University of York Mumbai will train students to manage creative industries in the age of AI

Professor Benjamin Poore, a leading expert in theatre and historical drama is seconded from the University of York, United Kingdom to spearhead new industrial partnerships, research projects, public events, and student learning opportunities. He will look to build connections with key cultural organisations in India, such as the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) and the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC), to develop research partnerships and career networks for students.

His work at the University of York Mumbai will include establishing public events, and workshops for students and creative artists, that explore the potential of stage and screen performance centred around the historical connections between India and Britain.

An expert on historical drama and adaptation studies, Poore has popular and influential books in these fields, including Heritage, Nostalgia and Modern British Theatre, Theatre & Empire, Sherlock Holmes from Screen to Stage, The Contemporary History Play and the edited collection Neo-Victorian Villains. Poore has taught at York since 2008, where he has led research projects on dialogic pedagogy (2017-2020) as well as theatre history and archives (2019-2022), and has served as his department’s chair of the board of studies and director of learning and teaching. Poore speaks to Careers360 about University of York Mumbai’s programmes, admission processes, scholarships and more. Edited excerpts:

Why launch a Business of Creative Industries programme? Did the Mumbai location and film industry have anything to do with that decision?

Business of the Creative Industries (BCI) is a distinctive degree that explores where creativity meets business. Mumbai is the ideal city to learn about creativity and cultural leadership, thanks to its globally-renowned film industry, its performing arts venues showcasing music, dance and drama, and its contemporary visual arts scene, just to name some of the most prominent examples.

Students will regularly take part in live workshops and masterclasses, learning about the production processes for a range of creative art forms, and gaining guidance and experience in how to lead, manage and innovate in these fields.

Which creative industries will you train students for? Which organisations / industries are you planning to tie up with in India?

Our most recent partnership is with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies (IICT). Research and teaching in the creative industries is a key part of the development of the University of York Mumbai, and coincides with the university introducing the potential for new projects with partners in India at CoStar Live Lab, part of a £75.6m UK national network of laboratories that are developing new ideas and technologies in creative industries.

The lab focuses on applying new virtual production technology to live events and how the latest developments can be used to ensure professionals in the industry have the skills and infrastructure to stay on the cutting edge of this type of technology.

The new partnership with IICT spans a five-year term and aims to enhance the academic and professional learning in the creative industries and allow students access to the transformative technologies in this sector.

We have other exciting partnerships being developed and we hope to announce these later this year.

How is the programme being designed and what will it cover?

At University of York Mumbai, we’re launching the BCI programme alongside degree courses in business and economics, as well as computer science. This means we will draw on business expertise from our faculty colleagues, as well as from within the programme team. The BCI programme begins with introductions to the business elements of the creative industries, with modules like Creative Business Leadership and Content Development working in tandem with modules on specific fields like Business for Screen and Business for Performance.

In the second year, the programme expands to develop students’ skills in Marketing and Branding and Creative Event Production, alongside a range of option modules. The third year offers experience in group and individual projects, allowing for increased specialisation according to the student’s interests and career ambitions. In their third year, students also receive specific training in Research and Data in the Creative Industries, empowering them to identify new opportunities and areas for development.

Does the parent campus offer this or a similar programme? What has been the response to that and where have graduates found employment?

This is the same University of York degree that we have delivered at York since 2021. It’s been one of our success stories in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, with consistent growth in student numbers. Students on the BCI programme benefit from the academic rigour of writing essays, and the research and analysis you would expect of an arts and humanities degree at the University of York. However, this learning is used to fully understand how and why creative work gets made, rather than appraising it only as a finished product. So far, graduates in BCI have gone on to work in production roles in film and television, in theatre and cultural organisations, as executives in research and development, programming, and creative content for independent media companies, and as project and talent managers.

How do you see the widespread use of AI in creative industries and how does the curriculum tackle this?

It’s important that our graduates understand AI and its uses, but also its limitations. AI is already being used by creative practitioners and micro-businesses. Most creatives have to do things like manage social channels, and to write bids and briefs; AI can help increase production speed and reduce the administrative burden in these areas. It also has clear benefits in pre-and post-production in the screen industries for example, and in project management, keeping track of what needs to happen when.

