The Bachelor of Arts in Creative Industries (BACI) is the first business and creative leadership program of its kind in the United Arab Emirates. The BACI program is a four-year degree established in collaboration with Ryerson University’s Creative School, which has been central to the evolution of Canada’s cultural industries for over 70 years.
This unique interdisciplinary program blends a variety of creative fields together in one degree, including leadership for media business, interior design and communications. It offers a unique set of practical learning opportunities, incorporating creative entrepreneurship, industry internship, and the chance to spend two years in Canada.
Our BACI program is adapted from the prestigious Bachelor of Arts in Creative Industries program at Ryerson University's leading Creative School in Toronto, Canada. The degree will give you the skills needed to be successful in the creative workplace, including entrepreneurship and management, leadership, communication, digital literacy, and strategic thinking.
What are the Creative Industries?
Spanning a wealth of fields including: advertising, architecture, arts and crafts, interior design, graphic design, film, photography, music, performing arts, publishing, research and development, software, computer games, TV/radio, tourism, and cultural activities, the Creative Industries generate $2,250 billion in revenues (10% of world GDP) and 30 million jobs worldwide, according to UNESCO.
The UAE has long focused on expanding its creative, cultural and arts industries, from investing in dedicated spaces such as Dubai Design District and the Media, Studio and Festival cities, to building branches of the Louvre and attracting top talents in fashion, music, and performance for exhibitions and concerts.
Recently, the Dubai government announced its Dubai Creative Economy Strategy which aims to raise the sector’s contribution to GDP to 5% from 2.6% by almost doubling the city’s creative firms and professionals by 2026.
Who is the program for?
The program is for any student who wants to become a business leader with the capacity to transform creative ideas into commercial products and services. It will help you to develop a broad understanding of possible career paths within the diverse spheres of the Creative Industries and will give you a solid foundation in new business concepts and practices applicable to creative production. The BACI program is flexible and designed to accelerate your entrepreneurial spirit, give you global experience, and an advantage with employers in your chosen concentration.
Program overview
The Bachelor of Arts in Creative Industries is a four-year degree that blends the fundamentals of a business program with courses in media business, design, and communication, to help students become the creative leaders of tomorrow. Adapted from the prestigious Creative Industries program at Ryerson University’s Creative School in Toronto, the CUD BACI program will give you the skills in leadership, communication, digital literacy, and strategic thinking needed to be successful in a creative business context.
Typically, businesses in the Creative Industries are distinguished by the polarization between “suits” and “creatives” – between creative practitioners and those who manage and commercialize the creative process. Our goal is to bridge this divide through an academic program that provides opportunities that enable you to explore and understand the industry as both creative process and commercial activity.
Concentrations
This flexible and innovative program offers you the ability to select two industries to explore in more detail. You will learn to help shape and lead the UAE’s creative sectors by selecting concentrations in:
- Interior Design
- Media Business
- Communication Studies
- New modules will be offered in this program in the coming years
Program benefits
As part of this degree program you will benefit from a unique set of experiential learning opportunities:
- The Creative Zone
As a First in the Middle East, CUD will be introducing a new learning incubator to give students the opportunity to incubate ideas and work with industry partners to find solutions to real-world challenges in the Creative Industries. The Creative Zone will be at the heart of all FCAD programs at CUD, with courses linking to the Zone through curricular projects and students incubating creative business ideas through extracurricular activities.
- Study in Toronto, Canada
CUD’s BACI offers successful students an opportunity to take their studies abroad during the second and third years of the program, by facilitating a transfer to Ryerson University’s Creative Industries program. This unique 1+2+1 structure will give up to 20 high performing students (per year) the chance to experience and participate in one of Ryerson’s 10 renowned creative learning zones for a one-of-a-kind experiential learning opportunity. For two years, students will have the opportunity to experience creative culture and business practices in Canada, together with Ryerson’s Creative School students.
- The Internship
As a student of the BACI program you will take part in an internship consisting of 240 hours of work, designed to give you first-hand experience in a creative enterprise environment. You’ll discover how the enterprise operates, how creative work is supported through management practices, how technology impacts creative and business functions, and more.
CUD’s career center will offer support to help students arrange a placement with suitable companies. The internship will take place at the beginning of year four and will prepare students for their capstone projects in the final year. The best part: you will develop skills and make connections in top creative enterprises that could lead to job opportunities after graduation.
Graduate careers
The Creative Industries need entrepreneurial, versatile, innovative, business-minded thinkers at the helm to work with artists, producers and creators, to help them find audiences and customers for their creative work.
