Location

Canterbury

Start date

Sept 2026, Sept 2027

Duration

3 years full-time

UCAS logo

UCAS codes

Course: W257
Institution: C93

+1

Foundation year

Optional extra year of study

+1

Placement year

Optional extra year of study

Entry requirements

Check qualifications

Interior Design at UCA

Learn the art of influencing how people experience space on our BA (Hons) Interior Design course at UCA Canterbury.

Space to think at scale

Your studio is yours and yours alone. Dedicated, accessible, and big enough to work at the kind of scale that clients demand. You won’t share these spaces with other courses, so you can build models and material studies that stay and grow with you across the year – no need to pack away after your lessons.

Clients in the classroom

Live client projects are part of every year of this Interior Design degree. Real organisations are involved all throughout the design process – shaping briefs, giving feedback, and attending final presentations. You'll experience a genuine simulation of how professional practice works.

A connected campus

From seminar to Fabrication Lab to 3D printer to sculpture studio – everything you need is on campus. With industry-standard equipment in every studio and workshop, you can design, build, and test as quickly as your imagination can.

Designed to design for people

The best interior designers are brilliant listeners. Through a teaching approach built on conversation, questioning, and client engagement, you'll develop a skill that employers value most – how to understand what people really need from a space and how to meet it with design.

What you'll study

The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.

UCA’s Integrated Foundation Year is designed to give you the skills you’ll need to start your degree in the best possible way – with confidence, solid knowledge of creative practice, study skills and more.

You’ll explore a range of creative techniques and develop your portfolio, with your chosen subject in mind. We’ll work with you throughout the year to ensure you’re on the right track and give you the tools to achieve your highest potential on your degree.

Find out more about the Integrated Foundation Year

Design 01; 30 credits
In Design 01, through a supported and scaffolded studio environment you are introduced to interior design as a spatial discipline, focusing on how interior designers think, test ideas, and make decisions through space. Working within a shared project context, you explore relationships between body, scale, material, and form through iterative design processes. Studio activity centres on developing spatial ideas through drawing, model making, and introductory digital techniques, using representation as an active design tool rather than a final output.

You are supported to apply foundational interior design principles such as proportion, spatial organisation, and material awareness as you develop simple interior proposals. The module foregrounds interior-specific thinking and judgement, helping you understand how spatial quality and user experience are shaped through design decisions. Regular tutorials and feedback support you in building confidence and clarity, establishing a strong foundation for progression through the course.

Career Catalyst: Skills & Capability; 30 credits
Career Catalyst: Skills & Capability runs alongside Design 01 and supports the same project work from a complementary perspective, focusing on how you work and develop as a creative practitioner, aligned to professional standards. You are encouraged to experiment across a range of skills, materials, and techniques, building confidence through testing, iteration, and exploration. The emphasis is on learning through doing, rather than arriving at a finished outcome.

You develop feedback literacy, reflective habits, and communication strategies that help you understand and articulate your creative process. Ethical, sustainable, and inclusive considerations are introduced as part of everyday creative decision- making, supporting you to think critically about how work is produced and shared. Together with Design 01, this module supports a holistic learning journey in which experimentation, reflection, and communication strengthen your emerging interior design practice.

Design 02; 30 credits
In Design 02, you build on your foundational skills by developing interior design proposals that respond to defined contexts, users, and constraints. Working within a shared project, you apply spatial and material thinking more intentionally, learning how interior design decisions are shaped by site conditions, cultural context, and practical limitations. Studio activity focuses on testing and refining ideas through structured iteration, with increased emphasis on material choice, spatial organisation, and environmental considerations.

You develop greater confidence in interior-specific representation, using drawings, models, and digital outputs to communicate spatial intent and material qualities. The module foregrounds how materials and space work together to shape atmosphere and use, supporting you to make informed design decisions rather than purely intuitive ones. Through tutorials and feedback, you learn to manage a design project with increasing structure and clarity.

