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Product and Furniture Design with Foundation

Entry requirements


32-48 points , minimum of 2 A Levels

Access to HE Diploma

P:45

From any subject

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

24

From any subjects

32-48 points from any subjects

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

MM

From any subject

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)

P,P,P

From any subject

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

PPP

From any subject

32-48 points, minimum of 2 A Levels

T Level

P

Pass overall with D or E on the core. Any subject may be considered.

UCAS Tariff

32-48

From a minimum of 2 A Levels

About this course


Course option

4years

Full-time including foundation year | 2024

Subjects

Product design

Furniture design and making

The foundation pathway provides students with non-standard entry points to progress onto the BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design programme. The foundation year allows you to develop the required practical, technical, academic and creative skills needed in preparation for the first year of the undergraduate programme. Upon successful completion, you will join the undergraduate BA programme equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to successfully complete an undergraduate degree.

**Key features of BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design:**

* ** Be industry-ready**. Professional accreditation by the Chartered Society of Designers ensures quality and relevance to the evolving needs of the design industry. Broaden your experience and take an optional sandwich year for work placements and international exchange.

* **Get noticed in the design community**. Learn by doing to build a portfolio of design work that will get you noticed and launch your career. Develop your profile with opportunities to enter high-profile competitions.

* **Expert-led**. Learn with experts; our international team have diverse professional practice and research experience to inspire and guide your creativity.

* **Gain unique insights**. Understand more about the design industry with exclusive visits to leading design studios and manufacturers.

* **Get connected**. Learn from inspirational talks by leading product and furniture designers. Learn from real-world contexts through regular live projects.

Modules

In your foundation year, you will become part a vibrant creative community through an engaging learning environment with a focus on active exploration and discovery across a wide range of methods and media. Working in our open-plan studio, you'll learn by doing, putting teaching into practical outcomes. Upon successful completion of this year, you'll enter the first year of the BA (Hons) Product and Furniture Design or BA (Hons) Interior Design.

In your first year, you learn core design principles and technical skills within our interdisciplinary studio culture. Project work introduces hands-on making skills in a range of materials, including wood, metal and ceramics, alongside CAD and communication skills. You develop an awareness of opportunities through specialisms within product and furniture design and make choices about where your own practice might fit.

Your second year challenges you to explore design philosophies in more detail, developing more advanced technical skills. You develop your own unique design voice and establish how you express yourself. We celebrate our achievements with an end-of-year show.

You can add an optional year between your second and final years of study. This enables you to take a year-long work placement and gain first-hand knowledge and professional experience within the design industry or to study abroad for a year within the University’s international exchange programmes.

Your final year develops the skills and experiences you need to build a professional portfolio. You enhance your knowledge of design and business, write a dissertation, produce a significant personal major project and enter high-profile competitions. Graduate shows and exhibitions celebrate your design identity and provide a launchpad to your ideal design job, your own design studio, or progress to postgraduate study.

The modules shown for this course or programme are those being studied by current students, or expected new modules. Modules are subject to change depending on year of entry and up to date information can be found on our website.

Assessment methods

For up to date details, please refer to our website or contact the institution directly.

The Uni


Course location:

University of Plymouth

Department:

School of Art, Design and Architecture

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.

83%
Product design
83%
Furniture design and making

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

85%
Staff make the subject interesting
88%
Staff are good at explaining things
95%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
83%
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

88%
Library resources
87%
IT resources
88%
Course specific equipment and facilities
55%
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
63%
Male students
37%
Female students
75%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
E

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.

£17,000
med
Average annual salary
94%
med
Employed or in further education
53%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

25%
Design occupations
15%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
15%
Artistic, literary and media occupations

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.

£14k

£14k

£19k

£19k

£21k

£21k

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.

Explore these similar courses...

Higher entry requirements
Birmingham City University | Birmingham
Product and Furniture Design
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 112
Same University
University of Plymouth | Plymouth
Product and Furniture Design
BA (Hons) 3 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 96-120
Lower entry requirements
University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) | Inverness
Visual Communication and Design
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 21-24
Nearby University
Arts University Plymouth | Plymouth
Graphic Communication (Extended Degree)
BA (Hons) 4 Years Full-time including foundation year 2024
UCAS Points: 104-120

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Teaching Excellence Framework (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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