Graduates of this program will have the requisite skills and knowledge to obtain employment and become leaders in this expanding economic sector in the UAE and beyond, in occupations such as:
- Entrepreneurship
- Product Development
- Brand Strategy & Design
- Advertising specialist
- Content creation & marketing
- Creative directors
- Social media manager
- Event Management
- Venue supervision
- Marketing
- Public Relations
- TV executives
- Photography, copy writing
- Design project manager
- User interface design
- Graphic design
- Design Management (business side of design)
- Jobs in non creative businesses (banks, insurance, others) that need creative people, creative content & creative problem solving, management positions
- Further education
Here are some examples of the roles and organizations that graduates of the Canadian Creative Industries program have entered:
- Account Executive, McCann Canada
- Analytics Insights Consultant, Telus Digital
- Sales Associate, Adidas
- Junior Graphic Designer, Stockland
- Junior Project Manager, Secret Location
- Coordinator, Live Entertainment & Event Marketing, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment
- Creative Media Influencer, Zumel & Co
- Creative Strategist, Stackadapt
- Further Education: Master in Design Studies, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Types of Roles: Product Development, Event Management, Advertising Design, Small Business Development, Brand Strategy & Design, Photography, Live Entertainment.
Organizations: Apple, Bell Media, Bruce Mau Design, McCann Canada, Rogers Media, Ubisoft.
Admission Requirements
Applicants to the BACI program require a High School Certificate with a minimum of 75% or its equivalent.
This minimum score may be lowered to 70% for applicants that have a good portfolio related to creative industries.
A TOEFL score of 550 is required, or its IELTS equivalent of 5.5.
Program Structure
Program Requirements
| Requirements | Compulsory Credit Hours |
Elective Credit Hours |
Total Credit Hours |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
General Education Courses |
15 | 3 | 18 | |
|
CRI Department Courses |
63 | 9 | 72 | |
|
Modules |
Interior Design | 15 | 3 | 18 |
| Media Business | 15 | 3 | 18 | |
| Communication Studies | 15 | 3 | 18 | |
|
Total |
126 | |||
University Requirements
University Requirements are 18 credits, out of which 15 credits are Compulsory Courses. These requirements are:
| Course Code | Subject Title | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LNG | 171 | English I | None | 3 |
| GED | 110E | Modern Art Appreciation | None | 3 |
| GED | 198 | Islamic Culture | None | 3 |
| MTH | 195 | Applied Statistics | None | 3 |
| GED | 132 | Science and Technology in Society | None | 3 |
|
Students should select one course (3 credits) from the following pool: |
||||
| GED | 199 | UAE Society | None | 3 |
| GED | 196 | Communication Skills in Arabic 1 | None | 3 |
| GED | 111 | Music Appreciation and Communication | None | 3 |
| GED | 205E | Psychology in Every Day Life | LNG-171 | 3 |
| ENT | 141 | Fundamentals in Innovation and Entrepreneurship 1 | None | 2 |
| ENT | 142 | Fundamentals in Innovation and Entrepreneurship 2 | ENT-141 | 1 |
CRI Department Core Courses (21 courses required /63 credit hours)
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACC | 340 | Financial Management | BSM-200 | 3 |
| 2 | BSM | 100 | The New Business: From Idea to Reality | None | 3 |
| 3 | BSM | 200 | The Growing Business: Breaking Even | BSM-100 | 3 |
| 4 | BSM | 300 | The Mature Business | BSM-200 | 3 |
| 5 | CMN | 210 | Text, Image & Sound | None | 3 |
| 6 | CMN | 279 | Introduction to Professional Communication | None | 3 |
| 7 | CMN | 313 | Organizational problem Solving/ Report Writing | CMN-210 | 3 |
| 8 | CMN | 448 | Introduction to Visual Communication | CMN-210 | 3 |
| 9 | CRI | 100 | Creative Industries Overview | None | 3 |
| 10 | CRI | 200 | IP Issues in the Digital Age | CRI-100 | 3 |
| 11 | CRI | 300 | Digital Design Studio | CRI-200 | 3 |
| 12 | CRI | 301 | The Creative Process | CRI-200 | 3 |
| 13 | CRI | 400 | Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries | CRI-200 | 3 |
| 14 | CRI | 402 | HR in Creative Industries | CRI-301, BSM-300 | 3 |
| 15 | CRI | 403 | Creative Industries Research Methodology | CRI-301 | 3 |
| 16 | CRI | 404 | Managing Creative Enterprises | CRI-400, CRI-402, CRI-403 | 3 |
| 17 | CRI | 405 | Studies in Creative Collaboration | CRI-402 | 3 |
| 18 | CRI | 406 | Global Licensing/Distribution Agreements | none | 3 |
| 19 | CRI | 475 | Internship (240 hrs) | Completion of 90 credit hours and 2.0 CGPA or higher | 3 |