Critical Cultures; 30 credits
Critical Cultures runs alongside Design 02 and supports the same project work from a complementary perspective, focusing on how context, culture, and values inform design thinking. You are introduced to key cultural, historical, and contemporary influences on interior and spatial design, learning how to analyse and interpret design work rather than produce it. Through visual, textual, and material research, you develop critical and visual literacy, building confidence in referencing, positioning, and articulating ideas.

You explore how ethical, sustainable, and inclusive perspectives shape design cultures and influence creative decision-making. The module supports you in communicating contextual understanding clearly through written, visual, or verbal formats appropriate to the discipline. Together with Design 02, this module helps you move from intuitive making towards more informed and intentional interior design practice grounded in cultural awareness.

Design 03; 30 credits
In Design 03, you develop your interior design practice through making, fabrication, and testing, working within a shared project situated in a defined community, industry, or group context. Studio activity is strongly fabrication-led, encouraging you to explore how interior ideas emerge through material experimentation, constructional thinking, and iterative development. You translate briefs and external constraints into spatial propositions, testing ideas through drawings, models, prototypes, and digital techniques.

The module supports you in building increasing technical confidence, helping you select and apply materials, tools, and processes appropriate to the scale and ambition of your project. You learn to integrate contextual research with hands-on experimentation, strengthening your spatial judgement and ability to resolve interior environments through making. Design 03 foregrounds interior design as a material and spatial practice, preparing you to work with greater independence and complexity as the course progresses.

Career Catalyst: Communities & Influence; 30 credits
Career Catalyst: Communities & Influence runs alongside Design 03 and supports the same project work from a complementary perspective, focusing on how you operate as a collaborative and professional designer within community, industry, or group contexts. You engage with external parameters that require adaptability, professional conduct, and clear communication, learning how design practice is shaped by social, ethical, and organisational considerations.

The module emphasises teamwork, audience-facing communication, and contextual integration, supporting you to work effectively with others and respond to real-world expectations. You develop confidence in articulating ethical, sustainable, and inclusive approaches, and in justifying design values within collaborative settings. Rather than assessing the design outcome itself, Creative Communities focuses on how you engage, communicate, and operate professionally. Together with Design 03, the module connects interior design practice to real audiences and purposes, strengthening your readiness for more complex and autonomous work later in the course.

Design 04; 30 credits
In Design 04, you develop interior design proposals that respond to complex spatial, material, and contextual constraints, focusing on transformation, identity, and experience. Working within a shared project theme, you are challenged to design interiors that communicate clear spatial narratives and respond thoughtfully to context, users, and programme. Studio activity emphasises strategic decision- making, requiring you to balance creativity with constraint while developing coherent and ambitious interior propositions.

You apply material, environmental, and constructional strategies to test and refine atmosphere, spatial identity, and experiential qualities. Advanced representation methods, including drawings, models, prototypes, and digital outputs, are used as tools for design thinking rather than presentation alone. The module supports you in integrating research, user insight, and experimentation into resolved spatial outcomes, encouraging independent judgement and preparing you for the autonomy required in final-year practice.

Brand – Identity - Experience; 30 credits
Brand - Identity - Experience runs alongside Design 04 and supports the same project work from a complementary perspective, focusing on how meaning, identity, and experience are understood and communicated. You investigate brand, narrative, and experiential values, learning how these shape user perception, audience engagement, and the interpretation of designed outcomes across disciplines.

The module emphasises research, analysis, and communication rather than design production, supporting you to articulate identity and experience through appropriate visual, verbal, or material strategies. You explore how cultural, social, ethical, sustainable, and inclusive considerations inform identity-driven design, and reflect on how narrative and positioning influence creative practice and future professional pathways. Together with Design 04, the module strengthens your ability to connect spatial design with meaning, preparing you for more autonomous and critically positioned work in year 3.

If you opt to complete a professional practice year, this will take place in year three. You will undertake a placement within the creative industries to further develop your skills and CV.

