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Interior and Spatial Design with Foundation Year

Entry requirements


UCAS Tariff

32-56

A typical offer will require a UCAS Tariff score between 32 - 56. Every application is considered on an individual basis. For further details of our international English entry requirements, please visit our General Entry Requirements pages.

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About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time | 2024

Subject

Interior design and architecture

Work, play, learn; everything we do happens in a space. This interior design degree will equip you with the knowledge and skills to turn these spaces into creative and innovative environments. This course is also offered as a four-year programme, including an initial Foundation Year. The Foundation Year will allow you to develop your academic study skills and build confidence in your abilities, identifying your own strengths and development needs for progression onto an undergraduate programme.

**Why study BA (Hons) Interior and Spatial Design at BNU?**
**Accreditations**
The course is accredited by the ‘UK’s leading accreditation body to the interior design industry’, SBID (Society of British and International Design). As well as this we are also a member of the network Interior Educators, here you’ll be able to take part in forums, exchange ideas and take part in competitions.

**Inspiring facilities**
At BNU we understand that a high standard of facilities is key to your growth and development as a designer.

The course gives you access to a wide range of resources including digital suites, where you will learn how to use Auto CAD, Rhino and other software such as Photoshop and InDesign. You’ll also have the opportunity to develop your studio and workshop-based model-making skills using our laser cutting and 3D printing equipment.

You’ll find yourself based in the designated studio for the course, where you’ll have an individual workspace, where you can hang inspiration, designs and ideas. The studio encourages professional learning as it mirrors practices within the profession.

**Industry-links**
Led by a dedicated teaching team with a wealth of experience within the interior and spatial design, exhibition design, landscape design, model-making and design visualisation and animation industry. Many of your tutors on this course are also involved with design practice and research.

Not only will you benefit from a rich and varied programme, you’ll also have direct access to guest lectures, potential live project briefs, master classes, and plenty of networking opportunities with leading designers.

Our external partners and collaborators include interior designers, architects, exhibition and event designers, museums and music industry contacts. The course offers study trips to London and abroad, focussing on the discovery and understanding of design and its consequences by visiting world renown architectural and design practices. Additionally, our alumni who are practicing internationally, continue to offer work opportunities to you.

**A degree for you**
This programme focuses on the creative enhancement of architectural environments, involving the design of spaces. By working through sequences of projects, you will acquire a wide range of creative and technical skills which enable you to complete design projects from concept to final presentation.

The programme is aimed at those who passionately want to produce designs for the spaces in which we live, work and engage in leisure activities. You will convert and renovate existing buildings as well as design new structures and spaces.

Opportunity modules are a key part of the BNU curriculum. You’ll choose modules in your first year from a broad selection in areas such as sustainability, entrepreneurship, creativity, digital skills, personal growth, civic engagement, health & wellbeing and employment. Opportunity modules are designed to enable you to develop outside the traditional boundaries of your discipline and help you to further stand out from the crowd to future employers.

**What will I study?**
The degree embeds core professional skills as design tools in the early stages of the course, such as freehand drawing, model making, object fabrication, technical drawing, 3D modelling and digital visualization. You will learn how to design and specify fixtures and fittings as well as materials for construction, evaluate processes, and communicate how spaces are built.

Modules

**Foundation year**
Preparing for Success: Knowledge and Creativity
Preparing for Success: Self-development and Responsibility
Inquiry Based Learning
Introduction to Design and Development

**Year one**
**Core Modules**
Critical and Historical Thinking 1
Design Tools 1: Model Making and Hand Drawing
Interior Design
Design Tools 2: Computer Aided Design
Spatial Design

**Opportunity Modules**
2 x 10 credit year one Opportunity modules

**Year two**
**Core Modules**
Critical and Historical Thinking 2
Professional Studies for Interior and Spatial Design
Adaptive Reuse
Material Technologies
Retail Design

**Year three**
**Core Modules**
Professional Practice
Advanced Design Studio
Contextual Report
Creative and Professional Development
Final Major Project

Assessment methods

As an interior and spatial design student you’ll have to complete a series of modules and projects across your time spent studying with us. Projects are designed to present new challenges to you as you progress through the course. They involve working with varied sites, clients and requirements. By the end of your time with BNU, you’ll benefit from a full portfolio to go to employers with.

You’ll also benefit from lecturers, 1:1 or small group tutorials, seminars that enable open discussions, guided research and reading, group critiques and self-directed study.

We also aim to provide industry brief opportunities for you to apply your knowledge, skills and understanding into real-world contexts. The theoretical underpinning of practice encourages the development of critical perspectives in relation to the language of design.

Upon graduation you should be able to solve interior and spatial design issues and produce detailed and construction drawings for spaces and structures referring to building regulations, as well as specify and source fixtures, fittings and materials.

Our aim is to provide you with the knowledge, understanding and skills to work in professional Interior and Spatial Design practice. We want to develop you as individual, creative, confident and innovative designers with skills in research, conceptualisation, realisation and communication. The programme seeks those who are creative thinkers with initiative who want to respond to the challenges of working on design projects within the local community, in London, nationally and internationally.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£15,000
per year
International
£15,000
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

Buckinghamshire New University offers a range of bursaries and scholarships. For more information, please visit https://www.bucks.ac.uk/study/fees-and-funding/financial-support-bursaries-and-scholarships

The Uni


Course location:

Buckinghamshire New University

Department:

School of Art, Design, and Performance

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

94%
Interior design and architecture

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

Teaching and learning

95%
Staff make the subject interesting
98%
Staff are good at explaining things
89%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
88%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

61%
Library resources
76%
IT resources
70%
Course specific equipment and facilities
91%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

89%
UK students
11%
International students
20%
Male students
80%
Female students
73%
2:1 or above
18%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A*
A
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Design studies

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£19,000
med
Average annual salary
89%
low
Employed or in further education
69%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

36%
Design occupations
12%
Media professionals
9%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Design studies

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£17k

£17k

£21k

£21k

£24k

£24k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

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This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

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Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

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