MSc Publishing

STOP PRESS! MSc Publishing is the first and only Publishing programme in the UK to be accredited by the Periodical Training Council. The PTC is the lead body for best practice in training, development and people management for the magazine and business media industry.

This unparalleled recognition confirms our place as “standard bearers for the industry”.

MSc Publishing has been running for over 10 years. This Masters, postgraduate programme is for:

– graduates who want a career in publishing,

– anyone already working in publishing (or related industry) who wants to progress up the career ladder.

MSc Publishing offers a range of specialised training in editorial, marketing, production, management and entrepreneurship. You’ll have the opportunity to undertake an organised work placement and industry visits, including the London Book Fair. If you choose to complete the Masters degree and exit with an MSc, you will complete the dissertation. This will enable you undertake a substantial piece of research into industry issues and practices. Many students have used this to open doors into their chosen career.

One of the major facets of our postgraduate publishing degree is the opportunities it provides for networking with industry professionals. We are the Number 1 University in Scotland for graduate employment in publishing, with many of our students securing employment even before graduating, here’s what they have to say…

MSc Publishing provides an academically rigorous understanding of the publishing industry in an international context. It covers traditional book and magazine publishing, digital publishing and corporate publishing. You’ll gain a wide range of skills and specialised professional knowledge and understanding which will make you ideally placed to enter the publishing industry with advanced standing, in the UK or overseas. Emphasising the research-based, practical nature of this degree, you will graduate with the postgraduate award of MSc Publishing.

Click here to see some examples of our live publishing projects – books and magazines.

Edinburgh Napier University is the proud holder of the Edward Clark Collection, a major collection of around 4,500 rare and valuable works relating to publishing and print media. Since its establishment, the Edward Clark Collection has been maintained as an invaluable teaching resource, and many students have seen at first hand the splendid examples of the art and craft of typographers, printers, illustrators and binders. The collection has a permanent home on our Merchiston Campus.

Our Craiglockhart Campus has a particular claim to literary fame. It was here, in 1917, that the poets Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) first met. Within these walls, some of Owen’s and Sassoon’s greatest war poetry was inspired and written, and their resulting friendship was to have a significant and lasting effect on literature. As a tribute to Owen, Sassoon and other poets of the First World War, the University established The War Poets Collection in 1988 (on the 70th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice: 11 November 1918).

The War Poets Collection is one of several special collections available for consultation in the Library. A permanent exhibition now allows visitors to view the collection, and gain an insight into the personal and social experiences of war through the words, memories, voices and objects that the officers, medical staff and relatives left behind.

In addition to these unique resources, our Publishing Masters programme is closely linked with the Scottish Centre for the Book, a world-renowned centre for research and scholarship into print culture and publishing history. Our students have the opportunity to attend and be involved in the various seminars and conferences which it hosts.

We are passionate about publishing and about sharing our expertise with you, the next generation of publishers. All our staff are highly qualified experts in their fields and successful publishing practitioners so you can benefit from our wealth of experience and excellent industry links (meet the programme team).

You’ll meet industry professionals and authors, work on live projects (publishing books and magazines), take part in site visits to publishers and printers, and get the opportunity to undertake a work placement. The course is also supported by industry bodies such as Publishing Scotland and the Periodical Publishers Association.

For more information about postgraduate publishing, go to our FAQs page, or contact the Programme Leader, Avril Gray: a.gray@napier.ac.uk