While on your Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee for that year. This fee will be determined using government funding regulations. Based on current regulations, we expect this to be a maximum of 20% of the tuition fee rate that you are charged for your second year of study. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during this year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this as you approach your Professional Practice Year.

Please note: If you are an international applicant, you will need to enrol onto the course ‘with Professional Practice Year’. It will not be possible to transfer onto the Professional Practice Year after enrolment.

Creative Research; 30 credits
In Creative Research, you establish the direction and ambition of your Major Project through research-through-design, appropriate to the conventions of art and design research. Rather than separating research from practice, you develop ideas through sustained creative enquiry, using experimentation, making, drawing, modelling, prototyping, or digital testing as active research methods. You investigate themes, contexts, users, systems, or environments relevant to your emerging interests, allowing design exploration to inform and shape your research focus.

You are supported to analyse research findings critically, helping you articulate a clear creative position and define the scope, opportunities, and constraints of your future project. The module emphasises independence, reflection, and professional judgement, requiring you to manage a self-directed research process with confidence and rigour. By the end of the term, you will have established a well- considered research direction that provides a strong intellectual and creative foundation for your Major Project in Term 2

Career Catalyst: Futures & Direction; 30 credits
Career Catalyst: Futures & Direction runs alongside Creative Research and focuses on how you position yourself professionally and communicate your work to external audiences. Working from the same body of research and creative development, you begin to shape your professional identity, considering how your skills, interests, and values translate into future practice. The module supports you in producing resolved outputs that demonstrate autonomy, innovation, and clarity of purpose.

You reflect on professional contexts, explore appropriate modes of communication, and develop strategies for presenting your work confidently to diverse audiences. Emphasis is placed on independent project management, ethical and inclusive reasoning, and future planning, helping you understand how your work operates beyond the academic studio. Together with Creative Research, the module ensures you are creatively, intellectually, and professionally prepared to move into the Major Project and beyond.

Major Project; 60 credits
The Major Project is the culmination of your degree and represents your most ambitious, resolved body of work. Working with full autonomy and self-direction, you develop, realise, and communicate an independent creative project that synthesises research, contextual understanding, experimentation, and critical reflection. The project demonstrates advanced design capability, originality, and a coherent personal design position appropriate to your discipline. You apply advanced material, technical, digital, and representational methods to refine and resolve your work, using drawing, modelling, prototyping, testing, and iteration to support decision-making. Throughout the term, you integrate research and contextual insight to justify design choices and articulate the conceptual foundations of your project.

The Major Project requires you to manage a complex creative process independently, exercising professional judgement, organisation, and sustained critical evaluation. Final outcomes are communicated clearly and professionally, demonstrating your readiness to graduate as a confident, critically aware designer.

This course is designed to offer you (if eligible) the opportunity to study part of your degree aboard at a UCA partner university, while still earning credits towards your UCA degree.

For more information please visit the Study Abroad section

Integrated foundation year

  • Independent study: 72%
  • Scheduled teaching: 28%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year one

  • Independent study: 72%
  • Scheduled teaching: 28%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year two

  • Independent study: 74%
  • Scheduled teaching: 26%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Year three

  • Independent study: 76%
  • Scheduled teaching: 24%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 20%

Professional placement or International year (if undertaken)

  • Independent study: 98%
  • Scheduled teaching: 2%
  • Maximum percentage of scheduled delivered online: 100%

Please note: these details are for 2026 entry and could be subject to change for other years of entry.

Course specifications

Please note, syllabus content indicated is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change in line with our Student Terms and Conditions for example, as required by external professional bodies or to improve the quality of the course.

Upcoming webinars

We offer a range of webinars throughout the year that you may be interested in.

You can also view recordings of all previous sessions through the UCA webinar archive.


Fees & financial support

Tuition fees - 2026/27

  • Integrated Foundation Year: £9,790
  • BA course: £9,790

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee, for 2026/27 this is £1,955. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

Government guidance indicates that tuition‑fee caps will rise annually with inflation from 2026, subject to legislation, so tuition fees are likely to increase each year of study. 

