Interior Design MA
Canterbury
Course overview
Do you want to take your knowledge of interior design to the next level? To become an expert in approaching and solving complex design challenges? Then our MA Interior Design course at UCA Canterbury will empower you to reach your goals.
This course, within its stimulating, creative and supportive environment, will see you formulate an individual approach to spatial design. Through research-led practice and experimental design, you will be able to demonstrate your expertise in your chosen field of interest, showcase your designed outcomes and design work that is a unique expression of yourself.
This degree can be a launchpad to potential higher level interior design careers. Specialist areas you might choose to focus on in your projects include interaction design, VR, immersive events, retail or specialist fabrication. You can work with interesting heritage and sustainability questions, engaging with both contemporary technology and traditional craft, digital and ‘real’ space.
You will be taught through one-to-one tuition, seminars and self-directed study in designated studio space, engaging with academics who offer expert research intelligence. The course includes regular reviews with visiting critics from across relevant industry sectors and international study visits.
On this challenging journey, you'll develop your research, conceptual, self-management, technical and communication skills, and graduate well-equipped to enter the global market.
A one-year course of advanced study for furthering your research skills and specialising within your discipline.
A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s, developing your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.
A year-long preparatory course of study to ready you for your Master’s in the UK, developing your English speaking and writing together with your specialist skills, research acumen and confidence in working autonomously.
Course details
The content of the course may be subject to change. Curriculum content is provided as a guide.
Get ready for your chosen postgraduate course with this preparatory year of specialist study. With a mix of online and face-to-face learning, UCA’s Integrated Pre-Masters is designed to give you insight into the study skills required to complete a Master’s, within the context of your creative subject. You’ll build skills in autonomous learning, forming your own targets and goals, honing your research skills, time management and professional practice.
For our students coming from a non-UK educational background, UCA has launched an Integrated International Pre-Masters year, which is based at UCA Farnham.
On this course you’ll prepare for postgraduate study with a mix of online and face-to-face learning that will give you the study skills required to complete a Master’s, and you’ll also improve your English for academic study.
You'll be introduced to the University and the technical workshops and facilities available to you. The first term includes a range of lectures and seminars and you’ll start to explore your creative practice.
Contexts and Methods
We will challenge you to address core thinking and practices within contemporary and historical architecture, fine art and design. We will cover the key thematic debates; historic movements, concepts of cultural production, spatial perception and cognition, material tactility and embodied relations. These form a critical intellectual context for you to contemplate your particular research agendas.
Exploratory Practice
Immerse yourself in creative studio practice in this unit, and maybe even begin formulating your ideas for the latter stages of your MA. You'll also be introduced to the complexities, demands and moments of failure inherent in self-managing and delivering ambitious fabricated spatial outcomes.
During term two you begin developing your MA project, evaluating and testing out the aims of your proposal over a sustained period of self-directed study.
Project Development
Work that you undertake during this unit builds upon what you learned in the first term - you'll be expected to integrate strands of theoretical and applied or practical research into a considerably more resolved and advanced line of enquiry that can sustain the remainder of your MA project.
In the third term of the course, you'll apply the knowledge gained through your research to create a final body of work.
Final Realisation
This unit is the culmination of the MA programme of study and so forms an exposition and practical manifestation of ideas, concepts, and degrees of sophisticated practice achieved. It should achieve a resolution to investigations initiated in all previous units and deliver a single body of work that demonstrates advanced conceptual, technological and practical capability.
Tuition fees - 2022 entry
UK students:
- Integrated Pre-Masters course - £10,500
- MA course - £10,500
EU students:
- Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
- MA course - £10,500 (see fee discount information)
International students:
- Integrated International Pre-Masters course - £17,500
- MA course - £17,500
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 for September 2021 and February 2022 entry. The details for September 2022 will be available here in due course.
Further information
For more detailed information about our course fees and any financial support you may be entitled to please see our fees and finance pages.
The fees listed here are correct for the stated academic year only. 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.
To support our students and alumni to progress to the next level of study, we have developed a new range of fee discounts across a range of courses.
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.
Facilities
Interior Design facilities include dedicated postgraduate open plan studio spaces, used for group tutorials and personal working. 3D workshop with machines for working in wood, metals, plastics and ceramics. Laser cutters, 3D printers and virtual reality lab on campus. Fully-equipped computer studio with Macs and PCs programmed with the latest software for design and animation.
Interior Design & Architecture studios, UCA Canterbury
Digital Media studios, UCA Canterbury
Fabrication Lab, UCA Canterbury
3D workshop, UCA Canterbury
Course connections
We've got extensive contacts across the range of interior design disciplines. Live projects, research analysis and feasibility studies will draw on our wide range of contacts and associations.
Connections include specialists in the related fields of audio-visual technologies, lighting design and interactive design.
Recent guest lecturers have included:
- David Callcott, CADA Design, retail and leisure design consultants (London and Hyderabad, India)
- Emma Vane, Production Designer for Atonement, the Harry Potter series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Captain America: The First Avenger
- Finlay White, ModCell, sustainable construction
- Mick Pearce, award-winning international architect (Title: Bio-mimicry and the 3rd industrial revolution)
- Phil Hughes, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, museum and exhibition designers (London, New York, Beijing)
- Uwe R. Brückner, Atelier Brückner, exhibition design (Stuttgart, Germany).
Career opportunities exist within design or architectural consultancies in retail, leisure, exhibition, office, hotel, residential and cruise ship design, as well as in the fields of design management, interior or film-set design.
Our course has a strong ecological focus with opportunities for engaging with both the theoretical and practical aspects of real-world sustainability.
You may want to undertake further study or a research degree to specialise even more.
Our Staff
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"UCA has proved to be a great choice for me; the skills that students acquire are highly sought after in industry and my MA in particular, gave me a more rounded skill set than some, which was advantageous and helped to bring fantastic opportunities my way."
Entry requirements
MA course
- An honours degree or equivalent qualification in the subject or a related discipline
and/or
- Relevant work experience, demonstrating your ability to study at postgraduate level.
Consideration will also be given to applicants who can make a strong case for admission in relation to a particular project and can demonstrate their potential to satisfactorily complete the course.
MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course
A recognised bachelor degree or 3 year diploma with a strong portfolio in a relevant subject.
Don't meet the international entry requirements or English language requirements?
You may be able to enter the course through the following entry pathways:
MA course
MA course with Integrated Pre-Masters course
MA course with Integrated International Pre-Masters course
For these courses, we’ll need to see your visual or written portfolio for review. We’ll invite you to upload your portfolio online via your Applicant Portal – further information will be provided once you have applied. If you would prefer to meet the Academic Team in person for a review of your work on campus, this can also be arranged for you.
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