When it comes to creativity, however, AI is an effective tool for mashing up combinations of what has been popular or prevalent in the past but doesn’t have that human capacity for cultivating artistic judgement, or for recognising and nurturing original ideas and talents.

I think we sometimes have a tendency to conflate productivity and creativity, as if making more of the same type of output is necessarily being creative. AI is trained to be good at the generic, but that isn’t what creates change and excitement in the arts.

AI can be used in unexpected ways when artists make interventions and use the technology for purposes it hadn’t been designed for, and so we encourage our students to be curious about how AI changes our understanding of what it means to be an artist. We also ensure that our students are thinking critically about the ethics of AI's relationship with creativity, intellectual property rights, compensation, and the environment.

What other programmes will the University of York's Mumbai campus offer?

At launch, the University of York’s Mumbai campus will offer a focused portfolio of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas aligned with strong student demand and industry relevance.

At the undergraduate level, the campus will offer:

• BA (Hons) Business and Management
• BSc (Hons) Economics
• BSc (Hons) Computer Science
• BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence
• BSc (Hons) Computer Science with Cyber Security

At the postgraduate level, the programmes include:

• MSc Artificial Intelligence
• MSc Management
• MSc Finance

These programmes have been designed to combine the University of York’s academic rigour with Mumbai’s dynamic business, financial, technology and creative ecosystems. Over time, we expect to expand the academic portfolio further, guided by student demand, industry needs and emerging global career opportunities.

How affordable will the programmes be? Are you planning scholarships?

The students will benefit from the same teaching standards, faculty support and academic rigour, while studying closer to home. For domestic students, the annual tuition fee for undergraduate programmes is Rs 12.5 lakh per year. For postgraduate programmes, the annual domestic fee is Rs 16.5 lakh per year for MSc Artificial Intelligence, Rs 15 lakh/year for MSc Management, and ₹16 lakh/year for MSc Finance.

We are also offering the York Academic Excellence Scholarship across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. Undergraduate students who meet the merit criteria may receive up to Rs 3 lakh per year towards tuition fees, while postgraduate students may receive up to Rs 4 lakh towards tuition fees. The scholarship is merit-based and awarded following a holistic assessment of the applicant’s academic performance, overall profile and interview performance. In addition, merit-need-based support may also be available for eligible students, subject to submission of supporting documents. Our aim is to ensure that talented students from diverse backgrounds can access a world-class York education in India.

What is the admission process?

Admissions to the University of York’s Mumbai campus will follow a holistic evaluation process, designed to assess not only academic performance but also a student’s motivation, communication skills, extracurricular achievements and overall fit with the University’s academic environment. For the BA (Hons) Business of the Creative Industries programme, applicants from Indian boards — including CBSE, ISC and Indian state boards — must have a minimum score of 75% overall in Class 12. Students applying with an IB Diploma must have 30 points overall, including a score of 5 in Higher Level English, while students with A-levels must have achieved ABB.

For other undergraduate programmes, the admissions process will similarly consider academic performance and programme-specific eligibility criteria. Depending on the course, there may be additional subject requirements — for instance, computer science-related programmes require a strong mathematics background. Shortlisted candidates may be invited for a personal interview, and extracurricular achievements will also form part of the overall assessment. At the postgraduate level, admission will be based on undergraduate academic performance, statement of purpose, letters of reference, extracurricular achievements and, where applicable, a personal interview. Candidates in their final year of undergraduate study may also apply, with final admission subject to meeting the required eligibility criteria.

Where are you drawing your faculty from?

Our faculty comes from a wide variety of academic and creative fields, and they are also used to thinking, working and researching across disciplines. Many of our faculty have lived, studied and worked in India extensively already, but there’s a lot of international experience between us too, including the US, the UK and Asia. Faculty are hired using the University of York’s own rigorous recruitment processes, so they are all leading researchers and practitioners. I’m really looking forward to the possibilities of new kinds of international partnerships, projects and publications that will emerge from collaborations with faculty here.

Disclosure: A third party associated with the University of York Mumbai is a Careers360 client. This has been published as part of a wider marketing initiative.