Tuition fees - 2026/27

  • Integrated Foundation Year: £9,790 (see fee discount information)
  • BA course: £9,790(see fee discount information)

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee, for 2026/27 this is £1,955. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

Government guidance indicates that tuition‑fee caps will rise annually with inflation from 2026, subject to legislation, so tuition fees are likely to increase each year of study. 

Tuition fees - 2026/27

  • Integrated Foundation Year: £18,000
  • BA course: £18,000

If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, for 2026 you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee of £3,490. You will also incur additional travel and accommodation costs during your Professional Practice year. The University will provide you with further advice and guidance about this.

The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only, for details of previous years please see the full fee schedules.

UCA scholarships and fee discounts

At UCA we have a number of scholarships and fee discounts available to assist you with the cost of your studies.

Financial support

There are lots of ways you can access additional financial support to help you fund your studies - both from UCA and from external sources. Discover what support you might qualify for please see our financial support information.

Additional course costs

In addition to the tuition fees there may be other costs for your course. The things that you are likely to need to budget for to get the most out of a creative arts education will include books, printing costs, occasional or optional study trips and/or project materials.

These costs will vary according to the nature of your project work and the individual choices that you make. Please see the Additional Course Costs section of the Course Information Document for more details of the costs you may incur.

Find out what's included in your tuition fees.

Interior Design career opportunities

You’ll be fully immersed in the architecture and design industries through live projects. In the past these have included work with the leading London architecture firm AKT II, global design and architecture firms such as HOK and SOM, local government organisations and architecture companies in Margate and Folkestone. You’ll also have the opportunity to enter industry competitions.

Graduates of the course have gone on to work at the following leading design practices:

  • Platform
  • Bompas and Parr
  • Piercy and Co
  • Harvey and John
  • Grimshaw
  • Hawkins Brown
  • Jason Bruges Studio

Our graduates are equipped to pursue a host of design roles, and many of our alumni work for global design and architecture firms, but also smaller regional UK design companies. As well as the more standard careers in interior design and architectural design, we facilitate a wide range of specialisms that reflect individual interests.

These can open up potential future careers in:

  • Product design
  • Lighting design
  • Set design and fabrication
  • Arts delivery
  • Events organisation
  • Branding
  • Employment in the emerging high-tech and coding markets.
Ziye Ma, BA (Hons) Interior Design, UCA Canterbury

What careers can you do with an Interior Design degree?

Your guide to creative and commercial careers in Interior Design.

You may also like to consider further study at postgraduate level.


Interior Design entry requirements

For both the BA (Hons) course and the Integrated Foundation Year we will need to see your portfolio, please see the portfolio requirements section for more details.

Select your country to find the equivalent requirements

Portfolio requirements

For both the BA (Hons) course and the course with the Integrated Foundation Year we will need to see a portfolio.

  • UK applicants: We will invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person.
  • International applicants: We will ask you to submit an online portfolio. 

In your portfolio we’re looking for up to 12 examples of your current work, that showcases your creative, curious, and ambitious mind. You don’t need to create new pieces – just show us your skills and passion from your existing work. An example would be a design or art project, presented alongside a sketchbook to describe your thoughts and processes as you created your final outcome. 

Please check our Interior Design portfolio advice and read our advice on creating a strong Interior Design portfolio.

UCAS applicants should also check our UCAS personal statement guide for Interior Design applicants.

Full portfolio requirements and advice

What our Interior Design students say

"I think that we're very lucky with the facilities; I've had the opportunity to work with many different mediums including clay, wood, laser cutter, and 3D printing. I really like the support network that is created by the university. "
Sophia Clunies-Ross

Chat to UCA students

Apply to BA (Hons) Interior Design

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UCAS codes

  • UCA institution code: C93
  • Three year degree: W257
  • Plus professional practice year: W258
  • Plus integrated foundation year: W25F
  • Plus integrated foundation year and professional practice year: W25G

BA (Hons) Interior Design key statistics

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