| 20 | EBU | 200 | E-Business Fundamentals | None | 3 |
| 21 | PLX | 111 | Imagining the Creative City | None | 3 |
List of CRI Department Electives Courses
Students will complete 3 courses (9 credit hours) from the following list of courses:
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CMN | 305 | Strategic Public Relation | None | 3 |
| 2 | CRI | 340 | Global Entertainment Marketplace | None | 3 |
| 3 | CRI | 430 | Canadian Media/Entertainment Industries | None | 3 |
| 4 | FSN | 132 | History of Art 1 | None | 3 |
| 5 | FSN | 203 | History of Design | None | 3 |
| 6 | RTA | 101 | Introduction to Media Theory and Practice | None | 3 |
| 7 | RTA | 427 | Business of Music 1 | None | 3 |
| 8 | IDF | 200 | Introduction to the World of Design | None | 3 |
| 9 | MKT | 330 | Digital Luxury | None | 3 |
List of courses of the 3 Modules/Concentrations
Module/Concentration Interior Design
Students should complete the following 5 compulsory courses (15 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IDF | 309 | Sustainable Design | None | 3 |
| 2 | IDF | 100 | Elements and Principles of Design | None | 3 |
| 3 | IDF | 250 | Contemporary Art and Design | None | 3 |
| 4 | IDF | 301 | Leaping Fences: New Directions in Design | IDF-100, IDF-200, and IDF-250 | 3 |
| 5 | CRI | 461 | Big Night Project | Completion of 90 credit hours | 3 |
Students should complete one of the following elective courses (3 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DES | 121 | Design Theory | None | 3 |
| 2 | DES | 221 | History of Architecture and Design | None | 3 |
| 3 | IDF | 300 | Strategic Thinking and the Deep Dive | IDF-100, IDF-200, and IDF-250 | 4 |
Module/Concentration Media Business
Students should complete the following 5 compulsory courses (15 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RTA | 315 | Business of Creative Media | None | 3 |
| 2 | RTA | 402 | Social Media | None | 3 |
| 3 | RTA | 408 | Business of Producing 1 | None | 3 |
| 4 | RTA | 418 | Ethics in Media | None | 3 |
| 5 | CRI | 461 | Big Night Project | Completion of 90 credit hours | 3 |
Students should complete one of the following elective courses (3 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CRI | 350 | Art and Business of Gaming | None | 3 |
| 2 | CRI | 420 | Media Regulation and Communication Policy | None | 3 |
| 3 | RTA | 404 | Advanced Media Management | None | 3 |
| 4 | RTA | 415 | Legal Issues in Media | None | 3 |
| 5 | RTA | 488 | International Media Storytelling | None | 3 |
Module/Concentration Communication Studies
Students should complete the following 5 compulsory courses (15 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CMN | 211 | Language and Power | CMN 210 | 3 |
| 2 | RTA | 402 | Social Media | None | 3 |
| 3 | CMN | 269 | Countercultural Communication | CMN 211 | 3 |
| 4 | CMN | 470 | Risk and Crisis Communication | RTA-402 | 3 |
| 5 | CRI | 461 | Big Night Project | Completion of 90 credit hours | 3 |
Students should complete one of the following elective courses (3 credit hours):
| No | Code | Course Name | Prerequisites | Credit Hours | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CMN | 402 | Theorizing Communication | None | 3 |
| 2 | CMN | 450 | Participatory Media Communication | None | 3 |
| 3 | NNS | 325 | The Business of Journalism | None | 3 |
| 4 | IDF | 300 | Strategic Thinking and the Deep Dive | IDF-100, IDF-200, and IDF-250 | 4 |
Core Courses
| No | Code | Course Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACC | 340 | Financial Management |
| 2 | BSM | 100 | The New Business: From Idea to Reality |
| 3 | BSM | 200 | The Growing Business: Breaking Even |
| 4 | BSM | 300 | The Mature Business |
| 5 | CMN | 210 | Text, Image & Sound |
| 6 | CMN | 279 | Introduction to Professional Communication |
| 7 | CMN | 313 | Organizational problem Solving/ Report Writing |
| 8 | CMN | 448 | Introduction to Visual Communication |
| 9 | CRI | 100 | Creative Industries Overview |
| 10 | CRI | 200 | IP Issues in the Digital Age |
| 11 | CRI | 300 | Digital Design Studio |
| 12 | CRI | 301 | The Creative Process |
| 13 | CRI | 400 | Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries |
| 14 | CRI | 402 | HR in Creative Industries |
| 15 | CRI | 403 | Creative Industries Research Methodology |
| 16 | CRI | 404 | Managing Creative Enterprises |
| 17 | CRI | 405 | Studies in Creative Collaboration |
| 18 | CRI | 406 | Global Licensing/Distribution Agreements |
| 19 | CRI | 475 | Internship (240 hrs) |
| 20 | EBU | 200 | Introduction to E-Business |
| 21 | PLX | 111 | Imagining the Creative City |