Industrial Design at UCA

This course is available for applications into Year 2 or 3.

Are you endlessly curious and always wondering how you could make things work better? Do you love taking objects apart for a closer look? Are you prepared to get your hands dirty? If so, our BSc (Hons) Industrial Design degree course at UCA Canterbury could be perfect for you.  

This technical design course could lead to a number of careers, from mass fabrication or engineering, to working for tech firms or joining the automotive industry. Industrial designers deal in the details, and we’ll teach you how to look at the smallest items and work out how to improve them.

You’ll learn to use industry-leading software, develop your problem-solving skills, gain a deep understanding of materials and systems, examine sustainability considerations, and develop your knowledge of how things work. And you’ll learn all this in great studio spaces with incredible making facilities, alongside lecturers, tutors, and technicians who have extensive knowledge and experience in the field.

Please note, this course is only available for applications into Year 2 or 3 of the course. To apply for Year 2 please use the direct application link below. For entries into Year 3 please contact our admissions teams:

UK applicants: admissions@uca.ac.uk
International/EU applicants: internationaldmissions@uca.ac.uk

 

Key information

Campus
UCA Canterbury
Start date(s)
September 2025
Duration
2 years full-time
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Entry requirements
Tuition fees
What you'll study

What you'll
study

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

Launch
Launch Week for the second year will be spent gearing up for your study objectives and re-orientating after your first summer break.

Design 03 – Fabricate and Form
In this unit you’ll further refine your skills in sketching, model making and visualisation, with specific focus on digital representation methodologies, and material and manufacturing constrains and opportunities. We’ll also ask you to develop research practices, examining the relationship between place/product and user, brand value, user or spatial experience, and form – and respond to this research through your design proposals.

Design for Equity 02
In this unit, you will expand your knowledge of the technological principles, civil regulations, and societal challenges that inform contemporary design and manufacture. You’ll focus on how non-western perspectives, culturally diverse contexts and vernacular practices can inform low-carbon approaches to spatial and product design

Briefs and Positions 02
In this unit, you’ll prepare a developed set of briefing materials that will inform and guide your development of a medium-scale design proposal in the subsequent design unit Design 04 – Fabricate and Form. You’ll do this through three processes - creative studio-based speculation, professional site or scenario analysis and culturally critical research.

Opportunity
The second term begins with Opportunity Week, an intensive week of activity conceived and undertaken in collaboration with external partners.

Context and Constraint
You’ll expand your conceptual approach to constraint-based design by undertaking a detailed design project which brings together your technical, conceptual ideation, iterative testing, and narrative production skills in a confident and holistic way. During the process, you will explore ideas of transformation, surprise, and unknown futures through a range of possible design challenges.

Pathways and Mentors
In this unit, we’ll challenge you to reflect on the design skills, knowledge and techniques you are acquiring and identify potential alternative career paths that you might not yet have considered. In the course of this unit, all students will have the opportunity to engage with a design professional in a structured series of engagement and mentoring sessions.

Critical Analysis 02
The unit, a progression from your first year of study, is primarily concerned with theory and represents a step-up in challenging you to interrogate ideas, designs and actions. Specifically, it asks you to use theory to develop understandings of the ways in which ideas are both contextual and connected to wider logics and world views.

ATOM Activities
ATOM activities are tiny pieces of individual learning that facilitate interdisciplinary exposure across the university. Collectively they form a small fraction of your curriculum that is determined through your own personal choice and interest.

Launch
For your final Launch Week, you’ll spend the week getting ready for your final year of study, and re-orientating after your summer break.

Design 05 – Pitch and Prototype
This unit challenges you to engage with exciting new technologies and to produce compelling digital and physical prototypes through the rapid acquisition and integration of new skills within your workflows. You will go on developing your individual and group working skills and start to experience the pace of work in practice as you move toward employment.

Critical Analysis 03
You’ll produce a piece of self-directed research on a subject that is related to the historical, theoretical and critical concerns of your subject discipline. The subject matter will be informed by the specific interests that you have developed on your course to date.

Briefs and Positions 03
This unit is about preparing an advanced set of briefing materials to inform and guide your development of a medium-scale design proposal for the Final Major Project. You will consider a context at the scale of an expanded spatial or material network, through creative studio-based speculation, professional site or situation analysis and culturally critical research.

Opportunity
Opportunity Week is an intensive week of activity conceived and undertaken in collaboration with external partners.

Major Project
After defining your own brief during the preceding Briefs and Positions 03 unit, with the support of your tutor, you will develop and complete an expansive project that uses all your skills in design, making, research and project development. The finished work should reflect your deep understanding of contemporary practice.

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.

Explore our gradshow

Each year, we’re privileged to be able to share our graduates’ incredible work with the world. And now’s your chance to take a look.

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Fees & funding

Fees & financial support

Tuition fees - 2025/26

  • BSc course: £9,535

Tuition fees - 2025/26

Tuition fees - 2025/26

  • BSc course: £17,500

Please note: The fees listed on this webpage 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.

Facilities

UCA Canterbury has open plan studio spaces offer a flexible learning environment, used for tutorials and independent working. Fully equipped Mac and PC computer labs with software for design and coding. Access to a purpose built FabLAB with laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC milling and injection moulding equipment, as well as virtual reality and spatial tracking technology. Campus 3D workshop with machines for working in wood, metals, plastics and ceramics.

View 360 virtual tour

Studios, UCA Canterbury

Fabrication Lab, UCA Canterbury

Campus 3D workshop, UCA Canterbury

Architecture TrakLab, UCA Canterbury

Career opportunities

Graduates of Industrial Design can expect to leave their studies to work within a variety of different roles. These include:

  • Industrial designer
  • Product designer
  • Design consultant
  • Digital product designer
  • Design engineer
  • Design consultant

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

What’s it like being a student at UCA?

That’s a big question. Get some answers from people who are studying right here, right now.

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Entry & portfolio requirements

Entry & portfolio
requirements

BSc (Hons) course - Year 2*

The standard entry requirements* for this course are:

  • 120 credits from a relevant degree (at level 4)
  • Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE)
  • Higher National Certificate in a relevant subject

And/or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)

BSc (Hons) course - Year 3*

The standard entry requirements* for this course are:

  • 240 credits from a relevant degree (120 credits at level 4 and 120 credits at level 5), with a minimum of 55% overall
  • Foundation Degree in a relevant subject
  • Higher National Diploma in a relevant subject

And/or Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL)

In recognition that you may already have a relevant professional qualification, or appropriate working experience in the relevant industries, APEL may be accepted for entry on to the course. This will be based on the partnership articulations and will be assessed on a case by case basis.

Portfolio requirements

For these courses, we’ll need to see your portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to attend an Applicant Day so you can have your portfolio review in person, meet the course team and learn more about your course. Further information will be provided once you have applied. View more portfolio advice

*We occasionally make offers which are lower than the standard entry criteria, to students who have faced difficulties that have affected their performance and who were expected to achieve higher results. We consider the strength of our applicants’ portfolios, as well as their grades -  in these cases, a strong portfolio is especially important.

BSc (Hons) course Year 2 / Year 3 entry

The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please contact our International Admissions team to discuss your application: internationaladmissions@uca.ac.uk

Portfolio requirements

You will be required to submit a portfolio for review. Further information on specific portfolio requirements and how to submit your portfolio will be sent to you after we have reviewed your application.


English language requirements

To study at UCA, you'll need to have a certain level of English language skill. And so, to make sure you meet the requirements of your course, we ask for evidence of your English language ability, please check the level of English language required:

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