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- Use your skills to create social impact
- Canterbury and the Kent landscape will be your canvas
Course overview
Discover the role and social impact of the urban planner and designer, and learn the advanced skills to become one, on our new BSc (Hons) Urban Design & Planning degree course at UCA Canterbury.
On this course, you’ll learn spatial practices, and the value that an Urban Designer can add to projects and the wider community. You’ll use Canterbury and the wider Kent landscape as a canvas from which to work, researching, designing, and examining the impact that your designs and plans would have upon it.
On campus, you’ll be able to take advantage of our extensive facilities, including forms of fabrication and testing, the latest scanning and VR technology, and a suite of traditional craft-based workshops, all of which will allow you to bring your design proposals to life.
To broaden your horizons, you’ll be guided by our team of academics and experience collaborative opportunities with students from across the university. You’ll also have the freedom to establish your own unique specialisms, such as advanced retrofit-based knowledge, while developing your own highly individualised design identity and style.
This course is subject to validation.
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
For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Foundation Year, based at UCA Farnham to bring students from around the world to one hub of creativity.
This year of preparatory study 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 the English speaking and writing skills you’ll need to succeed.
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 International Foundation Year
Working alongside other spatial practice students (such as those from our architecture course) you will explore the historic urban centre of Canterbury and acquire foundational skills of surveying, spatial modelling and drawing proposals. You will explore themes of ethics in the built environment, reflecting on how your design and planning decisions affect individuals and the regulatory frameworks that exist to ensure safety and equity in the city. By the end of the year you will complete a small scale urban ‘retrofit’ masterplan, and develop individual skills of representation to communicate your proposals.
Your first-year units include launch and opportunity weeks, ongoing portfolio or online showcase development, and ATOM activities to learn other disciplines.
Your core units are as follows:
- Projects 01
- Constructing for Equity 01
- Briefs and Positions 01
- Projects 02
- Critical Analysis 01
- Material and Digital Practices
In your second year you will gain specialist knowledge of environmentally responsible development and planning by studying diverse urban case studies from across the world. Collaborating with your peers, you will experience, research and map real contexts of urban and rural landscapes within Kent, the ‘garden of England’. You will consider how you, as future urban designers and planners, can establish sustainable strategies for transport and interchange, the retrofit and repair of existing urban patterns, and to reimagine the high street. You will begin to make proposals of regional scale development frameworks for the good of the planet and human society. During the year, you will learn the basics of being a professional, framing your own behaviours and career plans as an urban planner accordingly. You will also have the opportunity to engage with an individualised, industry-led mentoring scheme to guide your future professional goals and ambitions.
Your second-year units include launch and opportunity weeks, ongoing portfolio or online showcase development, and ATOM activities to learn other disciplines.
Your core units are as follows:
- Projects 03
- Constructing for Equity 02
- Briefs and Positions 02
- Projects 04
- Pathways and Mentors
- Critical Analysis 02
Students on the Study Abroad Exchange will undertake placement during this year.
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.
Guided by our experienced industry experts and practitioners, you will identify and develop your own unique Urban Planning briefs and explore challenging and aspirational responses to them. Your final year is your opportunity to refine your specialist interests in urban design and show off your design identity, which you will achieve through a professional portfolio of advanced drawings, models and prototypes.
As well as launch and opportunity weeks, you’ll complete your studies with these core units:
- Projects 05
- Critical Analysis 03
- Briefs and Positions 03
- Projects 06 (Final Major Project)
Industry placement
offer
Preparing graduates for successful careers underpins everything we do, and all students on this course may be offered support to identify and prepare for an industry placement according to their individual needs. We’ll draw on our wide range of contacts within the creative industries to help provide you with opportunities that align with your interests and future career aspirations.
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.
Fees & financial support
Tuition fees - 2023 entry
UK students:
- Integrated Foundation Year - £9,250
- BSc course - £9,250
EU students:
- Integrated International Foundation Year - £9,250 (see fee discount information)
- BSc course - £9,250 (see fee discount information)
International students:
- Integrated International Foundation Year - £16,950
- BSc course - £16,950
If you opt to study the Professional Practice Year, you will be required to pay a reduced tuition fee of £1,850 (UK students) and £3,390 (International students). 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. Costs may increase each year during a student’s period of continued registration on course in line with inflation (subject to any maximum regulated tuition fee limit). Any adjustment for continuing students will be at or below the RPI-X forecast rate.
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
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.
You'll find everything you need to know for your level of study on our scholarships page.
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 your Course Information for details of the costs you may incur.
Facilities
There are open plan studio spaces for each year of the course, used for group tutorials and personal working. Facilities for the course include: laser cutters, 3D printers, a virtual reality lab, a 3D workshop with machines for working in wood, metals, plastics and ceramics, and fully-equipped computer studios with Macs and PCs running software for design and animation.
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Studios, UCA Canterbury
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Virtual Reality lab, UCA Canterbury
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FabLAB, UCA Canterbury
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Digital suites, UCA Canterbury
Entry & portfolio requirements
BSc (Hons) course
BSc (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year
The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:
- 112 new UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
- Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
- Distinction, Merit, Merit at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
- Merit at UAL Extended Diploma
- 112 new UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
- 27-30 total points in the International Baccalaureate Diploma with at least 15 IB points at Higher level, see more information about IB entry requirements.
And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).
Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.
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.
BSc (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year
BSc (Hons) course with Integrated Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year
The standard entry requirements* for these courses are one of the following:
- 64 new UCAS tariff points, see accepted qualifications
- Pass at Foundation Diploma in Art & Design (Level 3 or 4)
- Merit, Pass, Pass at BTEC Extended Diploma / BTEC National Extended Diploma
- Pass at UAL Extended Diploma
- 64 new UCAS tariff points from an accredited Access to Higher Education Diploma in appropriate subject
- 24 points from the International Baccalaureate, see more information about IB entry requirements.
And four GCSE passes at grade 9-4/A*-C including English (or Functional Skills English/Key Skills Communication Level 2).
Other relevant and equivalent Level 3 UK and international qualifications are considered on an individual basis, and we encourage students from diverse educational backgrounds to apply.
Portfolio requirements
These courses don't require a portfolio. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Applicant Day where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course.
*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
BSc (Hons) course with Professional Practice Year
The entry requirements for these courses will depend on the country your qualifications are from, please check the equivalent qualifications for your country:
Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.
Portfolio requirements
For these courses, we will need to see your portfolio for review. We will 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. If you are unable to attend an Applicant Day you can upload a portfolio digitally, there is also the option to submit it online via your UCA Applicant Portal. Further information will be provided once you have applied.
BSc (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year
BSc (Hons) course with Integrated International Foundation Year and Professional Practice Year
For these courses you need to have completed 12 years of schooling (with good grades) and show strong evidence of your ability to successfully complete the programme and progress onto your chosen degree.
Any additional entry requirements listed in the UK requirements section, e.g., subject requirements, work experience or professional qualifications, also apply to international applicants applying with equivalent qualifications.
Portfolio requirements
These courses don't require a portfolio. If you receive an offer, you’ll be invited to attend an Applicant Day where you can meet the course team and learn more about the course.
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 chcek the level of English language required:
Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?
You may be able to enter the course through the following entry pathways:
Apply now
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