Vega : BA Fashion Design Degree
The IIE BA degree in Fashion Design is a comprehensive three year degree aimed at students who want to enter the fashion industry. This qualification has a strong relevance for Southern Africa but has also been designed to meet international needs and standards. Our philosophy is to develop the innate creativity of our students so that they may find their studies enriching and rewarding and gain confidence whilst enhancing their design, business, research and academic skills at the same time.
Concept development and design
Students are taught the various stages of the fashion design process using a hands-on approach. Students learn how to develop and visualise concepts for various themes, ranges, styles and target audiences. At third year level students are required to research, analyse and interpret forecasted fashion trends and be client focused while combining their knowledge of advanced pattern and garment construction techniques with the design of their own range. Each student is guided in developing a professional portfolio for presentation to potential employers.
Fashion technology and production
Students master production technologies relevant to fashion production. For example, students learn how to make technical drawings, construct patterns and garments and deepen their understanding of the properties of textiles. Students are trained on industry relevant software and have access to fully equipped digital studios.
Entrepreneurship, marketing and the retail environment
Students are introduced to retail processes such as the selection, acquisition and managing of ranges and accessories, visual merchandising, fashion marketing and the study of trends. Students also learn the fundamentals of starting and managing an own small business, the development of an own fashion brand and the writing of a business plan (third year).
Culture and design
Students engage with various multidisciplinary contexts such as cultural and symbolic implications of design, the development of the design industry, design for sustainability and design as ethical, professional practice. Strong emphasis is placed on design research, which includes investigating users and target audiences.
Industry exposure and networking
Fashion design students take part in various exiting events during their three years of study such as Fashion Weeks and Pop-up shows. In addition to this, students are required to embark an internship to gain industry experience. Many of our lecturers teach part-time, and are actively involved in the fashion and design industry. Student work is showcased at our year end exhibition, where industry representatives are invited to view the work and meet our students.
Entry requirements
A National Senior Certificate (NSC) with Degree admission- A minimum of 30% for English coupled with a minimum of 50% for four x DESIGNATED NSC subjects (This excludes LO which is a 10 credit subject); OR
A National Certificate (Vocational) (NC(V)) with Degree admission – A minimum of 60% in English on either First Additional Language or Home Language level AND Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy AND Life Orientation , with a minimum of 70% in the four vocational subjects is required; OR
A Senior Certificate (SC) (with endorsement) or equivalent; OR
Alternatively, a Higher Certificate, an Advanced Certificate, 240 or 360 credit Diploma in a cognate field may satisfy the minimum admission requirements to degree studies.
A National Senior Certificate with a minimum of 30% in the language of learning and teaching, coupled with an achievement rating of at least four (4) (50 – 59%) in four designated subjects; of which the subject Design can be substituted for one of the designated subjects. Such admissions would be regarded on the basis of Senate Discretionary admissions and will not constitute more than 10% of the cohort.
All candidates are required to submit a creative portfolio and successfully meet the creative portfolio criteria based on a review by a specialist panel and undergo an interview.
General requirements for undergraduate degrees:
All applicants for The IIE undergraduate degree studies, including international students, are required to write the Academic and Quantitative Literacy (AQL) – National Benchmark Test (NBT), unless they:
- have attained the age of 23 before or during the first year of registration; OR
- have been admitted on the basis of mature age; OR
- are accessing a degree with a higher certificate, 240 or 360 credit diploma or advanced certificate; OR
- have previously been admitted to degree studies elsewhere; OR
- have enrolled in the distance mode on a programme- the writing of the NBT AQL test is recommended, but not compulsory.
A student’s Academic Literacy (AL) score of the AQL – NBT is used for placement in student support programmes and does not replace the admission requirements for a specific degree programme.
The provisions of this section do not apply to qualifications in which Introduction to Scholarship A (ITSA) and/or Introduction to Scholarship B (ITSB) are modules which bear credits. In these cases normal assessment and completion rules apply.
For those qualifications in which ITSA/ITSB are not credit bearing modules any student who does not provide a verified AQL-NBT score of 64 or higher PRIOR to registration is automatically registered in these modules and will be billed for them where relevant. Any student who supplies a verified score of 64 or higher within three weeks of the start of the first semester will then be deregistered from these modules and the billing will be reversed. Students who complete ITSA and ITSB will receive a Short Learning Programme certificate for the modules.
The onus is on students to make use of the support available to benefit from these modules. The details of this support will be communicated by the campus or administrative team responsible for the student support on their qualification