using more real-time and emerging tech, Unreal Engine, motion capture virtual production to see how these can lend themselves to your creative output, and then in 3rd year you'll bring together the aspects that you have learnt, with supervision, to bring together your own ideas that create an engaging unique portfolio for industry, that shows competence across a range of platforms reaching audiences through innovation, immersive experiences.
Hopefully that gives you more of an insight into this course. If you have any more questions about this or Photography... or anything SODA/ Manchester Met related, feel free to ask away on here or you can contact our Course Enquiries team: 0161 247 6969 or [email protected].
If you're on Instagram, you can follow SODA at @schoolofdigitalarts. You may also be interested in having a look at our BA Photography degree show, which you can view here.
I hope this helps and we look forward to seeing you at one of our Open Days!
Mel 😊

Is there a chance to change my course from Future Media Production to Filmmaking during the first term at Met as I left it too late trying to change the course as the date to submit the portfolio passed.